![From Conrad Anker's The City and The Blade in Alpinist 38. Mugs Stump on the Spanish Pillar of Meru North (6450m) in 1988. [Photo] Steve Quinlan](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mugs-stump-file-photo-930x620.jpg)
The 2017 Mugs Stump recipients aim to tackle: the East Face of Golgotha (Alaska); the West Face of Xanadu (Alaska); the North Face of Rungofarka and a prominent rock buttress on the nearby Northwest Face of Peak 5780 (India); the North Face of Barnaj II (India); and the world’s second highest unclimbed peak, Mucho Chhish (Pakistan).
![Conrad Anker is the keynote speaker for the 2017 American Alpine Club Annual Benefit Dinner on February 25 in Seattle, Washington. [Photo] Jimmy Chin](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/aac-benefit-dinner-1-930x620.jpg)
The American Alpine Club opens registration for its Annual Benefit Dinner on February 25 in Seattle, Washington. Five people will receive awards. Conrad Anker is the keynote speaker.
![El Hermano (ca. 4,500), Chile. In 2014 Libby Sauter's team mostly followed the sun-shadow line, and then cut to the right a few hundred feet from the top. [Photo] Doug Tompkins](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/beyond-the-dusk-1-900x620.jpg)
After the death of her brother Michael in June 2012, Suzanne Ybarra noticed a reference to a mysterious “El Hermano” amid his files, along with photos of a massive unclimbed wall. In 2014 one of Michael’s friends, Libby Sauter, organized an expedition to make the first ascent and complete his dream.
![The red line marks the route and camps of Moveable Feast (ED2 M7 WI5 5c A3, 1400m) on Thalay Sagar (6904m), India. [Photo] Courtesy of Dmitry Golovchenko and Mountain.RU.](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/thalay-sagar-moveable-feast-1-1-930x620.jpg)
The golden trio of Dmitry Golovchenko, Dmitry Grigoriev and Sergey Nilov score another Russian Golden Axe for their alpine-style first ascent of Moveable Feast (ED2 M7 WI5 5c A3, 1400m) on Thalay Sagar (6904m) last September.
For decades, female alpinists have made extraordinary ascents from remote big walls to storm-swept peaks. In an article from Alpinist 52 (Winter 2015), Charlotte Austin explored some of the lingering barriers of the past and the growing potential for the future.
![The Bond: Survival of Denali and Mount Huntington, by Simon McCartney. [Photo] Courtesy of Mountaineers Books](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/the-bond-1-930x620.jpg)
Rick Accomazzo reviews Simon McCartney’s book, The Bond. Published earlier this year, The Bond received the 2016 Banff Mountain and Wilderness Literature Non-Fiction Award, as well as the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature.
![Andrew Boyd climbs Flight of the Challenger (5.12c) in Squamish, British Columbia, circa mid-1990s. [Photo] Rich Wheater](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/andrew-boyd-1-930x620.jpg)
Drew Copeland considers how Andrew Boyd has quietly influenced the Squamish climbing scene in the last twenty years with his bold first free ascents and visionary lines.
On November 16, 2016, the Access Fund released a statement in response to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, “What Will the Trump Administration Mean for Climbing?” We’ve since followed up with Brady Robinson, executive director of the Access Fund and chair of the Outdoor Alliance, to learn more about his thoughts on the broader future of environmental issues and public lands–and the roles that climbers might play in helping to conserve wild places.
![Mike Lewis begins the roof pitch on Vertigo (5.11b) in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado. [Photo] Slava Lototskyy](https://dev.alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/tenaya-ra-1-1-930x620.jpg)
Mike Lewis finds that the Tenaya Ra has everything he looks for in a climbing shoe, including a great out-of-the-box fit that doesn’t require a break-in period. Five Stars!
Popular books recount the early days of Canadian mountaineering as a story of epic discoveries. In this story from Alpinist 50, historians Zac Robinson and Stephen Slemon examine what often gets left out: the extent to which the “explorers” relied on the prior geographic knowledge of Indigenous guides.
