Mount Paget, South Georgia. The highest peak of Mount Paget (9625 feet) was climbed for the first time by members of the British Combined Services Expedition to the Antarctic. Following the route taken in the first ascent of the slightly lower wes...
Koh-i-Marchech, West Ridge, Shkurigal Valley, Hindu Kush. In 1968, while making a documentary film (A.A.J., 1969, 16:2, pp. 330-4), we looked fondly at the west ridge of Koh-i-Marchech (c. 20,176 feet)* at the head of the Shkurigal valley, the lar...
Stone Groove. This two-pitch route follows a vertical crack between the Rorp and Independent Pinnacle. Jim Bridwell and I climbed it in May. The crux is a finger jam in a dihedral 20 feet above the ground and the rest of the pitch continues jammin...
The Mountains of Canada, by Randy Morse. Hurtig Publishers—Edmonton, Alberta; Mountaineers, Seattle, 1979. 105 color photographs. Price $29.95.This is the first quality-format overview which I have seen on the aweinspiring mountains of Canada, and...
Green River, Desolation Canyon, The Siren. In April Josh Thompson, Andrew Gram, Lena Laakso, and I put in at Sand Wash with whitewater rafts loaded with beer, food, and camping and climbing gear. This was our approach to a tower that Andrew had se...
Mount Slesse, North Face. In July Rob Kiesel and I climbed the rib on the right side of the narrow north face of Mount Slesse and from its top ascended by the northwest corner to the summit. We stayed near the crests of both the rib and the upper ...
VARIOUS FALLS ON ROCK, PROTECTION PULLED OUT, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, AND RAPPEL ERRORSNew York, Mohonk Preserve, ShawangunksThere were 29 incidents reported for 2002. More than half were injuries sustained from lead climbing. In eight of the leade...
Quand brillent les Étoiles de Midi, by Marcel Ichac. Paris: Arthaud, 1960. 115 pages of text, 102 photo illustrations, 4 plates in color and a contour map of the area between the Col du Midi and the Tour Ronde. This is the story of the making of a...
Stones of Silence, by George B. Schaller. New York: Viking Press, 1980. 292 pages, 14 color plates, maps and illustrations. Price $15.95.Why should mountaineers read about a zoologist’s scrambles in the Himalaya? Dr. George Schaller’s narrative of...
Shani Peak, Various Ascents. From July 25-September 4, Andreas Amons, Elwin van der Gragt, Benno Netelenbos and Melvin Redeker (the Netherlands) operated with a leave-no-trace objective from a 3920-meter Base Camp in the Upper Shani Valley. Our go...
Traverse of Mt. Index. The grim precipices of the three peaks of Mt. Index, just S. of the Stevens Pass Highway, have long been a challenge to climbers. The S. (main) summit has several easy routes; but to the N. a steep cliff separates it from th...
Climbers’ Guide to Devil’s Lake, by William Widule and Sven Olof Swartling. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wise. 1979. Sponsored by the Chicago Mountaineering Club. 185 pages, maps, diagrams, photos.It was with considerable doubt that I a...
Everest: A Mountaineering History. Walt Unsworth. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1981. 578 pages, black-and-white and color photographs, maps, appendices, summary of expeditions, glossary, bibliography. $30.00.For the past several decades, we h...
Condoriri Group, Huallomen, southwest face, Bon Anniversaire Annick. In 2001 I spent a few days climbing in the well-known Condoriri group near La Paz. The snow/ice conditions were very good considering we were there at the end of July. With a fri...
The National Park Service has been keenly aware of the problem of safety, especially after the number of accidents in the Tetons in recent summers, and has organized a mountain rescue program in the Tetons, at Rainier and in Yosemite. There is sti...
In mid-September, near the end of calendar winter, a group of 17 students and Jose Luis Troncoso, Pedro Binfa, and I, instructors from Patagonia Alpine Guides, mounted an expedition to several Chilean valleys, glaciers, and peaks that had had fe...
FALLS ON ROCK AND SNOW, STRANDED, FALLING ROCKS, ETC. Colorado, Various LocationsOf the 11 accidents reported from Colorado this year, only one was an actual technical climbing situation. That one was a simple “fall on rock” on Red Garden Wall. Th...
Around 2:30 p.m. on May 27th, Donald Gallo (39), Somsanouck Gallo (40), along with a friend, M. E., set out to climb The North Ridge, a 5.5 trad route on Table Rock. The three had arrived the night before and this was the first route of the holida...
Ritipata, Palomani Grande, Palomani Tranca Central, and other ascents. John Biggar again visited the remote Peruvian Apolobamba, and as in 2002, the climbers traveled via Puno to the 4,700m mining village of Ananea. Base camp was again established...
South Teton, East Snow Couloir. On August 1, Jim Olson and Tom Watson made the first ascent of this couloir which has been in direct view of two generations of climbers. From the highway somewhat south of east, the prominent snow couloir can be se...