It was, without doubt, a stunning morning on Mount Everest. Perhaps even perfect. No wind, bright sun, an impossibly blue sky. The only issue was I was in the Khumbu Icefall. Not that the Icefall is all bad - it isn’t. It’s immensely interesting, engaging, from the audible creaks and pops and groans of ice […]

To say that Everest has changed in a century is to grossly understate the matter. Physically, of course, the mountain has changed little. It’s a bit warmer perhaps, and bit less snowy. The monsoons are a bit more erratic. But it still rises high, steeply, to dizzying altitude and, as yet, there is no escalator […]

Lou Whittaker (February 10, 1929 – March 24, 2024) was a hero, boss, friend, and legend. It's hard to believe he's passed, a man larger than life who had an outsized impact on American mountaineering.

Everyone told me it was a fool’s errand. “There’s no ice in Evergreen,” they’d say with certainty. “Nothing. Nada. I’ve looked, and it isn’t here.” For a while, I simply took their word for it, acquiescing to the apparent reality that I’d have to drive to Silverplume or down into Clear Creek Canyon to climb […]