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Left: Scott Adamson at the base of pitch 3 during the first ascent of The One Who Knocks WI6 M5 R/X, Reid's Peak, Uintas, Utah. Right: Kyle Dempster at the Superbowl Sunday BBQ at the top of Pitch 2 on the Great White Icicle, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. [Photos] Nathan Smith

Adamson, Dempster Remembered for Love, Tenacity

Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson were at home in wild and remote mountains. But their sense of passion and commitment spread beyond the bold routes they climbed to the people with whom they shared their lives. On Alpinist.com, Derek Franz writes about the disappearance of the two men on the north face of the Ogre II. Friends of the two climbers remember their tenacity and love.

Kyle Dempster on a rainy day in Salt Lake City. [Photo] Nathan Smith

In Memory of Kyle Dempster

On September 3, 2016, the search for Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson, missing on the Ogre II in Pakistan, was called off. Here, a friend and climbing partner Scott Robertson writes a tribute to Kyle. We will be working on more stories about Kyle and Scott in the weeks ahead.

Cirque of the Towers. [Photo] Doug Kofsky

Wind River Universe

Dick Dorworth reflects on the changes that the last forty-five years have brought to the Wind River Range: “On a clear day, the surface of Lonesome Lake reflects the sweeping silver walls of the Cirque of Towers, a glacier-polished mirror to the climber who cares (dares?) to gaze into it and to take those visions back to the larger world.”

Ellingwood Peak (13,052'), the most prominent in the photo, with Notch Pinnacle (12,720'+) to the immediate left and Not Notch Pinnacle (12,760'+) farther left. [Photo] Joe Kelsey

Last Unclimbed Wind River

Eminent chronicler of the Wind River Mountains Joe Kelsey searches for the “last Unclimbed Wind River” peak–a quest inspired by an episode with his climbing partner, Paul Horton, on an obscure and seemingly unvisited summit: “As Paul led toward a chimney on the final pitch, he let out an equivocal chuckle…. ‘What?’ ‘A piton.'”

Mitchell Peak (12,482'). [Photo] David Salisbury

My Big Scary First Ascent

Before she and Bev Johnson made the first female ascent of El Capitan, Sibylle Hechtel lead her first unclimbed big wall in the Wind Rivers: “Dick handed me our minimal gear, pointed,

and said, “Just head up that corner until you get to a good ledge, and set up a belay.’ I gulped.”

Bill Lindberg on Tower I Gully (IV AI 3+, 1,000'), Mt. Helen (13,620'). [Photo] Raymond G. Jacquot

Tower I Ice Couloir, Mt. Helen

Bill Lindberg and I are several pitches up a narrow couloir on the north side of Mt. Helen. A thick, even ribbon of white divides the tawny-grey granite walls that rise steeply above us on either side. The granular, late-season ice accepts the picks of our piolets and rigid crampon points perfectly. Thus far, the climb has been so straightforward that we might have rehearsed it ahead of time; we are both exhilarated to be moving rapidly on an unclimbed alpine line.” In 1971, two climbers put new alpine gear to the test on what was the first ascent of Mt. Helen’s now-classic ice couloir.

Sundance Pinnacle (11,054'). [Photo] Steph Abegg.

Extra Left Klettershoe

After climbing classics every day,” Doug Robinson recalls, “it was easy to assume that the great lines had all been snatched up. Our steps turned homeward, with lingering views of the great Cirque vanishing over Warbonnet’s shoulder. One last wall, Sundance Pinnacle, hesitated our footfall.” In this essay, Robinson recalls his first, first ascent in 1966.

Charlie Raymond on the first ascent of the North Face of Mt. Hooker [Photo] Royal Robbins Collection

Wyoming’s Range of Light

Royal Robbins recounts a sojourn to the Winds in 1964: “Two things that you don’t usually find in the Sierra, but that you can expect in the Wind Rivers, are a thick population of mosquitoes and bad weather in the summer. Also, in certain areas you may encounter enormous herds of sheep.”

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

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 mountaineering–as well as the efforts to create a more inclusive history today.

Between the Earth and the Sky

For our Climbing Life department in Alpinist 55, high school student Kai Lightner writes about his first multipitch traditional climb on Stone Mountain, with Yosemite pioneer Doug Robinson. For more, wide-ranging stories from our print magazine contributors, pick up a copy of Alpinist 55.