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The Sherpa — A History of the People Who Carried Himalayan Climbing

The Sherpa — A History of the People Who Carried Himalayan Climbing

The word "Sherpa" turns up constantly in Himalayan climbing news. What is less commonly known outside the climbing world…

Naomi Uemura — The Adventurer Who Disappeared into Denali

Naomi Uemura — The Adventurer Who Disappeared into Denali

Naomi Uemura was born on 12 February 1941 in Kokufu village in the Kinosaki district of Hyōgo Prefecture (now part of th…

Junko Tabei — The First Woman to Stand on Top of Everest

Junko Tabei — The First Woman to Stand on Top of Everest

Junko Tabei was born on 22 September 1939 in Miharu, a small town in Fukushima Prefecture, the youngest of ten siblings.…

Walter Weston — The English Missionary Who Showed Japan's Mountains to the World

Walter Weston — The English Missionary Who Showed Japan's Mountains to the World

If you walk along the Azusa River from the Kamikōchi bus terminal, sooner or later you come on a small bronze relief set…

The Eiger North Face — A History of the "Murder Wall"

The Eiger North Face — A History of the "Murder Wall"

The Eiger (3,970 m) rises out of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. With the Jungfrau and the Mönch, it forms the famous t…

The First Ascent of K2 — Glory, Shame, and the Savage Mountain

The First Ascent of K2 — Glory, Shame, and the Savage Mountain

K2 stands 8,611 m above sea level. Only the second highest mountain on Earth, and yet in the climbing community it is fe…

The Matterhorn — Whymper's Triumph and the Tragedy of 1865

The Matterhorn — Whymper's Triumph and the Tragedy of 1865

The Matterhorn (4,478 m) is the most famous mountain in the Alps. Standing on the Swiss–Italian border in an almost geom…

The First Ascent of Everest — Hillary, Tenzing, and 1953

The First Ascent of Everest — Hillary, Tenzing, and 1953

11:30 a.m., 29 May 1953. At 8,849 m, on the summit of the highest mountain on Earth, two people stood. A beekeeper from …

The First Ascent of Mont Blanc — Balmat, Paccard, and the Birth of Alpinism in 1786

The First Ascent of Mont Blanc — Balmat, Paccard, and the Birth of Alpinism in 1786

8 August 1786. In the town of Chamonix in eastern France, people were peering through telescopes. On the summit of Mont …