Some of his classic first ascents include the North Face of the Grand Teton and the "Durrance Route" on Devils Tower.
[2] His successful completion of the Grand's Exum Ridge and West Face, along with his contributions to the development of bouldering, stand among his other climbing achievements.
The authors, William Putnam, a former president of the Alpine Club, and Andy Kauffman, a former director, relied on a Durrance diary that surfaced for the first time fifty years after the event to correct the controversy and place responsibility for the deaths on Wiessner, the expedition's leader.
Ed Viesturs, in his book "K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain", revisits all the available documentation and suggests instead that the unplanned decision to decommission all lower camps played a major role in the tragedy.
Durrance, despite the claims being laid on him by Weissner, had hesitated to release his diary any earlier due to the amount of damage the controversy could do to people's reputations if it were stirred up again.