History
Hoax or Mistake? The Bird Audubon Painted That Never Existed
On Dec. 3, 1827, an engraving changed the world...
Quipu: The Inca’s Mysterious Recording Device
Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru...
The Werewolf Hunting Craze in 17th-Century France
In September of 1573, authorities in the Franche-Comté region...
Looking Back: The Disappearance of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker on Everest in 1982
In the spring of 1982, a small British team...
The 75th Anniversary of The First Ascent Of An 8,000m Peak: Annapurna I
Seventy-five years ago, on June 3, 1950, French mountaineers...
Schrodinger’s Cat, and How Death Doesn’t Add Up in Quantum Mechanics
After escaping the Nazis by minutes and then getting...
The 70th Anniversary of the First Ascent of Kangchenjunga
Today is the 70th anniversary of the first ascent...
Forgotten 7,000’ers: The Elusive Kirat Chuli — Lots of Failures, Just One Ascent
Our Forgotten 7,000'ers series continues with the climbing history...
Lenin Peak: Historic Climbs and Tragedies on this ‘Easiest’ 7,000’er
Lenin Peak, a towering giant in the Pamirs, has...
Shining Brightly, Briefly: Johnny Waterman and His 1978 Solo Traverse of Mount Hunter
In 1978, American mountaineer Johnny Waterman completed the first...
The Desert Island Castaway Whose Life Inspired an Adventure Novel
A pirate capture, a daring escape, a deserted island...
Dora Keen’s 1912 Climb of Mount Blackburn, the First Women’s Ascent of an Alaskan Peak
In this entry in our series on the climbing...
Looking Back: A Tragic 1984 Disappearance on Everest’s West Ridge
Earlier this week, we examined the pioneering 1979 ascent...
Remembering Slovenian Alpinist Nejc Zaplotnik
Today, Slovenian alpinist Nejc Zaplotnik would have turned 73....
Iceberg That Sank the Titanic Didn’t Create a Large Hole But a Series of Small Rips
Over a century after the Titanic sank, ground-breaking 3D...
Half-Starved, Three-Quarters Crazy: How Two Explorers Survived Alone in Northern Greenland in 1911-12
Exploration stories are rife with extreme deprivation, both physical...
A Child’s Doodles Show Daily Life in Medieval Russia
The 13th century was eventful for the people of...
Looking Back: The 1992 Rescue Of Chantal Mauduit on K2
In our recent article remembering French mountaineer Chantal Mauduit,...
Pursuing Happiness: Remembering Chantal Mauduit
The remarkable French alpinist Chantal Mauduit would have turned...
When Foreigners Were Considered Monsters
Early explorers weren't just worried about storms, starvation, mutiny,...
