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Sisterhood of the Rope
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August 9, 2011: The mountains march east into China. That silver sentinel on the horizon is Muztagh Ata, I tell my sister, Christine. To the south rise the dusky ramparts of the Hindu Raj, indistinct in the morning haze. I point north across the Wakhan Corridor, panhandle of Northern Afghanistan.
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Drew Smith’s Social Media Guest Postings November 23-29
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From November 23 to 29 Drew Smith shared his photos and video on our social media pages as part of the Alpinist Community project. Smith has established new routes in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia; Cochamo, Chilean Patagonia; and in Sequoia National Park, California.
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Being with the Mountain
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WHEN I WAS A CHILD, reading adventure stories in a house by the sea, I often dreamed about worlds above the clouds. One day, my father took me on a hike up a nearby mountain. It was just a little one–a rocky summit poking through a thick carpet of trees–in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. But for the first time, I thought I could touch the clouds. It was as though I’d walked into one of the illustrations in my books.
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Searching for Nightfall in Renland
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“Our arrival, aboard our yacht, before the walls of Renland left us speechless. Imagine if you could sail to Yosemite Valley, amidst an array of glaciers, the ocean flirting with the foot of the rocky slopes. Before our very eyes there were more [unclimbed] rock faces than we could ever climb, even if we stayed there for the rest of our lives.”
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Lizzy Scully’s Social Media Guest Postings November 16-22
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Between November 16 and 22, we posted Lizzy Scully’s photos and video to our social media pages as part of the alpinist community project. She calls her collection “The Middle Path”.
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Uncharted
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DARKNESS OVERTOOK US. In the midst of absolute night, in the heart of the Cordillera Sarmiento, Camilo and I returned from the summit of Cerro Alas de Angel. The fog closed in, and a white wind filled the gloom, deepening our blindness.
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A Stairway to Heaven on the Matterhorn
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Sixty-five-year-old French alpinist Patrick Gabarrou is always watching the mountains. He spends a great deal of time in the Alps–he sees them in different seasons, different lights. He discovers features that are not often visible–features less-devoted climbers might miss.
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Anna Pfaff’s Social Media Guest Postings November 9-15
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Between November 9 and 15, we posted Anna Pfaff’s photos and video to our social media pages as part of the alpinist community project.
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Creeksgiving
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NO PLACE SUCKS UP SUN like the Johnny Cat enclave at the Cat Wall, Indian Creek. The maroon cliffs are striped with perfect, cleaved fissures like vertical gateways into a hidden world. The desert heat can be oppressive, but in late autumn, the low golden rays cast long shadows over the walls.
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Ashes and Air
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JAGGED RIDGELINES DARKEN and blur in the dim light. A palette of blues merges into thick, bland grey. I lean my head forward to rest on the rock wall in front of me. I pay out slack listlessly as the rope twitches to Chantel. In the murk of early morning, we find ourselves 2,500 feet up the Denali Diamond, with another 5,500 feet of mountain above. We’ve taken turns belaying each other as we explore the “snow band” for possible bivy spots. So far, we’ve found only shallow ice over steep rock. After thirty hours of climbing, my fatigue dulls…
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The Andy Tyson Memorial Fund
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As climbers, we expect the unexpected. We know events happen out in the world–a hold breaks beneath a foot, a cam pulls during a short fall, a rock plummets down a mountain couloir, or a cascading avalanche scours a benign slope. We do what we can to mitigate risk and danger, but we know that bad stuff happens during good times.
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Jeff Shapiro’s Social Media Guest Postings November 2-8
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Between November 2-8, Alpinist contributor Jeff Shapiro posted his photos and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. Shapiro was instrumental in our most recent issue’s feature story, “Going Home.” He’s been featured in NewsWires including “Grosvenor Sees Third Ascent,” and “Trip Report: New Mixed Route in Glacier NP and the story Searching for Light in the Dark Arts.”
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Thwarted on Nuptse
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I’ve just recently returned to the US from my second trip to the Nepalese Himalaya. In late September I met up with Ueli Steck in Kathmandu, and the next day we flew to the Khumbu region. Our plan was an alpine-style attempt on the southeast buttress of Nuptse East, the line named “Moonlight Sonata” by its first ascentionists, Valeri Babanov and Yuri Koshelenko. In addition to Nuptse, we had procured permits for Lobuche East and Cholatse, for nice acclimatization options.
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Tom Frost: How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything
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When climbing historian Steve Grossman describes Tom Frost, he calls him a “visionary who redefined climbing style; an engineer who helped revolutionize climbing equipment; an artist whose iconic photography documented the most celebrated first ascents on Yosemite’s big walls; and a conservationist who led the international effort to save historic Camp 4.” Filmmaker Tom Seawell, who worked with Frost on several projects over the years at Frost’s lighting business Chimera, recognizes the similarities between how he managed the company and its employees and how he treats his climbing partners.
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Skiy Detray’s Social Media Guest Postings October 26-November 1
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Between October 26-November 1, Alpinist contributor Skiy DeTray posted his photos, video and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. His notable ascents are included in several NewsWires and web features, including: Teams Smoke Speed Records on El Cap, Video: Speed Ascent of El Cap’s Zenyatta Mondatta (video produced by Detray’s cousin Dave Coy), Lion in Winter: Mt. Temple’s North Face and Berg and DeTray Author Illusions of the Raven.
