Cover: Shelma Jun, the founder of Flash Foxy and the Women's Climbing Festival, on a route in the Lost City area of the Shawangunks, New York. Climbs in this region of the Shawangunks have not appeared in any printed guidebook. [Photo] Chris Vultaggio

Features

Gunks Chronicles

Barely 100 miles north of New York City, the steep, airy cliffs of the Shawangunks have long collected a rich lore of hard routes, wild antics and eccentric personalities—from the legendary conflicts between the rule-making Appies and the rollicking Vulgarians to the stylists of the clean-climbing revolution and the age of Lycra, and all the varied bands of old and young climbers who continue to enjoy the crags today. Northeast climbing historian Laura Waterman presents a collection of stories from Gunks protagonists across the decades, including Steven Jervis, Bonnie Prudden, Joe Kelsey, John Bragg, Russ Clune and Whitney Boland.

Soft Power

For years, artist Zaria Forman has created drawings of glaciers so intense that viewers feel as if they're present. Herein, Alpinist contributor Mailee Hung presents some of Forman's work and her potential impact on climb- ers' understanding of climate change.

Taken Before Its Time

After decades of remote expeditions, Nick Bullock travels to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to seek "the essence of climbing." Amid the area's deep voids, he finds himself haunted by absences of his past and uncertainties of the future.

Departments

Sharp End

The naming of visible and invisible hills and mountains.

Letters

Alpinist contributor Sasha Turrentine writes a letter to her late father.

On Belay

In 1977 a young Michael Kennedy set out with two of his heroes, Jeff Lowe and George Lowe, on the Alaskan expedition that culminated in the first ascent of the famous Infinite Spur on Mt. Foraker/Sultana. Looking back on that summer, Kennedy recalls how the name of the route grew to represent "far more than the physical dimensions of the climb."

Tool User

Brandon Blackburn investigates one of the most paradigm- shifting tools of modern alpinism: accurate weather reports.

The Climbing Life

Endria Richardson seeks a new language of climbing. Mauricio Portillo recounts his experiences as a mountaineer and a Dreamer. Amrita Dhar finds old music on red sandstone. And Rebecca Shanahan embarks on a rarely discussed rite of passage.

Full Value

In 1990 alpinist Barry Blanchard found himself trapped in a blizzard high on Yuh-hai-has-kun (Mt. Robson), the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies—with eleven other climbers, two of whom were injured, and no certain way down.

Wired

Marinel Malvar de Jesus collects stories of local guides and porters on Kilimanjaro as they confront the inequities of the mountain tourism industry and the new challenges of a global pandemic.

Off Belay

Kieran Brownie re-creates the Sword of Damocles.