The Kangchung peaks taken in October 2015 with their north faces in profile. Kangchung Nup is nearer the camera. The Czech route on Kangchung Shar and bivouac site are marked. The rappel descent was further to the right on the upper face, and ...
The new Italian line on Tengi Ragi Tau Southeast. The ridge was climbed direct and in its entirely to the summit by two Czechs in 2003. After two years of pandemic, the desire to climb in the Greater Ranges was intense. After the umptee...
The west face of Peak 5,794m points toward the camera. The original Scottish route climbed the right-hand ridge. The vast face behind is part of the west face of Chugimago. Photo by Domen Kastelic In autumn 1996, a small group of friends ...
Members of the Spanish female mountaineering team near Tashi Lapcha Pass. Photo by Marc Subirana The Spanish women’s mountaineering team was operating in the Rolwaling at the same time as the ment's team was in the Dorje Lhakpa region. (See t...
Panbari (6,905m) was first climbed by a Japanese expedition in late September 2006 via the Fukan Glacier and the slightly rounded, snowy north ridge. The lower Fukan had complex icefalls, unstable seracs, and hidden crevasses that took the team mo...
In late November, Jost Kobusch and Nicolas Scheidtweiler (Germany) made the first ascent of Purbung Himal (a.k.a. Putrung, 6,500m HMG-Finn Map, 28°48’4.48”N, 84°1’4.41”E) via a long approach from Thorung Phedi (4,450m), the last stop before the we...
Erik Boomer paddling a waterfall on the river they nicknamed Teacup River. This section of the falls was visible on satellite imagery. Photo by Sarah McNair-Landry In late June, just before the sea ice starts to melt, Sarah McNair-Landry and...
The Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie saw a lot of action during the 2021 season, encouraged by unusual weather and travel limitations due to a province-wide COVID-19 curfew. The holiday season saw some major downpours, which contributed to the...
An overview of routes on the north face of Mt. Temple (3,544m), showing the new line Stringing Up the Lights (1,200m, WI4+ M3+ R) in red. The original Elzinga-Miller (north ridge) is green, the modern Elzinga-Miller is yellow (many people who do...
Whether it was the late effects of the COVID-19 chill or a very smoky summer, 2021 was not the most active year in the Canadian Rockies. Nonetheless, there were some interesting climbs. On March 5, Alik Berg and Ian Welsted climbed a foamy, stick...
Among the skyline of giants around Lake Louise, Mt. Niblock (2,976m) had been hiding from me in plain sight all year, until finally I pulled my car over to take a closer look. Bands of black limestone shrouded the northern aspect of the mountain, ...
The 2021 ski season was really memorable, and I was fortunate to be able to turn my focus to big lines near home. Normally I would have committed to backcountry lodge guiding and ski film projects that take me to faraway locations, but last season...
An arctic outflow in February 2021 saw the Squamish River valley, northwest of town, icing up to produce some wonderful, if fleeting, ice conditions. Sam Eastman, Tim Emmett, and I headed up to kilometer 15 on the Squamish River Forest Service Roa...
During a week in March 2021 in Laponia (the Swedish part of Sápmi or Lapland), Johan Lindfors and I had great ice conditions and were able to put up five routes on Nieras (1,424m), one of the beautiful peaks of Stora Sjöfallet National Park. Wit...
As we packed gear late into the night in Mike Loch’s basement suite in Squamish we each had a moment of, “Wow that’s a lot of cams!” or “This is enough bolts, right?” We didn’t really know anything about what we were getting into except we were go...
On August 15, Harlin Brandvold, Duncan Pawson, and I loaded gear into a helicopter for a return trip to an isolated valley of glacier-clad granite walls in Foch-Gilttoyees Provincial Park. Having spotted the unnamed valley on Google Earth, and lac...
Alex Willis on pitch two of Hostis Humani Generis (1,100’, IV 5.12 R), Laurel Knob. Photo by Dylan Valvo In June, I climbed the Dike Hike–Monster Groove (5.11a; Brown-McDowell, 2012) on Laurel Knob—the tallest monolith east of the Mississipp...
The route line of Highwayman (350m, 13 pitches, 5.11 R), the free version of the first route on the northeast face of Chiefs Head, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Maximilian Barlerin, Sebastian Barlerin, and Zack Fisher worked to free th...
Andrew Andraski following the new first pitch of Revelation that he and Will Fazio encountered on their second trip to the Vanquished Wall in October. In May, when they made their first attempt on the line, the snowline was 90’ higher, allowing ...
Noah McKelvin styling pitch seven on Drop the Mic (10 pitches, V 5.11- M8 R), on the Dark Side Wall off Camp Bird Mine Road, Ouray, Colorado. Photo by Jason Nelson / Visualadventures.com On November 21, Noah McKelvin, Phil Wortmann, and I com...