The Argentina-Chile border has a number of lesser-known peaks, and many others have only seen a few ascents. Cerro Caracoles (4,504m) is one of these. Seen easily by travelers who cross the Andes by car, it had only three ascents, all from from...
On July 8, Gregg Beisly (NZ), Paul Meehan (US), and I left La Paz at around 6 a.m. with the intention of climbing water ice in the valley containing Laguna Jachcha Khasiri, the same valley used to access the regular route (southeast ridge) on Jati...
Traditional Aymara people have descriptive names for their mountains: Illimani is Water Bearer, Huayna Potosi is Thunderous Youth, and Mururata the Beheaded Peak. Our expectations were therefore high as we set off to climb Gigante Grande in the so...
Of all Illimani’s aspects, the south face is perhaps the most beautiful and impressive. This huge wall offers lines of high technical difficulty, through vertical ice runnels and rock. Hidden from general view, it seems inaccessible, but it is not...
[Editor’s note: Pat Goodman won a 2009 Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award from the AAC. This report on his permit frustrations in October 2009 is reprinted from the AAC's trip reports.] The five Chinese men and women stood confident, and in...
The Bezengi Wall (sometimes spelled Bezingi) rises along the mountain frontier between Russia on the north and Georgia on the south. The sharp, ca 13km ridge links several of the highest peaks of the Caucasus: Lial’ver (4,350m), Gestola...
Federico Bueno Aloísio from Argentina, Jose Luiz Belmonte and Eduardo Ricardo Diaz from Bolivia, and I (originally from Brazil) made the first ascent of Chochis Tower in the Roboré–Santa Cruz de la Sierra region of Bolivia’s eastern lowlan...
This July, I had the honor of fulfilling the mission of the Mountain Fellowship Award by establishing new routes on unnamed features near Waterwheel Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, Yosemite National Park. Over the course of two we...
The Tyutyu massif has five independent summits, up to 4,460m, and offers traditional rock and alpine routes in a gorgeous setting. The longest and most alpine routes are on the north side, which can be reached only by a long trek or by helic...
The international expedition called A Cada Uno Su Thaki (To Each Their Own Trail) was conceived by Anne Bialek (France) and Sergio Condori (Bolivia). Whereas traditional treks in the Apolobamba region tend to follow the Caminata de los Medicos K...
The mountains of Bolivia have seen a resurgence in new routing, largely due to the emergence of a strong cadre of local mountain guides, as well as a number of talented, enthusiastic foreign climbers resident in La Paz. A team of local guides repo...
Kieran Parsons and I made the first ascent of the northwest ridge of Mt. Burns in December. It's an enormous feature that dominates the head of the Landsborough Valley, a large but fairly isolated valley in the Southern Alps, immediately ...
A five-man British expedition comprised of Steve Brown, Paul Josse, Terje Lokken (Norway), Phil Morgan, and John Venier spent 12 days in late August exploring the glaciers around the western headwaters of the Mustabbes River. Various members...
Lebanon isn’t the first place that comes to mind for rock climbing—it’s better known for beaches, nightclubs, and the threat of instability. The Lebanese civil war (1975–1990) and ensuing turbulence have kept tourists away and limited the develo...
Saint Leu, Réunion, 5 p.m. I’m sitting on the veranda of a little bungalow, the sun setting over a black sand beach. It is our last day on the island. I receive a text message: “I did it, thank you team.” At first I don’t understand. Then I feel...
Mt. Tutoko, west face. Guy McKinnon soloed the first ascent of the west face of Mt. Tutoko (2,608m), the highest peak of the Darran Mountains, near the southern tip of New Zealand’s south island. The ca 1,900m face had only one recorded...
The Musandam Peninsula is a 700-square-mile enclave of Oman at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, separated from the rest of the country by a 45-mile-wide swath of the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf define its...
On July 22, Danish mountaineers Michael Pilegaard (26), Mads Knudsen (30), and Nicolai Bo Silver (26) set out from the 17,200-foot high camp for a summit attempt via a non-standard route up the “Autobahn,” the slope leading from high camp to De...
On June 16, a guided climber (53) descending from the summit of Denali began experiencing signs and symptoms of HAPE. The climber was able to descend to Denali Pass, at 18,200 feet, but could not travel any further under his own power. The clim...
On June 13, a guided expedition operated by Rainier Mountaineering Inc. was caught near the summit of Denali in a sudden storm. On the descent to high camp at 17,200 feet, all seven members (ages unknown) of the group sustained varying degrees ...