The two climbers were probably preparing to lower from thistree when they fell to the ground at Stone Mountain. Late in the afternoon on Saturday, June 7, Lisa Bacon (31) and Brian Sakofsky (35) fell approximately 60 f...
During the afternoon of April 12, a male climber (21) fell 70 feet while showing two friends how to rappel. After threading his ropes through the two-bolt anchor at the top of the cliff he began to rappel. Seconds later, his friends stated, the r...
During the early afternoon of Monday, March 10, Jackson Depew (23) and Zach Patterson (24) were climbing Maginot Line (5.7) on Shortoff Mountain, at the south end of the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. Jackson was leading the third pitch when he f...
On March 21, MT (30) and her partner (age 35) started an unnamed 5.7/5.8 climb on the Victory Wall. MT began the second pitch by moving right approximately 15 feet. After placing a blue Metolius TCU, she continued up, slotted a nut between a block...
Mark Byers (53), an experienced climber, died as a result of a fall while roped solo climbing on the evening of March 11. Byers was leading the route Balcony (5.5). Witnesses mistakenly reported that he had reached the top of the climb and that on...
Heidi Duartes Wahl, 28, died November 15 after falling to the ground from about 20 feet up Yellow Wall (5.11) at the Trapps. The climber had not placed any protection, which is the norm for the relatively easy but poorly protected start of this ro...
On August 9 a climber was starting either the second pitch of Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope (CCK) or CCK Direct—the pitches start in the same area of Grand Traverse Ledge. He reportedly placed one cam in a horizontal crack, continued climbing, de...
Ryan Silsby, 25, died in a fall in Blodgett Canyon in mid-August. Silsby had parked at the Blodgett Canyon Trailhead, planning a two-day trip. His vehicle was found on September 2 with his camping gear still inside it, and his body was discovered ...
All photos by Frank Kretschmann / Funst.de I started dreaming of climbing a new route through the steepest part of the north face of the Eiger in 2002. I joined Steph Siegrist on his new project La Vida es Silbar (Siegris...
The Sierra was unseasonably warm in early October. With a few days at our disposal, Pete Fasoldt and I hiked up to the Incredible Hulk to find the usually crowded cliff, and indeed all of Little Slide Canyon, totally empty. Even the marmots were s...
During the past few winters of climbing in the Bottomless Pit area on Pikes Peak’s north side, I spotted a few crack systems on the Corinthian Column (ca 13,500’) that looked interesting for potential summer rock routes. However, upon closer inspe...
After spending five days in the backcountry, my brother Jon Schutz, my girlfriend Julie Tran, and I succeeded in putting up a new line on the southwest side of Kettle Dome (9,451’) in Kings Canyon. As far as we could tell nobody had climbed this w...
Panther Peak (9,006’) is a small peak in Sequoia National Park, located along the ridge connecting Moro Rock and Alta Peak. Its steep south side, with two prominent buttresses, is displayed nicely for hikers on the popular High Sierra Trail. To my...
Cherubim Dome (10,440’) is a beautiful rock face towering above the Valhalla and Hamilton lakes, just east of Angel Wings. While researching its established rock climbs, I was able to find only one route, up the south-southwest face: Archangel (IV...
On March 21 the Mineral County Sheriff (Nevada) received a 911 call from Brandon Reiff (33) of Reno, who reported that he had broken his leg in a fall near Matterhorn Peak (12,280’). His 911 call was transferred to the Mono County Sheriff, but the...
Alaska is a land of superlatives. It’s big, wild, and hairy—and, as the joke goes, so are the girls of Talkeetna. I’d heard so much about Alaska that I knew sooner or later I’d end up there. And I did, after Twid Turner and I hatched a plan to cli...
On April 2, Carlos Flores and I made the first ascent of the Life You Can Save (350m, 13 pitches, 5.12d) on the north face of Pico Independencia in Parque La Huasteca, just west of Monterrey.The route first required three weeks of preparation, alo...
I felt super solid. The route (appropriately named Harder Than It Looks) was comfortably within my difficulty range and well-suited to my strengths: delicate and slabby at the bottom, with a fun-looking undercling near the top.I had just completed...
In 2006, on a climbing expedition to China, Andy Tyson and his team found themselves on the wrong side of a raging river 80 miles from their objective. Not trusting their driver, who insisted the team needed to ford the river, Andy’s expedition ma...
During a spell of excellent weather from May 18 to May 31, Max Fisher and I returned to the Upper Chilkat area of the Coast Mountains, where we’d visited a year prior (AAJ 2015). The area is located about seven miles west of Mt. Foster and spans...