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The Tiedemann Group Mountain Profile Essays
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Tucked deep within British Columbia’s Coast Mountains, the Tiedemann Group is far less famous than its taller neighbor to the west, Mt. Waddington, but its frozen couloirs and snow-speckled rock faces tell a captivating story of their own. The range remains almost as remote today as it was a hundred years ago when Don and Phyllis Munday first visited. Tami Knight shares its lesser-known history, from the early days of hellacious approaches and fresh summits to modern tales of helicopter access and bold new lines. All tied up in various ways with Serra V, the last major summit to be…
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The Stilettos
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Tami Knight writes about the Tiedemann Group’s easternmost series of summits, known as the Stilettos. She writes: “The Stilettos are the little siblings of the spectacular mountains right next door, but they attract attention because, once you’re in the area, access is easy and they require a shorter weather window for climbing.”
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2023: The Serra Traverse
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Ethan Berman writes about the two attempts he made with friends to complete the “Waddington Loop.” The first effort ended with a helicopter rescue. The second trip was significantly more fun, but they were still humbled by the mountains. Berman writes: “Great success? Giant flop? I’m still not sure what to make of the five…
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1985: Waddington Traverse
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Peter Croft writes about “the warm deliciousness of being alive” when he traversed from Mt. Waddington to Serra V with Don Serl and Greg Foweraker in 1985: “It all started out so well. The granite was solid and straightforward, and even though the sky was still scowling at us, I started to believe we might…
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1985: The Race for Serra V
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Michael Down writes about attempting to snag the second ascent of Serra V with John Howe. It was twenty-one years after the peak’s first ascent in 1964, but that didn’t make the difficulties much easier. They turned around upon finding “rotten and decomposed rock” on their intended route—only to discover more frustrations at their camp.
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1964: Serra V
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Glenn Woodsworth writes about the first ascent of Serra V in 1964. Woodworth writes: “During the next day or so of bad weather, we learned that Roy was also flying a strong party into the Rainy Knob area, a quartet of Canadians and Brits who hoped to climb the unclimbed northwest ridge of Mt. Waddington…
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Off the Shelf 2025: Alpinist’s Year in Reading
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This year, Sonnie Trotter brought us back to 2006, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), as his fingers flexed against steep granite on the first free ascent of Cobra Crack. We stood next to Mimi Zieman in a whiteout as she waited for her teammates on Chomolungma (Everest) in 1988. Lisa Roderick gave us an intimate look at Denali’s Kahiltna Basecamp. These stories represent a small piece of everything Alpinist editors and contributors read in 2025; may they bring you as much inspiration, curiosity and humor as they did us.
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High Places
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In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 92, Derek Franz writes of his experience climbing in the Swiss Alps with The North Face team last September and learning about everything that went into developing the Advanced Mountain Kit Summit Series 2.0.
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The Wall of Walls
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In this On Belay story from Alpinist 91, Will Gadd shares the details of how he and Kirk Mauthner uncovered some of the best ice climbs of their lives close to their homes in Canada. The pair spent three years snowmobiling into the Kootenays, swinging tools into steep ice and skiing through complex avalanche terrain. Through it all, Gadd considered not just the quality of the climbing, but how he assesses risk in dangerous environments. He writes: “I still struggle with the basic question: Is it worth it? I don’t honestly know. But I do know that the answer has…
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Triumph Without Will
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In this Full Value story from Alpinist 91, Christopher Elliott interrogates the history of climbing in the Brenta Dolomites, the Nazi preoccupation with mountains and the responsibility of individuals in the face of fascism. He writes: “The history of alpinism in the Brenta Dolomites is a dramatis personae of characters who ‘achieved’ things that are very comprehensible to me as a climber. But some of these characters also lacked the will and insight to see and do the right thing when it mattered most. In other words, it was possible to both brave the odds and ‘triumph’ and be a…
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Responsibilities of Storytelling
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In this Sharp End story from Alpinist 91, Derek Franz considers recurring themes and the responsibilities of storytelling, and announces his trip to Nepal. He writes: “Storytelling is at its highest form when done in service to the bigger picture that goes beyond one person’s benefit; when the threads intertwine and connect, creating a fabric, a mosaic, a song, an ongoing conversation. At their best, stories are how we understand who we are, where we come from, where we are now, what we value or despise and where we might be going. At their worst, stories are lies we recite…
