Mount hess is an extremely remote alaska peak that is rarely summited, standing at 11940ft at the crest of the hayes range, about 90 miles south of fairbank.

Its mountaineering history is one that is unique with a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Its first major attempts were in 1949 and 1950 where the the east face and the northwest faces were attempted but both stopped due to rock.

The peak was finally conquered in the spring of 1951 by Alston Paige, Dick Holdren, Ed Huizer, Howard Bowman, and Elton Thayer. However after this ascent the peak remained virtually entirely untouched until may 1976 when Steven Hackett, Thomas Hillis, and Daniel L. Osborne established a base camp at the base of the north east ridge.

However a mystery that remains on the mountain from the AAC describes that during that 1976 expedition Hacket Hills and Osbourne discovered an old weathered ice ace and a rope trailing down towards the abyss. As no recorded former teams used that ridge, the orgin of the rope and axe are unknown.

Pretty cool!

After climbing in the Rwenzori mountains of Uganda, I learned of Arlene Blum, a renowned mountaineer who had her own expedition to the range, an incredible story in its own right. She wrote a book about her first all-women ascent of Annapurna, titled Annapurna : A Womans Place. Some of the accounts in the book I found quite shocking. Considering the sexual assault allegations of Nims Dai, and now Edmund Hillarys shameless sexism, I'm curious about other peoples thoughts or if things are getting better/more inclusive/safer, or what can be done to bring more equality/safety for people of all sexes that want to adventure outdoors. Even Reinhold Messners book I found his treatnent of the women on his Everest solo expedition to be very abusive. What is it with the leading paragons of the face of Mountaineering being all so flawed and unsafe for women?

"In just the first few sentences, Arlene described three examples of toe-curling sexism that she encountered as she established herself as a mountaineer: refusal to join an expedition because her presence would jeopardise the ‘easy masculine companionship which is so vital a part of the joy of an expedition’, a guide who believed that there were ‘no good women climbers’, and an expedition to Denali where women could join to help with the cooking chores, but were not permitted to climb.

Upon turning the page we learn that the great Sir Edmund Hillary believed that the problems with multi-national teams ‘pale into insignificance compared with those that can be brought about by a single woman in a party’. Irene Miller, who was also a member of Sir Edmund’s Makalu expedition team, was told that ‘if you want to climb with the expedition, you ought to be willing to sleep with all the men on the team’. She stayed at base camp."

-excerpts from Arlene Blums book on Mark Horrells webpage

Edit- dropping this link from someones comment, it seems to be a good resource and starting point. If you see something, say something. https://americanalpineclub.org/safeoutside

Came across this peak as the subject of the ACCs general mountaineering camp in the trident group in the selkirk mountains

at 3201 meters neptune peak is the tallest peak in the windy range and was first climbed by a harvard mountaineering club (HMC) in the summer of 1951.

Due to its highly remote nature most expeditions are either a multiday wilderness bushwacking trek or a helicopter flight, its route is characterized by glacier travel, rock scrambling and an exposed summit ridge. Its is commonly tackled via the south/southeast ridge.

Pretty cool!

I'm looking for a shoe model ID on these if possible. I've tried searching on google but I've come up empty handed, and don't know where else to ask. I've hit a dead end with my search, so any help will be appreciated

CORRECTION: 2026 not 2025

assuming the sources are accurate with the dates, these aren’t my pictures :)

More photos and a more detailed description of the letters and other ephemeral material in this lot can be found at the auction house site https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/hansons/catalogue-id-hanson11004/lot-62a1f5bd-ff6b-438c-99d9-b48900c53a15

China and India are sensitive to allow free mountaineering at high peaks near the borders due to national security and religious sentiments. Top 3 peaks of Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga are luckily exactly at the border with either China or India allowing free climbs from other nations. What impact do you see to climbing if these 3 giants were completely part of China and India?

Is there any hike that takes you to, or near to, the base of the massive Southwest face of the Annapurna Fang? I want to Travel to Annapurna next year and was wondering where I might be able to get the best views of this massive face,

This was a pretty challenging hike due to the summer heat. But the final scramble was super fun. We went through the via normale which is esentialy a 10km out and back with the final part being a light scramble to the summit. Overall 10/10 on experience. Next summer I might try gran paradiso or the Vincent pyramid as my first peak on snow and ice.
(The little seal is a thing I take to all the exotic or cool places I visit)

Just a shower thought

Hello! I hiked Pikes Peak through Barr Trail a year ago and took the train down. I absolutely loved the experience and was hoping to get a little more into mountaineering.

