-
Innovative Approach: Using paragliders to attempt high peaks in Nepal’s Langtang Himal
|
In this guest feature from the American Alpine Journal, Antoine Girard documents an experiment that utilized paragliders to approach peaks in Nepal’s Langtang Himal that tend to be inaccessible because of difficult approaches or objective hazards. Girard and his partner, Julien Dusserre, landed at 6200 meters on Shalbachum (6707m), where they planned to climb alpine-style to the summit, but storms forced them to retreat. Weather patterns also prevented them from landing on their main objective–Langtang Lirung (7227m)–but they gained enough experience to prove to themselves that approaching peaks with paragliders could work.
-
La Meije Mountain Profile: An interview with author Erin Smart
|
Alpinist 60 completes our two-part Mountain Profile of la Meije–a mountain often referred to as the Matterhorn of the Dauphine Alps. In this article, we interview Erin Smart, the author of the Mountain Profile, about the process and the quirky stories she encountered from the mountain’s slopes.
-
Vanishing Uplands
|
Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives recounts the lives of Austin Post and Edward LaChapelle and their contributions to the study of glaciers and snow, including their influential 1971 book Glacier Ice, which contained words that now read like early warnings of the impacts of climate change: “Much of modern civilization exists by virtue of a delicate balance between this climate and present snow and ice masses.” In the decades since its first publication, this collection of glacier photography has become a powerful testament to both the beauty and losses of its frozen worlds. Ives now ponders what might happen if more…
-
Niels Tietze Remembered
|
Libby Sauter reflects on the life of her friend and fellow Yosemite Search and Rescue teammate Niels Tietze after he was found dead at the base of Fifi Buttress in mid-November. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Tietze made friends and climbed all over the world, picking up a wide array of jobs that included work as a ranch hand and as an ophthalmic assistant for the Himalayan Cataract Project. His parents wrote after his passing that he was “a man who in so many ways embodied the complexities of the Universe.”
-
Through the Telescope
|
In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 60, Associate Editor Paula Wright tells the story of a lasting partnership between two leading female alpinists and their adventures on la Meije in the late 1800s.
-
A feminist review of climbing how-to guides
|
At a time when the American climbing population is becoming increasingly diverse, Georgie Abel examines the extent to which current instructional climbing books represent people of different genders and races.
-
Cartography of Prayers: Pemako
|
In this story that first appeared in Alpinist 54 as part of a series titled “A History of Imaginary Mountains,” Harish Kapadia recalls a journey inward while visiting a mystical Himalayan land known as Pemako. Kapadia, 72, received the 2017 Piolets d’Or-Asia Lifetime Achievement Award on November 3 in Seoul, Korea. He is the first Indian to receive the recognition.
-
Slovenians establish two new routes in the Kishtwar Himalaya
|
In this guest feature from the American Alpine Journal, Urban Novak reports on two new routes that he established with Marko Prezelj and Ales Cesen this past June. They acclimatized with a Grade ‘D’ route on Peak 6013, and then got lucky with a weather window that allowed them to complete their main objective, the west face of Arjuna (ca. 6250m). They named their route All or Nothing (ED+ M7+ WI5+ A0).
-
Threshold Shift
|
Nick Bullock recounts his first ascent of the North Buttress of Nyainqentanglha Southeast in Tibet with Paul Ramsden in 2016, and his subsequent return from Tibet to England to help his aging father. Back home, Bullock confronts the death of his mother, the loss of climbing friends and the uncertainties of Brexit. This story first appeared in Alpinist 57 and was recently named the best Mountaineering Article of the year at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.
-
Hayden Kennedy and Inge Perkins remembered
|
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz recounts memories of the lives of his friends Hayden Kennedy and Inge Perkins after their recent deaths in Montana.
-
Light Before Wisdom: The East Face of Cerro Kishtwar
|
“Light Before Wisdom”: In this article from Alpinist 54, Hayden Kennedy shared moments of laughter and uncertainty from his 2015 ascent of the east face of Cerro Kishtwar with Marko Prezelj, Urban Novak and Manu Pellissier.
-
A Mysterious Lonely Path: The Life of Francek Knez
|
On October 6, Slovenian alpinist Francek Knez passed away. During the course of his lifetime, Knez completed over 5,000 international climbs, including the first ascent of Hell’s Direttissima on the east face of Cerro Torre. Bernadette McDonald profiled the visionary and reclusive mountaineer in Alpinist 52: “He seemed to draw energy from the natural landscape, tending his soul and feeding his imagination. Or maybe he garnered strength, not from the landscape, but from his inner core.”
-
The Changing Faces of the Outdoors
|
As she recalls her own experiences as a woman of color who enjoys the outdoors, Teresa Baker interviews members of various organizations who strive to help a wider range of people experience the mountains, forests and cliffs–not just the typical faces most often seen in media and ad campaigns. “By coming together to create a more inclusive industry,” she points out, “we can better guard against the threats to the environment that affect not only outdoor recreation, but our communities as a whole.”
-
Contraindications
|
In this story from Alpinist 59, Alison Criscitiello recalls her friendship with the late Anna Smith, a climber who sought a life of spontaneity and freedom in wild places.
-
Unclimbed Nepal: The Explorations of Paulo Grobel
|
In this guest feature from the American Alpine Journal, French guide Paulo Grobel reports on his explorations of Nepal’s Damodar Himal, north of the Annapurna group, and the first ascent of a subpeak of Himlung Himal, a popular 7,000er north of Manaslu. This story provides a sneak-peak from the 2018 AAJ.
