![A Get Out And Trek (GOAT) climbing event in Kent, Connecticut. [Photo] Courtesy of GOAT](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/goat-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The Vermont-based adventure company Get Out And Trek (GOAT) announced on May 14 that they are developing the outdoor industry’s first Outdoor Equality Index (OEI) to help companies and organizations improve their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts targeting LGBTQ+ communities. The group will survey participating companies from June 2020 through June 2021.
![[Photo] Noman Gilgiti. Manipulation: Robin Earle](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a70-sharp-end-1.jpg?resize=930%2C608&ssl=1)
In this Sharp End essay from Alpinist 70, Alpinist Deputy Editor Paula Wright reflects on words by Nan Shepherd while sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright writes, “To allow yourself extended periods without frenetic motion is itself a cultivated practice. As the mountain would teach: there is value in being still…. In times of crisis, we have the opportunity to recalibrate our relationships with each other, with our activities and with the land.”
![Matteo Bernasconi in his element. [Photo] Courtesy of Matteo Della Bordella](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/matteo-bernasconi-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
As travel restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic continue, climbers around the world connected remotely through Facebook on May 17 to raise their glasses in a toast to the life of Matteo “Berna” Bernasconi, a highly regarded Italian alpinist who died in an avalanche while ski-mountaineering in northern Italy on May 12. He was 38 years old. Bernasconi worked as a mountain guide since 2011, was a prominent member of the elite Ragni di Lecco (Lecco Spiders) club and is credited with numerous first ascents across the world, especially in Patagonia.
![A view of the Southeast Face of Link Sar from base camp with the line of the first ascent. [Photo] Mark Richey](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a69-link-sar-3-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this story from Alpinist 69–which is currently available in our online store–Graham Zimmerman writes of his adventure on Link Sar with Steve Swenson, Mark Richey and Chris Wright. They traveled to the Kaberi Glacier in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan In the summer of 2019 to climb the 7041-meter peak that they had dreamed about. For Zimmerman, the expedition was a chance to learn from some of the most experienced Karakoram mountaineers and challenge some of his own youthful assumptions about alpinism, risk and life.
Alaskan climber Clint Helander generally prefers softshell jackets instead of hardshells when climbing and skiing, but the Rab Muztag GTX Jacket proved to be an exception. He writes, “I have always appreciated the ability of softshells to breathe and stretch while I methodically plod up steep snow slopes. In my mind, Gore-Tex jackets were still too heavy and restrictive in regard to movement…. I was happy to be proven wrong.” Five stars.
![[Cartoon] Kendra Allenby](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a69-tcl-climbing-quiz-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this story from The Climbing Life section of Alpinist 69–which is now available in our online store–Bosley Sidwell (or was that Steve Jervis?) poses some trivia questions. Think you’re versed in climbing lit and historical ascents? Take the quiz and find out!
![Jagor Koprek and two unidentified volunteers remove a damaged chimney above Vlaska Street in the center of Zagreb, Croatia. Koprek is one of the organizers of the volunteer movement to help clean up dangerous debris from city rooftops after the March 22 earthquake that rocked the country's capital. [Photo] Ivica Sturlan](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/zagreb-quake-4.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On March 22, a Sunday morning, Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb was in the end of their second week of lockdown to address the COVID-19 pandemic when citizens awoke to 5.5-magnitude earthquake that was soon followed by an almost similarly strong aftershock. In the aftermath, toppled chimneys and dangerous debris crowded the rooftops of so many buildings that official emergency crews quickly became overwhelmed. Seeing the desperate need and an opportunity to lend their rope-access skills, approximately one hundred Croatian climbers, cavers and high-rise workers have spent more than three weeks clearing rooftops. President of the Republic Zoran Milanovic recently thanked the group for its work.
![A screenshot of the Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Fest video. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/online-film-fests-screenshot.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the United States and the world, stay-in-place orders have forced a change of plans for all kinds of public gatherings. That includes film festivals, some of which are now offering free online viewings. Here we’ve gathered some links to free film fests and videos that we think may be of interest to Alpinist readers.
Read the essays from our Mountain Profile about Mont Blanc.
![Adam Howard rappelling into the clouds at the Col du Chardonnet in Chamonix, France, in 2008 as Gordy Skoog looks on. [Photo] Jeff Diener](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/adam-howard-skiing.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In the midst of economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, Height of Land Publications CEO and President Adam Howard addresses our magazines’ readers, contributors, advertisers and retailers. He writes, “We’ll continue bringing you the great stories, art and photography to which you’ve become accustomed…. We’re cutting checks and taking submissions according to Plan A…. We’re here for you.”
