What the final hours of a Mount Everest climb are like, as written by a Canadian medical team last year (photographs enlarge nicely if opened in a new window). The month of May is the only safe window for climbing Sagarmatha, and this week Sherpas are desperately trying to get the route prepped. Journal entries from the mountain during the past day show excited teams awaiting the big push: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The Discovery film crew got some nice shots last week, too. The climb is not without immense danger -- about 6 die on the mountain every year, and in 2006 David Sharp died right on the trail, raising a firestorm of debate.
posted by crapmatic on May 5, 2009 - 56 comments

A few days ago on K2 in the Pakistani Karakoram mountains an icefall trapped climbers more than 8 kilometres above sea level. Eleven died, from the cold and lack of oxygen, from falling or being hit by debris. The expedition website of Nicholas Rice provides an intimate and compelling account of the entire season of activity on K2 and neighbouring Broad Peak.
posted by Flashman on Aug 6, 2008 - 19 comments

PBS's Frontline has just released Storm Over Everest, a new report that chronicles the 1996 Everest disaster. The story was most notably told by Jon Krakauer in his award-winning book Into Thin Air, which ignited a flurry of letters (pun definitely intended) about the roles of guides and Sherpas on the mountain.
posted by aheckler on May 14, 2008 - 17 comments

"On 5 May 1958 the three women climbed into their long-wheelbase Land-Rover in London, and drove through ten countries in six weeks, then walked for 21 days to Padam, the capital of Zanskar, in the highest inhabited region in the world."
posted by SixteenTons on Apr 21, 2008 - 25 comments

Mountaineer, Scientist, Photographer Brad Washburn dies at 96. Across the world of mountaineering, but especially in New England, people are mourning a legend. He discovered the West Buttress Route -- the most popular route -- on Denali. He was director of Boston's Museum of Science for forty years. He took some of the most iconic photos of mountains and mountaineers. He won the National Geographic Society's Centennial Award and the King Albert Medal of Merit. His name may not be familiar, but chances are that you've seen his work.
posted by dseaton on Jan 12, 2007 - 11 comments

The Rational Neo-graphic Magazine. Special Edition: Into Thick Air - the thrilling challenges of low-altitude mountaineering
posted by pyramid termite on May 13, 2006 - 9 comments

Ed Viesturs summits all 14 mountains over 8000m After 16 years of trying, Ed Viesturs has become the first American to summit all mountains over 8000m (the "Eight-thousanders"). This, in itself, is an amazing achievement; however, even more remarkably, all of Viesturs climbs were done without supplemental oxygen (facilitated, in part, by his genetic abnormalities).

The Eight-thousanders were first climbed in 1986 by Reinhold Messner. Since then, only 12 other people have accomplished the same.
posted by Elpoca on May 12, 2005 - 27 comments

The Savage Mountain Amongst peaks over 20,000 feet, K2 is the hardest and most dangerous. Edurne Pasadan became the 6th woman to summit on July 29th, but can she survive the curse of the women who climb K2 ? K2's danger and challenge has attracted a wide assortment of characters, ranging from the bizarre Aleister Crowley to the glamourous Araceli Segarra . The deadly toll continues. Two Russian climbers are missing on the mountain. Read a history of 50 years of K2 summits, and accounts of another ascent here.
posted by F4B2 on Aug 8, 2004 - 5 comments