On January 10, Gregory Frux (53) and Matt Burd (52), who had climbed Mt. Tripyramid North Peak the previous day, were joined by Nick Jaques (52) for a mountaineering adventure. They ascended the Lowes Path for 3,000 vertical feet to the Grey K...
On December 20, I (Zach, 28) spent the day rope-soloing at Cookie Cliff. As the sun was getting low, I decided to use the rope on Outer Limits to solo Crack- A-Go-Go, a 5.11c crack to the left. I got up the route and clipped my daisies to the a...
On September 2, Treff Owen Carpenter (28) fell 70 feet to his death while setting up a top-rope climb on the Boulderado crag, located in Boulder Canyon. He was a member of a climbing group of eight, and the most experienced climber in the grou...
On August 4, Richard (18) and Chris (19) attempted to rappel the established Nose rappel route (20+ rappels) from the summit of El Capitan. They felt they weren’t ready to climb El Cap, but after seeking advice on Supertopo.com they had decided...
On January 5 a party of two was climbing Central Gully when the leader was hit with a naturally triggered sluff avalanche. During the resulting fall, one of the climbers fractured his ankle. Much of the information below was gathered from a na...
On July 28, Ginnie (32) and Carl (23) were practicing aid climbing on the 165- foot first pitch of the Salathé Wall. They had recently climbed some of the Valley’s long 5.11 classics, including Free Blast, the Rostrum, the Regular Northwest Fac...
On June 12, a four-person rope team triggered an avalanche and was swept a short distance while traveling just below the fixed-lines area on Denali’s West Buttress, at the 15,400-foot level. Three of the victims (ages 23, 30, and 32) were memb...
On July 11 a climber had just untied from the rope after completing a climb. The climber stepped backward at the belay area and fell over a small cliff. (Source: Daniel Lack, RMRG.) Analysis Over the years, we have seen a number of the...
On July 18 a male leader (20) had climbed Uncle Fanny (one pitch, 5.7) on a 60-meter rope and was being lowered by his partner on the ground, so the rest of the group could top-rope the pitch. The belayer (male, 22) was looking up, helping the ...
During the early afternoon on March 24, Ira Lewis (33) climbed Malign (5.7), a one-pitch trad route on the Happy Hour Crag. After Lewis completed the climb, his partner on the ground began to lower him on their 60-meter rope. The belayer was no...
Lowering a climbing partner is among the most common situations leading to injuries and rescues reported in Accidents in North American Mountaineering, whether it’s lowering a climber after she tops out on a sport route or a partner in diff...
On April 25 a woman (25) fell 20 feet, landing on a ledge about 200 feet up from the base of the tower. She suffered rib, spine, and head injuries, and was flown by Life Flight Helicopter to Intermountain Healthcare in Murray, Utah. According t...
On June 3, an assistant guide (44) with American Alpine Institute radioed to NPS rangers at the 14,200-foot medical camp that he was descending from the fixed lines because he was not feeling well. He arrived at 5 p.m. in the company of Alpine...
On June 20 two experienced male climbers (32 and 39) from Japan were scrambling down the gully behind Sentinel Rock (the standard descent), after climbing the Steck-Salathé route (16 pitches, 5.10b). One warned the other of a possible loose sla...
On September 20, according to Unified Police Capt. Kris Ownby, two men (23 and 31) were rappelling down the Challenge Buttress, just across from Storm Mountain, about 8 p.m. One of them fell off the end of the rope, and both fell as a result be...
On June 17, a 51-year-old male French climber was rappelling one of the descent lines on the East Ledges of El Capitan. On the final rappel he fell 30 feet to the ground, injuring his ankle. Details are not clear because of the language barrier...
On May 24, Adam Kimmerly (32) and William Olszewski (51) set out to climb the Grand Giraffe (six pitches, 5.9+) on Redgarden Wall. William explains: We climbed the west face of Lower Ramp (5.2) to access Grand Giraffe Ledge and the start of our...
On July 3 around 8 a.m., two climbers visiting from Ohio made the approach to the base of Epinephrine, a 5.9, 15-pitch route located in Black Velvet Canyon. In addition to their climbing equipment, they had five liters of water. As the day ...
On February 10, a pair of experienced climbers were climbing Prerequisite for Excellence (5.8). The leader took a fall on a cam that was placed behind a block, dislodging the block (estimated to weigh approximately 200 pounds), which fell and h...
On June 6, Rick Barus (26) was leading pitch 16 of the West Face, just above Thanksgiving Ledge, when he took the left of two possible cracks. It turned out to be the wrong crack and it petered out. His partner was out of sight below, and they ...