History
Looking Back: Triumph and Tragedy on Kangchenjunga, 1995
By the autumn of 1995, Kangchenjunga -- the world's...
William Buckley, the Australian Convict Adopted by Aboriginals
In Australia, when they say "you’ve got Buckley’s chance,"...
Dispatches from Terror Camp, the Online Polar Fan Conference
Last weekend, around 1,800 other registrants and I attended...
The 1853 Dinner That First Popularized Dinosaurs
Like many children, I was devoted to dinosaurs. Their...
Reluctant Historians: How the Past Can Seduce Adventure Travelers
Those who ski from Hercules Inlet to the South...
Geoffrey Winthrop Young: The Man Who Changed British Climbing
Geoffrey Winthrop Young (1876-1958), British climber, poet, and author...
Fraud or Find? What We Know About Crete’s Mysterious Phaistos Disk
In early July of 1908, Luigi Pernier was heading...
Aiguille Noire de Peuterey: Climbing Stories of the Black Needle
From the first guided ascents of the 19th century...
Unicorns: What They Were, and How Their Horns Were Used as Cure-Alls
Unicorns have a deeply rooted association with purity, young...
Remembering Elizabeth Hawley, the Sherlock Holmes of Himalayan Summits
Elizabeth Hawley was born in Chicago on Nov. 9,...
The 1973 Chivruay Pass Mystery: What Really Happened to the 10 Skiers Who Died in the Soviet Arctic
In January 1973, 10 students from the Kuibyshev Aviation...
How Escaped Convicts Found Freedom — and Family — Among Australia’s First Peoples
Australia was, for many decades, the open-air prison of...
Remembering Wolfgang Gullich, Who Redefined Sport Climbing
Today, German climber Wolfgang Gullich would have turned 65....
The Hard Side: A History of Climbing Cho Oyu From Nepal
The sixth-highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyu is...
Why Author Herman Melville Was ‘The Man Who Lived With Cannibals’
When you think of Herman Melville, you probably think...
Marc-Andre Leclerc’s Solo Climb of Mount Robson’s Emperor Face
Marc-Andre Leclerc loved mountains for the adventure, not for...
Flashback: Vladislav Terzyul’s 2004 Disappearance on Makalu
In the 1980s, Vladislav Oleksandrovych Terzyul of Ukraine emerged...
Looking Back: The 1988 Ascent of Everest’s Southwest Face
In the autumn of 1988, a team of Slovak...
We Still Don’t Understand the 1916 Shark Attacks That Inspired ‘Jaws’
The year 1916 was a fantastic summer on the...
