ALPINIST 54

Alpinist Magazine Issue 54 – Summer 2016

Features:

A History of Imaginary Mountains
Behind the histories of exploration lie less-visible tales of rumored summits
that prove to be nonexistent, and of physical mountains whose shapes and
heights transform according to different legends. John Hessler, Frances
Garrett, Meera Baindur, Jerry Auld, Anders Ax, Harish Kapadia, Sylvain Jouty
and Hubert Odier share stories of mythic peaks, both real and imagined,
charted and uncharted, from around the world. With illustrations by Jeremy
Collins and an introduction by Katie Ives.

Light Before Wisdom
After a knee injury in 2012, Hayden Kennedy was forced, temporarily, to
contemplate his identity with and without climbing. Then a friend’s invitation
to the east face of Cerro Kishtwar reawakens him to what he truly loves about
the mountains.

Notes from the Frontier
The word Alpine evokes images of European summits. Maya Prabhu reports on the
«HimAlpinists,» Indian climbers seeking to balance fast and light styles
with the histories of their country’s Himalayan peaks.

Event Horizon
In a photo essay, the great Slovenian climber Marko Prezelj, known for his
distrust of «tasty talking,» now asks himself the hard questions about
sharing tales and images from private experiences in the hills.

All In
Base-camp staff, pilots and rescuers often appear in the margins of stories.
Yet in crises, their efforts can make the difference between life and death.
Lisa Roderick recalls her first season as manager of Kahiltna Basecamp.

Departments:

The Sharp End
Climbing fast and slow.

Letters:
Readers set the record straight and tell us not to fret.

On Belay:
Most climbers associate Reinhold Messner with the rise of alpine-style ascents
in the Himalaya. But he also helped bring hard free climbing to Europe.
Christoph Willumeit and Ralf Gantzhorn make a pilgrimage to the Dolomites,
searching for memories of the great man’s youth. Meanwhile, Chris Van Leuven
puts his faith in a finicky copperhead.

Tool User:
Our digital editor writes of falls and fifi hooks.

The Climbing Life:
Rick Accomazzo learns to ice climb in 1970s Yosemite with the irrepressible
Tobin Sorenson. Ramsey Mathews runs out of water in Red Rock. Michelle Marie
Robles Wallace finds a rock with a view. Claire Cameron pieces together lines
from Accidents in North American Mountaineering to create a story of her own.

Full Value:
During the nineteenth century, Jim Bridger was well known for tall tales about
the ranges of the American West. Herein, the modern climbing writer Jeff Long
retells Bridger’s attempt on «Glass Mountain,» examining the aspirations and
consequences of frontier mythology.

Local Hero:
At seventy-three, Cascades climber Fay Pullen bushwhacks through dense
thickets and climbs isolated peaks—generally alone. Cindy Beavon pays a visit
to one of Washington’s most prolific soloists.

Off Belay:
Before his theory of evolution made him famous, Charles Darwin was an
enthusiastic, if somewhat picky, mountaineer. Paula Wright considers the
significance of his most disappointing ascents.