Cold shoulder: 13 dramatic climbing controversies

From dubious first ascents to tense clashes at high altitudes, we explore 13 dramatic climbing controversies – some resolved and others less so

There was a time when climbing controversies were sportingly confined to the slopes. The petty trivialities, the robust exchanges and the heated clashes were just part of the cut and thrust of the mountaineering world. 

As the field grew more lucrative and summiteers were furnished with fame and book deals, these once-discreet disputes began to spill off the slopes. 

From contested first ascents to violent clashes at high altitude, we review some of history’s most fascinating climbing controversies.

Denali: Frederick Cook, 1906

In 1906, explorer Dr Frederick Cook took a photograph that would make him famous: a flag-bearing silhouette standing atop a monochrome peak. 

The figure in the picture was Cook’s climbing companion, Edward Barrill, on the summit of Denali in Alaska – or so the pair claimed.

According to Cook, he and Barrill found themselves “near the limit of human endurance” as they reached the summit of the highest peak in North America. ”At last!” he wrote in his account of the climb. “The soul-stirring task was crowned with victory. The top of the continent was under our feet.” 

Members of the crew who were left on the lower mountain immediately expressed doubt. It was only in 1909, however, after Cook’s North Pole dispute with Peary, that his ascent of Denali was publicly challenged. That year, Barrill signed an affidavit stating that he and Cook had not reached the summit after all.

It is said that Barrill was bribed by Peary’s backers – he did indeed accept their money – but the map included in his affidavit correctly located ‘Fake Peak’, the stand-in for the actual summit. 

In 1997, historian Robert M. Bryce found an uncropped version of the summit photo in Cook’s papers donated to Ohio State University. It showed previously hidden detail and Bryce concluded that Cook’s famous photo was actually taken on a small promontory some 4,500 metres below the summit!

Related reading: Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak

Annapurna: Maurice Herzog, 1950

In 1950, a French team of climbers made history on Annapurna in Nepal. It was the first-ever summit of an eight-thousander – but tensions began before the team had even left Paris. 

At the airport, expedition leader…