In October, Galina Chibitok and Anastasia Petrova (Russia), and Marina Kopteva (Ukraine), climbed the 1,900m northeast face via a line they named the Battle for Love (VI 6b A2). The three started work on the route on September 23 and climbed for 1...
In November 2012, after climbing Kyajo Ri, Hans Lanters and I moved to Pheriche and attempted the unclimbed northwest ridge of Tawoche. We had been able to see it from both sides: steep sections up to the still virgin north summit (ca 6,350m), the...
Christoph Kreutzenbeck and I left Kathmandu on September 25, 2012, for the Raksha Urai Range, with the intention of making a first ascent on one of the four Raksha summits, as designated by the 2001 British expedition (AAJ 2002). We flew to Nepalg...
Northwest of Simikot, the principal airport of West Nepal, lies the remote valley of Limi (a.k.a. Takuche Khola) and its three villages: Jang, Waljie, and Til. They are Tibetan in culture, isolated in winter, but linked to China by a road over the...
The post-monsoon season was characterized by two heavy snowfalls, resulting in substantial snow depth at altitude that made progress either very difficult or impossible for many expeditions. This was exemplified on the 7,000m peaks accessed from t...
While acclimatizing before their ill-fated attempt on the south face of Annapurna in 1982, and to inspect the east ridge as a possible descent, René Ghilini, Alex MacIntyre, and John Porter are reported in most references to have climbed a new rou...
On November 4, Camilo Lopez and I climbed a direct line on the south face of Lungaretse, a peak immediately north of Kyajo Ri that people on the west side of the mountain refer to as Umjo-tse (Lake Peak).We accessed the peak via Marlung (Marulung,...
On November 13 Ines Papert made the first ascent of Likhu Chuli I, reaching the summit alone. Her partner, Thomas Senf from Switzerland, remained in their top camp, fearing he might get serious frostbite in his toes.Likhu Chuli I and its lower wes...
William Hewitt Thomas, an American Alpine Club member for over 50 years, died October 19, 2013, in Carlsbad, California. He was 86. Bill served the AAC for many years, reviewing research proposals as a member of the Scientific Committee. Bill b...
From a young age Marty was passionate about going to the hills. The mountains were the one place on this Earth that truly nurtured his soul. There, he felt free and found his balance between the horizontal and vertical worlds.Guiding clients was h...
Denali was enchanted with the world—he was obsessed with the color blue, because it was the color of the sky. He held wonder in his striking blue eyes, love in his smile, and a playful wisdom beyond his years. The day we met, he talked delicately ...
Sikandar Ali Khan and I left Islamabad on February 7 and arrived in Shimshal on the 10th. With six local porters and a cook we established base camp at Shuijerab (4,380m) and then high camp at 5,000m at the base of Minglik Sar (6,050m) on Shimshal...
Theodore (Nick) Nicolai, scion of a prominent Oregon family, who died in September 2012, was Oregon Section Chair in 1969 and 1970, succeeding Lute Jerstad. In 1971 he was first elected to the AAC Board of Directors, and in 1974 he was re-elected ...
James Guy “Pop” Hollandsworth, Sr., beloved founder of the Asheville School mountaineering program, first director of the North Carolina Outward Bound School, and past president of the Carolina Mountain Club, passed away at age 97 on June 21, 2013...
Artur Hajzer, one of Poland’s best high-altitude climbers from the “golden age,” was killed while retreating from Gasherbrum I on July 7, 2013. He was 51. Born on June 28, 1962, in the Silesia region of Poland, Artur graduated from the University ...
John Ewbank, legend of Australian rock climbing, died in New York on December 2, 2013. Few other climbers could lay claim to doing the first ascent of the hardest route on a continent, inventing the system by which it was graded, and then seeing t...
Stanley Wayne BoucherStanley Boucher passed away on September 30, 2013. He was born and raised in Colorado Springs, and he graduated from honors from Colorado College, where he majored in English and history. Drafted into the Army during the Korea...
Doug Abromeit, 65, the retired director of the Forest Service National Avalanche Center, died suddenly from an apparent undiagnosed heart condition while mountain biking with friends last spring. Doug grew up on a family homestead on Lake Pend Ore...
In July, Gabriel Fava, Carlitos Molina, and I went to the remote and little-visited southern end of the Cordillera Quimsa Cruz, specifically the Huallatani Valley, accessed via the village of Rodeo and Altarani Valley to the southwest. We were una...
On April 29, 2012, Gregg Beisly, Chris Clarke, and Robert Rauch climbed a partially new route on La Flama, a fine spear of granite northeast of Muralla Grande. The route starts up the northwest face, ca 30m before the pass between La Flama and El ...