Lhotse, South Face Direttissima. A 20-member Soviet team led by Aleksander Shevchenko took a different line to the right of Tomo Cesen’s on the rocky central part of the face. Despite poor weather and avalanches, they worked their way up the route...
Nanga Parbat Attempts and Tragedy. Three Japanese expeditions unsuccessfully attempted to climb Nanga Parbat. Tsuneo Hasegawa and three others climbed to 24,600 feet on the 1976 Schell route on the southwest ridge before giving up. Hasegawa return...
Aconcagua, South Face. Argentines made an ascent and descent of the south face of Aconcagua. They were Guillermo Vieiro, Jorge Vitón, Fermín Olaechea, Héctor Cuiñas, Felipe Frasson and Eliseo Busto. They were on the mountain 17 days. This is the f...
Istor-o-nal North I. On July 30, after ten hours of jeep travel, we arrived at Shagram from Chitral. It took three days to reach Base Camp at 4450 meters. On August 4, three reconnaissance teams set out. We chose to traverse the southwest ridge, t...
New Mexico, Organ Mountains—Cuevas Rocks—On the day in October 1956 when the accident occurred the weather and climbing conditions were ideal. A group of South Western Mountaineers were out for a short afternoon of rock climbing, they were finishi...
EXPOSURE, FATIGUE, INEXPERIENCED—Alaska, Mt. McKinley. The National Crampoon party of ten members was flown onto the Kahiltna Glacier on April 22, 1976 to begin a climb of the West buttress route. By Sunday, May 9, seven members of the party were ...
Latok II Attempt. A British expedition led by Edward Howard tried to climb the northwest ridge of Latok II (7145 meters, 23,442 feet). They reached Latok Col but bad weather beat back two attempts on the ridge. This ridge has unsuccessfully been t...
Koa Rong V, rare ascent, southeast ridge. A 10-member expedition from West Bengal led by Biplab Sengupta made a relatively rare ascent of Koa Rong V (6,258m), situated near the Suraj Tal and east of the Baralacha Pass. They placed base camp at 4,7...
Annapurna IV Attempts. There were two unsuccessful attempts on Annapurna IV this autumn, both on the northwest ridge. An expedition of 7 Slovenes and an Italian led by Žare Guzej reached 6800 meters on October 11. Jasna Bratanic (f) and Matevž Len...
FALLING ROCK—DISLODGED, FALL ON SNOW, EXCEEDING ABILITIES, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT/CLOTHINGOregon, Mount Jefferson, Milk CreekDuring the weekend of July 29-30, six teenage boys elected to climb Mount Jefferson via the Milk Creek route. Nearing the su...
Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Dark Side of Extreme Adventure. Maria Coffey. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003. 234 pages. Hardcover. $23.95.You expect a lot from a book that garners awards at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. And Where...
Flammes de Pierre. Anne Sauvy. Diadem Books. London/USA, 1992, distribution by Trafalgar Square, North Pomfret, VT, 05053. $22.95.The name of this book of sixteen short stories—which literally means Flames of Rock—refers to the ridge of pinnacles ...
In mid-January Andy Parkin made a solo winter ascent of this peak above the Dingjung/Chhule Valley, via the previously unclimbed 850m north face. Parkin first spotted the north face, in profile, during his winter ascent of Dawa Peak (AAJ 2009). In...
Nevada, White Mountains, Boundary Peak—On May 2, Burl Parkinson (55) and Francis Foley (53) were killed in a fall near the summit of 13,145-ft. Boundary Peak. Both men were active members of the Sierra Club, and experienced climbers in the Sierra ...
RAPPEL FAILURE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENTColorado, Twin OwlsOn June 30, at 2:45 p.m., Diane Russell (23) fell vertically 25 to 30 feet down a rock face while lowering herself down a rope. She sustained a compression fracture of a vertebra, bruised righ...
FALL ON SNOW, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, NO BELAY, EXCEEDING ABILITIESColorado, South Maroon PeakOn August 16, Aspen climber Hillary Trish (21) fell while descending from a successful climb of 14,156-foot South Maroon Peak. Trish fell in clear, warm we...
Ham and Eggs on the Moose’s ToothJonathan KrakauerA new route on Kichatna Spire. The winter and spring had been spent scheming and psyching up for it, but we just couldn’t seem to get decent cards. After waiting several days for flying weather, To...
Ultar Attempt. Our expedition was composed of Britons Caradoc Jones, Stephen Reid and me and American Ed Webster. Ultar (7388 meters, 24,240 feet) is less than 3.5 miles from the Karakoram Highway, but it rises 3.5 miles (17,000 feet) above the he...
PULMONARY AND CEREBRAL EDEMA, FROSTBITE, EXPOSURE, EXHAUSTION, HYPOTHERMIA, PARTY SEPARATEDAlaska, Mt. McKinleyA four-man MIKI expedition from Czechoslovakia arrived at McKinley Park on May 29. They checked in with Ranger Bob Gerhard on May 30 bef...
Mt. Challenger, Poltergeist Pinnacle, East Face. On July 3 Dan Aylward and I hiked to Perfect Pass via Hannegan Pass/Easy Ridge. On the 4th we traversed around Challenger Arm and climbed a new route on the southernmost of the prominent subsummits ...