![Royal Robbins [Photo] Tom Frost](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/royal-robbins-obit-1.jpg?resize=480%2C620&ssl=1)
Royal Robbins (1935-2017) is remembered as a courageous visionary, from climbing the walls of Yosemite and the Alps, to kayaking raging rivers, and navigating his business, he embodied many lives in the span of his time on Earth and inspired generations, as evidenced by the numerous stories shared by his friends and admirers. Climbing shaped Robbins, and in turn he shaped climbing.
![A Berec headlamp used by Martin Mushkin from the mid-1950s until 1980. [Photo] Michelle Hoffman](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/alp57-tool-users-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this Tool Users story from Alpinist 57, Paula Wright shines a light on the evolution of the headlamp. Since some climbers were still carrying flashlights in their mouths as late as the early 1970s, it seems that we have only recently emerged into a more illuminated age.
![A climber's bookcase. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/literature-of-ascent-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
“Literary mountain writing may now be giving way to the selfie,” Stephen Slemon writes in this essay. “But this shift towards the visual media may be opening new ground for the genre of mountaineering literature to change.” Slemon explores climbing’s ties to the written word and how the form of climbing narratives is evolving.
![Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz enjoys a good seat for belaying a toprope in Gallatin Canyon, Montana. Sitting while belaying from the ground is never an ideal practice. Four prominent climbing organizations are partnering to standardize the way safety practices are taught across the country. [Photo] Mandi Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/four-clubs-partner-to-set-climbing-ed-standards.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The American Alpine Club recently announced that it is collaborating with the Colorado Mountain Club, the Mazamas and The Mountaineers “to promote improvements in climbing safety, coordinate stewardship and advocate for climbing areas in the United States.”
![Mike Lewis guides the North Face of Longs Peak (14,259'), Rocky Mountain National Park, in mixed conditions. [Photo] Eric Stoutenburg](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/petzl-irvis-hybrid-crampons-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Part steel, part aluminum, and with Dyneema cord in place of a metal bar to connect the two halves, Mike Lewis finds that the Petzl Irvis Hybrid Crampons hit a nice balance between durability and lightweight packability. He would have awarded them five stars if not for one shortcoming.
![[Illustration] Andreas Schmidt](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/deringolade-alp56-full-vallue-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this Full Value story from Alpinist 56 Sibylle Hechtel recounts a pivotal moment in her climbing career–her first first-ascent, in Canada’s Bugaboos, 1973. She went on to become famous for the first all-female ascent of El Capitan with Beverly Johnson later that year, but her experience in the Bugs taught her “how to get up and back down” in the mountains.
![Lungaretse (5870m). [Photo] Camilo Lopez](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/unattached-alp57-on-belay-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this On Belay article from Alpinist 57, Anna Pfaff describes her adventures as she becomes “unattached” from maps, expectations and conventions and learns to find her own way into some of the unknown realms beyond.
![[Image] Richard T. Walker. the fallibility of intent #1, 2015; cut-out archival pigment print; 32 x 48 in. Walker's work teeters between the humorous and melancholic, juxtaposing the sublime with what it means to be imperfect and ultimately human, wrote Amy Owen in a California Gatehouse Gallery brochure. Courtesy, Richard T. Walker](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/beyond-conquest-alp57-off-belay.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this excerpt from Alpinist 57 Mailee Hung explores artwork by Richard T. Walker that “casts unease on traditional aspirations” and helps us consider “how to describe the aesthetic experience of climbing beyond this inherited legacy” of alpinists as conquerors.
![El Valor del Miedo (M6 A2 90+ degrees, 1000m) on Cerro Murallon's east face is marked in red.[Photo] Ragni di Lecco](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/el-valor-del-miedo-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Three Italians completed a route up the middle of Cerro Murallon’s east face in early February that was first attempted in 1999. They named their route after a book written by an Argentinian Air Force captain–El Valor del Miedo (M6 A2 90+ degrees, 1000m), which translates as “The Value of Fear.” The 2017 Patagonia summer climbing season has seen a return of storm cycles and unpredictable conditions that are more typical of historical weather patterns for the area. The Italians’ East Face route would normally be an unlikely choice for summer.
![The Alpine Luddites White Light/White Heat backpack with crampons and ice tools strapped to the outside. [Photo] Paula Wright](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/alpine-luddites-white-light-pack-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Associate Editor Paula Wright puts the Alpine Luddites White Light/White Heat backpack to the test, awarding it four stars. The company takes an a la carte approach to the gear it sells so that minimalists will have only the accessories they want, such as the foam layer that comes in a customizable thickness and doubles as a “bivy pad.”
