Following our autumn fieldwork season studying nearby glaciers, Ibai Rico (Spain) and I (USA but based in U.K.) planned several interesting lines from the Langtang Valley.To acclimatize we explored the approach to the south saddle of Ganchempo (6,...
After visited Rolwaling in 2013 (AAJ 2014), I headed back with new objectives. This time my partner was Sam Hennessey (U.S.), with whom I'd climbed in Yosemite. Despite the rapid growth of tourism in Rolwaling, with numerous trekking parties, the ...
After a decade of exploration and solving puzzles on numerous peaks in the Quimsa Cruz, expeditions have become a way of life. The dream of publishing the third edition of my guide, Travesía Quimsa Cruz (Crossing Quimsa Cruz), gives me the opportu...
From June 17–20, 1974, Americans Roman Laba and John Thackray climbed the northwest ridge of Huayna Potosi. The AAJ 1975 feature describing this climb is erroneous in recording it as the northeast ridge. The only reference to an earlier ascent of ...
On August 25, Pacifico Machaca and I drove to the west side of Huayna Potosi and then walked two hours to the lake below the west face. Here, we examined possibilities for a new mixed route on this stunning wall. Carrying neither tent nor sleeping...
On October 10, Artem Bylinksi (Russian), Juvenal Condori, Rodrigo Lobo (both Bolivian), and Davide Vitale (Belgian) reached Penas, drove to the road head at Jalluwaya, and then walked three hours to Laguna Warawarani, where they camped. Leaving ne...
From January 15–18, 2015, two rope teams completed the third and fourth enchainments of the three Towers of Paine. Oriol Baró (Spain), Paula Alegre, and Esteban Degregori (both Argentina) climbed and descended Torre Norte via the Monzino (400m, 5....
Orlando Lopez, Fabian Londono, and I hoped to free climb the complete route Osa Ma Non Troppo (700m, 7b A2/A3, AAJ 2007), established by Italians Michell Cagol, Rolando Larcher, Fabio Leoni, and Elio Orlandi. The route is located just left of Cota...
From December 30, 2014–January 17, 2015, Myles Moser and I made the first capsule-style ascent of the route Una Fina Linea de Locura (31 pitches, VII 5.12 A3) on the Central Tower in Torres del Paine. Our goal was to free every pitch of the 4,000’...
At the beginning of January 2015, a group of 16 students, NOLS instructors Anne Peick, Christian Steidle, Martin Arteaga, and I organized an expedition to the El Engaño Valley, which includes the Cordón Colmillo. To our knowledge this range (north...
In November, Ulises Espinosa (Chile) and I went to the Las Leñas Valley, where in six days we completed the first ascent of Cerro General Carrera (both its west [3,198m, GPS] and central summit [3,313m, GPS]), and Cerro Manuel Rodríguez (4,026m). ...
In preparation for an expedition to the Volcano Pular, in July 2004, Norberto Alarcon, Freddy Grey, and I opened a route to the south summit of the Rubillas massif. The ascent was done in the day, starting from the town of Baños Morales, east of S...
In mid-July, I met Cecilia Buil (Spain) in Chile; our plan being to climb some new routes on Cerro Marmolejo (6,109m) located at the head of Cajon del Maipo, a long, mountainous valley near Santiago. We first wanted to climb the route established ...
La Pala (3,669m GPS), though not very high, is a very large mountain with around 1,500m of prominence. The peak is located near the fork of the Rio Claro and the Estero Godoy ravine. After having climbed to the north summit (3,647m GPS) a couple o...
Torres del Campanario (ca 5,090m) is nice set of towers outside of Mendoza in the Cordillera Frontal of Argentina’s Central Andes. It has granite very similar to the walls in southern Patagonia. In March, a number of fine new lines were opened in ...
Diego Nakamura and partners have climbed many spires in the Sosneado Group over the past few years. The zone lies on the east flank of Cerro de los Pantanos, southeast of Cerro el Palomo (4,850m), along the Chile-Argentina border. In March, Lucas ...
In early November, Rob Smith and I traveled to Cerro San Lorenzo (3,706m), Patagonia’s second-tallest peak. While the Chaltén massif to the south is about ease of access to amazing climbing, San Lorenzo is about big adventure, with difficult uncli...
Pirámide Alejandro Lewis (4,800m) is a fine, rocky pyramid that is part of the Nevado de Cachi and is named after a deceased climber. From Las Pailas, the approach is made by hiking up the Quebrada de la Hoyada. In November, Matias Cruz and Facund...
Mt. Namuli is located in the northeast of Mozambique, in the Zambezia province, and is a striking granite inselberg with twin summits topping out at 2,418m. In May, Kate Rutherford and I completed the first technical route up the mountain. Our 12-...
The east face of the Nelion (5,188m) is surely the steepest and most impressive big wall on the Mt. Kenya (5,199m) massif. When Lena Hölzler, Niels Delenk, and I (all Germany) visited in August 2007, our goal was to establish a direct free climb t...