A Story from the AAC Grant Archives

by Hannah Provost

*Mad Sorkin frees the crux pitch above the clouds. PC: AAC member Emily Stifler Wolfe*

In 1963, rock climbing legends Jim McCarthy, Royal Robbins, Layton Kor, and Dick McCracken did the first ascent of Mt. Proboscis in the Cirque of the Unclimables. In 2010, a team of female climbers, including Madaleine Sorkin, Emily Stifler Wolfe, and Lorna Illingworth, were determined to climb the route free. The intertwining of these two expeditions reveals much contrast in the climbing styles and practices of each unique time, but also how climbing can help you speak across a ripple in time.