Weekly Feature Archives

Dreams on a Yellow Bike

Posted December 18, 2015

I've been on the move for four hours. My first summit, strapped in winter snow, falls further behind me. I step off the ridge into a west facing couloir. Boot skiing and heel plunging morphs into log jumping and running.

Squirreling Away First Ascents on the Storm Creek Headwall

Posted December 16, 2015

Canadian alpinists Jon Walsh and Michelle Kadatz, both from Calgary, Alberta, recently visited the Storm Creek Headwall.

Paul Zizka's Social Media Guest Postings November 30 to December 6

Posted December 11, 2015

From November 30 to December 6 we presented photos by Paul Zizka as part of our Alpinist Community project.

Sisterhood of the Rope

Posted December 2, 2015

August 9, 2011: The mountains march east into China. That silver sentinel on the horizon is Muztagh Ata, I tell my sister, Christine. To the south rise the dusky ramparts of the Hindu Raj, indistinct in the morning haze. I point north across the Wakhan Corridor, panhandle of Northern Afghanistan.

Drew Smith's Social Media Guest Postings November 23-29

Posted December 1, 2015

From November 23 to 29 Drew Smith shared his photos and video on our social media pages as part of the Alpinist Community project. Smith has established new routes in El Chalten, Argentine Patagonia; Cochamo, Chilean Patagonia; and in Sequoia National Park, California.

Being with the Mountain

Posted November 30, 2015

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, reading adventure stories in a house by the sea, I often dreamed about worlds above the clouds. One day, my father took me on a hike up a nearby mountain. It was just a little one—a rocky summit poking through a thick carpet of trees—in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. But for the first time, I thought I could touch the clouds. It was as though I'd walked into one of the illustrations in my books.

Searching for Nightfall in Renland

Posted November 25, 2015

"Our arrival, aboard our yacht, before the walls of Renland left us speechless. Imagine if you could sail to Yosemite Valley, amidst an array of glaciers, the ocean flirting with the foot of the rocky slopes. Before our very eyes there were more [unclimbed] rock faces than we could ever climb, even if we stayed there for the rest of our lives."

Uncharted

Posted November 24, 2015

DARKNESS OVERTOOK US. In the midst of absolute night, in the heart of the Cordillera Sarmiento, Camilo and I returned from the summit of Cerro Alas de Angel. The fog closed in, and a white wind filled the gloom, deepening our blindness.

Lizzy Scully's Social Media Guest Postings November 16-22

Posted November 24, 2015

Between November 16 and 22, we posted Lizzy Scully's photos and video to our social media pages as part of the alpinist community project. She calls her collection "The Middle Path".

A Stairway to Heaven on the Matterhorn

Posted November 20, 2015

Sixty-five-year-old French alpinist Patrick Gabarrou is always watching the mountains. He spends a great deal of time in the Alps—he sees them in different seasons, different lights. He discovers features that are not often visible—features less-devoted climbers might miss.