mountain climber

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

'Sheer Coincidence' Body of Missing Climber Was Found

William Stampfl died in a 2002 avalanche on Huascaran in the Andes

(Newser) - On Tuesday, the world learned that the body of a long-missing American climber had been found on the highest mountain in Peru. William Stampfl's children learned the body of their father, who was caught in an avalanche on Huascaran in 2002 at age 58, in late June. "It...

Body of American Lost in 2002 Avalanche Is Found

Ice melt exposed the body of climber William Stampfl in the Peruvian Andes

(Newser) - The remains of an American who lost his life climbing in Peru 22 years ago have been found. William Stampfl, 59, was on the 22,000-foot Huascaran in June 2002 when he was buried in an avalanche; search and rescue efforts were unable to locate him at the time. CBS...

Boiling Water, Axes Needed to Retrieve Everest's Dead

Team retrieves 5 bodies; hundreds more remain

(Newser) - Climate change is thinning snow and ice on the slopes of Mount Everest, unveiling the bodies of hundreds of people who died in quest of summiting the world's highest peak. Now comes the process of dealing with them—which, like the Everest climb, is neither easy nor cheap. As...

Did China Steal Bodies, Camera of Doomed Everest Climbers?

Mystery continues to swirl over fate of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine during their 1924 ascent

(Newser) - A century ago this week, George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine began their attempt to reach the top of Mount Everest, an ill-fated expedition that would lead to the disappearance of both men. Whether they ever reached the summit is one of the greatest mysteries in world exploration—confirmation...

Everest Climber, Guide Go Missing on Descent

Daniel Paul Paterson and Pas Tenji Sherpa may be victims of an ice collapse

(Newser) - Everest may have claimed two victims on Tuesday. A 40-year-old British climber and his 23-year-old Sherpa guide are missing after an ice collapse near the summit, reports the Daily Beast . Daniel Paul Paterson and Pas Tenji Sherpa were descending after reaching the summit when a "cornice broke off and...

Mallory's Last Note From Everest: 'It Is 50 to 1 Against Us'

The May 1924 letter is the UK adventurer's final correspondence to spouse before he vanished

(Newser) - In his final letter to his wife before he vanished on Mount Everest a century ago, George Mallory tried to ease her worries even as he said his chances of reaching the world's highest peak were "50 to 1 against us." The letter, digitized for the first...

Climber Meets End in Mount St. Helens Crater

It was Roscoe Shorey's 29th time on the summit, authorities say

(Newser) - On his 29th time summiting Mount St. Helens, everything went wrong. Roscoe "Rocky" Shorey, an experienced mountain climber from Washougal, Washington, fell 1,200 feet into the volcano crater, where his body was recovered Saturday. The Skamania County Sheriff's Office said an overhanging edge of snow had broken...

US Climber, Sherpa Dead After Himalayan Avalanches

2 more are missing, including sherpa who recently set record

(Newser) - American mountaineer Anna Gutu and a Nepalese guide, Mingmar Sherpa, were confirmed dead Sunday after avalanches struck the slopes of a Tibetan mountain, while two others remained missing, according to Chinese media reports. The avalanches struck Tibet's Mount Shishapangma on Saturday afternoon at about 25,000 feet and about...

Climber 'Exceptionally Lucky' After Fall From Summit

Warmer temps turned ice to snow, which cushioned 2K-foot fall on New Zealand's Mount Taranaki

(Newser) - A climber who reached the summit of a mountain in New Zealand descended a lot faster than anticipated but lived to tell the tale. The unidentified climber apparently lost his footing at the top of the challenging Mount Taranaki, slid down an astonishing 600 meters (about 2,000 feet), and...

He Died Trying to Climb an Unconquered Peak

Japanese mountaineer's climbing partner survived the fall in Pakistan

(Newser) - A Japanese mountaineer is presumed dead after he and his partner fell about 230 feet while climbing a never-scaled mountain in northern Pakistan, their tour operator and a mountaineering official said Wednesday. The second climber, also Japanese, was injured. The accident occurred Friday afternoon as the pair climbed a mountain...

