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The Drus, 1952 Vintage
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IN 1952 A SPIRE of monolithic granite presented a high challenge to the climbers of the day–a dare that the setting sun outlined each evening, illuminating its burnished slabs with a red flash that no alpinist could ignore. The West Face of the Drus had a reputation for invincibility. “There, in any case, is something that will never be vanquished by man,” declared Pierre Allain, who had observed the 1000-meter wall during his first ascent of the North Face in 1935.
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The North Face of the Drus
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DURING THE 1980S, WHEN I was the editor-in-chief of the French magazine Alpinisme et Randonnee, I spent several days in Grenoble each year for an international trade show. My meetings were exhausting work, happily interrupted by visits with good friends, which allowed me to forget, for an hour or two, everything that the show signified: that the mountains had become a business and that we–the journalists, the guides and the technical consultants–were all part of it.
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Solo on Friable Rock on Cerro Marconi Sur
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On April 16, several days after his partner Thomas Bubendorfer experienced foot problems and the pair aborted an attempt on Cerro Torre, Austrian alpinist Markus Pucher made the first ascent, solo, of the remote West Face of Cerro Marconi Sur. The 8,150-foot (2484-meter) peak is the high point of a jagged ridge in the Cordon Marconi range northwest of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre on the eastern edge of the Patagonia Icecap.
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Jean-Esteril Charlet and Mary Isabella Straton: A Fairy Tale
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SEPTEMBER 22, 1871, WAS ONE of those magical autumn days, when your gaze pierces farther than usual across the crystalline air. Mists had already consumed the valleys, obscuring most signs of human presence–apart from the occasional plume of distant smoke that rose straight up.
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Dean Potter’s First Visit to Patagonia
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It was 1999, and this was our first climbing trip to Patagonia. His dark, unkempt hair hid his eyes, and his jaw betrayed no emotion. But as the plane’s wheels screeched along the tarmac, he looked over at me with concern and asked, “How do you say ‘bathroom’ in Spanish?”
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Mystery Brings Adventure: Film Highlights Libecki-Payne Ascent of Remote Spire on French Polynesian Island
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When the unlikely pair of Mike Libecki and Angie Payne teamed up to climb the south face of 3,264-foot Poumaka on the jungle island of Ua Pou in French Polynesia, they knew it would push them beyond their emotional limits.
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The Alpinist Saga
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Fifty issues deep, and we’re still pushing for the infinite summit. The irrepressible Tami Knight directs a romp back through the years, with essays by Christian Beckwith, Leo Houlding, Andrew Burr, Emilie Lee, Majka Burhardt, Andreas Schmidt, Jack Tackle, Barry Blanchard and Kyle Dempster–and imagery from more than a decade in print.
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No Guarantees
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At noon on April 25, 2015, I was walking with my client on a rocky trail in the valley between the Nepali villages of Chukhung and Dingboche. The air smelled of wood smoke and juniper. A handful of shaggy yaks grazed in the distance. There was no wind. The ground shook without warning. I lurched sideways. Rocks the size of pickup trucks crashed down the valley walls to our left and right, bouncing like rubber balls before shattering into splinters.
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Video: Speed Ascent of El Cap’s Zenyatta Mondatta
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On October 3, 2014, David Allfrey, Skiy DeTray and Cheyne Lempe climbed the 16-pitch A4 El Capitan testpiece Zenyatta Mondatta, shaving several hours off the speed record. Yesterday, DeTray’s cousin Dave Coy sent us an 8.5-minute film, containing footage he captured during their climb.
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“Give Everest a Break:” An Interview with Norbu Tenzing Norgay
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We talk with Norbu Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa (who summited Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953), to learn about the unfolding humanitarian crisis on Everest.
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Reflecting on A Friend’s Climbing Path
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Ten years after a brutal fall left him shattered, James Lucas achieved a life-long goal: a free ascent of Freerider on El Capitan in a single day. Jens Holsten reflects on his friend’s accomplishment, and on a life committed to climbing.
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New Mixed Climbs on Norway’s Senja Island
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Senja Island, the second largest island in Norway, is a spectacular and pristine land that faces the open Norwegian Sea on the country’s ragged northwest coast. The coastal region, with its fickle winter weather, is perfect for mixed climbing protected by trad gear.
