Makalu, West Face Attempts, Pre- and Postmonsoon, Makalu II (Kangchungtse), and Makalu solo. Both before and after the monsoon the Pole Wojciech Kurtyka and I, plus respective friends, were involved in two attempts to climb Makalu’s west face. We ...
Mt. Johnson, The Escalator, New Route and Tragedy. On May 17 and 18, in warm and unsettled weather, Seth Shaw and I climbed what we believe to be a new route on Mt. Johnson. It started on a 50-degree ice runnel on the east face, left of the promin...
P 5800 (Goodwill Peak) and Chottukay (P 5823), Muzkol, East Pamirs, Tadjikistan. No sooner did the helicopter drop us in Muzkol than the Tadjiki government closed all the borders. Of course we did not know that at the time. We then made two first ...
Mt. Blakiston. A cairn was found on the summit; no details of first ascent. From camp beside Blakiston Brook (6.30 a.m.) through trees by river cross and ascend side valley past a waterfall into a high corrie. Turn right above waterfall and procee...
Mount Lees, Purcells and Ibex Peak, North Cascades. A change in the weather forecast for the Purcells moved Fred Beckey, Eric Bjornstad, and me to turn north to Cranbrook, B.C. Fred’s memory banks of climbing objectives came up with the fine north...
FALL ON ROCK, CLIMBING UNROPED Wisconsin, Devil’s Lake State ParkOn May 9, 1980, James LeSuer (21) stated that he had been climbing without a safety rope and fell 20-25 feet of the small of his back. LeSuer said he landed about ten feet from where...
VARIOUS FALLS ON ROCK, INADEQUATE BELAYS, NO OR INADEQUATE PROTECTION, NO HARD HATNew York, Mohonk Preserve, ShawangunksThere were 28 climbing-related accidents reported this year. Eighteen involved leader falls, six involved top roping or secondi...
Mount Iliamna. In June Neil Davis, Pete Isto, Mat Nitsch, Roger Waller, and Keith Hart attempted the unclimbed volcano Mount lliamna (10,100 feet) in the northern Aleutian Range. Bad weather forced us to abandon the climb after reaching 7500 feet ...
Ultar Sar, Attempt. Masami Hasegawa, whose husband Tsuneo Hasegawa died on Ultar Sar in an avalanche in 1991, attempted the 7388-meter peak via the southwest face, the same route that claimed her husband. It is unclear how high she reached. She ma...
Colorado Climbs. In February Jeff Lowe, Charlie Fowler and I did a ten- pitch climb in Ouray. The ascent is mostly ice up to W15 with some hard mixed climbing as well. The name is Bird Brain Boulevard. On the limestone cliffs of the Big Horn Mount...
Watkins Mountains, Various Ascents. A seven-member expedition left Iceland on May 24 and was landed in the Watkins Mountains by Twin Otter ski plane. Following a day’s ski touring to Base Camp, all seven members made the 20th ascent of Gunnbjoms F...
Colorado, South Maroon Peak. On 27 August, Peter Isto (51) and George Slahorek were descending South Maroon Peak. According to Dr. Slahorek, Isto slipped on wet rock and fell about 100 feet suffering a possible brain concussion. Leaving the victim...
FALING ROCK, SNOW SLIDE, FALL INTO CREVASSE, FALLING SNOW BLOCK British Columbia, Purcell Mountains, Snowpatch-Bugaboo ColAT 0915 on August 25, 1984, two climbers were ascending toward the Snowpatch-Bugaboo col, on a snow slope at 2700 meters elev...
Masherbrum Southwest Attempt. Masherbrum has two summits. The main northeast summit (7821 meters, 25,660 feet) was climbed by the American expedition of 1960 and has not been climbed a second time. Masherbrum Southwest (7806 meters, 25,610 feet) w...
Le Centenaire des Postes Alpestres Suisses. 4 to. Geneva: “L’Art en Suisse,” 1932. Price Fr. 6.This attractive volume, also issued with English text, has been published by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs of Switzerland. It is well illustrat...
La Esfinge, Here Comes the Sun, New Route. In late May and early June, United Kingdom climbers Brian Bigger and Lucy Regan established Here Comes the Sun (E3 5c A3), considered by many parties to be the best line on this fine face. The 700-meter-h...
Baffin Island, Buchan Gulf, The Bastions, Take the Long Way Home. After a five-day snow-machine approach, from May 2 to 14 German climbers Klaus Fengler, Stefan Glowacz, Holger Heuber, Mariusz Hoffmann, and Robert Jasper established Take the Long ...
Annapurna III. Five Australians led by Jonathan Chester failed to climb a route on the southwest face of Annapurna III to the west ridge. They had four high camps above Base Camp. On October 22 Chester and three others reached the top of the face ...
AAC, New York Section. Much of the Section’s energy and focus in 1996 centered around helping to organize the 94th Annual Meeting of the Club. This was the first time the event was held in Manhattan since the 1985 meeting. As was the case 11 years...
Ascents in Himachal Pradesh. A 15-member Indian team led by Sudhir Mehta climbed Kala Nag (Black Peak) in the Bandar Punch group. Fourteen climbers got to the top (6387 meters, 20,956 feet) on September 16 and 17. Other Indians led by Parimal Chow...