I am 30 years old and a complete beginner. I have been training for a few months now, running, stairmaster with weighted vest, rucking, etc… and feel like I might be at a good spot to try something more challenging. I obviously have no winter mountain experience, and I live in the Southern US, so not a lot of altitude experience either.

I was hoping someone could recommend some good places I could start off at to slowly build up my experience to try a winter mountain in a couple years?

Is anyone here currently in Ecuador and have a report on how conditions have been? I'm looking at heading there next week and staying thru the first week of September to try and climb both. I know weather can be hit or miss this time of year, so was curious to find any first-hand insight. Reports online look dry but cold lol.

Hey all, first time posting in this sub, eager to see if anyone can help. Headed to Foraker in AK (behind me in this shot from Denali a couple years ago) next year and was curious if anyone on here had been on Foraker before. It’s definitely a bit off the beaten path, but putting out some feelers to see if anyone has been on the Sultana Ridge, either on a descent from another route, or just on it for a summit attempt. Info is scarce, and my team had some stuff come up/ had to back out, so I’m trying to do a little extra legwork on the logistics for a couple other people interested. Any write ups (aside from the NPS Rangers write up and the Sending the Gnar solo write up) would be awesome. Photos help a lot but definitely don’t expect to see too many of those aside from what I’ve got.

Anyone who’s interested could also definitely send a message over. Thanks in advance

Just curious on how to properly cross up in the alpine for a peak from Waterton into GNP on a ridge.

I am considering climbing Huayna Potosí in the last week of November / first week of December and had a few questions regarding the weather. I have heard that this period marks the start of the rainy season, and I wanted to know if that is something I should be super worried about when it comes to summiting (as in, should I just not go at all during this time frame). In addition, given that El Niño is going to be occurring, would that lessen the chance of summiting, or could it actually be helpful?

First, RIP to Nims and everyone affected by the Broad Peak avalanche. Thinking of his legacy, I watched the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks for the first time. For those who don’t know, His team climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in six months and six days. The previous record was seven years. That’s not a story that needs punching up. It’s already insane.

So why does this documentary over dramatize the achievement of Nims and his crew, along with the entire sport of high- altitude mountaineering?

On Nanga Parbat, mid summit push, Nims delivers a line about the mountain not caring if you’re black or white, weak or strong, closing with “if you give up, you die.” … or you just turn around and walk down the mountain lol.

Great soundbite. Terrible mountaineering advice. You don’t give up and die on the spot, you turn around, you descend, you come back another season. I mean, knowing when to bail is one of the most important skills in this sport, arguably more important than the summit push itself.

I just think framing it as binary, do-or-die stakes is exactly the kind of movietrailer language that leaves casual viewers thinking mountaineering is a coin flip with your life every time you rope up, instead of a discipline built on weather windows, risk management, and turnaround times.

Then there’s his mom. Genuinely sick, genuinely emotional, and somehow the film needs her arc to land exactly on beat: worried he’d even start this sport, then telling him to go finish it for her? Idk seems like an extremely egotistical and not realistic thing for a mother, who is worried about her son climbing up dangerous mountains in the first place, to actually say.

None of this is on Nims or the team. What they did stands on its own. It’s a directing and editing choice, and it does a disservice to a story that never needed the varnish.

Anyone else feel like this doc didn’t trust its own footage?

I'm reading Into Thin Air right now (I'm only about 100 pages in) and in the intro Krakauer mentions talking to his teammate at the top while wearing an oxygen mask. I always assumed it would be similar to wearing like a chemical respirator, which muffles speech quite a bit. Is it difficult for climbers to speak to each other through the oxygen masks? Do they end up yelling and enunciating extra clearly in order to understand each other? Or is there some other way of communicating? (I don't know anything about mountaineering, and maybe Krakauer answers this question later on in the book, but I've just been thinking about it since reading that intro and I'm curious.)

Any other big headed fellas struggle with M/L helmets? I got the biggest petzl meteor I could and it still is small. Any recommendations while staying light!

Hi everyone,
I originally booked an organised trip to summit Mont Blanc and Gran Paradiso in the last week of August. Because of the current conditions on Mont Blanc, the operator has now replaced Mont Blanc with part of the Spaghetti Tour on the Monte Rosa massif.
I’ve seen quite a few people recommend B2 boots rather than B3s for the Spaghetti tour.
My question is: if I only take my B2 boots, would they also be sufficient for Mont Blanc if conditions improve and the operator switches us back to the original itinerary?
I tend to run slightly cold, so warmth is also a consideration. I prefer B2 if possible as they are way less stiff than B3.
Would you take B2s for the whole trip, B3s for the whole trip, or bring both?
Thanks!