Alpinist Magazine

Issue 94 features a story by Pete Takeda about joining a group of sixteen students from Hamilton College on a trek to Annapurna Base Camp, where he sees our pastime through new eyes. The students were all part of a course taught by Dr. Maurice Isserman—a name familiar to longtime readers of Alpinist and mountain literature. “Our sport has reached an inflection point,” writes Takeda, whose climbing and writing career has spanned generations. “Climbing history has recently become an object of study.”

Elsewhere in the magazine, Chris Noble, who has photographed cutting-edge climbers, skiers and snowboarders since the 1980s, reflects on his career and the artists and athletes who influenced him, from Rumi to Jeff Long, from Alex Lowe to Alex Honnold. Leath Tonino contemplates the myriad ways one can access “A Door in the Mountain.” Brian Dillon writes of an expedition to climb Pico Cristóbal Colón (5713m) in Colombia’s Santa Marta Range, a place seldom visited by outsiders, where permission from the reclusive Indigenous inhabitants must be granted for safe passage.

Meanwhile, Derek Franz considers the culture that produced Dean Potter. Abbey Collins, Katherine Indermaur and Mike Parri share reading and playing recommendations.

Russ Clune reconnects with his past while celebrating his sixty-sixth birthday. Shara Zaia begins to heal after witnessing a friend’s fatal fall. Nicole LoBiondo confronts avalanches at home and in the mountains. Alexandra Lev returns to the Tetons after losing her father. And Collins lets go of past lives—but holds on to pants. Diana Boyer seeks answers on Diné lands and leaves with new perspectives. Óscar Gogorza celebrates Carolina Codó’s many contributions to El Chaltén. Kelsey Gray finds community in Kurdistan. And much, much more.