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

Often, we find ourselves powerless before great forces: extinction, colonialism, repressed trauma, modernity, apathy. But for some, the only thing more impossible than overcoming such forces is to not attempt to do so in the first place.

In the summer 2024 issue of Hidden Compass, five new storytellers have joined us from around the world to share stories about “Attempting the Impossible.” At the heart of their tales are brave souls — nostalgic repatriates, eccentric artists, courageous survivors, optimistic entrepreneurs, and resilient botanicals — battling the odds.

For two and a half years, journalist Christopher Clark explored what lies behind the perimeter fence of CAFI, the “Welcome Centre for the French of Indochina” — or, simply, “the camp.” In “France’s Forgotten Place of Memory,” our photo feature and Time Travel piece, Clark weaves stories that span nearly seven decades of repatriate life. Alongside intimate photography, he unveils a mix of torment and tenderness, pain and joy, and cultures separated by oceans, decades, and circumstance.

Meanwhile, in our Portrait story, journalist Margherita Bassi takes us to the windswept island of Sant’Antioco, Italy, where past, present, and future collide. She introduces us to a cast of artists weighing the challenges of tradition, adaptation, and mythology surrounding the historic textile of sea silk, or bisso. Though they are often at odds, they all face the difficult task of “Preserving an Ancient Thread” in the face of impending extinction and a modern world.

On picturesque Jeju Island, South Korea, memories of a suppressed past are breaking through. While living on the island for five years, psychologist and author Dr. Anne Hilty witnesses a mix of repressed trauma, Shamanic tradition, and healing. In her Chasing Demons feature, Hilty pays homage to the island’s dark past and introduces us to those who spearhead hope by “Breaking the Silence.”

Then, along the sandy shores of India’s western state of Goa, food writer Joanna Lobo tastes a delicacy that challenges the palate of her country. In this Human & Nature story, Lobo introduces us to Gabriella D’Cruz, the “Seaweed Queen” who’s either at the cutting edge of a revolution in food and conservation — or caught in a whirlpool of her own optimism.

Finally, seeking living remnants of history in the glasshouses of Croxteth hall, writer Genevieve Arlie embarks on a botanical Quest. Centuries of drama burst into bloom in “The Glamor and Tragedy of Orchids,” revealing a world of marvels and conquest. But can the “orchidelirium” that once gripped visitors survive the ravages of colonialism, war, and shifting political winds?

For our readers and storytellers who seek the inconceivable,

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

How do we illustrate what the past has bestowed upon us? Can we capture the glimmers of whimsy, the shadows of conquest, the mirage of misconception? Or, in some cases, does the legacy live on within us, waiting for the right moment?

In the spring 2024 issue of Hidden Compass, five inquisitive storytellers step headfirst into the varying “Hues of Inheritance” — bringing you stories of the dark, enchanting, hazy, and vivid manifestations of what we’ve received from the conquerors, artists, soldiers, travelers, and defiant civilians that came before us.

Below the transcendent and bedazzled golden architecture of the Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the crypt of Timur the Conqueror is said to possess an ancient curse. In his Chasing Demons feature, author Craig K. Collins ventures into the mausoleum complex alone, bringing to life the history and legend of “The Curse of Timur” — along with the brutal conquerors it so hauntingly connects.

After exploring a legacy of bloodshed, we turn to a different kind of inheritance. Time-worn images of a certain Caribbean island lure in millions of travelers annually — and have captivated writer and photographer Ella Calland for years. But beneath these vivid photographs of baby blue buildings and smoky cigars lies a more complicated truth. For our Portrait photo feature, Calland treads the path of Cuba’s tourists, pointing her lens at an often exoticized world. As she steps into “Postcards From Cuba,” she unearths what lies beneath the veneer of nostalgia. 

On the other side of the world, the past looms over the crowded dance floor of Lukiškės, a nightclub with a bloody history. These young Lithuanians, like their Baltic neighbors, stand once again in the shadow of Russian aggression. But in our second Chasing Demons story, journalist Tim Brinkhof finds it’s not only the horrors of the past that reemerge — so too do the many “Shades of Defiance.” 

While some hues of inheritance are dark, others are full of magic. In the frenzied workrooms where beloved characters first came to life, the pioneers of animation broke glass and lit fires in their Quest to capture the physical world on paper. Long after these innovators left their slanted desks, writer Heather M. Surls explores their legacy — in all its shapes and forms — and discovers the enduring strokes of obsession, enchantment, imagination, and family history that bloomed from the whimsical works of Disney’s “Hyperion” Studio.

Then, following the life and letters of Basil Hase Delaney Ankerson, a young man conscripted to fight in WWII at just 20 years old, journalist Tim Bird journeys to the sand-blown Egyptian desert and back in time. Adventure and peril converge across continents and generations as Bird’s Time Travel feature, “The Time of His Life,” takes us into the haze of the legendary Battles of El Alamein — where questions abound, and one man’s story is tied to the fate of thousands.

For our readers and storytellers who appreciate all the shades of legacy,

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