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  • Doug Robinson’s story from Alpinist 74 wins Banff Book Comp for Mountaineering Article

    A story from Alpinist 74 (Summer 2021)–“Letters to a Young Climber,” by Doug Robinson–was recently selected as the winner of Best Mountaineering Article at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, which is happening this week. The recognition comes with $2,000 and is eligible to receive a $4,000 Grand Prize that will be selected from…

  • American Alpine Club now accepting applications for six grants

    The American Alpine Club (AAC) is currently accepting applications for six grants: the TINCUP Partner in Adventure Grant, the Cutting Edge Grant, the Jones Backcountry Adventure Grant, the McNeill-Nott Award, the Mountaineering Fellowship Fund Grant, and the Rocky Talkie Search and Rescue Award. Deadlines to apply vary depending on the grant, ranging from November 8,…

  • President Biden signs proclamations to restore Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Seamounts Marine national monuments

    President Joe Biden signed an executive order today restoring Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments after former President Donald Trump rescinded the original designations in 2017. Trump’s rescissions had reduced Bears Ears by approximately 85% and Grand Staircase by almost 50%. Biden also reinstated protections in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument…

  • The Many Futures of Alpinism Essays from Alpinist 75

    The following eight essays are part of 18 published in Alpinist 75 (Autumn 2021) for “The Many Futures of Alpinism” feature.

  • Living Maps of Patagonia: Toward a New Future of Exploration

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Natalia Martinez…

  • Climbers of Color Come Full Circle: The Future of Expanded Representation

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by James Edward…

  • Taking Time To Tell: The Future of Trip Reports

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Damien Gildea,…

  • Sharing Misadventures, not just Adventures: The Future of Climbing Accidentology

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Maud Vanpoulle,…

  • Sounds of Ceremony: The Future of Sacred Landscapes

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Len Necefer,…

  • Mountain As Metaphor: A Future of Multiple Worldviews

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Dr. Pasang…

  • Free and High: A Future of Cutting-Edge Alpinism

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, including this one by Tom Livingstone,…

  • The Cresset and the Light: The Many Futures of Alpinism

    “The Future of Alpinism,” is the theme of Alpinist 75–which is now on newsstands and in our online store. This special issue includes 18 essays from authors around the globe, along with comments and quotes from many others on the topic. We are sharing eight of these essays online, starting with the introduction by Editor-in-Chief…

  • Young Spanish team establishes Big Fighter, a 740-meter route on Chaupi Huanca, Peru

    Between July 1 and 3, young Spanish climbers Jaume Peiro (20) and Alex Gonzalez (18) made the first ascent of the northwest spur of Chaupi Huanca in the Rurec Valley of the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. They climbed their 740-meter route–Big Fighter–at 6c (5.11b/c) A2, and estimated it would go free at 8a+ (5.13c). Peiro…

  • Christoph Schranz establishes a 300-meter 8c (5.14b), ground up, in the Tyrolean Alps

    On May 8, Christoph Schranz freed Ocha-Schau-Schuich (“Fear of Heights,” in his Tyrolean dialect). It took him 20 days of work spread out over three years to establish the 300-meter, seven-pitch route. He explored the route ground up, as a rope solo, starting in 2018 and then began efforts to free the line starting in…

  • Running Waters

    During the battles of World War I, British alpinist T. Graham Brown had vivid, recurring dreams of an alpine wall he’d first imagined after reading a route description in a climbing novel and trying to locate it on a map. Years later, Brown completed his famous routes on the real Brenva Face of Mont Blanc…

  • Women, girls involved with Ascend program in Afghanistan are threatened by Taliban rule

    The members, graduates and students of the Ascend program in Afghanistan need help. The nonprofit has offered leadership training for young Afghan women through mountaineering courses, and now that Taliban forces have seized control over much of the country, including the nation’s capital city of Kabul, people who do not adhere to the Taliban’s strict…

  • Vitaliy Musiyenko completes 32-mile Goliath Traverse in High Sierra

    From August 2 to 10, Vitaliy Musiyenko made the first traverse of Goliath–a linkup of gargantuan proportions along the Sierra Crest, in California’s Sierra Nevada Range. Over the course of eight days Musiyenko covered approximately 32 miles of mostly technical terrain, 80,000 feet of elevation gain, and 60 summits above 13,000 feet, including eight Fourteeners.…

  • The Climbing Life | Alpinist 75

    Alpinist 75 will be available on newsstands soon. In the meantime, we’re offering a preview of The Climbing Life section, with a story by Douglas Brockmeyer about a 1970s magazine photo that inspired him to become a climber (and thus changed the course of his existence), poems by Katherine Indermaur about the fourth-century pilgrim Egeria…

  • Gnarly Nutrition BCAAs: A dietary supplement geared especially for vegans, alpinists and older athletes

    Mountain Standards Gear Review: Digital Editor Derek Franz has been using the Gnarly Nutrition Pre and BCAA (branched chain amino acid) dietary supplements for the past year. Though unable to definitively say how much of a difference, if any, the supplements have made for his fitness, he writes: “What I do know, is that my…

  • A season of spontaneous commitment in the Alaska Range

    Between late April and the end of May, Mike Gardner and Sam Hennessey added a new line on Denali’s Isis Face that they dubbed Anubis (Alaska Grade 6: AI5 M6, 6,900′); ascended the classic Bibler-Klewin on the North Buttress of Begguya (Mt. Hunter); and then finished by climbing Denali’s Cassin Ridge in deep snow with…

  • Local Hero: Vasu Sojitra

    In this Local Hero story from Alpinist 74–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Dani Reyes-Acosta celebrates the community-building work and mountain adventures of ice climber and backcountry skier Vasu Sojitra, co-founder of the Inclusive Outdoors Project.

  • US-Colombian trio complete a new route on Peru’s Concha de Caracol (5640m)

    On July 13 and 14, Andres Marin, Anna Pfaff and Alex Torres completed a new route on Concha de Caracol (5640m) in Peru’s Cordillera Vilcanota. Cerveza, Pan y Acido (ED: 90°, 700m), which translates as “beer, bread and acid,” is the second route on the mountain’s south face. The climbers weathered an open bivy below…

  • Nejc Zaplotnik, Mountain Poet

    As one of the first ascensionists of the West Ridge Direct of Chomolungma (Everest), Slovenian alpinist Nejc Zaplotnik (1952-1983) was among the great climbers of the twentieth century. To many, however, he is best known for his lyrical memoir, The Way (“Pot” in Slovenian), which gave voice to the dreams of his generation and beyond.…

  • Chantel Astorga completes first female solo of Denali’s Cassin Ridge in 14 hours, 39 minutes

    At 8 p.m. June 14, Chantel Astorga became the first woman to solo the Cassin Ridge on Denali (20,310′), completing the route in just 14 hours and 39 minutes. Generations of alpinists have considered the Cassin (Alaska Grade 5, 5.8, AI4) a formidable and coveted objective. Astorga, who works as an avalanche forecaster in Idaho…