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Outside Magazine September 2001

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The Next Frontier
When mountains are deserted, it's usually for a reason. Here, three pristine regions, and why they stay that way.

Antarctica
WHAT'S LEFT: Dozens of unclimbed faces and peaks in the Transantarctic Mountains.
WHY: Weather is one thing. Expense is another. Passage to Adventure Network International's Patriot Hills Base from Punta Arenas, Chile, runs $25,000 per person. To get from there on down to the alps, tack on another quarter-million for fuel alone. "For that money, I could do my kind of trips elsewhere for 15 years," says Montana-based mountaineer Jack Tackle.

Afghanistan
WHAT'S LEFT: Multiple unclimbed routes in the Hindu Kush, a glacier-capped range straddling the border with Pakistan and rising on the Afghan side to 24,581 feet at Mount Nowshak.
WHY: The Taliban has not yet embraced ecotourism. Besides intense fighting between rebel factions and the odd U.S. missile attack, the terrain hides millions of land mines. "There is really good climbing," says alpinist Mark Synnott. "But you have to be really careful about being an American."

Greenland
WHAT'S LEFT: Glacial approaches to spectacular 4,000-foot rock walls and 7,000-foot unclimbed peaks on Greenland's southeast coast.
WHY: Bushwhacking, river crossings, and thick clouds of mosquitoes and blackflies. "It's just amazing that the ancient Norse were able to survive there—even the Inuit for that matter," says climber Mark Richey, a member of Chris Bonington's recent expedition into the area. "Without a head net, you would go insane."

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