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David Guterson’s book “Turn Around Time” applies mountaineering themes to youth, aging
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Sarah Boon reports that David Guterson’s new book Turn Around Time applies the mountaineering concept as “a metaphor for life.” The book-length series of prose poems cover “the themes of youth, aging and compassion for the elderly,” Boon writes. “It also investigates the boundaries between reality and myth, and common sense and imagination in the outdoors. Illustrations by Justin Gibbens enhance the whimsical nature of the book.”
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Alpinist 67 Mountain Profile Essays | Mt. Hubbard, Mt. Alverstone and Mt. Kennedy
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Read the essays from our Mountain Profile about Mt. Hubbard, Mt. Alverstone and Mt. Kennedy in the St. Elias Range of Alaska and Canada.
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1998: The Pugilist at Rest
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 67, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Barry Blanchard relives a couple of new routes that he explored with Mark Wilford in 1998 on Mt. Alverstone in the St. Elias Range. He recalls one particular moment: “I lay raw and exhausted, shouldered to the mountain and anchored to it…. Our ledge was two feet at its widest and nine feet long. Strangely, I felt secure, as if I belonged there, as if I’d been in land like this at some time in the past.”
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1996: The Wall of Arctic Discipline
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 67, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Jack Tackle writes about his time on the north face and north ridge of Mt. Kennedy, which culminated in a freezing epic with Jack Roberts in 1996 when they lost a crampon and spent nine days on the wall waiting out storms. “Years later, I still reflect upon the solace, joy and suffering we experienced together,” Tackle writes.
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1967: Summer on Mt. Saskatchewan
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 67, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Andrea Rankin recounts the women’s expedition to climb Mt. Saskatchewan in 1967, which was Canada’s centennial year. Rankin writes: “The Alpine Club of Canada coordinated with local and federal governments to organize the country’s largest-ever mountaineering endeavor, with more than 200 climbers attempting peaks in the Steele Glacier area, and 52 climbers attempting first ascents in the St. Elias Mountains.” Rankin’s team was one of four that was assigned to each of the thirteen unclimbed peaks in the Centennial Range.
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1972: Rivers that Flow Back to Mountains
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 67, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Anna Chiburis documents some of the Indigenous cultures and stories associated with the St. Elias Range, specifically within the area of Mt. Hubbard, Mt. Alverstone and Mt. Kennedy. “Areas such as Wrangell-St. Elias were not an empty wilderness devoid of civilization,” she writes. “Indeed, the Tlingit had developed a culture that had layered their land with profound meaning.”
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The Shadow’s Edge
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In this feature from Alpinist 67, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Claire Giordano shares stories and paintings that depict her search for hope in an era of melting ice, endangered glaciers and climate crises. After recovering from a severe childhood illness, she grew up to become a mountaineer and an artist, using her climbs and her paints to explore the fragility of both wild landscapes and human life. With this collection of mountain watercolors, she searches for hope in an era of melting ice, endangered glaciers and climate crises. “We walk the line between…
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Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Himalaya: An interview with anthropologist Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
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Alpinist Managing Editor Paula Wright interviewed Pasang Yangjee Sherpa for the Alpinist Podcast in 2017 and followed up with her again this month. Born in Kathmandu, Yangjee Sherpa is an anthropologist who specializes in the human dimensions of climate change in the Himalaya. She says that “mountaineers are really well equipped to be advocates for talking about climate change…because of the kind of intimate relationship mountaineers have with the natural landscape, with mountains, snow and glaciers…. So I would like mountaineers to speak more about it and share what they know with the public.”
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Namesake: Izumi (“The Spring”)
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In this Namesake story from Alpinist 48 (2014), Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama–an original member of Japan’s famous Giri-Giri Boys, who have become known for their bold and visionary ascents–writes about the first ascent of a route he named Izumi (“The Spring”) on Mt. Mizugaki.
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Mountaineering in reverse: Tales from the Underland
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“A peak can exercise the same irresistible power as an abyss,” Theophile Gautier wrote in 1868. Robert Macfarlane’s new book Underland explores the landscapes below our feet where, as Sarah Boon writes in her review, “people appear to find something similar in caves to what they experience in the mountains–clarity of thought and vision.”
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Outdoor Media Landscape: A Note from the Editors
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As they praise the publication of She Explores–a 2019 anthology of women’s outdoor stories and photos–Alpinist editors Katie Ives, Paula Wright and Derek Franz write, “We felt struck by two thoughts: how rare outdoor publications like this book, with such a variety of women’s images and voices, were in the past; and how much the field of outdoor literature still needs to broaden to include the vast constellations of under-represented and long-silenced voices today.”
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The Story of Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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The following story is an Ahwahneechee creation story of Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La (El Capitan) as told by Julia Parker, an Ahwahneechee descendant of Yosemite Valley, mother of climbing legend Ron Kauk and the grandmother of Ron’s son, Lonnie Kauk. This story originally appeared as a sidebar to a feature about the Kauk family, Lonnie’s childhood in Yosemite and how he made the first redpoint of his father’s route “Magic Line,” for which the story is named.
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Thirteen Feet Under
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Last April, as she scouted ice climbs deep within Canada’s Banff National Park, Michelle Kadatz was engulfed by an avalanche that swept her 650 feet down slope and buried her at a depth far beyond the reach of her partners’ avalanche probes. While entombed thirteen feet under, she experienced something that seemed as improbable as her eventual rescue. One year later, Jayme Moye recounts Kadatz’s accident.
