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[Illustration] Andreas Schmidt

Full Value: Degringolade

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

On Belay: Unattached

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

Off Belay: Beyond Conquest

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

Three Italians complete an unfinished route on Cerro Murallon’s east face

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

Alpine Luddites White Light/White Heat backpack: custom-made to contentment

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.”

Loulou Boulaz. In the 1930s, Boulaz was “the only woman in the race for the big north faces,” historian Rainer Rettner writes. “She was met with a lot of distrust by men.” [Photo] Sallie Greenwood

Local Hero: Loulou Boulaz

During the 1930s, one woman joined the race to climb the feared north faces of the Alps, venturing into terrain then believed to be reserved for only the boldest (and some claimed the most reckless) men. In this Local Hero from Alpinist 57, Sallie Greenwood looks back on the extraordinary, often-forgotten life of Swiss alpinist Louise “Loulou” Boulaz.

The north face of Kumbhakarna, above local settlements. Some names of local expedition workers are absent from written records. For a few in this article--Penuri, Ungati and Tumba--where we couldn't find other sources, we relied on climbers' memories, and it's possible the real names might be different. [Photo] Javier Camacho Gimeno

2017: Ghunsa

Local guide Dawa Sherpa describes what it’s like to live and work near the base of Jannu/Kumbhakarna–a mountain sacred to his culture.