Accident Reports ANAM
Fall on Rock, Climbing Unroped, Exceeding Abilities, Massachusetts, Chapelbrook Reservation, Chapel Ledges

FALL ON ROCK, CLIMBING UNROPED, EXCEEDING ABILITIESMassachusetts, Chapelbrook Reservation, Chapel LedgesOn August 10, Pam Chavis (25) fell 75 feet from Chapel Ledges, where she was attempting her first free-solo climb. She had reached for a handho...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, Canada, Canadian Arctic, Baffin Island, Asgard and Friya

Asgard and Friya, Baffin Island. Mike Pelchat, Jeff Tirey, Jack Corbin and I flew to Pangnirtung on April 22. By April 26, Base Camp was established at the intersection of the Caribou and Kings Highway Glaciers. The Swiss Route on Mount Asgard was...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, California, Sierra Nevada, Patterson Bluff, Western Slope, Various Activity

Patterson Bluff, Western Slope, Various Activity. Located just down the road from the Courtright Reservoir area, Patterson has long been considered a hidden jewel, with a hot, brushy, snake-infested approach to the base from below far too heinous ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Exposure, Inadequate Equipment, Climbing Alone, California, Mt. Shasta

EXPOSURE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, CLIMBING ALONECalifornia, Mt. ShastaOn August 15, 1978, Martin Thomas (67) was reported missing on Mt. Shasta. On August 11, he had been left at the 13,000 foot level to climb alone to the top by a Sierra Club leade...


Accident Reports ANAM
Alberta, Mt. Eisenhauer

Alberta, Mt. Eisenhauer. On August 14, Adolf Bauer (26), Louise Carter (18), and Gerard Bots (30) climbed the southeast tower of Mt. Eisenhauer uneventfully. Carter and Bots rappeled down the first steep pitch while Bauer climbed down. Bots was to...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India, Sikkim Himalaya, Kirat Chuli (Tent Peak), Attempt

Kirat Chuli (Tent Peak), Attempt. The Sachsischer Bergsteigerbund and the Akademische Sektion Dresden (two local sections of the German Mountaineering Association) carried out a Youth Expedition from September 17 to November 11, 1995. The 11 team ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Rappel Error—Inadequate Anchor, Weather, Climbing Alone, Alberta, Jasper National Park, Mount Snowdome, Slipstream

RAPPEL ERROR-INADEQUATE ANCHOR, WEATHER, CLIMBING ALONEAlberta, Jasper National Park, Mount Snowdome, SlipstreamOn the afternoon of March 24, M.G. and C.G. made their way up the Dome Glacier to establish a basecamp below Mount Snowdome. Their obje...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Alaska, Deborah, West Face

Deborah, West Face. Andy Reynolds, Keith Eckelmeyer and I made the third ascent of the west face of Deborah. Although it was a great climb, nothing really noteworthy took place. We repeated the straightforward west-face route, the most direct and ...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Annapurna Ascent and Tragedy

Annapurna Ascent and Tragedy. A Japanese expedition pioneered a new route between the 1970 British and the 1981 Polish routes on the south face of Annapurna. They established Base Camp at 13,400 feet in the upper Modi Khola on August 28. They had ...


Book Reviews AAJ
Montañas del Sol. Guía de Ascensiones a las Montañas del Ecuador

Montañas del Sol. Guía de Ascensiones a las Montañas del Ecuador. Freddy Landázuri, Iván Rojas and Marcos Serrano. Ediciones Campo Abierto, Quito, Ecuador, 1994. 148 pages, 32 black-and-white photographs, 12 line drawings and sketch maps.


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Argentina—Central Andes, Aconcagua, All-Women Ascents

Aconcagua, All-Women Ascents. The highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere had been ascended several times by women, some of whom perished by exhaustion or because of the dreaded blizzards, locally called viento bianco, or “white wind.” The firs...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Laylak Valley, Pik Alexander Blok, Stairway to Hell

Pik Alexander Blok, Stairway to Hell. In August, we made an ascent of a Russian 6B route on Pik Alexander Blok (5239 m). We camped under the formation and examined the blank, southwest face. Disappearing in a granite ocean, a thin scar marked the ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Slip on Snow and Avalanche — Washington, Mount Shuksan

SLIP ON SNOW and AVALANCHEWashington, Mount ShuksanOn June 30, 1982, Clint Kelley (69), former climbing chairman of The Mountaineers, fell to his death while ascending Mount Shuksan with a group of ten Mountaineers. In a separate accident on the s...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, China, Mustagh Ata

Mustagh Ata. In September John Amatt, leader, Lloyd Gallagher, Pat Morrow and I journeyed to the western flank of Mustagh Ata. We ascended the broad “writing-desk” slopes, choosing a route one glacier system south of that climbed in 1980 by Ned Gi...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
United States, Washington—Cascade Mountains, Dumbbell Mountain, Northeast Face, 1988

Dumbbell Mountain, Northeast Face, 1988. On September 5, 1988, I climbed this new route. I started at the high point of the snowfield between the main and northeast peaks of Dumbbell where an obvious steep, narrow gully divides the smooth faces. I...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India—Himachal Pradesh, Devachan

Devachan. Devachan (6187 meters, 20,300 feet) was climbed on June 2 by a 39-member team from the Indian National Cadet Corps. On the way down to Base Camp Satyajit De, Shankar Tahkuti and Mohammad Shafi got separated from the main body in a blizza...


Accident Reports ANAM
Colorado, Parnassus Peak

Colorado, Parnassus Peak. On 7 September a group from the Colorado Mountain Club was ascending Parnassus Peak, an above timberline climb. They were aware of a storm in the distance, and some of the group turned back about 500 feet below the summit...


Accident Reports ANAM
Illness, Improper Rappel Procedure, Fall on Rock, British Columbia, Bugaboo Mountains, Snowpatch Spire

ILLNESS, IMPROPER RAPPEL PROCEDURE, FALL ON ROCK British Columbia, Bugaboo Mountains, Snowpatch SpireOn August 8, 1988, Bruce MacNab (24) and Martin Condor left the Conrad Kain Hut to climb the Southeast Corner route on Snowpatch Spire (Grade IV, ...


In Memoriam AAJ
Deborah Marshall, 1965-1996

DEBORAH MARSHALL1965-1996I met Debbie when she joined the Annapurna IV 1996 Memory Climb in the fall of 1995 at an organizational meeting at my house with her son Zach. I was very impressed that this woman considered climbing mountains so importan...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Europe, France, Alps, Montavert

Supplemental Notes on Early American AscentsMontanvert. One of the first American women to visit Chamonix was Fanny W. Hall, whose Rambles in Europe in 1836 appeared in two volumes (New York, 1836). Her excursion to the Mer de Glace was facilitate...