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Marc-Andre Leclerc’s Social Media Guest Postings October 19-25
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Between October 19-25, Alpinist contributor Marc-Andre Leclerc posted his photos and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. His notable ascents are included in several NewsWires, including: Solo Triple Linkup on Slesse in Alpine Ninja-Cat Stylee Mountain, Speed Soloing the Chief, Marc-Andre Leclerc Solos Cerro Torre’s Corkscrew Route and Soloists Visit Patagonia in Winter.
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Carl Battreall’s Social Media Guest Postings October 12-18
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Six months ago we posted a slideshow on Alpinists.com by Carl Battreall called “A Collection of Climbed and Unclimbed Alaska Peaks.” His shot of the Citadel, in the Neacola Range, was inspiration for the namesake film by Posing Productions documenting Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey’s new route up the peak’s Northwest Ridge.
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Chris Marshall’s Social Media Guest Postings October 5-11
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Between October 5 and 11, 2015, AMGA Certified Ski Guide and AMGA/IFMGA Aspirant Mountain Guide Christopher Marshall posted his photos and stories on our social media pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. We noticed Marshall’s work when he started tagging us on Instagram. Marshall calls this collection of images “a reflection of the greater shared experience [captured] during dusk and dawn’s golden hour.”
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Birth, Sickness, Old Age, Death: Chapter 1
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MY BODY IS FALLING APART at the joints. My last surgeon peeled a frayed mess of cartilage off my left humerus as he fixed a torn labrum. The bones of my shoulder socket grind on each other every time I do thumbs-down hand jams.
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Birth, Sickness, Old Age, Death: Chapter 2
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Death? That wasn’t something I was ready to contemplate. Pain was forcing me out of bed at 2, 3 or 4 a.m. I couldn’t sleep. I felt like a driver in a car skidding out of control. I kept hitting the brakes, but the car just accelerated.
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Paul McSorley’s Social Media Guest Postings: September 28 to October 4
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Between September 28 and October 4, 2015, Alpinist contributor Paul McSorley posted his photos and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. McSorley has been featured on our website and his image appears in A Season in Patagonia in Alpinist 0. Below is a compilation of his work from that week. McSorley calls this collection of seven photos “lines that have changed my perspective.”
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International Team Completes Mt. Waddington Project
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International team completes line on the highest mountain wholly within British Columbia, Mt. Waddington. From August 18 to 19, Paul McSorley, Ines Papert and Mayan Smith-Gobat completed a two-day ascent of Mt. Waddington’s Southwest Buttress to reach its Northwest Summit (4000m). Two parties had previously attempted their 20-pitch 800-meter route, rated 5.11+ WI3 M5 ED1.
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Searching for Light in the Dark Arts
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Jeff Shapiro reflects on wingsuit flight after the death of his friends Sean “Stanley” Leary, Dean Potter and Graham Hunt. See the tribute to the three men in Alpinist 51 (on newsstands now and available online) or read the feature here–Ed.
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Clint Helander’s Social Media Guest Postings September 21-27
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Between September 21 and 27, 2015, Alpinist contributor Clint Helander posted his photos and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. Helander has been featured on our website and his words appear in Alpinist 32, The Relentless Raven, Alpinist 46, Local Hero: Mark Westman, and Alpinist 49, The Question: The Direct East Face of Golgotha.
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Craig Muderlak’s Social Media Guest Postings September 14-20
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Between September 14 and 20, 2015, Alpinist contributor Craig Muderlak posted his art, photos and stories on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as part of our Alpinist Community project. Muderlak’s artwork has been featured on both our website and in Alpinist 50 and 51. This web feature is a compilation of his work from that week.
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Into the Shadow Chapter 1
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STARS FLICKER IN A SLOW-SPINNING SKY. Old snow crackles. The moraine–a rubble-strewn lunar surface–creaks under our feet. A yellow moon lights our path. Ice gleams. Houseman and I are creeping like thieves. We’re scared the mountain might hear our approach.
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Into the Shadow Chapter 2
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THE BEDROOM WAS DARK. Ten minutes, just ten more minutes. I curled the covers over my head. How do you prepare yourself? Soon I’d get up and make the daily prison commute. Ten heavy steel doors would open and close with a clunk as sharp as a cork pulled: ten inmates escorted to the gymnasium.
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Photographer Jason Gebauer: The Silent Observer
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We caught up with photographer Jason Gebauer when he was passing through Winter Park, Colo., while scouting landscape to shoot this coming winter. A resident of Golden, Colo., Gebauer is on the road two months a year but gets out climbing and photographing about three days a week. “I mostly shoot climbing and climbing lifestyle, but I’ve been getting into skiing and ski mountaineering,” he tells us.
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Dru Part II–1983: La Voie Lesueur, First Winter Ascent
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THE CLANGOR OF OUR SKI BOOTS on steel stairs broke the winter silence atop the Grands Montets. I turned, my gaze riveted on the North Face of the Drus: “It’s there,” I told my climbing partner Thierry Renault. “Yes, yes, yes,” he murmured in the Frank Zappa style of talking he favored at the time. The wall rose from depths of shadow, silver-streaked and foreboding. The Voie Lesueur formed an almost continuous line of iceand snow-lined chimneys and gullies spiraling from right to left, terminating atop the Grand Dru.
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Mountain Profile: The Aiguille du Dru Part II (1955-2015)
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“It seemed built to perpetuate our dreams”–thus Guido Magnone described the Aiguille du Dru in The West Face. Ian Parnell relives the history of a peak poised between mountaineering fantasies and environmental realities. Royal Robbins, Claude Remy, Andy Parkin and Jerome Sullivan share dispatches from the past to the future.