On February 21, 2015, Caroline (Caro) North and Christina Huber (AU) reached the summit of 10,262-foot Cerro Torre via the Ragni Route (M4 90 degrees, 600m), marking the first all-female team ascent, done free and unsupported, of the Patagonian tower.
I first noticed the line, at the Sabbatical Wall in Indian Creek, Utah, last spring. I was mesmerized by its 150-foot wildly overhanging dihedral system composed of multiple offwidth roofs, all set on alluring red-brown Wingate 200 feet off the ground.
It was love at first sight when Ken Yager met Yosemite Valley for the first time in 1972. Living in Davis, California, 13-year-old Yager and his parents drove five hours east in the family car to Yosemite. The first thing he wanted to see in the Valley was El Capitan, a 3,000-foot-high granite monolith that loomed above the valley floor.
“The adventure for the race was unknown, and it could have been over my head,” Craig Muderlak says. “With most of my illustrations, I don’t know how they’ll turn out and I have no guarantee of a good outcome.”
A few weeks ago, we published Matt Van Biene’s black-and-white portraits of climbers in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia. This week we bring you chapter 2 of Biene’s project–this time with continuous scrolling–with his remaining images.
They call the Canadian Rockies’ Mt. Temple the Eiger of North America. Both peaks offer sheer north faces with steep imposing headwalls that soar 1500 meters above the valleys below, both feature compact limestone, both are regularly subject to tempestuous weather that can appear out of seemingly calm skies. Perhaps most importantly, both are steeped in mystery, lore and ominous histories.
Recently, while browsing through Instagram, I noticed about a half dozen images by Matt Van Biene–climber portraits taken in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia. The black-and-white portraits, shot very close to the climbers, caught my eye. I sent him a quick message stating that we were interested in showcasing his work on alpinist.com.
Photographer John Price has been climbing for the past six years and shooting photos for the past three.”I’ve been lucky to have photographic mentors in the Rockies,” he tells us.
Photographer Carl Battreall shares his collection of Alaska’s climbed and unclimbed peaks. The photos in this collection are from his upcoming book, The Alaska Range, due out in spring 2016.
“I’m self-taught, my friend” says illustrator Sarah Uhl over heavy static from the road on her way back to Carbondale, Colo. from Hood River, Ore. “I started making illustrations about a year ago.” Her work has appeared in the latest issue of Alpinist, various projects for The American Alpine Club, Mountain Flyer Magazine and on semi-rad’s tees.
