A French-Canadian team aboard Spirit of Sydney made the second known ascent of Mt. Walker (2,350m). They also made the first ascent of a 1,712m peak above the Montgolfier Glacier, and completed a south-to-north ski traverse through the Catwalk, a ...
On March 5, 2010, New Zealanders Lydia Bradey, Penny Goddard, and Dean Staples made the first known ascent of Cape Perez (65°24’S, 64°06’W). Prior to this, on February 23, the three made what is believed to be a new route on the east face of the F...
I had the good fortune to visit the Peninsula in January 2013 with a great group of skiers. The team comprised IFMGA guides Jim Kerr and myself, American Ron Mis, Tania Hodgkinson from Germany, and Anto Baird, Stuart Long, Gareth Maker, and Sue Ru...
I made two trips to the Antarctic Peninsula in late 2013 and early 2014. In December, operating from the yacht Spirit of Sydney with Sean Colyer, Matthew Flyn, and Glenn Wilkes, we visited Cuverville Island and made probably the first ascent of th...
It was slightly quieter in the Sentinel Range than in past seasons, with 111 different climbers ascending Mt. Vinson (4,892m). During the 2013–14 season only five climbers ascended Mt. Shinn (4,660m).A historical note on Shinn: Although it was rep...
Ralf Laier returned for his third expedition to the Heritage Range, climbing with Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE) guides Maria Paz “Pachi” Ibarra (Chile) and Seth Timpano (USA). They traveled by Sno-Cat from Union Glacier Camp northwes...
Following my 2010 trip to Koh-e-Iskander, northeast of the Qara Jilga massif (AAJ 2011), I wanted to return and attempt one of the Qara Jilga summits. I persuaded Richmond MacIntyre (South Africa) and Rich Parker (U.K.) to join me. After two days’...
In early September, Mick Follari, Aidan Loehr, and I traveled through Tajikistan to the Afghan border, where we were delayed crossing the frontier for more than a week by a cholera epidemic in northern Afghanistan. Once over the border in Ishkashi...
Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog. Steph Davis. Simon & Schuster, 2013. 304 pages. Hardcover. $24.99Steph Davis’ second book picks up shortly after the release of her first, High Infatuat...
A long line stood at the visa checkpoint in the Islamabad airport. Sleepy faces waited for the next person to inch forward. It was silent except at the front of the line, where five men with matching T-shirts were digging in their bags. A group of...
During several of the short, cold and snowy weather windows in the 2013-2014 season, I turned my attention to neglected, smaller, but still fantastic peaks.On December 4 I hiked into the Marconi Glacier with Sarah Hart to attempt an obvious ice gu...
The AAJ exists to document important ascents, and so it may be surprising that we will publish reports of great climbs with no proof they actually happened. The notable example from 2013, of course, is Ueli Steck’s solo new route on the south face...
In the first week of December, Scott Bennett and I took advantage of a short, windy weather window. Looking for a sheltered and manageable daylong objective, we opted for a beautiful line of splitter cracks that Scott had spied on the west face of...
In February 2014, Ryo Masumoto, Yusuke Sato, and I hiked into the Pollone Massif, hoping to open some new routes.Our first route followed the most obvious crack on the west face of Aguja Tito Carrasco, which is very steep, and varied in size from ...
On January 22, 2014, Drew Smith and I climbed the east face of an unclimbed tower on the west side of the Pollone massif, just north of Aguja Tito Carrasco. After climbing an approach couloir, we navigated two pitches of ice and snow up a ramp (75...
After forcing about eight days of relaxed living, the Patagonian wind gave Dave Macleod and I a promising weather window. We bivied at Piedra Negra, intending to climb Aguja Mermoz’s east face by either Vol de Nuit (Andy Parkin, solo) or a new lin...
Two thousand feet above the glacier, and moments before the screaming started, I felt the ice give way under my foot. I saw, as if from a distance, that my leg was swinging backward into space the way climbers’ feet do in videos, with ropes clippe...
The 2013–2014 season was relatively cold and wintry compared with recent years, and many climbers focused on ice and traditional alpine routes more than pure rock climbs. This resulted in first ascents of interesting summits and a number of attrac...
After looking for a partner for days, I made the decision of going on a solo trip to climb the unnamed Peak 1,960m, which I had seen on a previous expedition. The peak is located on the north side of the Rio Leones, west of Claro River. A few loca...
It all started with a mistake, as some things do. I was with my friend James Stover, somewhere near the summit of the Mooses Tooth. We had just finished the last of our food: a little can of Vienna sausages. I was cold from nearly 24 hours on th...