Lost Pinnacle. Between the chain of lakes and Sunlight Basin lies a small area of granite faces and pinnacles. On a warm weekend in August I hiked into the area and crossed wobbly boulders, raging creeks, and fought my way through vicious thorned ...

FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTION Wisconsin, Devil’s Lake State ParkOn July 25,1986, Beth Haynes (21) and Amy Solomon (27) were climbing Schizophrenia when Haynes, who was leading, fell to the ground from near the top of the route, a distance of...

Lhotse Attempt. A Spanish expedition led by Juan Fernando Azcona attempted to climb Lhotse via the west face. They reached 7650 meters on October 4 before having to retreat.Elizabeth Hawley

FALLING ICE, POOR POSITION, MISCOMMUNICATION Utah, Little Cottonwood CanyonOn June 2, 1988, Michael Franklin (42) and Carl Wilmarth (36) were climbing “Great White Icicle” and were at the belay with one pitch to go.While sorting out at the belay a...

FALL ON ROCK, CHOCK PULLED OUT, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, INEXPERIENCEWashington, Icicle Creek CanyonOn April 15, I could not complete a lead in mid-afternoon and was down climbing/being lowered when the top protection pulled out. The chock hit me in...

Mount Rainier National Park (1)—At approximately 1:00 p.m. on July 15, 1954, a summit party led by Mountain Guide, James Whittaker, was descending the Cowlitz Glacier, just below the Beehive, to Camp Muir. About 12 inches of snow had fallen 10 day...

Devil's Tower, Twilight Zone. Grega Lacen and Iztok Mihev climbed a new route on August 31 and September 9 on the southeast face. Twilight Zone (A5) has four hard pitches (A4, A5, A5, A4) and was done in 19 hours. Five bolts were used on the belay...

Himal Chuli Attempt. A seven-man Japanese expedition from the Senshu University Alpine Club attempted the west peak (24,685 feet) of Himal Chuli by its southwest face and ridge. The expedition was led by Hidezumi Komi. Base Camp was established on...

Bugaboo Spire, West Face. On August 5 Elfrida Pigou and I made a new route on the west face of Bugaboo Spire. (Although this route started up the west face it was completed on the west ridge. The first ascent of the whole west face was done a week...

CLIMBING UN ROPED, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT AND EXPERIENCE —Colorado, Maroon Bells. The following was related by James McKinney (29) during an interview regarding the fatal climbing accident of his fiancée, Beatrice Venice Sawyer (24).The two climbers...

STRANDED, LOST EQUIPMENT, UNFAMILIAR WITH TERRAIN British Columbia, Rocky Mountains, Mount Wiwaxy“Grassi’s Ridge” is a 5.7 multi-pitch rock climb on the Wiwaxy Peaks (2704 meters) near Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park. On July 14, 1994, S.L. and ...

Everest Ascent and Tragedy. Junichi Futagami and I were supported by six Sherpas. We climbed the normal North Col route of Everest. We established Base Camp, Camps I, II, III, IV, V and VI at 5154, 5500, 6000, 6500, 7028, 7790 and 8200 meters on A...

Peak 6,350m,first ascent. Although he had a permit to climb 6,110m Gaugiri, Kiyoshi Ishii from Japan did not attempt the mountain. Instead he moved further east and climbed an unnamed peak over the border in Tibet. The ascent of this 6,350m summit...

K2 Attempt via the South Spur. Our expedition which attempted the south spur of K2 was composed of Jordi Anglés, Jordi Badiella, Toni Bros, Jordi Cañameras, Josep Cañellas, Lluís Capdevila, Andrià Font, Jordi Latorre, Jaume Matas, Francesc Zamora,...

Thalay Sagar, north face, central couloir with new finish. In September 1998 Koreans Choi Seungchul, Kim Hyun-jin, and Shin Sang-man, whose previous experience included a new route on the Norwegian Pillar of Great Trango and the summit of Nanga Pa...

Cerro Torre, Various Ascents. Two Japanese climbers made the first Japanese ascent of the Cerro Torre on November 12. Storms prevented further repeats of the route until mid-January, when several teams made the summit, including the Swiss team of ...

“Alabaster”, Northwestern Chugach. After rendezvousing about mile 94 on the Glenn Highway on July 2, Bob Pelz, Royce Purinton and I camped on north gravel bars beside a roaring Matanuska River. Next morning, convinced our one-man kayak was a less ...

Many of Rowell’s photographs illustrate his wife Barbara Rowell’s book Flying South: A Pilot’s Inner Journey (Ten Speed Press). Not a climbing story but definitely an adventurer’s tale, it chronicles a 25,000-mile, 27-leg journey through Latin Ame...

Tocllaraju, Aguja Nevada Chica. A nine-man Japanese expedition climbed Tocllaraju (19,790 feet) by its northwest ridge. On a third try from Camp II at 18,050 feet, on July 2, 1976 Norikazu Honda and Michioh Hashimoto got to the top, followed on th...

Mt. Edwards, Various Activity. On the left side of Mount Edwards’ north face is a large triangular buttress. At mid-height, this buttress is dissected by a distinctive snowy ledge. From this ledge, water ice seems to ooze from deep within the moun...