Beyond the False Summit: The 2024 Pathfinder Issue

Among the treacherous, glistening glaciers of the European Alps, a team of climbers reaches for a new pinnacle of understanding. They climb a century after the famous mountaineers who inspired them — men who broke ground in the formative years of modern alpinism, but whose histories and identities remain out of full view.

In mountaineering, a false summit is a peak that appears to be the mountain’s apex, while the true summit awaits farther on. In “Beyond the False Summit: The 2024 Pathfinder Issue” of Hidden Compass, our expeditioners seek a true summit. Not only are they pursuing the peak of the Aiguille du Grépon, they also aim to shed a light on a hidden part of history, sharing more truthful narratives about diversity in alpinism in times and places of nonacceptance.

As we step into this year’s Pathfinder Issue, we cross continents and ice fields and embrace a range of voices — some appearing through veils of historical interpretation, others through varied storytelling styles, but all of which expand our understanding of the identities behind modern alpinism.

Through visual storytelling, mountain guide and photographer Ben Tibbetts brings the expedition to life, showcasing the relationship between the team, the mountain, and each other. In 20 striking photos in our Human & Nature department, “The Perspective of Ascent” takes us to the summit of the Aiguille du Grépon, and into the team’s key moments of preparation, ascension, and reflection.

In our Time Travel feature, Jordan Cannon weaves moments from the expedition with memories of growing up in a Christian community without queer role models to breaking new ground as one of the world’s first openly gay professional climbers — all while he considers the complicated landscape of climbing “So the World Can See You.”

And, in a Hidden Compass first, we’re running a three-part series of articles by a single author: writer and expedition leader Lance Garland. He begins with a Portrait of The Matterhorn, an iconic and elusive mountain, and Richard Halliburton, a daring adventurer and author who lived as a gay man behind his public persona in the 1920s and 30s. As Lance faces the realities of “Climbing the Unforeseen,” we find ourselves in a world of drama, tragedy, and a major change of course.

Then, in part two, Lance brings us to a ridge above the Mer de Glace valley, where the Pathfinders set out to climb for the first time as a team. But in this Chasing Demons piece, the terrain proves difficult as Lance battles physical maladies and brings us into the mysterious life of famous mountaineer George Mallory, who died in 1924 on the slopes of Everest. In life, both men find themselves “Escaping the Trap.”

In part three, in the pre-dawn hours of July 23, 2024, the Pathfinders set out on their Quest for the summit. As they scale glaciers that glow beneath a full moon, Lance contemplates Geoffrey Winthrop Young, a mountaineer who completed the route’s first ascent in 1911, and whose connection with George Mallory leads Lance to a realization about “Connecting Beyond the False Summit.”

The historical figures that inspired our 2024 Pathfinders broke ground in alpinism, but their stories were never fully told. In shedding light on these hidden histories, a new generation of climbers reaches ever higher.

Yours beyond the false summit of exclusion,

Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann, Hidden Compass Co-founders