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Magic Line
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The son of legendary climber Ron Kauk and Ahwahneechee descendant Lucy Parker, Lonnie Kauk has long felt a deep connection to the rocks of his home in Yosemite Valley. In this oral history recorded by Alpinist Managing Editor Paula Wright and featured as the cover story for Alpinist 66, Lonnie, friends and family recount his journey from growing up beneath the granite cliffs of Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La (El Capitan) to making the first redpoint ascent of his father’s Magic Line, once considered the most difficult single-pitch climb in the Valley.
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Gifts
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In this Off Belay story from Alpinist 65, Joe Whittle shares a creation story that was told to him by a Nez Perce elder, Allen Pinkham. The story led Whittle to consider his relationship with nature more closely. He writes: “As I listened, I understood that recognizing the sovereignty of other elements in the world–including rocks, plants and water–can weave sustainability into a culture.”
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Muhammad Ali of Sadpara
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In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 62 (2018), Amanda Padoan profiles Muhammad Ali of Sadpara, Pakistan, after he completed the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat with Simone Moro (Italy) and Alex Txikon (Spain) in February 2016. Padoan writes: “Sponsorship never materialized for Ali, however, as it did for his European companions. He doesn’t question why, not out loud. Back in Sadpara, he says he has too much to occupy him: wheat to thresh, potatoes to dig, cattle to feed, walls to mend, roofs to patch and children to educate.”
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“Unfinished Sympathy”: An interview with Dmitry Golovchenko and Sergey Nilov about their new line on Kumbhakarna’s east face
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Eliza Kubarska is an alpinist and filmmaker who accompanied Dmitry Golovchenko and Sergey Nilov to base camp during their recent ascent of a new line on the east face of Kumbhakarna (Jannu, 7710m) on March 16 to April 2. The men completed their 18-day round-trip on 14 days of rations and without completing a formal acclimatization period beforehand. Kurbarska conducted the following interview with them as they made their way back to Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 6.
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1997: Homecoming
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Amanda Tarr Forrest recounts an aid-solo ascent of the Hallucinogen Wall on the North Chasm View Wall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in 1997.
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1980: Granola and Champagne
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Ed Webster documents some humorous, behind-the-scenes moments that occurred during the first ascent of the Hallucinogen Wall on the North Chasm View Wall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
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1972: The Excellent Adventure
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store, Jamie Logan revisits the 1972 first ascent of the Goss-Logan Route (now rated IV/V 5.11 R) on North Chasm View Wall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado.
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Local Hero: Anna Piunova
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Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz profiles Anna Piunova, editor-in-chief of Mountain.ru. Piunova was instrumental in coordinating the helicopter rescue of Alex Gukov from 6200 meters on Latok I (7145m) in July 2018.
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Catching Ludwig
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In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 65, Cameron M. Burns learns to belay from an eccentric mentor before braving his way up Castleton Tower with a couple of friends and a few hexes.
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The Ice Mirror
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In recognition of International Women’s Day, we’re now sharing this Sharp End story by Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives that first appeared in Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store. Ives writes, “I became fascinated by recurring myths and images in the ways that climbers interpret fragments of existence. And as I looked for more examples, I grew absorbed by the sheer volume of alpine fiction written by and about women…. For authors [during the turn of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries], alpine settings seemed to offer their heroines a level of empowerment…
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An Astonishing Plentitude
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This poem first appeared in Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store. Sarah Audsley is a climber and poet living in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire. In January 2019, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College. She has received support for her creative work from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Vermont Studio Center. In this feature, we asked her to tell us a little about the inspiration for “An Astonishing Plentitude.”
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The End of the Beginning
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In this 2016 Full Value story from Alpinist 55, Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz peers into the dark side of the dirtbag dream.
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The Lost Times–Los Tiempos Perdidos
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In this Full Value story from Alpinist 64, Quentin Lindfield Roberts confronts the long journey home and the occasionally even-greater dangers of daily life after his climbing partner nearly dies in an accident on Cerro Torre.
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Raggedy Man
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After recovering from a severe illness in the wake of the Gulf War, veteran Scott Coldiron returns to his long-abandoned climbing dreams–exploring new ice in remote parts of Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. In this On Belay story from Alpinist 64, Coldiron traces the formative experiences of his hard-knock childhood, his discovery of what the mountains offered, and how he found his way back to the peaks that first stirred his imagination.
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Q&A with Alpinist Assistant Research Editor Anders Ax
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Every story in Alpinist is thoroughly fact-checked. “Fact checking” has become a more common term in today’s digital headlines, as accusations of “fake news” and “alternative facts” abound in our society. In this feature, Alpinist Associate Editor Paula Wright interviews Alpinist Research Editor Anders Ax about the strategy and nuance of exhaustive fact-checking and how he handles the most difficult questions that may not have definitive answers.
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Local Hero: Stacy Bare
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In this Local Hero profile from Alpinist 64, Teresa Baker writes about Iraq War veteran Stacy Bare and how climbing introduced him to new perspectives, helped him recover and inspired him to seek out ways that nature could help others cope with trauma. “Being able to get outside is a gift,” he says.
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To Father from Daughter
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In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 64, Alexandra Lev delves into the past of her father who was already a highly accomplished mountaineer by the time she was born. She writes, “I’d meet climbers and skiers who would say to me with excitement, ‘Your dad is Peter Lev?’ They called him a legend. To me, he was just my dad. I was aware that he’d gone on some expeditions in the Himalaya and that he’d skied extensively in Canada, but I knew none of the details.” Now a grown woman, Alexandra Lev rediscovers her roots with new eyes and…
