In August, Daniel Dunn, Rett English, and I visited Arctic Lake Wall and climbed a new route up the center, aiming for the left side of the wall’s largest roofs. We took a line to the left of Arctic Beast (700’, III 5.11c, Prince-Musiyenko, 2016) ...
I had long heard about the classic 1972 East Pillar route on Mt. Barnard’s east peak (ca 13,680’): It has a reputation for quality rock and movement, guarded by a big, brushy approach. (Its name also has a convoluted history, having been variously...
In late May 2024, Neal Harder, Josef Maier, Brandon Thau, and I established the first free route on the south face of Homers Nose (a.k.a. Homers Brow). This was our second attempt. We started on the first two pitches of Dance of Topo-Usha (5.10 A3...
In early August 2024, Jack Schlinkert and I set out from Mineral King to hike in to Spring Lake Wall, intending to climb one of the established routes. As we set up camp, our attention shifted to the leftmost and—as far as we knew—only unclimbed f...
On November 2, Daniel Jeffcoach, Vitaliy Musiyenko, and I embarked on a nearly 30-mile approach from Monache Meadows to the Kern River region to scout some intriguing formations. We camped at the natural bridge feature near Lava Falls on Golden Tr...
The Sage (1,060’, 10 pitches, 5.10c), seen here from the south, follows a series of corners, ramps, and chimneys up the southern aspect of the Fortress. Photo by Sam Fearer. In early August, under a full summer sun, Dave Meyer and I set out t...
In mid-August, David Stone and I hiked 20-plus miles from the Rancheria trailhead on the east side of Wishon Reservoir to explore Blackcap Basin and the White Divide, an obscure corner of the Sierra in the John Muir Wilderness, just outside the bo...
The many granite domes surrounding Courtright Reservoir have long been known for excellent rock and challenging friction and edging routes in a spectacular setting. Just east of this easily accessed area, if one is willing to engage in a longer an...
On the north aspect of Mt. Goode (13,085’), a beautiful peak near Bishop Pass, is a narrow gray panel, orange-streaked and mottled yellow, just to the right of the classic North Buttress route. A crack runs up the center of this panel, visible fro...
After a successful trip to Royce Lakes Basin earlier in the season (see report here), Matt O’Brien and I decided to return in July with our friend Daniel Dunn to try a new route on Merriam Peak. We spied a couple of weaknesses left of the North Bu...
On October 13, Pasang Kidar Sherpa and I teamed up to climb the northwest ridge of Beding Go (6,125m, 27°55’34.50”N, 86°23’25.84”E), which lies on the Nepal-Tibet frontier a little east of Gaurishankar (7,134m). Pasang is one of 14 IFMGA guides fr...
About five kilometers south of Chhopa Bamare, along the frontier ridge, is an unnamed snow summit of 5,805m (28°0’42.43”N, 86°5’7.24”E). On December 29, 2023, eight days after reaching their base camp, a Nepalese team comprising Lila Bahadur Basne...
Chhopa Bamare (6,109m, 28°3’32.05”N, 86°5’28.50”E) is the highest peak of the Pamali Range, a small subgroup in the northwest Rolwaling (east of the Friendship Highway between Zhangmu and Nyalam). It is a quiet area with almost no recorded climbin...
Drawn to Phurbi Chhyachu (6,637m) by its aesthetic appearance and sparse mountaineering history, Rosa Morotti and I aimed to repeat the original route on the west-southwest ridge in a light, alpine-style approach. In 1982, a large Japanese-Nepale...
In the spring, a joint expedition from Korea and Nepal, led by Um Hong-gil and Lhakpa Sonam Sherpa, completed the first ascent of Jugal I (6,591m, 28°10’26.73”N, 85°48’59.13”E), north of Kathmandu. The expedition marked the occasion of the golden ...
Nicolas Hojac (Switzerland) and I left Kyanjin Gompa on November 15 and walked more than five hours to reach the foot of the glacier that descends west from below the northwest face of Ganchempo (6,378m). We camped there at 4,760m. The next mornin...
Located immediately opposite the east face of Langtang Lirung, Kimshung (a.k.a. Tsangbu Ri, 6,781m, 28°16’19.74”N, 85°33’6.47”E) has a long south-southeast ridge between the Lirung and Kimshung glaciers, with subsidiary tops. The southern and lowe...
In post-monsoon 2022, three young Japanese climbers—Goto Kisuke, Adachi Masaki, and Kagami Taichi—attempted the west spur and south-southwest ridge of Phungi (28°49’48.29”N, 84°24’0.12”E), an unclimbed 6,524m peak southeast of Ratna Chuli, on the ...
The Kajin Sara is a small group of peaks to the south of Kajin Sara Lake, forming a ridge extending east from Lamjung Himal (6,983m), southeast of Annapurna II. The lake and peaks were “discovered” in 2019 by a Japanese group, and the three-day tr...
The west side of the Nilgiri massif, showing the attempted route on the west ridge. Behind, the highest point of the skyline ridge is Annapurna I. Photo by Takuya Mitoro. In the fall of 2018, Tatsuya Aoki and I attempted the north face of Nil...