Skip to content
Home » free » Page 43

free

Barbara Zangerl on Pitch 22, Magic Mushroom (5.14a). [Photo] Francois Lebeau

Larcher and Zangerl make a rare free ascent of El Cap’s Magic Mushroom (5.14a) at the end of another busy season for the Big Stone

It’s been another productive season for climbers on El Capitan: Jacopo Larcher and Barbara Zangerl made a rare free ascent of Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a, 2,900′) on El Capitan, topping out on December 10 after an 11-day push from the ground. Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds set a new speed record on the Nose on October 21, and Keita Kurakami redpointed all individual pitches on the Nose (5.14a) on November 15 but plans to return and climb it in better style.

Above the Lirung Glacier. Behind is the lower right side of the east face of Langtang Lirung. Dusserre and Girard hoped to land above the icefall visible in the center. [Photo] Dusserre/Girard Collection

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.

Whitney Clark explores unknown terrain on a peak above Sphinx Lake in Kings Canyon, California, this past August. [Photo] Tad McCrea

Sterling Fusion Nano IX: A versatile rope that is light and dry

Whitney Clark takes the Sterling Fusion Nano IX along for some rugged granite adventures in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 9mm rope can be used as a thick half-rope or a skinny single rope, and features Sterling’s new DryXP treatment, which exceeds the UIAA certification of less than 5 percent water absorption, keeping the rope light and durable in even the wettest conditions. Clark put those claims to the test and awarded the Fusion Nano IX five stars.

Erin Smart on the summit of la Meije in 2016, with the Pic Central in the background. [Photo] Kurt Dienel

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.

Looking east from the summit of North Six Shooter in Indian Creek, Utah, provides a glimpse of the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. South Six Shooter is in the foreground and Bridger Jack Butte and pinnacles are in the middle ground. The Abajo Mountains are in the background to the right and the La Sal Mountains are just out of view to the left. Canyonlands National Park lies behind the photographer, just a few miles to the west. [Photo] Derek Franz

Trump heading to Utah and is expected to reduce size of two national monuments

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, Dec. 4, and he is expected to announce plans to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is organizing rallies at the Utah capitol on Saturday, Dec. 2, and Monday, Dec. 4, to oppose the reductions.

Edward LaChapelle and Austin Post in 1995. Glacier Ice continues to influence current photographers' efforts to document climate change. [Photo] Courtesy Ananda Foley

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 climbers were to look beyond some of our focus on individual fulfillment to face the bigger challenge that confronts us all.

Niels about to dodge some lightning in the Wind River Range, Wyoming. [Photo] Gareth Llewellin

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.”

Emile Rey, Katharine Richardson and J.B. Bich at the foot of the statue of Horace Benedict de Saussure and Jacques Balmat, Chamonix, France, 1890. [Photo] Courtesy of the Alpine Club

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.