In August, Sandeep Nain, Jason Schilling, and I headed up the Miyar Valley with two cooks and eight horses, against the flow of shepherds and their flocks moving to the lowlands of Himachal and the Punjab. The incredible scenery was enough to keep...
For 20 days in September, Carloncho Guerra, Aztlan Madio, and I visited the Miyar, intending to climb new rock routes. We took a public bus to the road head and didn't hire porters, horses, or even a cook for base camp. With bad weather and heavy ...
From the summit of Kuchela Dhura, a sharp, three-kilometer ridge runs southwest toward Nanda Kot (6,861m), and the idea of climbing it came to mind in 2011, when I was on the upper section of nearby Changuch (AAJ 2012). In 2012 I organized an expe...
The start of this trip was particularly stressful, as the political situation in Kishtwar had become tense following the deaths of several people in a protest. As a result, our permit was only confirmed a couple of days before we were due to arriv...
With Pakistan travel plans falling through, my good friend James Monypenny (U.K.) and I quickly regrouped. With nothing more than a photograph and an incredibly vague topographical map, we set our sights on a previously unattempted 6,060m granite ...
In 2012 the Scottish Zanskar Expedition attempted a couple of unclimbed 6,000m peaks in the Namkha Tokpo (AAJ 2013). One succumbed, but the other (G22) showed an unexpected lack of consideration. However, a potential route up the south face was sp...
In June, Jonn Jeanneret, Dan Kopperud, Jake Preston, Gabriel Thomas, and I (Australian or American, but all based in Asia) traveled to India to attempt a peak in the Gangotri. On the 17th, Uttarakhand state was hit by the largest flash flood in ne...
Chamshen lies in the Saser Kangri Group, fairly close to the disputed territory and war zone of the Siachen Glacier. Access to these mountains is only possible for foreign climbers as part of a joint expedition with an equal number of Indians. Cha...
From July 20–August 10, Vasile Dumitrica, Mihnea Prundeanu, and I took part in Climbathon 2013, an event organized by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. There were several objectives: exchanges of information and experience between Indian and W...
After Clint Helander, a very active climber responsible for many first ascents in the Revelations, showed me some amazing photos of unclimbed summits and projects in the range, Lise Billon, Jeremy Stagnetto (both France), Pedro Angel Galan Diaz (S...
After seeing Clint Helander's incredible article in the AAJ 2013, unselfishly revealing the secrets of the Revelations, Kris Irwin, Darren Vonk, and I flew into the range on April 2. We didn’t have to look far upon arriving to find good objectives...
On April 8 Jess Roskelley and I flew into the Trident Glacier, a triple-forked glacier in the northern Kichatna Mountains. Augustin Peak (ca 8,600’) is the tallest summit in the area and forms the head of the glacier.When we landed, we found the r...
In February, John Crook, Jim Donini, Angela Goodacre, and I spent a week in the Avellano Mountains of Chile. This area is near the northern Patagonian Ice Cap and northeast of the shores of Lake General Carrera. We focused our attention on the Ave...
In March, early in the 2014 season, Alberto Hung (Peru) and I climbed Nevado Tatajayco (5,342m) by a new route up the northwest ridge, which we called A Puro Huevo (D UIAA V M3 60°). We approached from the town of San Mateo and established a base ...
Led by Krzysztof Wielicki, Maciej Dachowski, Wojciech Dzik, Wojciech Kapturkiewicz, Marian Krakowski, Anita Parys, Jerzy Urbanski, Katarzyna Karwecka-Wielicka, and I visited the Virjerab Glacier in July 2012. We were the first to explore this glac...
Eugeny Bashkirtsov and Denis Veretenin climbed a new route in alpine style on the east face of Uli Biaho Tower. After previously climbing the Slovenian Route on Trango Tower in one and a half days, the pair approached from Trango Glacier up the sa...
On July 21, Italians Matteo Della Bordella and Luca Schiera, and Swiss Silvan Schupbach, completed a 40-year-old project by making the first ascent of the south pillar of Uli Biaho Tower. This spectacular granite column, west of the Trango Group, ...
On June 23, with our plans and preparations more or less complete, breaking news shocked the world: "10 climbers and a local Pakistani killed by Taliban at the base camp of Nanga Parbat." We would have to pass Nanga Parbat and the town of Chilas e...
On August 19, Marcin Tomaszewski and I completed a new route on the northwest face of Great Trango. We arrived at Trango base camp on July 29 and were carrying loads to the foot of the face the following day. On the 31st we carried loads and fixed...
Our team of five, hoping to complete a new route on the west face, were Aidin Bozorgi (24), Mojtaba Jarahi (28), Pouya Keivan (24), Afshin Saadi (43), and me (47) as leader. Aidin, Mojtaba, and Pouya climbed the line in alpine-style above 7,000m, ...