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Marguerite ‘Meta’ Claudia Brevoort: 1825-1876
In 1870, Marguerite ‘Meta’ Claudia Brevoort attempted to become the first climber, male or female, to stand atop the highest point of la Meije, one of the last great unclimbed Alps in the Massif des Ecrins in France. In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 59, Associate Editor Paula Wright relates the adventurous life of…
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The Petzl GriGri+ is more durable and has more safety features
The new GriGri+ is heavier and packed with new features, such as a switch for toprope/lead-belay modes and an anti-panic function. Chris Van Leuven learns why the GriGri+ doesn’t replace the GriGri 2 yet still adds a worthwhile option to the family of Petzl belay devices. Four stars.
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#AlpinistCommunityProject Flashback: Jackie Niles
On September 25-31, Jackie Niles and her friends Adam Reke, Chris Snobeck, Wade Morris and a few others shared stories and photos with the #alpinistcommunityproject about their climbing days in Rocky Mountain National Park.
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Interior Secretary concludes review of national monuments but details have yet to be released
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke quietly submitted his recommendations to President Donald Trump today on whether to alter, reduce or rescind several national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Monuments in Utah. Zinke issued an interim report in June in which he recommended that Bears Ears should be reduced, but he wouldn’t say by how…
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Outdoor Retailer Summer Show: Diversity and Inclusion; Where the outdoor industry’s mega-convention does (and doesn’t) succeed
Sara Aranda and Emma Murray attended Salt Lake City’s last Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Trade Show to journal the demonstrations and conversations about public lands as well as race and gender equality in the outdoor industry. Here is what they saw and heard.
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DiGiulian, Marin make second free ascent of Mora Mora (5.14b, 700m) in Madagascar
Sasha DiGiulian and Edu Marin recently made the second free ascent of Mora Mora (8c or 5.14b, 700m) in Madagascar, which was first freed by Adam Ondra in 2010. DiGiulian said this route represents a recovery from a bad back injury that happened to her about a year ago and that this is the hardest…
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Alpinist Magazine announces Alpinist Podcast season 1: The Voices Behind the Words
In collaboration with Dispatch Radio, Height of Land Publications is pleased to announce the Alpinist podcast, a series of episodes that take the stories Alpinist readers love to a new medium. Each season, the Alpinist podcast delivers fresh interviews and untold stories, humorous adventure tales and discussions of important issues in the climbing world today.…
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Czech climbers realize ‘Satisfaction’ on Gasherbrum’s southwest face
Marek Holecek has returned to the southwest face of Gasherbrum I (8080) five times since 2009 in a bid to complete a route up the middle of the face through two rockbands. After enduring multiple epics–including the death of his longtime climbing partner in 2013, and a bad case of frostbite in 2016, in addition…
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Chilean climbers reach two Karakoram summits near Broad Peak
Three Chilean climbers–Andres Bosch, 29, Armando Montero, 36, and Alejandro “Jimmy” Mora, 39–set out for the Karakoram Range in mid-June to explore some unclimbed peaks directly across the Godwin-Austen Glacier from Broad Peak. On their first trip to Pakistan, over a nine-day period, they made the first ascent of a 6270-meter peak, which they dubbed…
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Shunyata
In this On Belay feature for Alpinist 59, Indian Alpinist Karn Kowshik describes a journey of self-discovery during his time in the mountains of Spiti Valley, India, where he first dreamed of becoming a climber. After gaining experience in other ranges, he then returns to Spiti in search of unclimbed waterfall ice.
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#AlpinistCommunityProjectFlashback: Pete Takeda
On August 7-13, 2016, filmmaker, author and longtime Alpinist contributor Pete Takeda shared some images and stories with the #alpinistcommunityproject about ice climbing in Quebec, which you can now see here. He wrote an article about the trip for Alpinist 55 titled “The Country of Winter,” and also produced a short documentary called “Northern Soul.”
