![Clint Helander wearing the La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme boots on an ice climb. [Photo] John Giraldo](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/la-sportiva-trango-tower-extremes-1-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Clint Helander tested the La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme GTX boots on some Alaskan ice climbs and cannot think of a single con. He reports that the Trango Towers are the “new iteration” of the discontinued “silver bullet” EVO Extremes and that these boots are “ideal for ice/mixed climbing and single-day mountaineering.” Five stars.
![The author with a standard New Mexico rack, ca. 1982--hexes and saddle wedges...sad times, he reflects. [Photo] Nestor Solano](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/catching-ludwig-1b.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.
![Tom Ballard, left, and Daniele Nardi. [Photo] Ballard, Nardi collections](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ballard-nardi-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The bodies of Tom Ballard, 30, of Britain, and Daniele Nardi, 42, of Italy, were spotted through a telescope above Camp III on Nanga Parbat’s Mummery Rib at around 5900 meters on March 9. A BBC.com story posted today, March 11, quoted Italian Ambassador to Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo as saying there might be a possibility of recovering the bodies.
![Smugglers' Notch, Vermont. [Photo] John Pitocco](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a65-sharp-end-1.jpg?resize=800%2C309&ssl=1)
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 that they rarely found in cities…. ‘Why do we want to have alternate worlds?’ asked the fantasy writer Joan Aiken in Locus Magazine (1998), ‘You have to imagine something before you do it.'”
![Cannon Cliff in winter. In a crag profile of Cannon Cliff for Alpinist 21, Freddie Wilkinson wrote, Welcome to New England's biggest wall, where 1,000 feet of rivalry, bad weather and exfoliating granite never felt so good. [Photo] Sarah Audsley](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/an-astonishing-plentitude-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.”
![Elena Quispe and Ana Lia Gonzales at the summit. [Photo] Jaime Murciego](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cholitas-4.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Two “Cholitas Escaladoras” from El Alto, Bolivia, became the first Aymara women to summit Aconcagua (6962m) in January. Three others nearly succeeded as well. Their achievement represents a benchmark for indigenous women reclaiming their identity after centuries of discrimination and for the Bolivian climbing community as a whole.
![Tom Ballard, left, and Daniele Nardi. [Photo] Daniele Nardi's Facebook page](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ballard-nardi-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Tom Ballard, 30, of Britain, and Daniele Nardi, 42, of Italy, are missing on Nanga Parbat (8126m) in Pakistan. According to updates on Nardi’s Facebook page, helicopters are attempting to deliver a rescue team “as close as possible” to Camp 3 today, where a tent “invaded by snow” was spotted amid “traces of an avalanche” during a morning reconnaissance. The climbers were last heard from on Sunday, February 24, while attempting a winter ascent via a new route up the Mummery Rib, which is prone to avalanches. Their last known position is somewhere around 6300 meters between Camp 3 and Camp 4.
![A climber rappels in Utah's San Rafael Swell, one of many areas across the country that will soon have wilderness designations if President Donald Trump signs the Natural Resources Management Act, which was passed by Congress on February 26. [Photo] John Easterling](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/san-rafael-swell-pano.jpeg?resize=930%2C272&ssl=1)
Yesterday the House of Representatives passed a historic bipartisan bill titled the Natural Resources Management Act, 363-62. It cleared the Senate, 92-8, on February 12, and it is anticipated that President Donald Trump will soon sign it into law. The legislation combines more than 100 previously existing bills that affect public lands all over the country, and it includes provisions that pertain directly to climbers and climbing areas.
![The author on Washington Column wearing the Patagonia Mirco Puff Storm Jacket. [Photo] Andy Hoeckel](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/patagonia-micro-puff-storm-jacket-1-2.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Chris Van Leuven has been weathering the winter in Yosemite and Colorado with the Patagonia Micro Puff Storm Jacket. He found it to be a bit too warm to wear while climbing, but he enjoyed it for cold belays and camp life. Four stars.
![Derek Franz wears the Mountain Equipment Tupilak 30+ on Hidden Falls (WI4, 3 pitches) in Glenwood Canyon on New Years Eve, 2018. [Photo] Craig Helm](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mountain-equipment-tupilak-30-1-2.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz writes of the Mountain Equipment 30+ backpack, “This is the most hardcore rucksack I’ve ever used…. No frills. All utilitarian grit.” Franz reports that the pack is designed for the hardest mountain routes and leaves some convenience to be desired for more casual outings, but the Tupilak is well made for its intended purpose. Five stars.
