Mountaineering
Archive
Full disclosure: I secretly wanted to love Lululemon's men’s gear when the company sent me a box of clothes to test. I just wasn't prepared to admit it. The company has become synonymous with women's yoga gear. If you close your eyes and think Lululemon, I doubt any masculine visuals…
Norbu Tenzing Norgay is deeply familiar with Mt. Everest—his father famously made the first summit with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953. But alongside the beauty and adventure, there's real danger, especially for Sherpas. It's time to make a change.
‘Tis the season for car camping and barbequing, which means grilled burgers, sunny days, and (hopefully) cold beer. But to keep your beverage of choice chilled, you’ll need a cooler that can withstand the heat. We reviewed four mini coolers—each 10 liters or smaller and each packed with a six-pack—to…
For years, I used to test how far I could go on day trips without eating. I don’t know if it was some unexplainable machismo or just laziness, but that mindset changed about six months ago. I’d gone on a four-hour run with an empty stomach and no food in…
It’s tough to tell how trustworthy a piece of gear is going to be when you first buy it. In fact, the only way to actually test your equipment’s longevity is to, well, test it. Thoroughly. So instead of having you, dear reader, put your gear through the ringer in…
Forget about rubbing two sticks together. Without matches, your only hope of getting a fire started in the wild is to take advantage of other tools at your disposal. Mykel Hawke—a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret and founder of survival school Spec Ops—recommends two easy,…
Veteran Everest guide Adrian Ballinger was one of many leaders who cancelled their costly expedition this year. But it wasn't due to money, politics, or even danger.
When a Sherpa and a native Nepali paraglided off of Mount Everest in 2011, they flew into history. Now a new book chronicles their extraordinary journey.
Yes, I write about gear for a living, I have access to the most sophisticated toys and tools in the outdoor world, and I’m constantly geeking out over tech details. But I’m keenly aware of the fact that the gear does not make the athlete. I was a much better…
The climbing season may not be closed for business just yet this season, but it may be tough to convince the mountain's most important climbers to carry on.
Climbing Sherpas suffer the highest mortality rate on Mount Everest. We ran the numbers, and the results will shock you.
California guide Adrian Ballinger makes his play to become Everest's top dog with a climbing model that's fast, light—and very expensive.
"Raising our baby girl is our new Everest."
Step one: Read the essential texts. Rock-star alpinist Conrad Anker, who leads The North Face’s dream team of globetrotting expeditionists, recommends Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. First published 54 years ago by The Mountaineers climbing club in Seattle, the how-to guide…
Not to be vulgar, but I get gassy whenever I go somewhere above 7,000 feet. Please say it’s not just me.
In an exclusive interview, a Sherpa involved in the incident speaks out on the now infamous scuffle with Western climbers
One of the worst massacres in mountaineering history happened this summer in Pakistan. Will it happen again?
For more than a century, Western climbers have hired Nepal’s Sherpas to do the most dangerous work on Mount Everest. It’s a lucrative way of life in a poor region, but no service industry in the world so frequently kills and maims its workers for the benefit of paying clients. The dead are often forgotten, and their families left with nothing but ghosts.
In just six days in May, the British climber completed a trilogy that had never before been attempted: Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse—three of the world's highest mountains—in a single push.
High and Hallowed: Everest 1963 premieres at Mountainfilm in Telluride this weekend, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld’s legendary first ascent of the formidable West Ridge. We check in with the filmmakers, David Morton and Jake Norton.
Already an Everest record-holder, the 29-year-old climbing great shares what it takes to reach the top
A team of African-American climbers heads to Denali this June with a lofty goal—to inspire more diversity outside
Bolotov, who was attempting a new route on the Southwest Face, died Tuesday in an apparent fall. A veteran mountaineer pieces together what is known.
I’ve done some climbing and mountaineering in the Lower 48, and I’ve been thinking about attempting Denali. What kind of prior experience do I need to tackle The High One?
We met Aydin Irmak last year when he was attempting to summit Everest with his bike. This year, he surprised us by returning to the mountain, summiting early—and finding himself in the middle of the brawl on Everest.
Although initially reported as the result of altitude sickness, the death of DaRita Sherpa on May 5 was likely the result of a cardiac event. We take a look at why Sherpas are less susceptible to altitude-related illness.
“I went out and this whole crowd was there, maybe 100 people. When I saw they had their faces covered, I knew this was going to be really bad.”
Ralf Dujmovits took the iconic photo of a conga line of climbers on Everest in 2012, and he hoped the image would make the mountains safer. A year later, he reflects on what has changed—and what hasn't.
How do you predict the weather at the top of the world? Ask a highly unconventional meteorologist.
From Everest Base Camp, professional climbing guide Garrett Madison has been following developments on the fight between Ueli Steck, Simone Moro, Jonathan Griffith, and a group of Sherpas. He gives us the insider perspective and what the media got wrong.
Mountaineer Garrett Madison has summited Everest with 28 clients in the last four years and is one of the world's top expedition guides. He shares his first update of the Everest 2013 season from Base Camp.
Several near deaths on the world’s highest peaks have shed light on a dangerous trend in mountaineering: rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs, particularly the powerful steroid dexamethasone
I want to climb one of the Seven Summits and have narrowed the list to Aconcagua or Kilimanjaro. I’m in excellent shape and an experienced hiker, but not a mountaineer. Which one would you recommend?