-
Inaccessible (1853-1917)
|
Henry Duhamel was an influential figure in the early exploration of la Meije, one of the last, great unclimbed Alps in the Massif des Ecrins in France. This essay by former Vertical editor Claude Gardien–part of Erin Smart’s Mountain Profile in Alpinist 59–recounts Duhamel’s rich life as an inventor and explorer who never quite attained international fame and who died after slipping on ice in a military barracks during World War I, but who nevertheless helped usher in a new age of French mountaineering and skiing.
-
New route attempt in Alaska’s Revelations ends with a rescue and a near miss
|
Chris Thomas and Rick Vance received a 2017 Mugs Stump Award to attempt the unclimbed north face of Jezebel in Alaska’s Revelation Mountains this past spring. The trip went according to plan–until it didn’t, and the two climbers found themselves suddenly involved in a rescue beneath dangerous seracs.
-
The Accidental Mountaineer
|
As a single mom living in California, Ana Beatriz Cholo never imagined she would become a mountaineer. But she began climbing peaks in her state, and she eventually earned a spot on a Denali climbing team organized for female military veterans like her. Cholo shares how the experience helped her in this Climbing Life Story from Alpinist 59.
-
Through local stewardship and civic engagement, climbers protect places for all
|
Land managers and climbers have been known to have conflicting interests at times, but local climbing coalitions across the country—such as the Bay Area Climbers Coalition and Salt Lake Climber Alliance, among others—have helped organize climbers into a group of allies who can make a great difference when it comes to advocating for public land, from the grass-roots, to the national level. Laura Booth and Andrea Laue take a closer look at how we can work together as local stewards or our natural resources.
-
Marguerite ‘Meta’ Claudia Brevoort: 1825-1876
|
In 1870, Marguerite ‘Meta’ Claudia Brevoort attempted to become the first climber, male or female, to stand atop the highest point of la Meije, one of the last great unclimbed Alps in the Massif des Ecrins in France. In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 59, Associate Editor Paula Wright relates the adventurous life of Brevoort, her nephew William Coolidge, and their dog, Tschingel, whose list of Alpine summits earned her an honorary membership in the exclusive Alpine Club.
-
The Moth
|
In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 59, Marc-Andre Leclerc considers a dead moth in the snow as he begins a risky ascent below looming cornices.
-
Outdoor Retailer Summer Show: Diversity and Inclusion; Where the outdoor industry’s mega-convention does (and doesn’t) succeed
|
Sara Aranda and Emma Murray attended Salt Lake City’s last Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Trade Show to journal the demonstrations and conversations about public lands as well as race and gender equality in the outdoor industry. Here is what they saw and heard.
-
Shunyata
|
In this On Belay feature for Alpinist 59, Indian Alpinist Karn Kowshik describes a journey of self-discovery during his time in the mountains of Spiti Valley, India, where he first dreamed of becoming a climber. After gaining experience in other ranges, he then returns to Spiti in search of unclimbed waterfall ice.
-
The World as It is Not
|
During the mid-twentieth century, an ardent conservationist and Cascades mountaineer planted a series of elaborate hoaxes in Summit magazine. He hoped to prod readers to see the mountains in fresh and unfamiliar ways–and to remember the value of wild lands. In this Sharp End from Alpinist 59, Editor-in-chief Katie Ives talks with some of the climbers involved in the story, as well as friends and family members, to learn more about the great imaginary mountains of Harvey Manning (1925-2006).
-
Freedom Catalogue
|
In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 58, Spencer Gray tallies the amount of resources and human labor required to produce the gear that he used to enjoy a single excursion into the mountains. He explains: “I submit this catalogue as proof of something true of much of modern life: the social and environmental cost of reaching these out-of-reach places, and returning safely, is unsustainably high.”
-
Refuge
|
Early expeditions often combined the exploration of new heights with a search for rare botanical specimens. More than a century after both natural history and mountaineering fractured into subdisciplines, Associate Editor Paula Wright explores the impacts of climbing’s science gap and the need for a more unified focus on conservation in this Wired story from Alpinist 58.
-
Conrad Anker’s commencement speech for the University of Utah addresses current and future challenges for humanity
|
Renowned alpinist Conrad Anker delivered the University of Utah’s graduation commencement speech and received an honorary doctorate on May 3, 2017. This is a copy of his speech, which considers the current and future challenges faced by Earth’s citizens, and the responsibility we have to address these global problems.
-
Less and Less Alone: Alex Honnold
|
This profile of Alex Honnold first appeared in Alpinist 35 (Summer 2011). In this piece, Alex Lowther cover’s Honnold’s sudden rise to fame, from his childhood and the death of his father, to how he balances the demands of his professional climbing career with his personal priorities.
-
In the Bear’s Lodge
|
Many climbers observe the voluntary climbing ban at Bear Lodge (Devils Tower) during the month of June as their way to show respect for local Native American cultures. In this Climbing Life piece from Alpinist 57, Nick Mott speaks with Milo Yellowhair from the Oglala Lakota and Arvol Looking Horse, Chief of the Nakota, Dakota and Lakota, and others to learn more about their views on the history.
-
Pulled Apart
|
In this Full Value story from Alpinist 58, Rick Accomazzo tells the story of a mission he participated in as a member of Yosemite Search and Rescue in July 1975 that has haunted him ever since–its memory compounded by the loss of his friend and climbing partner Tobin Sorenson in 1980. Illustrations by Andreas Schmidt.
