Features

Mountain Profile: Darran Mountains, New Zealand

For more than 100 years, small bands of climbers have struggled through rain-soaked forests to reach the great ice and rock lines of the Darran Mountains in New Zealand. And yet, even today, many of the vast walls remain largely unknown. Paul Hersey sifts through the rich stories of this oft-forgotten range, from the early days of Maori exploration to New Zealand alpinist Guy McKinnon's 2013 first ascent of the 1900-meter West Face of Mt. Tutoko. Allan Uren, Mayan Smith-Gobat, Richard Thomson, Alastair Walker and Pat Deavoll offer perspectives on the modern renaissance of a place that's increasingly become the center of New Zealand's technical alpinism.

The Illusion of Control

In March 2012, thirty-four-year-old Chris Van Leuven visited the great American climber Harvey T. Carter during his final days in a Colorado Springs hospital. The eighty-one-year-old man's words became the catalyst for a quest to understand how climbing prepares us for the challenges of ordinary existence, the approach of old age and the unavoidability of loss. Over the next two years, Van Leuven embarked on a series of conversations with three climbers, now in their fifties and sixties, whose youthful exploits resembled aspects of Carter's career. And with Stewart Green, Ed Webster and Jimmie Dunn, he now explores the consequences and rewards of choosing a focused life.

Departments

The Sharp End

The fragility of fierce places.

Letters

One reader shares what it's like to night climb without hearing. Another explains the true history of the Ice Hammock.

On Belay

In recent years, a small group of Korean alpinists have been carrying out bold and often underreported minimialist ascents in the Himalaya. Peter Jensen-Choi looks back at some of the origins of modern Korean alpine-style.

The Climbing Life

Jerry Auld bets with ravens. Lizzy Scully climbs through pain. Peter Haan reveals the secret state of things. Greg Landreth mourns Charlie Porter.

Escape Route

Midway through his forties, as British climber Nick Bullock attempts a fragile sea-cliff route, he becomes increasingly aware of the finite nature of life and the hazardous promise of youth.

Local Hero

Why Mark Westman should be famous (A postscript to Alpinist 19).

Off Belay

Tami Knight provides a hint for all readers who've asked, "Where's my Issue 13?"