I live in Malaga in Southern Spain, not so close to the Alps, but on September 11, I received notice of good conditions and weather on the way. I had to work that day, reached home at 21:00, gathered my gear, and hopped a plane in Barcelona. I met my partner Manu at 02:00 on the 12th, then drove all night, reaching Chamonix at 12:00.
Alpinist’s first Weekly Feature, “1931 Exum Ridge Video,” states that the third ascent of the Exum Ridge was made by Paul Petzoldt, George L. Waters III (the cinematographer), Walcott Watson, H.M. Sherman, Chas. E. Logan and a Mr. Lasky of San Francisco. With help from www.tetonclimbinghistory.com and Renny Jackson, NPS employee and co-author of A Climber’s Guide to the Teton Range, we discovered that this group made the fourth ascent, not the third. The 1931 newspaper clipping, which is excepted in the Weekly Feature, and other period sources had failed to realize that the second ascent was made by Paul Petzoldt, who soloed the Exum Ridge on the same day that Glenn Exum first climbed that famous route. In doing so, Jackson said, they had neglected “an important piece of Teton climbing history.”
Michael Kennedy marries Alpinist editor Christian Beckwith to Giovannina Anthony south of Wilson Wyo., Sept. 22, 2007.
The Russian Team that climbed Shingu Charpa’s east face sends these photographs and topos of the route.
Alpinauts? Astroneers? The Cassini probe just returned this photo of Iapetus. Let’s hope we get there someday–that ridge looks awesome.
I am just back from an official visit to Lhasa, Tibet, where I attended the celebrations of the China Tibet all 14, 8000m peaks success in a group. The three successful summiteers of All 14, 8000m Peaks are Tshering Dorje, Pemba Tashi and Lhotse under the leadership of Samdruk. Asian Trekking sponsored one of their early expedition (Mt.Lhotse) and outfitted all the expeditions (Mt.Annapurna, Daulagiri, Manaslu, Kanchanjunga and Makalu) in Nepal. I was there under the capacity of Chairman of Asian Trekking and also as the President of Nepal Mountaineering Association. This event was attended by high level delegates from Beijing and Lhasa.
As many of us learned in high school, reputations are in large part defined
by the company we keep. I am dismayed that in Issue 21, Alpinist undermined
its integrity and besmirched its good name by taking a spin with
anti-climber Dean Potter.
Over the 4 days I hiked and crab crawled over 25 miles and climbed over 2,000 feet. Not impressive by most standards, but for someone who contracted paralytic polio at nine months of age, has been affected by post polio syndrome since he was nineteen and has endured other major injuries, it was huge.
See my recent comments in response to the rockfall photos taken Sunday, Sept. 2. We went up the next day and the Stettner was still letting loose. Had it not been for a brief break a couple of minutes before we headed to the col, we might have been pushing up daisies.
The Home Department of Sikkim has designated five newly opened Alpine Peaks to encourage small expeditions.
