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The Fight for Workforce Equity on Kilimanjaro
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In this Wired story from Alpinist 72–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Marinel Malvar de Jesus collects stories of local guides and porters on Kilimanjaro as they confront the inequities of the mountain tourism industry and the new challenges of a global pandemic.
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Elisabeth Revol’s book “To Live” is an ode to Tomasz Mackiewicz and Nanga Parbat
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When Elisabeth Revol and Tomasz “Tomek” Mackiewicz reached the summit of Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat (8125m) on the evening of January 25, 2018, they had completed the second winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, and Revol became the first woman to summit the mountain in winter. Their ordeal was just beginning, however. Revol’s new book, “To Live: Fighting for Life on the Killer Mountain,” translated into English by Natalie Berry, sheds light on her dramatic rescue and the loss of Mackiewicz. Emily Hopcian reports that the book “is a deeply human account of the nightmare Revol endured…. It is a detailed exploration…
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Glaciers Abound in Lynn Martel’s new book, “Stories of Ice”
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Sarah Boon reviews Lynn Martel’s latest book, “Stories of Ice: Adventure, Commerce and Creativity on Canada’s Glaciers,” which was published earlier this year. Boon describes the work as “a comprehensive look at how these features have shaped the ways people have traveled through and populated the land. Martel shows that we still have much to learn about the now-disappearing bodies of ice from the community of adventurers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists who have explored them.”
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And Then We Were Twelve
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In 1990 alpinist Barry Blanchard found himself trapped in a blizzard high on Yexyexescen (Mt. Robson), the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies–with eleven other climbers, two of whom were injured, and no certain way down. In this Full Value story from Alpinist 72–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Blanchard tells the story of how they all miraculously survived.
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Tool Users: Modern Weather Forecasts
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In this Tool Users story from Alpinist 72–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Brandon Blackburn investigates one of the most paradigm-shifting tools of modern alpinism: accurate weather reports.
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Falling into Place
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In this On Belay story from Alpinist 72–which is now on newsstands and in our online store–a young Michael Kennedy sets out in 1977 with two of his heroes, Jeff Lowe and George Lowe, on the Alaskan expedition that culminated in the first ascent of the famous Infinite Spur on Mt. Foraker/Sultana. Looking back on that summer, Kennedy recalls how the name of the route grew to represent “far more than the physical dimensions of the climb.”
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Meditations of a Dreamer
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We’re sharing this story early from the upcoming issue of Alpinist 72 because it pertains to policies that may change depending on the outcome of the presidential election on November 3. In this story from the Climbing Life section of Alpinist 72, Mauricio Portillo writes of how he arrived in the US when he was only four, as his parents sought a “safer place to raise a family,” and how he and other “Dreamers” later benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA), which gave them a “temporary stay from being deported to countries we hardly remember.” Portillo…
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Water is Life
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In this Wired story from Alpinist 71–which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store–Dine climber Len Necefer journeys to the sacred peaks to find new ways to meld his ancestral cultural ceremonies and the mountain sports he loves while the world around him increasingly grapples with uncertainty and the threat of climate change.
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Tool Users: Barometer
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What’s a glass instrument measuring four feet long and filled with mercury doing in your rucksack? In this Tool Users story from Alpinist 71, Caroline Schaumann and Bruce Willey reveal the history of the glass barometer.
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Local Hero: Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa
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In this Local Hero story that first appeared in Alpinist 71, Deepa Balsavar and Nandini Purandare recount the life of Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa, who was born in Nepal in 1932 and was ahead of his time when he started the Sherpa Guide School in 1966 near Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Balsavar and Purandare write, “A gentle and far-thinking man, Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa remains an unsung hero of mountaineering: a superb climber, teacher, leader and entrepreneur, and a compassionate soul. His story deserves to be told.”
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Beyond the Field Notes: Ed Roberson on Climbing and Poetry
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In this feature from Alpinist 71, Sarah Audsley interviews poet Ed Roberson. Born in 1939 in Pittsburgh, Roberson nurtured a burgeoning curiosity for the world from a young age. On his first major mountaineering expedition, he made the second ascent of Nevado Jangyaraju III (5450m) in Peru. Herein, Roberson discusses how his notes from the field came to shape some of his prize-winning work.
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Of Monuments and Mountains
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In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 71–which is now on some newsstands and in our online store–Deputy Editor Paula Wright observes, “Today the phrase ‘keep politics out of climbing’ frequently pops up in online comments–as though by disregarding the larger context of our expeditions or by censoring certain facts, we might emerge onto a fantasy plane where the messy realities of our societies and the airy brilliance of an alpine summit never intersect. Yet we are living in a time of overlapping crises and movements that no one can ignore.”
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Wringing It Out
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In this story from The Climbing Life section of Alpinist 70, Spencer Gray experiences an unusual turn of events when he gets caught in the rain on a multipitch route while climbing with a less-experienced experienced partner.
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Tool Users: Crack Climbing Gloves
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In this Tool Users story that first appeared in Alpinist 70–which is now available on some newsstands and in our online store–Mailee Hung considers the history, and the perceived absurdity, of crack climbing gloves.
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Climbing Poems by Ed Roberson
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Ed Roberson is the author of many books of poetry, including To See the Earth before the End of the World. A dedicated mountain climber, Roberson traveled extensively throughout South America in the 1960s and ’70s. He has received several awards for his work and has taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. His poems “Peru” and “The Age of the Climber” appeared in Alpinist 58 (2017) and Alpinist 67 (2019), respectively.