Mountaineer Accused of Climbing Over Dying Man: We Couldn't Save Him

'We couldn't have done anything more,' an emotional Kristin Harila insists

(Newser) - A record-setting Norwegian mountaineer pushed back Sunday against claims that she could have done more to save the life of a Pakistani porter who slipped off a narrow trail near the peak of the world's most treacherous mountain and died there after several hours. The circumstances of Mohammad Hassan'...

As Climbing Tragedies Go, It Was Among the Very Worst

'Outside' revisits the 2022 avalanche that killed 29 on India's Draupadi Ka Danda II

(Newser) - On October 4, 2022 , the summit was in sight; then tragedy struck in the form of what would prove to be among the very deadliest avalanches in mountaineering history. In a lengthy piece for Outside , Anna Callaghan revisits what happened that day on India's Draupadi Ka Danda II, or...

As Glacier Ice Melted, Another Grisly Find

Cops say body found near Matterhorn is German mountaineer who went missing 37 years ago

(Newser) - DNA tests have confirmed that the body recently found on a glacier southeast of the famed Matterhorn peak is that of a German mountaineer who disappeared 37 years ago, police in southwestern Switzerland said Thursday. Increasing glacier melt, which many scientists blame on global warming, has spurred a recent increase...

She Tried the Big 14 Last Year and Failed. Now, Success

Kristin Harila, Tenjen Sherpa summit at K2, scale world's highest mountains in record 92 days

(Newser) - A Norwegian woman mountain climber and her Nepali Sherpa guide have set a new record by scaling the world's 14 highest peaks in 92 days, a Pakistani mountaineering official said. On Thursday, Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa summited K2 on the Chinese-Pakistani border in the Karakorum Range—considered to...

Free Solo Climber Loses Hold, Falls 500 Feet

Woman's body recovered from Colorado's Ypsilon Mountain on Monday

(Newser) - Lose your hold and you fall. That's the crux of free solo climbing without ropes, anchors, a net, or any other climbing protection. And it was the fate of a 26-year-old Boulder woman who fell 500 feet to her death at Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday....

Seattle Doctor Dies on Everest
American Climber
Dies on Everest
May 2, 2023 10:25 AM CDT

American Climber Dies on Everest

Jonathan Sugarman, 69, is the first foreign death on the peak this year

(Newser) - An American climber died on Mount Everest on Monday, and the Himalayan Times identifies him as 69-year-old Jonathan Sugarman, a doctor based in Seattle. Sugarman's death was not the result of a fall, though details were scant. "He was feeling unwell and passed away at Camp II,"...

12 Climbers Went Up the Volcano. Then 5 Fell

Only a few survivors were evacuated from Russia's Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Eurasia's tallest volcano

(Newser) - A dozen climbers went up a Siberian volcano last week, but only a few have come back down. According to the Russian state agency Ria Novosti, the group of 12 began ascending Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Eurasia's tallest volcano, located on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's far northeast, on Aug....

2 Men Tried to Ascend Denali. Then It All Fell Apart
What Led to a
1K-Foot Fall on Denali
longform
Jul 30, 2022 8:20 AM CDT

What Led to a 1K-Foot Fall on Denali

Kelsey Vlamis explores the fateful ascent attempt in a piece for Insider

(Newser) - At Denali's 14 Camp, some climbers decide to call it quits. It's where the upper mountain begins, and where the already challenging journey to the Alaskan summit becomes even more treacherous. It's a decision made for safety's sake, but as Kelsey Vlamis explains in a lengthy...

They Survived an Avalanche, Then Had to Survive the Night

2 climbers in New Zealand's Remarkables mountain range built a snow cave

(Newser) - Two climbers were caught in an avalanche on a mountain in New Zealand—and that was just the start of their troubles. The 20-something males were finishing up a three-day climbing adventure in the Remarkables mountain range when they awoke Tuesday to find their tent buried in fresh snow, per...

1 Climber Killed, 4 Injured in Poor Conditions
5 Climbers Fall
on Mount Shasta
Jun 8, 2022 5:07 PM CDT

5 Climbers Fall on Mount Shasta

Weekend snow brought fog and left a thin layer of ice

(Newser) - A mountain climbing guide was killed and at least four other people were injured in separate accidents this week while climbing Mount Shasta in Northern California in treacherous conditions, authorities said Tuesday. Jillian Webster, 32, of Redmond, Oregon, was leading a man and a woman Monday morning when one of...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>
Most Read on Newser