Skip to content

Home » Weekly Feature » Page 7

Weekly Feature

Evangelista Torricelli experimenting in the Alps with a barometer, 1643. [Illustration] Ernest Board, Wikimedia

Tool Users: Barometer

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.

Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa pictured (center of top photo) with two Ladakhi Instructors. [Bottom] Front row, left to right: Pasang Temba, Srikar Amladi, Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa. Back row: unknown. [Photo] Srikar Amladi collection; courtesy The Sherpa Project (both)

Local Hero: Khamsang Wangdi Sherpa

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.”

Ed Roberson on Mt. Washington (Agiocochook), New Hampshire, date unknown. [Photo] Courtesy Frank Daugherty

Beyond the Field Notes: Ed Roberson on Climbing and Poetry

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.

Fanny Bullock Workman with her Votes for Women sign. [Photo] William Hunter Workman, Wikimedia Commons

Of Monuments and Mountains

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.”

A storm settles over the Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Range, Wyoming. [Photo] Derek Franz

Wringing It Out

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.

A climber displays their worn tape gloves. [Photo] Andrew Burr

Tool Users: Crack Climbing Gloves

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.

This poem first appeared in Alpinist 58 (Summer 2017).

Climbing Poems by Ed Roberson

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.

Craig DeMartino has collaborated on a variety of prosthetic designs for climbers. The one pictured here was designed by Kai Lin to perform in thin cracks. [Photo] Angela Percival

Rebuilt

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.

This image is from the award-winning film documenting the first African-American team on Denali. More information can be found at AnAmericanAscent.com. [Photo] Hudson Henry

In Deep

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.”

[Photo] Noman Gilgiti. Manipulation: Robin Earle

Roaming in Place

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.”