![Rudugaira Peak (5819m) is one of the mountains being promoted with lower permit fees this year by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. [Photo] Courtesy of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/imf-permit-fees-1.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation offers reduced permit fees on 81 select mountains for the 2017 season. The goal is to encourage foreign expeditions and disperse traffic from some of the most popular areas.
![Scott Yorko on belay duty in Clear Creek Canyon, Colorado. [Photo] Chris Van Leuven](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/edelrid-topaz-1-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The 9.2mm Edelrid Topaz Pro Dry CT is a skinny rope that handles like a mid-weight. Chris Van Leuven has put thin cords to the test before, and he was mostly pleased with this one, awarding it four stars.
![[Photo] Alberto Cafferata/Wikipedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/jeff-long-glass-mountain-1.jpg?resize=930%2C359&ssl=1)
During the nineteenth century, Jim Bridger was well known for tall tales about the ranges of the American West. Herein, the modern climbing writer Jeff Long retells Bridger’s attempt on “Glass Mountain,” examining the aspirations and consequences of frontier mythology.
![Two climbers at Chasm Lake at the base of Longs Peak. [Photo] Jeff Long](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/jeff-long-the-story-behind-the-glass-mountain.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
An interview with climber and New York Times best-selling author Jeff Long on his story “The Glass Mountain,” published in Alpinist 54.
![This photo shows Gimmigela East (7005m) from a vantage point above the team's base camp. Auer wrote, Our plan of putting up a base camp with a direct view to the mountain was shut down by our porters. They all stopped in Camp Pangpema, the base camp for Kangchenjunga (8586m). We convinced five of them to shuttle up our loads a little bit higher during a few days. [Photo] Elias Holzkenecht](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/gimmigela-east-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
When Hansjorg Auer and Alex Blumel couldn’t get a permit for their original objective last November they were pointed to Gimmigela East (7005m). It turned out to be a great choice, as they became the first people to approach the mountain from the northern side and climb its previously untouched North Face (M4, 85-degree ice, 1200m).
![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](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sharp-end-issue-57.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
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.”
![Bachelor Party: After a typical Black Canyon approach, the author (right) prepares to climb back to the rim with his buddies Jack Cody (middle) and Todd Preston (left), in June 2015, the day before the author's wedding. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sportiva-tx2-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The La Sportiva TX2 approach shoes shine brightly on fast-and-light rock missions when you need to carry your approach shoes with you on the climb. Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz awards them five stars.
![Jenny Abegg and Alix Morris look on as Forest Woodward gets enthusiastic about his morning coffee in basecamp. [Photo] Graham Zimmerman](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/first-first-ascents-leaning-towers-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Four friends spend 10 days doing first ascents in the Purcell Wilderness, British Columbia, and for some it was their first time doing a first ascent.
![[Photo] Erin Monahan collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/talking-enviro-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
At the 2016 Summer Outdoor Retailer trade show, Erin Monahan wonders how far leaders in the outdoor gear industry are really willing to take their commitment to the environment.
![Nik Mirhashemi and Mark Pugliese climbed a route they called Wrong Way Bud (5.6 M4, 500m) on Norbu Peak (5634m) on October 23. [Photo] Nik Mirhashemi](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/rolwaling-trip-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Americans Nik Mirhashemi and Mark Pugliese made three probable first ascents on three peaks in Nepal’s Rolwaling Valley on their first trip to the Himalaya last autumn.