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Close to Home
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[This Sharp End story originally appeared in Alpinist 90 (Summer 2025), which is now available on newsstands and in our online store. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up the hard copies of Alpinist for all the goodness!–Ed.] I’M INCREDIBLY LUCKY TO
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In the Shadow of the Grand: A Reflection on the Life of Michael Gardner
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[The following is an excerpt from a much longer feature story that originally appeared in Alpinist 89 (Spring 2025), which is available in our online store. Only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up the hard copies of Alpinist for
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A discussion of mixed reactions to a mixed winter ascent of the Diamond
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Whenever there is an ascent that breaks away from expected norms in terms of tactics, style, difficulty, whatever—it is usually worth a second look, if for no other reason than to better understand its implications. A recent example came across my desk on March 21, regarding an odd “mixed-style” (my words) free ascent of D7 (IV 5.11+) on the Diamond of Longs Peak (14,255′) in Rocky Mountain National Park…. When I saw the photos of the climbers using ice tools on a classic alpine summer free route, like many people, I was startled. But then again, would we think twice…
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Impossible Things
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Dawn Wall free in a day. There, I thought it, said it, wrote it. Someday it’s sure to happen, yes? Séb Berthe agrees…. Saying, speaking, believing—these all make a thing that much closer to reality. Or, potentially, they only lead one deeper into rabbit holes of delusion. Fanciful, futuristic things are generally assumed to be delusion until they are made real by alchemists—people who maybe have to be at least a little bit mad to believe such possibilities in the first place. Climbers constantly test themselves against delusion.
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1984: Sarah’s Summit
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At age thirteen, Sarah Doherty lost her right leg to a drunk driver, but the accident didn’t stop her from pursuing athletics. She became the first female amputee to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier in 1984.
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1792-Present: Deconstructing Rainier. Reconstructing Takhoma.
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I wanted to share these ideas because I am the Native American mountain guide who was (is) obsessed with peak-bagging and deconstructing his colonial mindset while also reconstructing a stolen Indigenous identity. The catalyst for this revolution was Takhoma, a cultural centerpiece for many tribes and a nexus of energy, one that budding mountaineers have coveted for nearly a century and a half.
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1988-1995: The Training and the Test
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The mountain’s changing conditions, technical terrain and unpredictable weather make it a far more serious objective than the Lower 48’s other “Fourteeners.” It’s no wonder Mt. Rainier has been an invaluable training ground for generations of mountaineers who plan to climb higher and harder. Climbers like Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all fourteen 8000-meter peaks, climbed extensively on Mt. Rainier. The mountain played an important role in the early careers of other famous alpinists such as Mark Twight, Conrad Anker, Willie Benegas, Melissa Arnot Reid, Willi Unsoeld, Lou and Jim Whittaker and countless others over the years. For…
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Navigating a Crack of Doom
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Any climber worth their salt must understand their relationship with ego. It affects not only the individual but also those around them, even the environment and future generations, a ring of ripple effects…. More and more people are entering the ‘sport’ with a different focus and philosophy. What they are seeking on the rocks and mountains is changing. As editor of this magazine, I am a cog in this industry. I see it as my job to remind us of our history, our original values and inspirations—the less tangible aspects of this activity that we love—and what stands to be…
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The Green Man
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After being involved in an avalanche that killed a beloved member of her community in Colorado’s Elk Range in 2020, Laura Yale begins a journey to untangle a web of grief. She explores the ways ancient cultures coped with the reality of loss, acknowledging the natural process of death, and brings the old wisdom to bear on her situation. The Green Man “is in the knowing that in the whites and greys and long nights of winter, green will one day emerge again,” she writes.
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Hard to Explain
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In honor of Veterans Day, we’re sharing this story from Alpinist 87—which is currently available on newsstands and in our online store. In this short fiction story, Ben Davis depicts a mostly silent conversation between military veterans as they make their way up the east face of Longs Peak (Neniisoteyou’u, 14,255′).
