Kathy Connelly and I are primarily trekkers and not necessarily looking for elevation. In the summer of 2014 we wanted to explore a wild place without seeing other people—or even traces of them. If we could, we wanted to make the first ascent of...
In February, Stefan Glowacz (Germany) and Chris Sharma (USA) climbed a 13-pitch route, Into the Light (8b+), out the ceiling of Majilis al Jinn. This gigantic limestone cavern is 100km southeast of Muscat and was accessed by a 160m free rappel.Ove...
When we planned our trip to Oman in November 2014, terror attacks—according to several media reports—were on the daily plan on the Arabian peninsula. Because we wanted to get our own picture of the situation, we decided to go there and have a look...
British climbers David Barlow, Aqil Chaudhry, Geoff Hornby, Jonathan Preston, and Susie Sammut climbed various new routes in the Western Hajar in the winter of 2013–’14. The Sidaq slabs at the northern end of the range had been visited once by Pau...
Two Slovak climbers, Martin Krasnansky and Jozef Kristoffy, spent a month in the big-wall area of Wadi Rum in November and December. The goal was to establish a hard new route, and they found a line on Northeast Domes in the Jebel Rum massif. They...
As part of the Shaksgam Expedition led by Bruce Normand, Lukas Brexler, Harry Kirchenhofer, and I (all from Germany) visited the Durbin Kangri group in June. From the team base camp, we three followed the canyon leading toward Durbin Kangri I, whi...
During a trip to the Changping Valley with Fred Beckey and friends in October 2013, I met Jim Donini. While other Beckey expedition members established a new route on Joey Shan (5,178m, AAJ 2014), Jim and I reached a 5,182m unclimbed top just down...
Aurélie Didillon, Simon Duverney, Elodie Lecomte, and I arrived below the mountains of Siguniang on September 16 and spent a couple of days trekking above the Shuangqiao Valley to take stock. Conclusion: the mountains are very beautiful, but after...
I was attracted to Peak 5,086m, the Shark’s Fin, but only knew of He Chuan’s 2010 attempt. A lack of information brings uncertainty, more challenge, and extra fun. Above the Dagou Valley the Shark’s Fin presents two faces: The northwest face is a ...
From September 11–October 5, I visited the Shuangqiao with 33-year-old Marcos Costa, a Brazilian living for the last seven years in China. Marcos is undoubtedly the driving force in the current explosion of new route development in the country, fr...
I arrived in Siguniang on Christmas Day 2013 with the goal of developing hard dry-tooling and mixed climbing. Ice climbing is a relatively new sport in China, and mixed climbing has only recently picked up traction. There were only three establish...
Huang Guan Feng (5,515m) or Crown Peak, due to its three-pinnacle summit in the shape of a crown, is the first large peak immediately east of Yutu Feng/Jade Rabbit Peak (5,578m), on the north side of the upper Bipeng Valley (Peak 38 in Jon Sulliva...
After climbing Haizi Shan, we headed to the southwest side of the Minya Konka Range with Garrett Bradley. A number of southern outliers of Minya Konka (Gongga Shan, 7,556m) remain unclimbed. From the road end at 2,700m, the approach to these peaks...
When Simon Gietl was climbing with the DAV expedition squad in the Dolomites during the summer of 2013, he learned about their trip to the Minya Konka (Gongga Shan) range the previous year, during which they did the first ascents of two peaks (AAJ...
In late January, accompanied by Garrett Bradley, we traveled to Haizi Shan (a.k.a. Yala, 5,820m) to attempt a line on the west face. Base camp was at an excellent hot springs beneath the face. On the 29th we started climbing up the central snow co...
We were attracted to the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Region by Tom Nakamura’s map depicting “Sichuan’s most outstanding unclimbed peaks.” One of these was Kawarani I (5,992m). From the road head near Garze town, to the northern side, we walked for tw...
Over 14 days in July and August, Marcos Costa, Liu Yunqing, Zhoulei, and, for part of the time, Dawei (a 5.14 climber from Yangshuo) climbed eight routes, opened seven new lines, and summited four different peaks. Routes included Jarjinjabo’s four...
In August 2014, Garrett Bradley, Christopher Miller, and I headed to the Jarjinjabo area in the Garrapunsum Massif. There, we climbed a 10-pitch (ca 400m) route on the south face of Jabo Tower. The upper portion of the route joined lines establish...
In November the predominately Irish expedition of Jack Bergin, Martin Boner, Kevin Higgins, Ursula McPherson, Keith Monaghan, Alan Tees (leader), Jimmy Tees, Thendup Sherpa, and I became the first group to complete the traverse of the Zumthul Phuk...
In May I took part in an expedition organized by Alberto Peruffo to explore the Talung and Tongshyong glacier basins, southeast of Kangchenjunga. While the rest of the members busied themselves investigating the countless possibilities for new rou...