Alpinist Magazine Issue 89 – Spring 2025

Features

In the Shadow of the Grand

The world-renowned alpinist Michael Gardner guided Brendan Jones up the Grand Teton in 2022. The two kept in touch with plans for Jones to write a magazine profile about Gardner’s wild and unusual life. Meanwhile, Gardner continued to climb new lines, ski first descents and set speed records on Denali’s hardest routes. Tragically, he fell to his death and disappeared while attempting to complete the first ascent of Jannu East (7460m) in Nepal with Sam Hennessey last October. Jones’ story has become a reflection that looks into the lives of the Gardner family.

Cobra Crack

In 2005, Didier Berthod was emerging as one of the top rock climbers of his generation. The Swiss phenom had never known defeat until he arrived in Squamish and faced the then-unclimbed Cobra Crack (5.14b). In the midst of failure, he learns his romantic partner is pregnant. A “mystical experience” entices him to abandon her and the child to join a Catholic monastery, where he cuts off contact with the outside world for thirteen years. Somehow, he finds his way back to confront the snake that has plagued him for two decades.

From Kentucky to Canyonlands

Mary Catherine Eden writes about growing up “land rich and money poor” with her parents and older sister in rural Kentucky. While helping to raise her sister’s three children through a string of devastating family setbacks, Eden discovers rock climbing one summer in Moab, Utah, after graduating high school. She soon finds herself on top of Castleton Tower realizing she doesn’t know how to rappel. She improvises, correctly, and continues on a gritty path that leads to her becoming one of the best crack climbers on the planet.

Departments

Sharp End

Derek Franz writes about Séb Berthe’s free ascent of the Dawn Wall.

Letters

Our readers write.

Escape Route

Katie Ives, Andrew Szalay and Abbey Collins share reading recommendations. Collins interviews some of the researchers behind the new collection Other Everests. And Hannah Provost cracks open a very old book.

On Belay

Robbie Phillips sails to the historic seacliffs of St. Kilda.

The Climbing Life

Chris Schulte measures a day. Abbey Collins gets engaged in the Red River Gorge. Derek Franz sends a poetry problem. And Lauren Fox sees the consequences of climate change in the Himalaya close-up.

Full Value

Jill Wheatley found solace in the mountains after a traumatic brain injury upended her life. A decade later, she reflects on her relationship with the high peaks.

Local Hero

Kapil Bisht celebrates Maya Sherpa’s insistence on revolting against traditional gender roles.

Off Belay

Leo Gambella finds a bit of clarity during a cloudy day in Patagonia at the start of his career.