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Off Belay: Darwin’s Disappointment
Before his theory of evolution made him famous, Charles Darwin was an enthusiastic, if somewhat picky, mountaineer. Paula Wright considers the significance of his most… Read More »Off Belay: Darwin’s Disappointment
Letters: Fire in the Cascades
In which a reader, asking for replacement copy of Alpinist 43, shares a grim tale of how the original was lost.
Sharp End: The Ice World, Beyond
During the Victorian Age, an intrepid group of women helped pioneer winter mountaineering–only to have their contributions largely vanish from mainstream history.
Off Belay: Creating Tomorrow’s Superclimbers
Matt Samet offers six “helpful” tips for training your infant to be the next superclimber of the future. With cartoons by Tami Knight.
Local Hero: Cameron M. Burns on Todd Gordon
If you’ve spent time at Joshua Tree, you likely met (or stayed with) the “Mayor of Joshua Tree,” Todd Gordon. Cameron Burns profiles this generous… Read More »Local Hero: Cameron M. Burns on Todd Gordon
Sharp End: Off the Map
1953, Zanskar Himalaya: A small shadow of a woman moves slowly over a drape of white. The summit cone of Nun glows, no longer distant,… Read More »Sharp End: Off the Map
Tool Users: Realized Ultimate Reality Piton
Even in 1960, with the rudimentary gear of the era, the first fifty feet of Kat Pinnacle’s unclimbed Southwest Corner seemed manageable: an overhanging crack… Read More »Tool Users: Realized Ultimate Reality Piton
Local Hero
IT WAS CLOSING NIGHT OF THE YEARLONG RUN OF PAVLA OVER THE PRECIPICE, AND EVERY SEAT IN Ljubljana’s Slovenian Youth Theatre was occupied. Actors lowered… Read More »Local Hero
Tool Users: the Joe Brown Helmet
The rock was about half the size of a brick, Joe Brown guesses; it’s hard to be precise when these things hit you in the… Read More »Tool Users: the Joe Brown Helmet
Sharp End
IN A BRICK HOUSE in the tree-lined village of Hildenborough, England, a Tibetan woman listened to her British husband translate books and newspapers, so she… Read More »Sharp End
A Climber’s Guide to Yosemite Valley
If you’re lucky, you own a copy of the 1964 A Climber’s Guide to Yosemite Valley–Steve Roper’s seminal “Red Guide.” Shey Kiester unearths Valley lore… Read More »A Climber’s Guide to Yosemite Valley