Mount Logan, King Trench. Bob Saunders, Mel Hines, Errol and Steve Smith skied from Kluane Lake, climbed Mount Logan by the King Trench route and then skied out.Lloyd Freese, Kluane National Park
Rixon’s Pinnacle, Far West Face: In June, Dick McCracken and I discovered a new route to the top of Rixon’s Pinnacle. It lies to the left of the West Face so we named it the “Far West Face”. This makes 5 routes leading to the summit of the 400-foo...
Obispo and Fraile Grande, Altar Group, 1981. The Altar group consists of many peaks and pinnacles, which create the rim of a volcanic crater. Dave Jones and I climbed Obispo by its standard route, the south face. We bivouacked on the summit and th...
FALL ON ROCK, PLACED NO PROTECTION, ROPE SEVERED Washington, Mt. IndexA Bellingham man was killed about 10 a.m. on July 6 in a fall about 300 feet down the northern rock face of Mt. Index.The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said the victim, iden...
Ishinca, Ranrapalca, Urus Oeste, Cordillera Blanca. Our expedition consisted of Hans Grimm, Fritz Luchsinger, Walter Amstutz, Andreas Zimmerli and myself. On June 26 we climbed Ishinca (18,143 feet), Ranrapalca (20,217 feet) on June 28 and Urus Oe...
FALL ON ICE, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONNew Hampshire, Mount Washington, Huntington Ravine, O’Dell's GullyDecember 29, Greg Farrell (39) and Brian Carlock, both experienced ice climbers, were ascending O’Dell’s Gully at 0815 in preparation for a trip to...
Nanga Parbat, Mazeno Ridge Attempt. The 1995 attempt began when all the team assembled in Islamabad on July 17. We were Wojciech Kurtyka (Poland), Andrew Lock (Australia), Rick Allen, Sandy Allan and myself (UK), and also Steven Thomas, who was go...
Mount Blackhorn, North Face. While hiking in to the Ramparts, on August 2 Jerry Fuller and I made the first ascent of the north face of Blackhorn, directly from Astoria Creek. Once we were on the peak, some 800 feet of fairly steep snow took us in...
Terijuay, Plateriyayoq and Palanganayoq Groups, Cordillera Urubamba. The following made up our party: Bob Gunn, John Wild, Cathie Harding, Bruce Webb, Pat Webb and I, all from New Zealand and John Petheram from Rhodesia. We visited the most northe...
Great White Throne, new route. In mid-November, my brother Jonathan Smoot and I climbed a moderate new seven-pitch route up the blank south face of the Great White Throne (III or IV 5.8 AO). Our route followed a unique series of narrow, diagonal r...
Mount Hamilton, South Face, Sequoia National Park. Jim Wilson and Dick Long had scouted the face and reported a Grade V or VI, some 1800 feet of nearly vertical climbing with almost no ledges. The walk in to Lower Hamilton Lake on July 27 was very...
New York, Shawangunks. On 9 May F. deMonterey (leader) with two companions decided to climb the “Twin Oaks.” The leader was familiar with the route and had led it the year before quite easily. The leader did not feel in good form, but felt that he...
Sierra and Yosemite, various activity. Climbing.com reported that Dave Turner soloed a new route, Block Party (VI 5.9 A4), on the southeast face of El Capitan. He fixed ropes for three days and spent 18 days on the wall, finishing June 21. The rou...
Kohe Khwaja Mohammad Myani Region. The Silesian Academic Hindu Kush Expedition was led by Martin Malkowski and had as members M. Bucholz, Krystyna Nitsche, Joanna Mroczkiewicz, J. Madey, A. Drygajlo, J. Pawlikowski, J. Wajler, A. Poslednik, J. Dra...
Churen Himal Attempt. A 14-man Italian expedition led by Oliviero Frachey attempted to climb Churen Himal by the southeast ridge of the east peak. They came to Nepal late and allowed insufficient time for their climb. After establishing four high ...
Grizzly Creek, Mudflap Girl and Mudwall. Unreported from 2005, in the Grizzly Creek drainage of Glenwood Canyon, Chris Kalous and I established Mudflap Girl (700', IV 5.10), the first new route on the wall since Layton Kor’s explorations in the 19...
Mount Triumph, South Ridge. A mixed scrambling and fifth-class route.
Fang Attempt, Southeast Ridge. A 20-man Italian expedition, led by Arturo Bergamaschi, set out from Pokhara on September 5 with 15 Sherpas and 155 porters. They went up the Modi Khola to the south side of Annapurna. Base Camp at 14,100 feet was re...
Devils Thumb, Stikine Icecap, Third Ascent. The approach used by Culbert’s party was not yet clear of ice and so Rich Mathies, Brad Fowler, Craig McKibbon* and I flew with Chuck Traylor of the Stikine Air Service to the mouth of the Flood River, s...
Vertical Heartland: A Rock Climber’s Guide to Southern Illinois. Eric Ulner, photography by David Hart. Second West, Carbondale, IL, 1996. Soft cover, 162 pages. $25.95.Comment: This glossy production is profusely illustrated with photos (some col...