Expedition Agrihan 2023 is comprised of High Pointers, Explorers, Adventurers, Hikers, Climbers, and Outdoor Enthusiasts. We are dedicated to creating and achieving attainable goals, focusing on having fun through hard work and camaraderie.
In May 2018 a group of 12 climbers and 6 porters set out from Saipan to Agrihan with the sole purpose of mounting the Island’s summit. This was the third and most ambitious attempt by experienced High Pointer John Mitchler, and included an international team of adventurers.
After 7 days the team was able to successfully summit Agrihan, making history as the first people known to have reached the summit.
The adventure resulted in several television appearances and a well received article in Outside Magazine’s Jan/Feb edition.
From Wikipedia
From a European perspective Agrihan was discovered on June 11, 1522 by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa and named "Cyco" or "La Griega" (The Greek in Spanish). Espinosa was on the Trinidad as part of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, and called on the island while attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean to Mexico. The resident Chamorros were hostile and he could not anchor, but kidnapped an islander for information. The Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores visited Agrihan in 1669 calling it "San Francisco Javier".[5] In 1695, the natives were forcibly removed to Saipan, and three years later to Guam.
In 1810, settlers from the Kingdom of Hawaii attempted to establish a settlement on Agrihan. In the 1870s, the first coconut plantations were established. Adolph Capelle, a merchant from Brunswick in Germany, leased the island and exported copra, using around 20 seasonal workers from the Caroline Islands. Following the sale of the Northern Marianas by Spain to the German Empire in 1899, Agrihan was administered as part of German New Guinea. During this time, a private firm, the Pagan Society, owned by a German and a Japanese partner, developed more coconut plantations. However, severe typhoons in September 1905 and September 1907 destroyed the plantations and bankrupted the company.
During World War I, Agrihan came under the control of the Empire of Japan and was administered as the South Pacific Mandate. Following World War II, the island came under the control of the United States and was administered as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1967, the population was 94 people. Since 1978, the island has been part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Due to increased volcanic activity, the islanders were evacuated in August 1990 when an eruption was feared. However, by 1992, although there were 25 solfataras, a boiling hot spring and several steam vents, no eruption had taken place.[7] In 2000, six people returned to live in one of the original four settlements on the island. However, per the 2010 census, Agrihan was uninhabited.
In 1817 there was a Scotsman by the name of Roberton. He was a pirate who worked for the Chileans in the fight against the Spanish. He was known not only for his ghastly sight, which was of average height and shocking red hair, he was also known for his cruel and torturous ways. A couple of years later, a bandit known as Benavides appeared and began to stir up real trouble. Roberton took as his prisoner a friend of the bandit and demanded to know where Benavides was. Remembering Roberton’s reputation, the friend told him where the bandit was hiding.....
