Pete Takeda

Open wide: Big wall Pete Takeda dishes out his favorite 5.10 from Vedauwoo, Wyoming.

That Charlie Fowler would meet his end while doing what he loved is no huge surprise given the sheer volume of his climbing. At age 52, he'd racked up three and a half decades of it, and had carried his quiet air of a seasoned survivor from hard rock to the high-risk games of alpine climbing and soloing.

Fifty years ago a team of top American climbers participated in a botched CIA operation that lost a plutonium spy device high in the Himalaya. Here's  Pete Takeda's account of that bizarre expedition and his attempts to uncover the truth about what really happened...

Climber Jeff Lowe invented modern mixed climbing and inspired generations of climbers, including the alpinist Ueli Steck, who recently onsighted Octopussy, 20 years after Lowe's historical ascent.

Steck and Anthamatten risk it all on a dangerous rescue attempt.

Check out Pete Takeda's author page.