![Whitney Clark wears the Patagonia Nano-Air Light Hoody while leading a pitch on the first ascent of High Fashion (5.10, 1,000') on a peak near Wales Lake in the Sierra Nevada Range. The team found a tiny pill container that contained a summit register and identified the mountain as Wales Lake Peak. The register only had two ascents from teams who walked up the backside, Clark said. [Photo] Tad McCrea](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/patagonia-nano-air-light-hoody-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist contributor Whitney Clark tests the durability, warmth and water-resistance of the Patagonia Nano-Air Light Hoody. It did its job but she longed for a built-in stuff sack that would have allowed her to clip it to her harness. Four stars.
![From right to left: Joe Hamilton, May Ang and Charles Futoran pitch in to help the Bay Area Climbers Coalition maintain and clean up Indian Rock Park, in Berkeley, California. [Photo] Andrea Laue/andrealaue.com](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/indian-rock-cleanup-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.
![William Coolidge with his aunt, Meta Brevoort, their guides Christian Almer (far left) and Ulrich Almer (Christian's son, second left,) and dog Tschingel, circa 1874. [Photo] Courtesy of the Alpine Club](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a59-meta-brevoort-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.
![Beth Goralski takes shelter from sharp points while David Roetzel starts up Saphira in the Rigid Designator Amphitheatre Vail, Colorado. [Photo] Chris Van Leuven](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/grigri-plus-2-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The new GriGri+ is heavier and packed with new features, such as a switch for toprope/lead-belay modes and an anti-panic function. Chris Van Leuven learns why the GriGri+ doesn’t replace the GriGri 2 yet still adds a worthwhile option to the family of Petzl belay devices. Four stars.
![[Photo] Jackie Niles](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cp-jackie-niles-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On September 25-31, Jackie Niles and her friends Adam Reke, Chris Snobeck, Wade Morris and a few others shared stories and photos with the #alpinistcommunityproject about their climbing days in Rocky Mountain National Park.
![[Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/dying-moth.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.
![The world-class climbing destination of Indian Creek, Utah, is part of Bears Ears National Monument. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has suggested the possibility of shrinking the monument and submitted his final recommendation to President Donald Trump today, but the details of that recommendation have yet to be released. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/indian-creek-campsite-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke quietly submitted his recommendations to President Donald Trump today on whether to alter, reduce or rescind several national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Monuments in Utah. Zinke issued an interim report in June in which he recommended that Bears Ears should be reduced, but he wouldn’t say by how much. He emphasized that it was only an interim report that may be subject to change in his final report. No details on his final recommendations have been released so far, however.
![The This Land is Our Land March for Public Lands congregated in front of the Utah capitol in Salt Lake City on July 27 in conjunction with the last Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show to be hosted by the city. OR recently agreed to move the trade show to Denver starting next year in response to Utah lawmakers' continued efforts to rescind Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments. [Photo] Emma Murray](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/outdoor-retailer-trade-show-feature-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.
![[Photo] Francois Lebeau/Red Bull Content Pool](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mora-mora-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Sasha DiGiulian and Edu Marin recently made the second free ascent of Mora Mora (8c or 5.14b, 700m) in Madagascar, which was first freed by Adam Ondra in 2010. DiGiulian said this route represents a recovery from a bad back injury that happened to her about a year ago and that this is the hardest big wall she has done so far.
![Alpinist Associate Editor and Podcast Host Paula Wright record in the sound booth. [Photo] Alpinist staff](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/alpinist-podcast-sound-booth.jpg?resize=602%2C620&ssl=1)
In collaboration with Dispatch Radio, Height of Land Publications is pleased to announce the Alpinist podcast, a series of episodes that take the stories Alpinist readers love to a new medium. Each season, the Alpinist podcast delivers fresh interviews and untold stories, humorous adventure tales and discussions of important issues in the climbing world today. Each episode is hosted by Associate Editor Paula Wright.