As climbing moves toward its shot at the Olympics, the stakes are rising for the next generation of athletes. Will the temptation to get an edge be too much for some of them to handle?
I just read about how two climbers died on Aconcagua from altitude sickness. I have plans to go to Everest Base Camp this year. Altitude sickness isn’t a concern there, is it?
Scaling rock and ice in the winter is serious business. Bring the right stuff.
An avalanche on 26,759-foot Manaslu left at least 11 dead and dozens injured in September—and it could have been a lot worse. Mike Marolt explains how commercial guides are putting their clients at risk.
A slab of snow broke loose, wiping out Camp III high on the world's eighth-tallest peak in what could be among the deadliest avalanches in Himalayan climbing history
The seventh edition of America's biggest climbing film show features sport climbing showdowns and high-altitude epics
In the 16 years since Into Thin Air, Mount Everest has become safer in many ways, with better storm forecasting and amazing high-altitude rescue helicopters. So why did 10 people die in 2012?
The 10-summit tour across the top of Wyoming’s Tetons is one of the most difficult—and stunning—climbing trips in North America. Christopher Solomon has the scars to prove it.
There's been a lot of coverage of the this year's climbing season on Everest, and I'm curious as to what day-to-day life is like at the roof of the world. What are the basic necessities?
A Q&A with an Outside in Aspen participant
You think climbing the world's highest peak is difficult? Try getting back to Kathmandu during heavy monsoons.
Paraplegic Jeremy McGhee prepares to climb and ski a major backcountry route in California
Serious concerns about a repeat of last weekend's deadly traffic have yet to materialize
Amid serious concerns about the possibility of another deadly traffic jam on Everest, like the one that killed four people last weekend, between 80 and 150 climbers headed for the summit this morning.
And is it likely that another deadly traffic jam will form this weekend? Grayson Schaffer, who has living been at Base Camp for the past month, has the answers.
Disaster strikes world's highest peak with only human error to blame
Watch Camp4Collective's award-winning documentary film about a 2008 attempt to climb the Shark's Fin that nearly killed Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, and Renan Ozturk
The climbers call it quits after making one more attempt to reach the West Shoulder
A new study says that Ibuprofen can help prevent mountain climbers from getting altitude sickness
Over the last five years, alpinist Chad Kellogg has lost nearly everything and everyone—wife, brother, climbing partners—close to him. In the next few days, when he plans to make his second attempt to break the speed record on Mount Everest, he'll be carrying an understandably heavy load.
This is shaping up to be one of the deadliest seasons on record, with 10 deaths so far and too many helicopter evacuations to count. Here’s a sneak peak at the doctors on the front lines of the world's highest clinic.
The fact that Kobold's new Himalayan Edition watch is built with a few chunks of rock that, technically speaking, were removed illegally from Everest has caused a minor hubbub
With mounting dangers on the Hornbein Couloir, Conrad Anker pulls the plug on the West Ridge
Several prominent forecasters have agreed that May 17, 18, and 19 will form the first legitimate summit window of spring 2012.
A summit push might still be possible—but it certainly won't be safe
The arrival of high-altitude helicopters on Mount Everest and other Nepalese peaks has transformed search-and-rescue and saved lives. But the choppers have also added to the chaos at the top of the world—and introduced a deadly new brand of danger.
British mountaineer Kenton Cool attempts to fulfill a long-lost pledge to bring his countryman's 1924 Olympic medal in alpinism—yes, alpinism—to the summit of Everest
Updates from senior editor Grayson Schaffer, who we sent to Nepal about a month ago to cover this spring's climbing season on Everest, and who promises things are only going to get more interesting
The list of alpinists who've climbed all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen is exceedingly small. And it includes exactly one woman.
With dry weather, pervasive rockfall, and several Sherpa deaths, the start of the spring season on Everest has been an especially dangerous one. That's the bad news. The good news is that the weather is improving.
Aydin Irmak knows his goal—to carry his beloved single speed to the summit—is highly improbable. Everyone at Base Camp has already told him as much. But the 46-year-old Turkish New Yorker refuses to call it quits.
Since the evacuation of Cory Richards, all speculation points to Moro as the most likely candidate to join American Conrad Anker for an attempt of Everest's West Ridge.
Grayson Schaffer reveals the magic behind his photos
Rockfall on Everest is making this one of the more dangerous climbing seasons in recent history
The first graduate of the Sherpa Education Fund talks about how the program changed his worldview
The First Ascent team of Jake Norton, Brent Bishop, Charley Mace, and David Morton is through a patch of brittle ice and has fixed lines to within 1,200 feet of the West Shoulder.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest, multiple teams are planning commemorative climbs. We’ll be there reporting on them as they happen.
A major avalanche swept down off the shoulder of Nuptse, crossing the Everest route between Camps I and II.
The surprisingly simple tools behind Grayson Schaffer's digital dispatches from Base Camp
With the 2012 climbing season underway, we look back at some of the most incredible moments to take place on the world's tallest mountain over the last 150 years
A brief history of glory, tragedy, and dubious achievement on the world's highest summit