Katie Ives

Morning view of Trisul (7120m), Nanda Devi (7816m) and Nanda Kot (6861m), from Kaser Devi in the Garhwal Himalaya of India. [Photo] Coni Horler

Silences at Dawn

by Katie Ives

In this Sharp End essay from Alpinist 63, Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives contemplates the varying meanings of awe as she delves into mountain darkness and solitude… Read More »Silences at Dawn

The great Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley paging through files at her apartment in Dilli Bazar, Nepal, after the 2015 earthquake. [Photo] Alet Pretorius

The Mountain of Data

by Katie Ives

In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 62, Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives contextualizes some of the life and work of the great Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley,… Read More »The Mountain of Data

Clarence King (far right) with other members of the Geological Survey of California in 1864. [Photo] Silas Selleck, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 61, Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives ponders the legend of the “mountain of diamonds” in nineteenth-century American history and the… Read More »The Mountain of Diamonds

Edward LaChapelle and Austin Post in 1995. Glacier Ice continues to influence current photographers' efforts to document climate change. [Photo] Courtesy Ananda Foley

Vanishing Uplands

by Katie Ives

Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives recounts the lives of Austin Post and Edward LaChapelle and their contributions to the study of glaciers and snow, including their… Read More »Vanishing Uplands

The altered map from the May 1960 Summit article, An Unclimbed No Name Peak, showing the imaginary location of the mountain. As Ronald Peattie pointed out in Mountain Geography, surprisingly few people agree what a real mountain is, how high and steep it must be for that term: To a large extent, a mountain is a mountain because of the role it plays in popular imagination. [Image] Courtesy of the American Alpine Club

The World as It is Not

by Katie Ives

During the mid-twentieth century, an ardent conservationist and Cascades mountaineer planted a series of elaborate hoaxes in Summit magazine. He hoped to prod readers to… Read More »The World as It is Not

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

by Katie Ives

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… Read More »The Precarious World–The Sharp End, Alpinist 57

Lauret Savoy's Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape (2015). [Photo] Katie Ives

Lauret Savoy’s Trace: Exploring Landscapes of Exclusion and Inclusion in American History

by Katie Ives

Alpinist Editor-in-chief Katie Ives describes some of the reasons Lauret Savoy’s 2015 book, Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape has become deeply relevant… Read More »Lauret Savoy’s Trace: Exploring Landscapes of Exclusion and Inclusion in American History

The Emperor Face of Mt. Robson (3959m), where Barry Blanchard, Eric Dumerac and Philippe Pellet made the first ascent of Infinite Patience (VI 5.9 M5 WI5, 2200m) in 2002. Fourteen years later, Marc-Andre Leclerc soloed it. [Photo] Jeffrey Pang

Off Route and Out of Time – The Sharp End, Alpinist 56

by Katie Ives

Back in April 2016, Canadian alpinist Marc-Andre Leclerc described his solo of the Emperor Face of Mt. Robson: “My thoughts had reached a depth and… Read More »Off Route and Out of Time – The Sharp End, Alpinist 56

Kyle Dempster and Bruce Normand in Shuangqiao Valley, Siguiang Shan Mountains, Sichuan, China. [Photo] Andrew Burr

Edges of Maps: The Mountain Stories of Kyle Dempster

by Katie Ives

At the time of his disappearance on the Ogre II, Kyle Dempster was one of the most promising mountain storytellers of his generation. Alpinist editor-in-chief… Read More »Edges of Maps: The Mountain Stories of Kyle Dempster

An 1805 map of the Yellowstone River, which historian James P. Ronda writes, was based off drawings or information from the Mandan chief Sheheke and copied by William Clark, who noted that it led "as far as the high mountains." [Photo] Beinecke Library, Yale University

Typologies of Silence

by Katie Ives

In “Typologies of Silence,” the Sharp End article for Alpinist 55, Editor-in-chief Katie Ives discusses some of the muted stories in accounts of early American… Read More »Typologies of Silence

A History of Imaginary Mountains–Thoreau’s Dream: Beyond the Maps

by Katie Ives

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… Read More »A History of Imaginary Mountains–Thoreau’s Dream: Beyond the Maps

A Summit of One’s Own: Women’s Mountaineering Writing

by Katie Ives