Alpinist Magazine Alpinist 80 | Winter 2022-23 Back Issue

Issue 80 features Justin Guarino's account of the first ascent of the Medusa Face on Mt. Neacola (ca. 9,350') with Nick Aiello-Popeo and Ryan Driscoll in 2021. Twenty-six years earlier, Kennan Harvey and Topher Donahue had charged up the wall between Alaskan storms and had to descend within view of the summit ridge. In 2019, Aiello-Popeo, Driscoll and Guarino also suffered weeks of storms and a wet, cold night on the face before turning around. The hook was set, however, and they returned again two years later, only to be buried by an avalanche in base camp on the first night. One week later they were back, determined as ever.