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Rebuilt
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In this feature story from Alpinist 70, Craig DeMartino writes about how he survived a hundred-foot ground fall in 2002. After doctors fused vertebrae in his back and neck, he decided to have his right leg amputated below the knee. He now mentors others who have suffered life-altering injuries, all while making the most of life with his wife and kids.
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In Deep
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In this fiction story that first appeared in The Climbing Life section of Alpinist 50 (Summer 2015), James Edward Mills imagines a Black 17-year-old named Jamal from Washington, DC, who finds himself dangling from a rope inside a crevasse in Alaska, pondering his attraction to the mountains in spite of what his classmates back home had told him: “Climbing is one of those fool things white people do.”
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Roaming in Place
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In this Sharp End essay from Alpinist 70, Alpinist Deputy Editor Paula Wright reflects on words by Nan Shepherd while sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright writes, “To allow yourself extended periods without frenetic motion is itself a cultivated practice. As the mountain would teach: there is value in being still…. In times of crisis, we have the opportunity to recalibrate our relationships with each other, with our activities and with the land.”
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Labyrinths of Granite and Ice
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In this story from Alpinist 69–which is currently available in our online store–Graham Zimmerman writes of his adventure on Link Sar with Steve Swenson, Mark Richey and Chris Wright. They traveled to the Kaberi Glacier in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan In the summer of 2019 to climb the 7041-meter peak that they had dreamed about. For Zimmerman, the expedition was a chance to learn from some of the most experienced Karakoram mountaineers and challenge some of his own youthful assumptions about alpinism, risk and life.
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A Climbing Quiz
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In this story from The Climbing Life section of Alpinist 69–which is now available in our online store–Bosley Sidwell (or was that Steve Jervis?) poses some trivia questions. Think you’re versed in climbing lit and historical ascents? Take the quiz and find out!
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Mountain Profile Essays from Alpinist 69 | Mont Blanc
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Read the essays from our Mountain Profile about Mont Blanc.
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Sharon Wood’s book “Rising” is a reflection of her 1986 ascent of Chomolungma (Everest) and a male-dominated culture then and now
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In 1986 Canadian mountaineer Sharon Wood and her teammate Dwayne Congdon reached the summit of Mt. Everest (Chomolungma) via a variation to the difficult West Ridge route. Herein, Sarah Boon reviews Wood’s 2019 memoir, “Rising,” which follows Wood along her path to becoming the first North American woman to stand atop the storied peak. “Wood’s book is a window into the world of women in climbing at a time when many still considered women to be inferior mountaineers,” Boon writes.
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Mountain troops rope up and strengthen bonds during the Partnership for Peace program in Switzerland
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In this story, US Army Mountain Warfare School officer Nathan Fry shares his experience with the NATO Partnership for Peace Program that took place in Switzerland in the summer of 2019. “At a time when international relationships seem to be fracturing, engagements such as the Partnership for Peace mountaineering course have taken on a new value in creating a shared appreciation for other cultures,” he writes.
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The Ahwahnee Brunch Retrospective (starring “Roger” & “Ed” in an eating contest of stupendous proportions)
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In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 69–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Tami Knight shares some background about the inspiration of a cartoon that she created many years ago, titled “Roger and Ed at the Ahwahnee Brunch.” She writes, “Roger is an amalgamation of the climbers I knew at that time in Yosemite…. Ed, on the other hand–Ed Spat to give his full name–was a real guy.” In addition to her story, she has also updated the cartoon in full color.
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2018: Ultra Royal Traverse of the Mont Blanc Massif
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 69–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Ben Tibbetts writes of completing the Mont Blanc Royal Traverse with Colin Haley in 2018. The 41 kilometer route along the mountain’s main axis was first attempted by Kilian Jornet and Stephane Brosse in 2012, but ended when a cornice collapsed and killed Brosse. In this story, Tibbetts confronts his own setbacks and fears after being involved in two avalanches.
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Walter Bonatti: Citizen of Mont Blanc
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 69–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Claude Gardien recounts Walter Bonatti’s checkered relationship with Mont Blanc. Gardien writes: “Again and again, on mountains around the world, he’d lived through the hell of alpinists, when the elements unleash and everything becomes suffering, tragedy, grief. On Mont Blanc, he’d also known a few moments of ineffable beauty–as if he’d encountered that formidable privilege, as the writer Georges Sonnier suggested, of ‘contemplating the eye of the god.'”
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1912-1913: Paul Preuss
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 69–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–David Smart recounts the bold endeavors of Paul Preuss to complete the longest ridge traverse in the Alps, and his final season of climbing in 1913.
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1876: A Winter’s Tale
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In this Mountain Profile essay from Alpinist 69–which is now available on newsstands and in our online store–Alpinist Deputy Editor Paula Wright describes the first winter ascent of Mont Blanc in 1876, by Mary Isabella Straton, Jean Charlet, Sylvain Couttet and Michel Balmat. “Women are capable of everything,” historian Charles Durier later wrote in his book, Le Mont-Blanc.
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The Measure of a Mountain
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Looking at the role of summits in climbing history, from the early days to twentieth-century discussions and more recent Himalayan news about inaccurate claims, Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives asks: What is the measure of a mountain?
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The melting glaciers of Koma Kulshan
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In this story that was commissioned as part of the Covering Climate Now campaign, Ilana Newman and photographer Matthew Tangeman document how melting glaciers have caused drastic changes to some popular climbing routes on Koma Kulshan (Mt. Baker) in Washington.