At the end of August, Nick Elson and Julian Stoddart (Canada) did a one-day car-to-car traverse of the Slesse Mountain group, from south to north, completing a linkup that may first have been attempted by Coast Mountains legend Don Serl and Rob Nu...
The Slesse group from the east, showing (A) Labour Day Horn, (B) Station D, (C) South Peak, and (D) Slesse Mountain. (1) Approximate line of Navigator Wall. (2) Approximate line of 2017 free variation to the east face of Slesse. Photo by Steph Abe...
It was May 22, my fourth day living on the outskirts of Zion National Park. I had moved there for a summer job and was taking every opportunity to climb. That evening, my climbing partner and I took the park shuttle to Cerberus Wall. My partner ju...
In 2011 Denis Burdet, Robert Frost, David Lama, and Stephan Siegrist climbed Yoniverse on the northwest face and upper south ridge of Cerro Kishtwar (6,155m GPS) to make the second ascent of the mountain. During his time on the climb, Siegrist’s e...
During the post-monsoon season there were a number of attempts on Kyungka Ri I (6,599m), an officially unclimbed peak close to the Tibetan border, northeast of Shalbachum, and at least one successful ascent. First to arrive was a large expediti...
While reaching the summit of Manaslu, Esteban Mena caught a glimpse of Larkya Peak (6,416m) and later had no trouble convincing Roberto Morales and Nico Navarrete to join him for an attempt on the big rock wall of the southeast face. A few months ...
Larkya Peak (6,416m) lies on the ridge north of Manaslu North and is visible from the northeast along the classic Manaslu Circuit trek. From the south, many climbers ascending Manaslu’s normal route have a clear view of Larkya Peak’s impressive gr...
Leon Hiro Davis, Andres Marin, and I had planned on climbing Panbari (6,905m) for quite some time. It had been on my radar ever since the first ascent a decade earlier (AAJ 2007). A photo of the jutting south ridge was simply too much to resist—it...
In the autumn of 2016, a German Alpine Club (DAV) expedition under the leadership of Herbert Bader made the first ascent of Takphu North (6,142m, 30°18’8.03”N, 81°24’59.96”E), a peak on the border with Tibet, near the northwest tip of Nepal. (Peak...
A MOUNTAINEER’S LIFE. Allen Steck. Patagonia, 2017. 255 pages. Hardcover, 255 pages, $35.Readers of this treasure of an American memoir, packed with fascinating color photographs, have to wait until page 58 to see a picture of the author himself (...
THE ART OF FREEDOM: THE LIFE AND CLIMBS OF VOYTEK KURTYKA. Bernadette McDonald. Rocky Mountain Books, 2017. Hard- cover, 256 pages, $32 (CDN).I can’t stand it. Reviewing another dumb climber/hero worship story about rising above oneself in search ...
WILD ADVENTURES WE HAVE KNOWN: MY LIFE WITH WILLI UNSOELD. Jolene Unsoeld, with lectures by Willi Unsoeld. Unsoeldsto- ries.com, 2017. 407 pages, $30.Wild Adventures We Have Known is a trip through the attic of a fascinating family, a trek to the ...
THE OGRE: BIOGRAPHY OF A MOUNTAIN AND THE DRAMATIC STORY OF THE FIRST ASCENT. Doug Scott. Vertebrate Publishing, 2017. Hardcover, 192 pages, $26.72. The Ogre’s first ascent by a six-member British expedition in 1977 might have been “just anothe...
Jordan Cannon, 22, was attempting Bongo Fury (5.12b), a bolted arête in the Joe’s Garage area, in late March. All of the bolts were pre-equipped with quickdraws made with thin Dynex (polyethylene) webbing. When Cannon fell above the third bolt, th...
THE CLIMBERS. Jim Herrington. The Mountaineers, 2017. Slip-cased hardcover, 189 pages, $59.95.When you stand outside, looking to your climbing objective, you study the ridges, the lines defined by the terrain, and you analyze the peak you intend t...
THE PUSH: A CLIMBER'S JOURNEY OF ENDURANCE, RISK, AND GOING BEYOND LIMITS. Tommy Caldwell. Viking, 2017. Hardcover, 352 pages, $27.How to explain boundary-defining climbing to non-climbers? And how to encapsulate the motivation required by top ath...
Madagascar’s Tsaranoro Valley has been described as the Yosemite of Africa. But on its big, mostly crackless granite walls, most visitors have chosen to attempt new lines, running it out as far as they dare before placing a bolt. The few routes ea...
In late 2017, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, Nima Tenji Sherpa, Pasang Kidar Sherpa, and I obtained a permit for unclimbed Langdung (6,357m), spanning the border with Tibet at the head of the Rolwaling Glacier (a.k.a. Ripimo Shar Glacier). The peak had been...
On July 3 there were two climbing accidents almost identical in nature in the Valley. Both were ground falls, and both resulted from a belayer lowering the climber with a rope that was too short for the pitch.At approximately 7 p.m., Yosemite disp...
Approaching via Yangma and the lakes of Nangamari Pokhari and Pabuk Pokhari, Grégoire Lestienne and Floriane Pugin (France) established base camp on October 24 at 5,400m. On the 28th they moved up to a bivouac at 5,800m on the south face of unclim...