After travel complications caused by intense flooding in Nepal, Antoine Rolle, Mathieu Stephan, and I reached Namche Bazaar on October 12. Another three days of trekking to the northwest brought us to our base camp at 4,560m on the Chhule Plain, n...
Pat Perry Johnson and I arrived in Namche Bazaar on April 6. A week later, we attempted Kyajo Ri’s southwest ridge but retreated 200m below the summit due to lack of time and deteriorating weather. Disappointed but still full of motivation, we set...
After arriving in the Rolwaling in October, Connor Holdsworth, Jack Morris, Dave Sharpe, and Nathan White (all from the U.K.) established base camp on the 21st and an advanced base at 4,860m the next day. They then acclimatized by climbing Parcham...
In October 2023, Maciej Kimel and I made the first ascent of the northeast pillar of Chobutse (6,686m), naming our route Just Breathe (1,600m, M5 WI4 R/X). The pillar had one previous known attempt, by Romanian Mihnea Prundeanu and Cypriot Kyriako...
On August 25, Emma Kluge and I climbed a new route on Mt. Langley (14,026’) in the southern Sierra. For a couple of years, I had been eyeballing the ridge to the west of Horizontal Thought Movement, a 5.8 on the north face put up by Ben Cohen and ...
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...