Gerber Cucurell and Jordi Esteve, who’ve made repeated visits to Lofoten from Catalonia, climbed two new routes on Moskenesøya island in May. First up, on May 25, was a new line on the west face of Helvetestinden (602m), overlooking Bunes Beach. ...
In the spring of 2020, legendary climber and conservationist George Whitmore, 89, texted a friend about November 12, 1958, the day he and partners Warren Harding (1924–2002) and Wayne Merry (1931–2019) completed the first ascent of The Nose on El ...
Former congresswoman, mountain climber, and lifelong adventurer Jolene Unsoeld began climbing with the Mazamas in 1949, her first ascent being the south side of Mt. Hood in logging boots with caulked soles. In the summer of 1950, after her first y...
On the Merzbacher Glacier, with Pik Oskal on the left and unclimbed Peak 5,061m on the right. In August and September, we (Joris Korevaar and Arjen Pieters) traveled to the lower Kayindy (Kaindy) River valley and made three probable first asc...
Ali Sadpara was first and foremost a great alpinist and not “simply” a high-altitude porter (HAP). He had the ambition to create a new generation of strong climbers in Pakistan and to replicate in his country a tourism industry similar to the one ...
I was ten when I first met the writer and mountaineer David Roberts, who was sitting at my parents’ kitchen table with Jon Krakauer and another friend. Huge wire-rimmed glasses framed David’s face, adding intensity to an already owl-like gaze, and...
In a gesture befitting how he lived his life, close to nature and its poetry, my father, Herb, chose the harvest moon, September 20, 2021, for his departure. His focus around the appreciation of nature, both in its raw elements and its lyric forms...
Rick Reese was a great friend, humble, understated, honest, and so full of life. He had the ability to inspire us and lead us forward. He carefully balanced his zest and daring with common sense in the mountains. Approaching a mountain route with ...
Cesare Maestri was born in Trento, Italy, in 1929, where as a child he began to climb the walls of buildings and electrical poles—more than a few of these ascents resulted in falls, scratches, and hospital visits. During World War II, the young Ma...
The climbing community and many friends have been saddened by the passing of Richard Leversee on January 12, 2022. Although the term Stonemaster is somewhat overused, Richard embraced the ethos, and will be sincerely remembered as one. Thankfully,...
A legendary desert climber, Dave Jones, 65, unexpectedly passed away at his home on December 27, 2021. He was much too young. Born in Connecticut, Dave graduated with a degree in geology from Dartmouth College in 1978. Moving to Tucson, he receive...
After a youth and early adulthood spent in the flatlands, Dana’s peregrinations brought her to the Sierra Nevada, where she learned to climb and met an explorer named Bill Isherwood. Dana had loved before—she even had two daughters—but Bill swept ...
Climbers often consider hypothermia and frostbite as part of their risk assessment. Yet, heat-related illnesses can be a significant and often bigger threat in many regions. Heat illness is a preventable condition ranging in severity from mild hea...
After an aborted attempt on a west-east traverse of the Picacho Kasiri summits with Juan Gabriel Estellano in 2020 (AAJ 2021), I returned on July 9, 2021, with Marcelo Gomez to attempt the traverse in the opposite direction. As the two main summ...
Julieta Ferreri (Argentina) and Marcelo Motta Delvaux (Brazil) made two visits to the southern Cordillera Apolobamba in June and July, when they explored the region around Huanacuni (5,798m, approximately 14°50'48.04"S, 69°9'20.06"W). They then ...
The Kuilu (Kuylyu) is a seldom-visited range south of the Terskey Ala-Too, with abundant unclimbed 4,000m peaks offering plenty of opportunity for exploratory mountaineering at a reasonable technical difficulty. Bound to the north by the Kuilu Riv...
Sprężyna (“Spring”) was the nickname of Polish climber Maciej Gryczyński—the name given because of his curly hair. In the 1960s he put up now well-known and classic routes on four mountains, and all four routes are called Sprężyna: the northe...
Spectacular scenery on the northwest face of the Cima de Gasperi. Photo by Emanuele Andreozzi Late winter snow that took longer than normal to clear, ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in the first half of the year, and a surprisingly cool summer,...
The first ascent of the west face of Baruntse, by a Russian team in 1995, was reported in the AAJ only with a brief note. This account has been adapted from a longer article published in the 1997 Alpine Journal (U.K.), with permission; the complet...
Previously unreported in the AAJ was a new route up the west face of Ama Dablam (6,812m) climbed solo on November 9, 1993, by François Damilano (France). Damilano had reached the summit via the normal route on November 4 while part of a commerci...