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Adventure Journal, 2016-19
* Lowell Skoog has a copy of each article marked with an asterisk.
Adventure Journal #3, Winter 2016-17
p. 50, Waterman, Jonathan, "The Secret Climb of Bob Jones" *
In this article, the author discusses the claim by Bob Jones, a World War II veteran living in Seattle, that he had made the first ascent of the West Buttress of Mt McKinley (Denali) in 1948, three years before the historic climb of that route by Bradford Washburn's party.Jones claimed to have parachuted onto the Kahiltna Glacier in May 1948 with friends Chuck Ward and Tommy Vint, after which they made a fast five-day ascent of the mountain. According to Jones' story, Ward collapsed during the descent due to altitude illness and died a day later. Jones and Vint buried Ward in a crevasse, then hiked out 80 miles to the ocean, where they flagged down a passing steamer.
The author was unable to find any evidence that Jones had actually completed this climb, and Jones was not able to provide any documentary proof of it. After researching Jones's background and talking to Tom Hornbein, who climbed Mt Adams in Washington with Jones in 1956, the author concludes that Jones's claim to have climbed Denali in 1948 is a hoax.
Based on this article, I've decided not to give credence to the claim made by Jones, in a 2011 interview with Louise Suhr, that he completed the second Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades in 1947.
Adventure Journal #11, Winter 2018
p. 16, Casimiro, Steve, "Dividing Line" *
In this article, the author argues that big mountain skiing was redefined in April 1997 when Jeremy Nobis demonstrated a new style of fast, sweeping turns on the face of Pyramid Peak in Alaska's Chugach range for the TGR film Harvest. Previously, skiing on terrain of this sort was characterized by short turns with strict speed control. Nobis was on an early generation of fatter skis (Dynastar Bigs, 90mm under foot). Skiing at this time was responding to innovations from snowboarding, where an extremely wide platform had been shown to provide advantages of floatation, stability, and ease of turning in deep snow conditions.
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