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I’d like to start doing some mountaineering and need to buy crampons. I have a great, broken-in pair of REI Spirit II GTX boots. How can I tell if my boots are crampon compatible? And if they are, which ones should I get? David Dallas, Texas
In adventure and in life, Mike was my best friend—my stronger, wiser, wilder half. And in the end, when the last climb was over, that's all that really mattered.
No Shortcuts to the Top No Shortcuts to the Top No Shortcuts to the TopThere Is No Me Without You There Is No Me Without You Ed Viesturs, with David Roberts (Broadway, $24) WHEN SEATTLE mountaineer Ed Viesturs topped out on 26,545-foot…
No other alpinist in America has knocked off as many coveted ascents—or picked as many fights—as Steve House. But after finding a new climbing partner and conquering one of the most daunting routes in decades, is the world's most outspoken mountaineer finally ready to make nice?
The disappearance of two of North America's best alpinists left a grave question: What happens when the only way out is up?
We catch up with Michael Brown on his latest film, Light of the Himalaya
Why climb America's most spectacular—and controversial—natural landmark? For the same reason you shouldn't.
Since May 7th, we at Patagonia have had much discussion and debate about where the company stands on Dean’s controversial climb. Historically, we have always stood by our Ambassadors and their actions. Our Ambassadors are a part of Patagonia’s close-knit family, and we trust them to act in ways that…
Steph Davis knows the downside of being one of the world’s best women climbers: like living out of a car for seven years and having your mom suggest (frequently) that you’re out of your mind. The upside? Yosemite. The Andes. And a life in which every day is a thrilling vertical grab.
When a hallowed rock formation falls under the eye of an elite daredevil climber, anything can happen. Tim Neville ferrets out the real story behind Dean Potter's big day in Arches National Park.
I've been picking off the summits in ϳԹ magazine's "Mountaineering 101" and now planning the East Face of Whitney. I have several pairs of climbing shoes and hiking boots, but none of them is a good all-around shoe for an ascent and descent via the loose rocks of the couloir of the mountaineers' route. Is there an approach shoe that you would recommend? I have a wide foot and can comfortably climb mid 5.10. Eric Los Angeles, California
What would you do after you'd been trapped in the wilderness and forced to cut off your own arm? You probably wouldn't try to become the first person to climb all 59 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks in winter—and alone.
Is the chalk-bag crowd ready to go upscale? New York City bouldering pioneer Ivan Greene thinks so, and he wants to lead the way.
Naysayers claim the age of adventure is over. On an unclimbed peak in Tibet, our man declares that it has just begun.
North America’s largest ice-climbing festival, the Festiglace du Quebec will take place February 17 to 19.
WHEN AMERICAN CLIMBER Greg Mortenson stumbled into the Pakistani village of Korphe in 1993—lost, starving, and separated from his expedition mates after an unsuccessful attempt to summit K2—he had no idea that the three days he’d spend recuperating there would change his life forever. To thank the locals who nursed…
For ϳԹ Hard Way columnist Mark Jenkins, a recent trip to Tibet was a window into the future of adventure
Name: INES PAPERT Gig: ICE CLIMBER Height: 5’6″ Weight: 123 Age: 31 WHEN ICE CLIMBER INES PARERT won the women’s division at Colorado’s Ouray Ice Festival last year, the 31-year-old German scampered up the 165-foot wall so fast, she beat the winner of the men’s event, held on the same…
Last summer, the headless corpse of Reinhold Messner's brother Günther emerged out of the snowmelt on Pakistan's Nanga Parbat. After 35 years of nasty arguments and accusations, would the discovery finally reveal who was to blame for his death and solve one of mountaineering's greatest mysteries?
In May, 2005, Ed Viesturs became the first American to summit all of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks. Here, read about his epic quest and learn more about the man himself.
Name: DANIELLE FISHER Danielle Fisher BASE CAMP: Fisher in her parents’ backyard in Bow, Washington Home: Bow, Washington Gig: Mountaineer Height: 5’7″ Weight: 130 Age: 20 IN JUNE, FISHER became the youngest American to stand atop Mount Everest—and the youngest person ever to complete the Seven Summits, knocking…
It's time for a radical reform of high-altitude mountaineering�and a fresh debate over what it means to climb right
Pioneering climber, explorer, and mapmaker Bradford Washburn has shot some of the most epic mountain photography of all time�much of which has never seen the light of day. Kurt Markus delves into a cache of unforgettable images and reports on the long, full life of an alpine icon.
