As an ecologist and a writer, I spend a lot of time contemplating how those two vocations speak to each other. Fundamentally, my research explores what it is to translate a landscape and how language shapes our perception of the ecosystems on which we depend.
Behind the histories of exploration lie less-visible tales of rumored summits that prove to be nonexistent, and of physical mountains whose shapes and heights transform according to different legends.
On October 5, 1999, while Dave Bridges and Alex Lowe were investigating a potential ski descent on the southwest face of Shishapangma, an avalanche buried them. This spring, their remains were found on the mountain.
We asked Lise Billon and Jerome Sullivan, two of the four authors of “A Quartet for Silent Lands” in Alpinist 53 (the other two authors are Diego Simari and Antoine Moineville) to share additional photos from their story for us to post online.
At seventy-three, Cascades climber Fay Pullen bushwhacks through dense thickets and climbs isolated peaks–generally alone. Cindy Beavon pays a visit to one of Washington’s most prolific soloists.
Before his theory of evolution made him famous, Charles Darwin was an enthusiastic, if somewhat picky, mountaineer. Paula Wright considers the significance of his most disappointing ascents.
![David Bridges (left), Conrad Anker (middle) and Alex Lowe sorting gear on a rooftop in Kathmandu before the 1999 Shishapangma trip. [Photo] Andrew McLean](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/shish1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Andrew McLean shares his reflections on the 1999 expedition, the avalanche that killed Alex Lowe and David Bridges and the void left by their passing.
![Jess Roskelley on lead through mixed terrain during the first ascent of Westman's World (VI M7 AI4X A3 70) on the Citadel (8,520') in the Kichatna Spires, Alaska. [Photo] Benjamin Erdmann](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/citadel-of-ice-and-wind-0495.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
