Our idea was to kayak from Nanortalik around Cape Farewell, as a two-man autonomous team, and then return, attempting rock routes on any suitable peaks we came across. Cape Farewell is the southernmost tip of Greenland, and one of the windiest pla...
Nikita Balabanov, Viacheslav Polezhaiko, and I, all from the Ukraine, established base camp on the Morimoto meadow at 4,600m, opposite the northwest face of Langshisa Ri (6,412m), in October. From here we crossed the glacier and ascended 200m on m...
Charlie Porter and I crossed paths only briefly, in his adopted home of Tierra del Fuego. His greatest climbing achievements were all in North America, most notably in Yosemite. I have only visited the Valley once, climbing just a single easy pitc...
On the 10th of February, as he was headed out the door with partner Jens Holsten to attempt Fitz Roy, Chad emailed me with instructions to have a specific bouquet delivered to his sweetheart Mandy back home in Seattle on Valentine’s Day. Tragicall...
Jean Bouchet (expedition leader and Chamonix guide), Marlène Cugnet, Bernard Frésier, Emilie Guilleman, Alexis Maget, Arnaud Pasquer, and I left the Falkland Islands on December 21, 2013, aboard Jérôme Poncet’s robust motor-sailor Golden Fleece. W...
In August, before making a rare south-to-north crossing of Chapchingol Pass, an expedition of mountaineers from Austria and Pakistan visited the Ghidims Valley to attempt an unclimbed and unnamed summit clearly visible from the upper valley and Ya...
At the age of 24, a Smith College graduate, Barbara Polk was happily employed as the secretary of the Harvard biology department. But in the spring of 1939, Clarkie, the mailman, convinced her to audition for a job opening at the New England Museu...
In September and October I led a multinational team to the Adi Kailash range of Eastern Kumaun. This massif is wedged between the Kali Ganga, Darma Ganga, and Kuthi Yankti valleys, and between the Nepalese and Tibetan borders. The range contains a...
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see th...
Prompted by Sergi Ricart, a guide, photographer, and great friend since adolescence, Sidarta Gallego and I decided to forgo our main mountain guiding season and head for Zanskar. Our objective was a peak we knew only as "Tapion," a photo of whi...
On April 22, Dave Barker, Phil Booth, Ken Hopper, Rory Sellar, and Paul Vardy (U.K.) made the first known ascent of Lumba Sumba Peak (5,740m), the most easterly and lowest of a collection of three summits sometimes called the Three Sisters. The ...
In May, David Mayta and Robert Rauch made a rapid ascent of the southeast ridge of Pico Italia (ca 5,750m) followed by the south ridge of Huayna Potosi (6,088m).They started from the Casablanca Base Camp (ca 4,700m) by Zongo Lake, and 12 hours lat...
From April 8 to 27, Sergio “Tiny” Almada and I climbed in Candameña Canyon in Parque Nacional Cascada de Basaseachic, likely making the first ascent of a 1,000m wall. The west-southwest-facing wall is situated directly across from the well-known E...
The Parque Nacional Cumbres de Monterrey is a large area of limestone big walls in northeastern Mexico. The park is located in the Sierra Madre Oriental, in the state of Nuevo León, and is accessed from the city of Monterrey. [See AAJ 2002 and AAJ...
Exploring new lines on peaks deep in the backcountry rarely makes someone a stronger climber, right? At least I didn't think so.Having read about Bubbs Creek Wall from multiple internet threads, I wanted to see it for myself. This wall has five es...
In May, Andres Marin and I made a short but exhilarating expedition into the Central Alaska Range. Our goal was to explore the East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier for new routes. Despite its proximity to Kahiltna Base Camp in the Southeast Fork, the...
In March, Carrie Wang and I climbed two peaks comprising the “last of the Western Chugach Mountains.” The Western Chugach includes all peaks with at least 500' of prominence south of the Knik River Valley and west of the west fork of Twentymile Ri...
In April and May, Kieran Parsons and I were fortunate to make the first ascents of three summits between Mt. Abbe (8,250’) and Mt. Bertha (10,204’) in Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska. The most exciting of these was Peak 8,290’, which...
In 2013 I sailed single-handed across the Atlantic from the U.K. to Newport, Rhode Island, and from there to Nanortalik in South Greenland. There, I was joined by Harald Fichtinger (Austria), and we explored Greenland's east coast between 61° an...
An unclimbed 7,000m peak? Yes, but then maybe no. Yes, because until July 24 no climber had set foot on the ca 7,129m summit of Kokodak (a.k.a Kokodag) Dome. No, because the prominence of Kokodak Dome with respect to neighboring Kokodak Peak (...