ALPINISTS AT LARGE: A TWO-PART FILM SERIES
We’ve reached into the AAC vault to share a two-part film series: “Alpinists at Large.” We hope they serve to keep your motivation and mountain spirit alive while you're stuck at home.
1981 ATTEMPT ON MT. SIGUNIANG IN CHINA
"Throw me off now. Throw me off. I’d rather die fast than slow.” —Jim Kanzler
In 1981, during a complicated time for relations between the US and China, a team of climbers embarked on one of the first American expeditions to the mountains of China.
Not all partnerships start off on perfect footing, and some expeditions go sideways. The four members of the Mt. Siguniang expedition learned a lot of lessons during their “trip,” but forged lifelong friendships nonetheless.
1978 ATTEMPT ON THE NORTH RIDGE OF LATOK I
“All of us shared that sense of vision of what could possibly be done with a small group of climbers, as light as we could, and as fast as we could.” —George Lowe
It's rare that a "failure" becomes so revered. The style in which the 1978 Latok I team approached the north ridge, and the commitment they showed to each other, rather than success, remains a shining example of values in alpinism.
MT. SIGUNIANG: A DEEPER DIVE
Dive into the lore of Mt. Siguniang below with relevant American Alpine Journal submissions through the years.
SIGUNIANG
BEHOLD ONE OF THE GREAT ICE LINES OF ALL TIME: THE DISTRESSINGLY STEEP, THIN, AND LONG BASALT DIKE ON THE NORTHWEST FACE OF SIGUNIANG, SICHUAN PROVINCE
Author: Mick Fowler. Publication Year: 2003.
“On April 14 we stood, feeling very small, below the towering, unclimbed northwest face, the feature we had come halfway round the world to try. An American team had tried it in 1981 and a Japanese team in 2001. Jack Tackle, one of the Americans, had been kind enough to provide a mouthwatering photograph. Back in England Paul and I had been bold enough to think that we were in with a chance. Now we were not quite so sure. Emotions had rollercoasted since that first sighting from the bus.”
MT. SIGUNIANG, NORTH FACE ATTEMPT
Author: Jack Tackle. Publication Year: 1982.
The route was up a buttress that blended into the face as we gained altitude. After eleven days above High Camp, six days on the final push, we were turned back by a combination of colder temperatures than were expected and very high winds, which slowed progress.
KIM SCHMITZ, 1946 – 2016
Author: Jack Tackle. Publication Year: 2017.
“I was struck that day with the realization that I had always looked up to the climber and the person that Kim had been. But what I realized then was that I admired most the person that he had become after his life-changing accident. Gentle, thoughtful, and non-judgmental was his mantra.”
LATOK I: A DEEPER DIVE
Dive into the lore of Latok I’s north ridge below with a Cutting Edge podcast featuring Tom Livingstone and relevant American Alpine Journal submissions through the years.
CUTTING EDGE PODCAST: LATOK I—THE SECOND ASCENT
On August 9, 2018, four decades after the first ascent of Latok I in Pakistan, Aleš Česen and Luka Stražar from Slovenia, along with Tom Livingstone from the U.K., completed the second ascent of this stunning peak (and the first-ever from the north side). We spoke with Luka and Tom to get the full story, including their take on the great north ridge of Latok I.
AMERICAN ALPINE JOURNAL: GREAT LATOK I STORIES
LATOK I
1978 ATTEMPT ON THE NORTH RIDGE
Author: Michael Kennedy. Publication Year: 1979.
“It wasn’t all grim. The scenery was gorgeous. We had the exhilaration of 7,000 feet of exposure down to the glacier below. We had been on the climb so long that it seemed as if it was the only thing we had ever known. Memories faded into the distant past. Each day was routine: get up, put on a brew, eat, boots on, dress against the cold, pack the gear, climb, haul loads, hack out a platform, eat, sleep—the details were all the same, the days were alike, blurred into a simple ritual of the climb.”
LATOK I: THE SECOND ASCENT
A CLEVER WORKAROUND YIELDS THE FIRST SUMMIT ROUTE FROM THE CHOKTOI GLACIER
Author: Tom Livingstone. Publication Year: 2019.
“By midmorning, however, the clouds had thinned and the summit looked to be within reach again. In silence, Luka began re-racking and then started kicking steps away from the tent, ignoring the heavy spindrift avalanches that tumbled down snow grooves on either side of him. Aleš and I followed on the other end of the rope, exhausted but determined. Wind-blown snow and clouds crashed over the summit. It looked like a stormy day in the Scottish Highlands, I thought grimly, except we were above 7,000 meters in the Karakoram.”
LATOK I: THE NORTH RIDGE
A FAMOUS LINE IS FINALLY CLIMBED, BUT WITH NO SUMMIT AND A HEAVY COST
Author: Alexander Gukov. Publication Year: 2019.
“But at the last moment Evgeny could not go. Everything was ready, but now there were only two of us. Sergey was in a fighting mood. But me—I’m not a superstitious person, but somewhere deep in my soul something was off. It didn’t feel right to take on such a route as a pair. Yet what if I was wrong? What if everything was not so bad, what if Sergey was ready and we would make a great team? Who can answer these questions in advance?”