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Hazel Findlay sends a new stemming testpiece in Squamish at 5.13d R
Hazel Findlay recently made the first ascent of the hard trad route Tainted Love, aka Northern Soul (5.13d R)–a thin and powerful stem-corner that is accessed from the top of the Chief in Squamish, British Columbia.
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Good To-Go backcountry meals: Nutritious and as good as dehydrated recipes can get
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz generally avoids the packaged, freeze-dried or dehydrated meals when he goes camping, but he sampled several Good To-Go meal varieties in the backcountry with his wife, and they agreed the recipes were the best they’d ever tried for this type of food. The meals were flavorful and nutritious, replenishing tired…
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#AlpinistCommunityProject Flashback: John Climaco
On October 2 through October 8, John Climaco of Park City, Utah, shared some photos and stories about his time traveling and climbing abroad with the #alpinistcommunityproject. The 47-year-old has been climbing for 37 years all over the world and now considers himself lucky to be taking his kids to the mountains. You can now…
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Canadians free climb Chacraraju’s east face headwall with ‘The Devil’s Reach Around’
Canadian climbers Alik Berg and Quentin Lindfield Roberts completed a new route they called The Devil’s Reach Around (M6 5.10, 90°) on the east face of Chacraraju Este (6001m) in Peru in mid-July. It is the first route on the face to be completed without aid, and the two men did it in just two…
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Carsten von Birckhahn is remembered for his kindness, passion and vision
Carsten Von Birckhahn–a respected member of the international climbing community and brand manager for Edelrid–died in a paragliding accident in northern Italy on July 15 while vacationing with his wife and kids. He was 49. His friends Martin Kroussottsi (with translation by Rolando Garibotti), Josh Huckaby and Malcolm Daly share their memories of the influential…
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Front and Center: Patagonia’s 850 Down Sleeping Bag 19F/-7C performs well, starting with the unusual zipper location
Mike Lewis spent 58 nights in the Patagonia 850 Down Sleeping Bag (19°F/-7°C) and slept well enough to award it five stars. He noted that there are some features that could be improved but he is otherwise impressed with the company’s first sleeping bag designs.
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The World as It is Not
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 see the mountains in fresh and unfamiliar ways–and to remember the value of wild lands. In this Sharp End from Alpinist 59, Editor-in-chief Katie Ives talks with some of the…
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Freedom Catalogue
In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 58, Spencer Gray tallies the amount of resources and human labor required to produce the gear that he used to enjoy a single excursion into the mountains. He explains: “I submit this catalogue as proof of something true of much of modern life: the social and environmental cost…
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The La Sportiva Kataki: A great shoe for vertical to moderately overhanging rock climbs
Derek Franz stepped into the new La Sportiva Kataki rock shoes and is impressed with their performance on “tiny little nothings.” He found that the shoes functioned well for their intended purpose of climbing vertical to moderately overhanging terrain. Five stars.
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Refuge
Early expeditions often combined the exploration of new heights with a search for rare botanical specimens. More than a century after both natural history and mountaineering fractured into subdisciplines, Associate Editor Paula Wright explores the impacts of climbing’s science gap and the need for a more unified focus on conservation in this Wired story from…
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Family organizes continued search efforts for Galvan and Zerain on Nanga Parbat
Mariano Galvan’s family organized a continued search effort after he and Alberto Zerain disappeared on Nanga Parbat (8125m) June 24. The men are presumed to have died in an avalanche at around 6000 meters while attempting the second ascent of the long, technical Mazeno Ridge. Alex Gavan, who knew the men and was climbing a…
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#AlpinistCommunityProject Flashback: Michael Kennedy
From August 28 through September 3, 2016, former Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Michael Kennedy shared some photos and stories for the #alpinistcommunityproject about his time in Wyoming’s Wind River Range during the 1970s and 1980s. The series appeared in conjunction with the release of Alpinist 55, which featured the Winds in a story by Paula Wright titled…
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