James and Edward Bingham, Quentin Brooksbank, and Mark Wynne (UK) attempted the first winter ascent of Mir Samir, a mountain in the remote upper section of the Panjshir Valley, made famous by Eric Newby in his best seller A Short Walk in the...
In late February and March, John Trousdale, Elliott Woods, and I traveled to Bamyan to check out the potential for backcountry skiing, snowboarding, and ice climbing. I was also hoping to kite-ski on some frozen lakes in the region. I had be...
In August, Panos Athanasiadis, Nikos Lazanas, George Voutiropoulos, and I made a number of first ascents in the Raru Valley. In the past this has been erroneously referred to as Reru. However, everywhere the name of the village is written as...
South Zanskar is an exciting mountain area with many virgin peaks. In 2012 we did our third expedition to explore valleys in these mountains and identify unclimbed peaks. Temasa Nala is the next valley north of the Raru, and has been use...
After reading a report by Kimikazu Sakamoto on the exploration of Lenak and Giabul valleys [AAJ 2012], Karin Kosaka, Yusuke Morimoto, Yuki Sawada, and I as leader, all from Kyoto University Alpine Club, planned to attempt virgin peak L15 (6,...
In August, with five other members of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, I visited the Namka Tokpo valley of Zanskar, not that far from the frontier with Pakistan. The attraction wasn’t the potential for border conflicts, for which Scots are ...
Harish Kapadia, former editor of the Himalayan Journal, had made four trips to Sikkim before May 2012. One prize had escaped him: a visit to the most northerly valley in the state, adjacent to the Tibet border, and known as the Plateau. Afte...
Andrey Muryshev, who attempted the difficult northwest ridge of Shiva in 2010, was one of very few people to have seen in detail the new route Paul Ramsden and I hoped to try, and had been extremely helpful with information and photographs. In...
Activity at the newly developed sandstone trad climbing area close to the town of Liming has increased: There are now close to 200 routes, both single and multi-pitch, from 5.6 to 5.13. However, the area still holds vast potential; over seven ...
Li Yuan, Zhang Xiaohui, and Zheng Chaohui made the first official ascent of the north summit of Zhalaqueni, reaching the top on January 27, 2013. The three spent three and a half days climbing directly up the east face by a new line they named E...
In 2012 I set up Summit Outdoor School, a nonprofit organization providing free courses to Chinese villages, outdoor, and university clubs. Our aim is to train local people to become guides or instructors in their mountains, and in order to ...
On May 3 Karim Adouane (France), Jon Otto (USA), Su Rongqin (a.k.a. Asu, China), and I made the first known ascent of Xiao Xuebaoding (32°38’29” N, 103°53’16” E,), a peak we referred to as Little Xuebaoding, the second highest in the Min S...
On November 5, Christophe Dumarest and I made the probable first ascent of Pt. ca 5,600m at the end of the southwest ridge of Chang-gou (a.k.a. Lara Peak, 5,700m). This rocky summit is situated immediately north of Siguniang North at 31°07’2...
The imposing east face of Pico Italia is unmissable to anyone climbing Huayna Potosi; the steep, 500m granite face forms a fortress-like barrier along the western edge of the Huayna Potosi Glacier, and casts an alluring orange-obsidian glow in ...
Ian Cartwright and I made a one-day approach from Shiva basecamp at 3,850m in the Tarundi Valley into the high subsidiary valley to the east. Our goal, the pyramidal peak at the head of this valley, while not particularly high, is the highes...
In September, Joanna Campbell, Michael Cocker, John Kentish, Paul Padman, Michael Pinney, Stuart Worsfold, and I, all members of the Alpine Club, traveled by way of Joshimath to the Semartoli Valley. A joint Indo-British expedition had visi...
We were a modest group of four climbers: Dr. Jeff Dolinsky, his wife, Joan, and me, all from Canada, along with Andy Selters (USA). We were accompanied by climbers Kunzang Sherpa (sirdar) and Arvind Raman (LO), two climbing staff, Nangang Bh...
Our Indo-British expedition comprised Satyabrata Dam (Indian leader) and me (British leader), Paul Figg, Simon Yearsley (both U.K.), Dan Singh Harkotiya, Tashi Phunchok, and Konchuk Thinless (India), the British artist Rachel Antill, and lia...
In November 2012, Oriol Baró and I climbed two new routes, one on Cerro Moyano, the other on Cerro Norte. These two mountains lie between Lago Argentino, Lago Viedma, and the Upsala Glacier in Argentine Patagonia, Los Glaciares National Park...
This route is certainly one of the best first ascents I have ever done, especially given the enormity of the wall. While I was unsure how difficult some sections would be, the route looked fairly obvious and of good quality. In 2012 I attemp...