In July, Scott Jones (22) was dropped from the top of Iron Maiden (5.9) in Boulder Canyon by a belayer he had met through a climbing community web site. Scott describes the incident:“I should establish that this was not a typical rapping/lowering ...
About 3 p.m. on November 21, two climbers were ascending Enter the Dragon (AI4 M4 Steep Snow) on the southeast aspect of Dragon’s Tail Spire. The leader (Climber 1) was about 60 feet below a fixed anchor at the end of their third pitch when he tri...
On August 22, Corey Stewart (22) fell 30 feet while leading on Batman Pinnacle at Lumpy Ridge. CPR was begun minutes later by people at the scene, but they were unable to revive him. According to witnesses, Stewart fell off, some gear pulled out, ...
On August 16, Christian Mason (34) took a roped fall of about 50 feet and suffered numerous injuries after being hit by falling rock while simul-climbing in the North Chimney (5.5), below the Diamond face. Rockfall reportedly hit him while he was ...
David Laurienti (43) and Lisa Foster (45) were caught in an avalanche on the evening of March 17 while descending from Ypsilon Mountain (13,514 feet). The pair had departed from the Lawn Lakes trailhead at 3:15 a.m. on the morning of March 16 with...
On May 17, Lucas Dunn (21) fell 300 feet to his death while rappelling from the top of the Bat Crack (5.11a), the first of four pitches on the Vampire (5.11a). According to Dunn’s partner, Greg Davis, the fatal accident likely occurred due to rock...
On February 25, my daughter Helen (16) and I (47) attempted to find an area where I’d climbed the previous week, but we couldn’t find it so we decided to climb a little crag that looked like mostly class four or easy class five. My limited previou...
Four intermediate mountaineers ascended the South Fork of Big Pine Creek on August 30 to do some alpine climbing. They camped at Elinore Lake (about 11,000 feet), and on August 31 they headed up Scimitar Pass with the intention of climbing Mt. Sil...
On July 6, a female climber (42) was seriously injured while descending the southeast face of Mt. Emerson (5.4). Sometime around 1 p.m. she fell approximately 100 feet down a wide, 85° chimney while she was rappelling off the route. A single nut o...
Early in the morning of August 27, 2012, Sam (24) and I (Paige, 27) hiked from the Little Yosemite Valley campground to the southwest face of Half Dome, intent on climbing Snake Dike (5.7 R). We had chosen the route because of the easy grade; it a...
On August 13, Mike (21) and Russell (19) climbed Royal Arches (15 pitches, 5.7 A0). They finished late in the day, hiked along the rim to Washington Column, and began their descent via the North Dome Gully climbers’ trail shortly before dusk. By t...
On August 2, Carl and Michelle (both from Canada) climbed Northwest Books (5.6). The descent is second- or third-class, but they found themselves on some slabs that Michelle was afraid to cross, despite her 5.7 climbing ability. Carl built a rappe...
On July 26, Ted (25) and Stephanie (23) climbed Royal Arches (Grade III 5.7 A0). They started at 10:30 a.m. Ted, with 4.5 years of experience versus Stephanie’s one year, was the team leader. The climb took a lot longer than they expected, so they...
On June 24, Australian climber Shane Houbart (29) was on his second day of attempting to solo the West Face of Leaning Tower (Grade V 5.7 C2). After lunch at Ahwahnee Ledge, he began aiding up and right on pitch five. Shane had consciously decided...
On June 2, British climbers Felix Kiernan (28) and Luke Jones (27) began an ascent of the East Buttress of El Capitan (5.10b). There was one rope team ahead of them, but because the British party was moving faster, the other team let them pass at ...
On the morning of May 19, Mason Robison (38) was killed in a fall while leading pitch 27 of the Muir Wall (VI 5.9 A2) on El Capitan. This pitch, rated C1, heads up a left-facing dihedral for 20 feet, traverses left around a small roof, and then co...
On May 13, Peter (31) and Alain (26), both from France, were climbing pitch six of the Regular Northwest Face (VI 5.9 C1), hauling a bag for a bivouac at Big Sandy Ledge. Peter took a 20-foot lead fall on the crack labeled “5.9 polished fingers” i...
On June 30, the U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center out of Bridgeport was on Mt. Shasta conducting training exercises when Seargent Ruiz (25) attempted to jump over a crevasse at around 11,500 feet. Upon landing on the other side of...
On June 27, James Brown (30s), a Sierra Wilderness Seminars (SWS) guide, was struck by a large ice boulder in the lower leg and knocked off his feet. Ranger Nick Meyers was notified by SWS’s Dave Cressman about 8:15 a.m. Cressman stated that Brown...
On June 16, a climber (33) was glissading on the Avalanche Gulch route at approximately 11,700 feet when he lost control and injured his shoulder. Apparently he had had surgery on the shoulder in the past and was familiar with the injury. The clim...