So, just hypothetical cause I'm not at that level yet... but if I was going to climb a mountain, say in Alaska, on a certain face, and there is no report I can find on Summitpost or through web searches of someone doing this mountain or face. How do I find out, for sure, if it has been done and get that information? AAC? IFMGA? Library of congress? Does anyone keep an "Ultimate Record"?

What do people do in the big leagues when they want to make a first ascent or figure out what they are getting into before they go?

Read the history of a route named 'Whodunit' at Tahquitz involving some big leaguers. There is better record keeping these days but I don't think you're going to find any world wide official and updated book.

My best advice is to recommend asking the locals and people making first ascents in the neighborhood. Of course this creates risk of getting scooped. Which is only fair if you are playing on someone else's home turf.

There is no ultimate big book of every route done everywhere, the information is scattered in different locations. The American Alpine Journal has been the go to source, as well as the Canadian Alpine Journal for their respective countries for many years. If you are specifically interested in Alaska, the ranger station in Talkeetna has a thick binder with new route info. It is pretty cool to leaf through hand drawn topos and descriptions written in the hand of the first ascentionists. They even let you photo copy pages.

Current climbers active in the ranges are rich sources. I would have said ask Joe Puryear, but he has sadly passed, but leaves behind a great guide book. Certainly Mark Westman would be a good person to ask. Between those two, no active climber has done as many significant Alaskan ascents. Fred Beckey certainly will know if a climb has been done in North America. Colin Haley is an excellent student of climbing history and would be good to ask. Other local guide book authors are also rich sources. Interestingly enough, the French had more information on Ruth Gorge climbs than any other source when I went there in 2003.

baumann_pat wrote:My best advice is to recommend asking the locals and people making first ascents in the neighborhood. Of course this creates risk of getting scooped. Which is only fair if you are playing on someone else's home turf.

Climb it first, then ask!

The obvious.... look for a hardened turd, pin, bolt, mank rap slings or even a hanging air compressor fixed in place.

If you're specifically looking for whether or not a peak in Alaska has been climbed, I try to maintain records of the earliest recorded ascents of as many Alaskan peaks as possible. It's a herculean task that probably will never be 100% accurate, but it's a pretty good start and to date I have records on over 4,100 Alaskan peaks. My information has been compiled from the AAJs, CAJs, Screes, Descents, Ascents, Alaskan Mountains, Climbings, Alpinists, Alpine Journals, Colorado College Alpine Journals, Appalachias, Harvard Mountaineerings, Mazamas, Chicago Mountaineering Club Newsletters, Mountains, Off Belays, archived records, summit registers, correspondence with other climbers, and word of mouth. My research has NOT been exhaustive and it is likely that there have been ascents of peaks for which I have no record.

PM me if you're interested on a specific Alaskan peak. And let me know if you have climbed a peak that you think might be a first ascent; I'd love to make these records as accurate as possible.

The Chief wrote:The obvious.... look for a hardened turd, pin, bolt, mank rap slings or even a hanging air compressor fixed in place.

Then there's the kind of evidence that Hiram Bingham found when he thought he was the first to climb Coropuna: a note from Annie Peck left for him on the summit!

PM me if you're interested on a specific Alaskan peak.

Hey Steve,

Do you know what is the deal with Mount Miller? Do you know which peak really is Mount Miller and its elevation?

Various maps and sources make it confusing.

Scott, I think the problem stems from some sloppy name placement on the USGS maps. The name Mount Miller has been slightly misplaced on the provisional 1:63,360 USGS map (appearing around 8200 feet on the southwest face of the mountain), but the summit elevation of the peak is indicated as 10,750 (+50) feet. The 1:250,000 USGS map has also misplaced the name of the peak to an 8875-foot point on the southwest ridge of the mountain. The peak is at 60 degrees, 27 minutes, 37 seconds North, 142 degrees, 18 minutes, 5 seconds West in the Sarokin Glacier and Yahtse Glacier drainages on Barkley Ridge in the Saint Elias Mountains. It is the highest point on Barkley Ridge and the highest point in the Sarokin Glacier drainage. The nearest higher peak is more than 38 miles away.

On April 12, 1996, starting from the Kuleska Glacier, Carlos Buhler, Paul Claus, Ruedi Homberger, Reto Ruesch, and Charlie Sassara III climbed the southwest ridge to make the first recorded ascent. See pages 5 and 6 of the May 1996 Scree, pages 192 to 195 and page 380 of the 1997 AAJ, and page 79 of the 1998 AAJ for details of their climb. On the summit their altimeters indicated an elevation between 11,150 feet and 11,350 feet.

Mount Miller's second ascent came on April 26, 2002, when Bob Kingsley and Mike Lynch climbed a line on the northwest face starting from the Bagley Icefield. See pages 235 and 236 of the 2003 AAJ for details of their climb.

I don't know of a third ascent of the peak.

The various reported summit elevations can make it a bit confusing, but for now, I consider the most technically defensible reported summit elevation to be the one reported on the provisional 1:63,360 USGS map, 10,750 (+50) feet.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more clarification.