Sasha DiGiulian (USA) and Edu Marin (Spain) free climbed Mora Mora (700m, 8c) on the east face of Tsaranoro Atsimo. The route was established in 1999 by Francisco Blanco and Toti Valés and freed by Adam Ondra in 2010. DiGiulian and Marin spent mos...
Not previously reported in the AAJ, Zaza Be was established by Marc Gamio and Gérard Thomas (France) in June 2014 at 7c A0. The 500m, 14-pitch line stopped below the top of formation. Later in 2014, Mayan Gobat-Smith (New Zealand) and Ben Rueck (U...
Development of the quartzite crags in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas Mountains has continued at a steady pace during the last few winters, with several hundred mid-grade routes being added to crags across the Jebel el Kest and Jebel Taskra massifs. These ar...
In search of new projects, Alexander Huber and I were drawn to the deep and impressive Taghia Gorge, especially to the Tadrarate, a 500m wall of beautiful red limestone. We first visited the Taghia in October 2016. As always, Alexander was psyched...
In 2014 I climbed the south face of an unnamed peak on the east coast of Anvers Island, which I named Monte Samila (64°38´56”S, 63°12´59”W). It gave a 1,500m ascent of difficult climbing on ice and unstable snow (WI5). Afterward, I sailed south to...
In 2017 the focus for activists in the Canadian Rockies seemed to shift away from alpine routes toward ice and mixed cragging in the winter and new bolted rock routes in the summer. A striking exception—and by far the biggest news in alpine climbi...
Pete Graham and I have been climbing together in winter and on alpine terrain quite consistently for a few years. He was originally my mentor, but the relationship has grown into a healthy partnership, with both of us feeling able to push each oth...
On February 21, Will Mayo, Anna Pfaff, and Joe Terravecchia (all USA) completed Dreamline, a huge “spray ice” route to the right of Pissing Mare Falls. Terravecchia, one of the main developers of ice climbing in Newfoundland, had been eyeing this ...
Anastasija Davidova and I visited the valley of Rangtik Tokpo in 2016 (AAJ 2017), and I decided to return in 2017 with Matjaz Dusic and Tomaz Zerovnik. This valley and surrounding areas to the south of the Doda River are infrequently visited by mo...
Martin Grajciar, Ondrej Huserka, Jozef Kristoffy, and I (Slovakia) spent seven weeks in Kyrgyzstan, from July 27–September 10, with the aim of making a new route on the west face of Pik Alexander Blok (5,239m).After travel by minivan from Osh to U...
The Borkoldoy Range lies due south of Lake Issyk Kul and north of the Western Kokshaal-too mountains, and consists of two main valleys systems, one facing west and the other east. The western end of the Borkoldoy has seen many prior expeditions, b...
In AAJ 2017 I reported on first ascents near the Mindzhar Pass, around 30km west of Pik Lenin. We had hoped to continue further along the ridge in 2016, but poor weather prevented us, so I returned in August 2017, this time with Eduard Skukis.Afte...
Pete Dronkers and I (both U.S.) spent several weeks in August climbing in the central Rushan Range. We were drawn to the area by stable weather, unclimbed peaks, relatively simple access, and friends who had spent time recently in the range. We...
THE SPECTRE, reminiscent of Fitz Roy, is located at 86°12.255’S, 148°28.294’W, in the Gothic Peaks (named by American scientist and mountaineer Ed Stump). The closest human habitation is the U.S. base at the South Pole, 440km away, while the close...
Nanga Parbat from the northwest. Red is the upper section of the Mackiewicz-Revol route with Camp 4 marked. (C) is the crevasse bivouac at 7,280m from where Revol descended alone along the blue line (the Kinshofer Route). Google EarthA LITTLE AFTE...
Forty-two percent of climbers registered to attempt Denali reached the summit in 2017, the lowest percentage since 2014. More than 90 percent of the summit days were after May 30. No climbers succeeded on Mt. Foraker (Sultana).In a difficult seaso...
Dana “Maddog” Drummond and I knew we were in for a good time when Paul Roderick admitted this was his first time landing on the East Fork of the Dall Glacier. Six miles up valley from our base camp lay the east face of Mt. Russell (11,670’), an im...
In mid-June, James Kesterson, Paul Muscat, Glenn Wilson, and I spent eight days mountaineering above the Double Glacier, at the north end of the Chigmit Mountains. We had planned to visit the Neacolas, but bad weather forced us to make a spontaneo...
Luc Mehl and Josh Mumm completed a 200-mile, 15-day ski traverse through Katmai National Park, at the northeast end of the Alaska Peninsula, at the end of winter. On March 20, the two flew from Anchorage to Kamishak Bay in the northeast corner of ...
Over three stormy days in July, Elisha Gallegos and Daniel Schuerch put up a long technical route up the north side of Challenger Point (14,081’). Septem Virtutum Anima Mea (1,500’, 5.8+) ascends a clean shield of rock above the Willow Lake Campgr...