“Never say never, but I have no desire to climb over 8,000 meters again,” says mountaineering superstar Ed Viesturs. Well, you can’t blame him. Over the past 16 years, Steady Eddie has spent an estimated 25 days above 8K (26,240 feet) en route to becoming the first American to climb…
I'm headed out to do some big-wall climbs in Yosemite this summer. I was wondering if you could recommend a sturdy shoe that will suffice on my trad routes out here in the Northeast, but hold its own on a big-wall climb out West? I'd rather sink my loot into protection than different shoes for all occasions. Con Boston, Massachusetts
Chris Sharma, the 24-year-old monkey boy who in 2001 introduced the world to 5.15 climbing (the sport’s hardest grade), recently cobbled together a new boulder problem, across the roof of an Ozarks cave, that some say is one of the hardest lines ever completed. While roped climbers strive for endurance…
What are the best parka and boots for Aconcagua? Eugenia Sunnyvale, California
THIS SUMMER, CLIMBERS Jared Ogden, 33, and Ryan Nelson, 25, hope to complete a new route up the 3,000-foot east face of Alaska’s Mount Barrille. Although the Durango, Colorado, residents are expecting only dry rock, they’re packing ice axes to “dry-tool” over any mirror-smooth granite pitches. Translation: They’ll use the…
Four young climbers hit the road in search of big rock, girl power, and a heavenly interlude of physical bliss
Footloose Scots will tell you there's no such thing as trespassing in the Highlands. And no one is more passionate about possessing these craggy, heather-painted mountains than the "compleaters" who summit the Munros—all 284 of them.
Read “Babes on Belay” in the April issue of ϳԹ, including an exclusive Exposure photo gallery of cover girl Sara Carlson, then look through the lens of featured North Conway, New Hampshire-climber Anne Skidmore in our exclusive online photo gallery. Here, see Skidmore, Sheyna Button, Sarah Garlick, Janet Bergman,…
I plan to carry an ice ax on my Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) trek through the Sierras this summer. Where can I find a tutorial or other guidance on the proper use of the ax? Robert Tehachapi, California
Flush with tech-boom cash and answering to no one, 'Alpinist' chronicles the exploits of a loosely aligned group of climbers known as the Brotherhood, who devote themselves to difficult routes, minimal gear, and big-time pain and suffering. Are these guys just a holier-than-thou elite—or the salvation of mountaineering?
Twice a year, we take three top athletes, compare their training programs, and tell you who’s the most all-around fit. For 2005’s cold-weather edition, we studied the regimens of mogul skier Toby Dawson, 26, pro basketball player Mike Dunleavy, 24, and ice climber Will Gadd, 37. Our judge is Werner…
How do you go native on an island made of ice? Scale glaciers, strip down, and steam it off.
There's something about New Zealand—and it's not just the soaring mountains, the red-hot culture, or the world-class Kiwi wines. STEPHANIE PEARSON goes in search of the adventure gene that inspires four million enlightened souls and makes NZ's islands a heaven for travelers.
Over four days this past May, 26-year-old Estes Park, Colorado–based climber Tommy Caldwell completed what is arguably the greatest big-wall climb in history. Using only his hands and feet, he made a first free ascent—no pulling up on mechanical aids allowed—of the Dihedral Wall, an obscure route on the west…
I going to climb Mount Rainier and was curious if I should rent climbing boots or buy my own. What's your experience with rental boots? Ken Vernon Hills, Illinois
What would be the best mountaineering boot to avoid the beat-up shins I get with plastic boots? Are there boots made with this problem in mind? I know that it's not an uncommon one for women. Heather San Jose, California
I'm a casual rock climber and want to upgrade my entry-level rock shoes. I see there are both cbered and fairly flat models available, but why would you ever need to crunch up your toes and wear the cbered model? All the advertising refers to higher performance, but I don't really understand how this helps. So I may go for a flat shoe, perhaps one with a Velcro closure for easy in-and-out access. What do you think? Karen Wellington, New Zealand
In the red-rock high ground of South Africa, climbing still comes down to black and white. Greg Child goes on belay to explore the crags, boulder gardens, and post-Apartheid complications of the world's next climbing mecca.
For years, virtually no one could beat Lynn Hill to the top of a climbing wall. Then along came Isabelle Patissier, and beyond a shadow of a doubt things are changing.
Help Wanted: Exum Mountain Guides, the country's premier climbing service, is looking for supremely talented alpinists with world-class résumés for seasonal work in the Tetons. Must be willing to follow in the footsteps of legends. If qualified, don't bother calling. We'll find you.