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Big Reinhold, Little Reinhold: Chapter 4
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The Call
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Lately I’ve been missing the quiet wilderness of Argentina and have been feeling the pull to return to the simplicity of those windy peaks on the edge of the Southern Hemisphere. In 2002 I visited the smoking mountains of El Chalten and entered into perhaps the most powerful flow state I’ve ever experienced. The Call describes this vague process. I don’t understand it any better today than I did back then, but every moment I’m pursuing my arts is an attempt to further the deepness of these elevated states.– Dean S. Potter
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Never Ending
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Last week, we published a NewsWire by Jens Holsten on the 1,250-foot alpine route he and Vern Nelson Jr. established in the Cascade Mountains in memory of alpinist Chad Kellogg. As a follow-up, Holsten agreed to republish his story Never Ending from Alpinist 47 on his travels with Kellogg in the Cascades and their last climb together in Patagonia.
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First All-Female Ascent of Cerro Torre via the Ragni Route
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On February 21, 2015, Caroline (Caro) North and Christina Huber (AU) reached the summit of 10,262-foot Cerro Torre via the Ragni Route (M4 90 degrees, 600m), marking the first all-female team ascent, done free and unsupported, of the Patagonian tower.
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Chapter 3: Big Reinhold, Little Reinhold
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American Horror Story: A Climber’s Obsession
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I first noticed the line, at the Sabbatical Wall in Indian Creek, Utah, last spring. I was mesmerized by its 150-foot wildly overhanging dihedral system composed of multiple offwidth roofs, all set on alluring red-brown Wingate 200 feet off the ground.
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Profile: Ken Yager, Winner of the David R. Brower Conservation Award
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It was love at first sight when Ken Yager met Yosemite Valley for the first time in 1972. Living in Davis, California, 13-year-old Yager and his parents drove five hours east in the family car to Yosemite. The first thing he wanted to see in the Valley was El Capitan, a 3,000-foot-high granite monolith that loomed above the valley floor.
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Craig Muderlak: Coloring Outside the Lines
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“The adventure for the race was unknown, and it could have been over my head,” Craig Muderlak says. “With most of my illustrations, I don’t know how they’ll turn out and I have no guarantee of a good outcome.”
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Chapter 2: Big Reinhold, Little Reinhold
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Matt Van Biene: Chalten Portraits (Chapter 2)
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A few weeks ago, we published Matt Van Biene’s black-and-white portraits of climbers in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia. This week we bring you chapter 2 of Biene’s project–this time with continuous scrolling–with his remaining images.
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Chapter 1: Big Reinhold, Little Reinhold
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Lion in Winter: Mt. Temple’s North Face
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They call the Canadian Rockies’ Mt. Temple the Eiger of North America. Both peaks offer sheer north faces with steep imposing headwalls that soar 1500 meters above the valleys below, both feature compact limestone, both are regularly subject to tempestuous weather that can appear out of seemingly calm skies. Perhaps most importantly, both are steeped in mystery, lore and ominous histories.
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Matt Van Biene: Chalten Portraits
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Recently, while browsing through Instagram, I noticed about a half dozen images by Matt Van Biene–climber portraits taken in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia. The black-and-white portraits, shot very close to the climbers, caught my eye. I sent him a quick message stating that we were interested in showcasing his work on alpinist.com.
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The Question: The Direct East Face of Golgotha
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The Revelation Mountains, Alaska, during Clint Helander and Jason Stuckey’s first ascent of Apocalypse (9,345′) in April 2013. David Roberts noticed the distant range in 1966, while he was on an expedition to the Kitchatna Spires.
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John Price: Canadian Rockies Ice
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Photographer John Price has been climbing for the past six years and shooting photos for the past three.”I’ve been lucky to have photographic mentors in the Rockies,” he tells us.
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The Gift: Tahu Rutum, West Face, Karakoram, Pakistan
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“I always thought it that it looked like a Patagonian spire misplaced in Pakistan,” Dempster says.
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Carl Battreall: A Collection of Climbed and Unclimbed Alaska Peaks
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Photographer Carl Battreall shares his collection of Alaska’s climbed and unclimbed peaks. The photos in this collection are from his upcoming book, The Alaska Range, due out in spring 2016.
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The Cold Case: Mt. Herschel, East Face, Antarctica
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The unclimbed east face of Mt. Herschel (3355m), an objective that Sir Edmund Hillary once dreamed of, more than a decade after the first ascent of Mt. Everest.
