In the course of geological field research on the India- Asia collision zone, members of our University of Arizona Geosciences team have climbed several non-technical peaks, some of which would only be legally available to those with research ...
In the winter of 2011, Yuji Hirayama sat down with James Pearson and me at our annual meeting at the North Face to discuss expedition ideas. Yuji proposed a trip to Mt. Kinabalu (4,095m) in Borneo, Malaysia. He showed us a photo of a 100-meter, ...
In July I returned to the Half Moon massif (located near the Liberty Bell group and Washington Pass) with Tino Villanueva to attempt a new route on a prow-like feature on the northwest face, leading to the highest point on the ridge. We com...
Scott Bennett, Graham Zimmerman, and I climbed a new variation on Colchuck Balanced Rock (8,200’), which connects the start and crux ofLet it Burnwith the end and crux of the west face. From a narrow ledge atop Let it Burn’s fifth pitch, we mov...
In late January 2012, Nathan Farr and I likely made the first winter ascent of the west face (300m, 5.11+) of Colchuck Balanced Rock (8,200’) in the Stuart Range. We approached on skis for the first four miles, then followed a well-established ...
The granite walls and peaks of the Stuart Range have seen prodigious new route activity in the last few years, with the rock generally excellent and often studded with knobs and fins when the cracks peter out. After climbing the north ridge of...
On July 27, Mike Pond and Matt VanBein climbed a three-pitch variation 30m right of the Kearney-Thomas route, which they called Skinny Start (850’, III 5.11). The two climbed solid granite splitters and left-facing corners (5.10+) before headi...
In winter of 2004, the Big Kangaroo wall was burned into my memory. The golden, sheer, 850’ face is not like any other wall in this area. The glacier-sculpted southern cirque had left a broad cathedral-like remnant—the central wall as the ma...
A review of the past 30 years of AAJs reveals only a smattering of new alpine routes in Oregon, all on Cascades volcanoes. Yet the largest walls of granite and limestone in Oregon lie to the east of the state’s rain divide. Tucked away in th...
Erik Anderson and Bob Jensen added a route on the north side of Fairview Dome, left of Burning Down the House. The Arsonist (III 5.11) climbs six new pitches of sustained edging and smearing. Easier ground for several pitches leads to the top. ...
In addition to the routes described in more detail in this section, as well as Mikey Schaefer’s Father Time route on Middle Cathedral [see feature article in this AAJ], there are a few other significant new routes to report from Yosemite Valle...
In early October, Steve Bosque, Ezra Allee, and I established an eight-pitch variation to Harding’s southwest face route on Liberty Cap. Bad Moon Rising (14 pitches, V 5.8 A2) begins 50’ to the right of the massive corner system that makes up th...
In August AAC members Steve Beckwith (U.K.), Matthew Bunn (Australia), Matthew Traver (U.K.), and I traveled to East Greenland, intent on exploring unclimbed peaks. After congregating in Tasiilaq, we spent several days trying to locate p...
Keith Ladzinski, Mike Libecki, Angie Payne, and Ethan Pringle visited the Mythics Cirque at roughly the same time as the team that named it (see report here) and completed numerous difficult boulder problems and two new routes on Ataatap Tower (...
In August, Brad Wilson and Dulcinea Groff established a six-pitch route on the south face of Lone Pine Peak: Mountain Devil Dike (900’, III 5.12d). The route begins on the first two pitches of the Michael Strassman Memorial Route and then climb...
In July 2012, Casey Zak and Luke Stefurak established a four-pitch route, Dr. Bear Love (800’, III 5.11a C1) on Merriam Peak, located in the Royce Lakes Basin outside of Pine Creek. The route climbs a clean crack system on the west aspect of t...
In fall 2012, Daniel Jeffcoach, Vitaliy Musiyenko, and Tom Ruddy established a new route, The Siege (1,000’, IV 5.10c A0), on a formation known as the Fortress. This wall is located in Sequoia National Park, six miles from Paradise Ridge trail...
In 2011 and 2012, I completed five new routes on the Whitney Portal Buttress and surrounding walls with various partners. The longest of these is the Never Ending Story (12 pitches, V 5.12 or 5.11 A0) on the Whitney Portal Buttress proper...
In summer 2011 and 2012, Amy Ness and I established two new routes on the needles of the Mt. Whitney massif. The first route is on Day Needle: BCB On The Prow (15 pitches, VI 5.10 A1). We initially sieged the first four pitches (500’) of t...
The southeast face of Mt. Russell is a looming triangular wall above Upper Boyscout Lake in the Mt. Whitney region. On September 4, Amy Ness, Phil Bircheff, and I climbed a new route on the face via a clean corner system. The route begins ...