ϳԹ‘s March 2004 article “Facing the Fall Line” chronicles big-mountain snowboarder Steven Koch’s quest to become the first to summit Everest and then set a never-before-attempted line down its treacherous North Face. Accompanying Koch on the Everest expedition was mountaineer-photographer Jimmy Chin, who captured the powerful images that accompanied…
When Stephen Koch set out to snowboard the insanely steep Hornbein Couloir on Everest, he knew he might die trying. He chose life.
A journey to the cradle of climbing reveals a strange new alpine environment, where glaciers are melting, mountains are falling, and nothing is as it was
“Schoening leaned into his ax and braced himself for the impact. The rope thinned, then drew taut as a steel wire. For the next five minutes, he kept six men from falling of the face of the mountain.”
"He died doing what he loved best," they always say. But when climbers meet their end on the high peaks, the ordeal is just beginning for their wives, husbands, children, parents, and friends. An exclusive excerpt from Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow
So you want to climb a mountain, but you’ve never done it before. No sweatthere’s a first time for everything. Even the world’s greatest climbers were once beginners like you, gearing up with ropes, carabiners and crampons and heading for the hills for their first technical ascents. To help fuel…
Three years after a notorious kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, new evidence and big changes emerge from Central Asia
Cut your alpinism chops on North America's best routes.
Experience is the key to mountaineering prowess, but high-altitude fitness makes all the difference on summit day
Lodges at base camp? Tourists on oxygen? Everyone seems to have a vision for the next 50 years on the world's highest mountain.
Who says you can't take your children mountaineering? The trick is to choose the right summit—then watch as they amaze themselves by scaling it. These five peaks, in order from easiest to hardest, are handpicked to bring out your kid's inner Messner.
Low's Gully is a 6,000-foot chasm that gets deadly when it rains. This month, a team of top canyoneers take it on, with only one way out.
In Bhutan's pristine alpine sanctuary, even a heathen climber can see the light
Thirty years after losing his brother on a Himalayan peak, Reinhold Messner battles ugly accusations that he abandoned him at the top.
Santa’s little climber: one move from the top on Hitchcock Pinnacle at Arizona’s Mount Lemmon. Q: A few of us from Virginia want to take a rock-climbing trip somewhere warm during the Christmas holidays. We’re considering Red Rocks in Nevada and California’s Joshua Tree National Park, among…
A generation ago, mounting an expedition meant drafting a herd of porters, slogging loads of gear to a rocky base camp, and laying siege to a Himalayan peak. These days, light, fast, and self-supported expeditions are in, and multisport explorers like Mike Libecki, Mark Synnott, and Brad Ludden are showing us how to do it. Here, our preview of the hottest adven
This September, speed climber Dean potter flashed Half Dome and El Capitan in a continuous 23-hour, 23-minute blitz that left his competition eating chalk. The 30-year-old Zen king of Yosemite is the first ever to free-climb—that is, use ropes and protection only as backup in case he falls, but otherwise…
With his supreme skills on rock, hypercompetitive intensity, and new-age bag of tricks, Dean Potter scrambles up big walls faster than any man alive. So what's the trajectory of all this velocity?
Every adventurer knows those magical moments when it all flows—and those wretched times when it won't
High over Hemingway's Africa, our hero discovered a last epic feat somehow still undone. Going where no man has ever bothered to go before, he vowed to become the first person to descend Mount Kilimanjaro on a pair of stubby Kneissel Big Foot snowboards. Never mind that it was illegal, and basically insane.
A quarter-century after he changed everything by summiting Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, Reinhold Messner is looking fit, feeling adventurous, and acting about as mellow as a snapping turtle. Ah, well: Great men aren't always sweethearts—and Messner is still the best there ever was.
Remember the lessons of Everest 1996? Nobody else seems to. The world's highest peak is more crowded than ever—and ripe for a deadly reckoning.
Monsoon hopeful: Arizona’s Mount Lemmon Q: We had planned a climbing trip to northwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona but are worried there’s nowhere open given the recent fires. We’re looking specifically for top-roping spots. The skill level in our group ranges from amateur to intermediate, and…
For two credulous seekers, dreaming of the lost big-wall treasure of the Sierra Madre Occidental is better than the real thing
After a dark year, Nepal offers up a trove of glittering new prizes: 103 peaks and miles of virgin terrain
When the weather turns ugly and conditions get rough, every mountaineer must make the ultimate choice: storm the summit, or call it quits.