The irrepressible Tami Knight highlights the climbs, characters and (occasionally substance-fueled) mayhem that have given the cliffs of Squamish not one, but three or four or five Golden Ages in this issue's Crag Profile. Voytek Kurtyka gives a rare interview—not about the climbs that make him a legendary figure in the history of Himalayan alpine-style climbing, but about perfectionism, love, hell and freedom. After wrangling his roommates, Jérôme Sullivan attempts a massive wall on Patagonia's Continental Ice Cap. Chris Van Leuven conjures Kor and Ingalls; Dan Hilden balances on his fence; and Matt Samet reverses the irreversible.

Features

Crag Profile: Squamish

Most climbing areas get only one Golden Age, when the pioneers venture forth onto the grand, natural routes for the first time, haunting future generations with a sense of some unattainable and heavily mythologized past. Squamish, British Columbia, is now on its third or fourth or fifth Golden Age. The irrepressible (or as the artist Jeremy Collins would say "the uncontrollable, indescribable, gratuitously indefatigable") Tami Knight highlights the climbs, characters and (occasionally substancefueled) mayhem that have gilded each decade. Hamish Mutch, Peter Croft, Hamish Fraser, Anders Ourom and Sonnie Trotter contribute their own memories of what makes the Stawamus Chief and its outlying crags seem forever young.

The View from the Wall

The Polish alpinist Voytek Kurtyka remains one of the most legendary figures in the history of Himalayan alpine-style climbing. In an interview with Zbyszek Skierski, he shares his thoughts on perfectionism, love, hell and freedom. With an introduction by Bernadette McDonald.

Castles of Ice and Air

As Jérôme Sullivan dreamed of climbing the southeast pillar of Cerro Murallón, an isolated peak in the midst of Patagonia's Continental Ice Cap, he knew that he'd need partners who could get along in tight situations and who might even be willing to share a toothbrush. So he invited his Chamonix roommates.

The Sharp End

Everest 2013.

Departments

On Belay

Growing up near the Picket Range of the North Cascades, Dan Hilden discovers that he doesn't need corporate sponsorship or a British accent to explore a remote mountain country—he just needs to wander deeper into his own backyard.

The Climbing Life

After meeting an Eldorado Canyon climber with an unusual ticklist, Matt Samet learns the dark realities behind the catchphrase "the point of no return." When Forest McBrian was a young boy, his father warned him that he might never get to do what he loved. Good thing Forest didn't listen.

Full Value

During a violent 2006 storm on Mt. Rainier's Liberty Ridge, Michael J. Ybarra and his partners struggled not to lose their fingers or their lives. A year after Michael's death in the Sierra Nevada, the artist Andreas Schmidt illustrates his story as our tribute.

Wired

From 1961 to 1962, Huntley Ingalls and Layton Kor made first ascents of some of the most prominent desert spires, including Castleton Tower, the Titan and Standing Rock. The writer Chris Van Leuven meets Ingalls in a Boulder café and finds that the former mathematician has a lot to teach us all about the nature of climbing, entropy, time and courage.

Off Belay

From Eldorado Canyon to Moab, the Diamond, the Black Canyon and the Alps, he led many of the hardest free and aid pitches of the 1960s. To his friends and admirers, he was always "Layton the Great'n." In memory of Layton Kor (1938–2013).