In late January 2014, Chris Moore, Katie Ryan, Cooper Varney, and I began to porter our gear across the strenuous 13km approach from La Junta to the base of El Monstruo. We set our eyes on a direct and sustained line on the east face, to the right...
I’ve spent 10 seasons of my life climbing in the awesome big-wall destination of Cochamó Valley, and the devouring finger crack of my new route Doña Debora de Dedos (450m, 5.12b) is the best I’ve ever climbed. Others who have repeated it agreed an...
On January 7, 2013, Drew Smith and I walked into Cochamó Valley with 160 pounds of food, climbing gear for any situation, and the intentions of having an adventure. After a week of climbing some established routes, we decided to explore the 1,000m...
In December 2011, Martín Neimark, Code Raguet, and I explored the barely visited western area of the Cordillera de la Totora. This beautiful range is located in San Juan Province in the Central Andes of Argentina—a remote area with lots of potenti...
Cerro Moai is a Chilean mountain (4,368m, 33º44´29¨ S, 69º58´56¨ W), first ascended in 1964, which had two routes and relatively few ascents. From April 19–21, Mariela Muñoz (German-Chilean), Luis Garrido, and Vicente “Vicho” Gamboa (both Chileans...
In the heart of Central Andes are “blank” zones ignored by mountaineers. The Santa Clara Range, situated at the southern end of the La Jaula Massif in the Cordillera Frontal, is one of these, and still houses 5,000m unclimbed peaks. Lotfi Mijel an...
This fine peak (5,432m) is located near Aconcagua in Argentina’s Central Andes. It was first ascended in 1903 by Countess Nadine Lougonine Von Meyendorff and Alois Pollinger. On October 27, Pablo Busso and Gabriel Fava traveled to the west face to...
Cerro Río Salado. In November, Glauco Muratti and Adriàn Petrocelli ascended an unclimbed volcano near Ojos del Salado: Cerro Río Salado (6,350m). They left their vehicle at ca 4,700m, and the next day reached a camp at ca 5,200m. On the third day...
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El Altar (a.k.a. Kapak Urku) is a large, extinct stratovolcano located on the western side of Sangay National Park in central Ecuador, 170km south of Quito. Comprising the massif of El Altar are nine major peaks that rise over 5,000m and form a ho...
At the end of January 2014, Rolando Larcher, Luca Giupponi, and I began climbing a route in between the newly established route Gravity Inversion (AAJ 2014) and Pizza, Chocolate y Cerveza. The route contained fantastic climbing in a unique environ...
In late December 2013, Luis Cisneros, Blake McCord, Joel Unema, and I traveled to the friendly Pemon village of Yunek. From there we hoped to establish a new route on the east face of the Acopan Tepui. Analyzing the formation, we found a weakness ...
In January 2014, Felipe Guarderas, Nicolas Navarrete, and I put up three new routes in the Cordillera del Cocuy.The park service had closed the east side of the range, forcing us to camp on the west, so we had to do long approaches to most of the ...
In January 2013, Santiago Zuluaga and I achieved the first ascent of the remarkable hanging glacier on the northeastern aspect of Pan de Azúcar (ca 5,120m). This route is easily visible from the lake of La Plaza and had seen a couple of previous a...
The initial plan was to go ice climbing in Chile, but just four days before the flight my partner Marta Alejandre seriously injured her knee. I suddenly found myself searching for something to do with my motivation and time.I decided to go to El G...
Clemens Pischel and I traveled to the Cascada de Basaseachic (Basaseachic Falls) in the beginning of January 2014. Once there, we were absolutely overwhelmed by the fantastic rock walls, forming a natural amphitheater around the 246m waterfall, wi...
In January 2014, Alex Honnold free-soloed El Sendero Luminoso (V 5.12d), on El Toro, which was established by Jeff Jackson and Kurt Smith in 1994. Eleven of the route’s 15 pitches are rated 5.12, making the climb perhaps the most sustained free so...
In the fall of 2013, South African climbers Benj de Charmoy, Duncan Fraser, and Leo Le Roux established the nine-pitch route Dancing with the World (300m, 6c). The line climbs left of some prominent black streaks on the left side of the Mitsinjoar...
Unclimbed, freestanding, multi-pitch desert spires are an ever-increasing rarity. For those seeking such treasure, the Tigray today likely inspires the same thrill as Fred Beckey’s first glimpse of Moses Tower in the early 1970s.My 2012 visit to G...
In January 2012, Magali Salle and I made a trip to Ethiopia, hoping to explore and climb new routes. First stop: the Gheralta region. The area is full of colorful sandstone, though we sometimes found places where it’s more sand than stone. Despite...