![James Edward Mills stands in front of his exhibit featuring African American mountaineer Charles Madison Crenchaw at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum, in Golden, Colorado. [Photo] Courtesy of James Edward Mills](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mills-charles-crenchaw-exhibit-930x620.jpeg)
“Something Yet Higher,” an exhibition featuring African American mountaineer Charles Madison Crenchaw, opened at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum on February 6. Crenchaw was the first Black man to summit Denali in 1964, an accomplishment that remains relatively obscure despite its historic significance. James Edward Mills curated the exhibit.
![Bradley Briggs ascends broken terrain on the Coleman Glacier of Koma Kulshan (Mt. Baker), Washington. [Photo] Matthew Tangeman](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mt-baker-glaciers-1-930x620.jpg)
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.
![Climbing in Bears Ears National Monument, Ute (Nuu-agha-tuvu-pu) and Pueblo Territories. [Photo] courtesy of Ben Crawford/Access Fund](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bears-ears-cat-wall-930x620.jpg)
This year–2020–is anticipated to be the year for the long-awaited court ruling as to whether President Donald Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in December 2017 was legal. There appears to be some hope for the people in favor of reinstating the former boundaries of the 1.35 million acre monument. But as the legal battle plays out, the Trump Administration has ordered the Bureau of Land Management to push ahead with a management plan for the greatly reduced monument, which critics say is “highly flawed.”
![The famous Blue Bear outside the Colorado Convention Center, pictured on the first official day of the Winter Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show, Wednesday, January 29, 2020. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/winter-outdoor-retailer-preview-1-930x620.jpg)
As Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz prepares to attend Denver’s third Winter Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show, he reflects on the rise of conversations about politics and the environment at the biannual trade convention. A climate rally is planned for Friday afternoon at the conclusion of the show, and a recent update was also announced for the lawsuit defending the original designation of Bears Ears National Monument.
![Following in the footsteps of the famous Cascade Range guidebook author Harvey Manning. [Photo] Katie Ives](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a68-sharp-end-1-930x620.jpg)
In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 68–which is currently on newsstands–Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives goes in search of a secluded alpine basin to retrace the steps of a famous guidebook author, Harvey Manning.
![Bob Craig (left) and Dee Molenaar in Seattle, 2011. [Photo] John Scurlock](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/dee-molenaar-1-930x620.jpg)
Dee Molenaar died January 19 at age 101. In honor of his inspiring life, we are sharing a profile written by Michael Ybarra for the Climbing Life section of Alpinist 36 (Autumn 2011). Sadly, Ybarra preceded Molenaar in death, when he died in the summer of 2012 while climbing solo in California’s Sierra Nevada Range. Both men are dearly missed.
![Kyle Dempster in his elements. [Photo] Kyle Dempster collection](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/kyle-dempster-solo-award-img1874-930x620.jpg)
Two grant application periods opened this week–the Kyle Dempster Solo Award and the American Alpine Club Live Your Dream Grant. The AAC application period is closing earlier this year, on February 29. KD Solo Award applications are due March 15.
We are sad to report that a series of avalanches has devastated villages in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Steve Swenson, a climber and author who is very familiar with the area, has provided Alpinist with some description about the hazards villagers face in these mountains.
![Wayne Merry while engaged in Alaskan glacier mapping for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1958. [Photo] Dick Long (Wayne Merry collection)](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wayne-merry-1-800x620.jpg)
Steve Grossman chronicles the adventurous life of Wayne Merry, who passed away at home in Atlin, British Columbia, early on October 30, 2019, after suffering from prostate cancer. He was 88. Merry completed the first ascent of the Nose on El Capitan with Warren Harding and George Whitmore in 1958. He went on to oversee the foundation of Yosemite Search and Rescue and the Yosemite Mountain Shop, and eventually settled in Canada where he continued his work as an educator and steward for wild places.
![The south face of la Meije (3983m) and the upper Etancons Valley, with the Glacier Carre covered in snow during spring, Massif des Ecrins, France. [Photo] Manu Rivaud](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a68-on-belay-1-930x620.jpg)
For 141 years since its first ascent, mountaineers from around the world traveled to climb la Meije in the Massif des Ecrins of France. Meanwhile, the permafrost that held its stones together was melting. On August 7, 2018, rockfall destroyed much of the normal route. In this On Belay story from Alpinist 68, two locally based guides–Benjamin Ribeyre and Erin Smart–recount a search for a new way up the peak amid the uncertainties of the planet’s future.
