Shocking images of climbers queuing to reach the summit of Everest this Spring
made headlines around the world, begging the question where alpinism is
heading in an overcrowded and overheating world. the year’s Alpine Journal
looks at issues around climate breakdown and the commercialisation of the
Himalaya but there are also plenty of inspiring climbs done in the best
traditions of alpinism, including Tom Livingstone on Latok I, and Malcolm Bass
on Janukhot.
For those wanting to escape the crowds, this year’s Alpine Journal has a
comprehensive guide to the unexplored peaks of west Nepal along the border
with Tibet where there are still plenty of unclimbed peaks and magnificent
lines waiting to be discovered. And there’s a reminder from Simon Richardson
and Ben Tibbetts that there are still exciting new challenges in the most
familiar places, like the Mont Blanc range.
Mountain historian Eric Vola looksback on more than 60 years to the suffering
of Jean Vincedon and Francois Henry on Mont Blanc, a tragedy that galvanised
French public opinion and changed mountain rescue for good. Italian art
historian Angelo Recalcati reflects on the mountain genius of Leonardo da
Vinci, as the world commemorates the five hundredth anniversary of his death
and John Harding looks at the mountain adventures of newly discovered icon
Anne Lister.