Alpinist

In June 2020, Chantel Astorga soloed Denali's Cassin Ridge in less than 15 hours, setting a women's record and making the first known ski descent of the Seattle Ramp during the approach. She recalls o...

18 Nov 202143min

Mike Gardner was 16 years old when his father, a respected climbing guide, died while free soloing on the Grand Teton in 2008. Mike has suffered the loss of other loved ones since then, yet he continu...

16 Nov 202154min

Pete Takeda is a world-renowned alpinist who started climbing on boulders as a kid in Idaho. He has pursued every climbing discipline over the last several decades, from hard free climbing to big wall...

15 Nov 202134min

Besides free climbing big walls, Madaleine Sorkin devotes herself to social activism, and has been a leader in starting the Climbing Grief Fund through the American Alpine Club. In this interview from...

7 Juli 202129min

Anna Pfaff grew up in rural Ohio, running through cornfields, playing softball and showing animals at the county fair, "but I always felt like there was something more out there," she says of her deci...

23 Juni 202139min

In this episode, Derek Franz narrates "To Look the Bear in the Eye: The Life of Yasushi Yamanoi," a story by Sartaj Ghuman that was first published in Alpinist 62 (Summer 2018). Yamanoi is among the f...

21 Dec 202056min

In this episode, Chris Kalman narrates "Less Rich Without You," a story by Nick Bullock that was first published in Alpinist 68 (Winter 2019-20). The story chronicles Bullock's attempt to climb a new ...

10 Nov 202051min

For 141 years since its first ascent, mountaineers from around the world traveled to climb la Meije in the Massif des Écrins of France. Meanwhile, the permafrost that held its stones together was melt...

29 Okt 202041min