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The Black Dike, Cannon Cliff, New Hampshire, 1970s. Laura Waterman was the first woman to climb the route, four years after John Bouchard's 1971 first ascent. [Photo] Ed Webster

The Precarious World–The Sharp End, Alpinist 57

At a time when the word precarious is used increasingly to describe many aspects of our current existence, Katie Ives reflects on the differences between confronting risk in the mountains and responding to much vaster political and ecological uncertainties in the US and the world. “I think now, especially with climate change, we are without a doubt living in a precarious world,” climber and environmental advocate Laura Waterman tells her. “We have to make the right decisions, ethically, as best we can.”

The red line shows the approximate route of Standing Room Only (Russian Alpine Grade 5a, Scottish IV, M4, 650m) on the West Face of Xialongrezha (5678m). The first four pitches are obscured below the fin of rock. [Photo] Rob Baker

Small Australian-Chinese team explores new ground in Tibet

A team of five friends self-fund an expedition to a rarely visited area of Tibet and climb a previously unnamed 5678-meter peak they named Xialongrezha. They climbed the west face and called their route Standing Room Only (Russian Alpine Grade 5a, Scottish IV, M4, 650m).

Marcin Tomaszewksi leads a pitch during the first ascent of Titanic (M5 5.10c A3 WI4, 1800m) on the North Face of the Eiger (3970m), which he completed with Tom Ballard on November 30 to December 6. [Photo] Tom Ballard

First ascent of ‘Titanic’ adds another chapter to the Eiger North Face

Tom Ballard and Marcin Tomaszewksi have only climbed together three times, but all those climbs have been first ascents. They added another hard new route to the Eiger North Face in December –Titanic–and Ballard continued his legacy with the mountain that his mother, Alison Hargreaves, had climbed while she was pregnant with him.

[Photo] Alberto Cafferata/Wikipedia Commons

After the Expedition

In this work of short fiction from Alpinist 18, Stevenson weaves a tale about a driftless climbing guide balancing his successes “against an unwritten page of his climbing resume, against the darkness.”