Alpine Journal 2025

What draws us to the mountains? Is it the aesthetic beauty of the peaks? The physical challenges they offer? The way their history calls to us, or the drive to write our own? Some combination of all of these, or something entirely different? This year's Alpine Journal holds no single answer to this question, but many versions of a possible one from a first-class cadre of contributors. Victor Saunders and Philip de-Beger take inspiration from their predecessors of a century before as they walk in the footsteps of the Vissers in the Pakistani Karakoram. Terry Gifford seeks answers in the writings of Leslie Stephen, disentangling his legacy from the Romantic movement to show his hand still at work on the pens of modern mountaineers. Nathan Croll Dawes demonstrates how mountains make the weather for the aerosol scientists pulled into their midst in search of meteorological knowledge. And Ad?le Long and Sallie Greenwood explore the stories of female mountaineers, unpacking the motivations of some pivotal pioneers. Alongside these pieces are many others on art, literature, science and exploration, as well as book reviews of the latest mountain titles and summaries of mountaineering activity from all over the world. Whether you're seeking answers or the foundations for your own questions, the 2025 Alpine Journal is the perfect companion for the enquiring alpinist.