My wife, Muriel Zucchini, and I initially went to the Miyar Valley in the fall of 2015. Our first route was on September 7, when, to acclimatize, we climbed a direct line up the southeast face of Point JAMES (4,965m). This followed a corner (5), f...
In May 2017, Nick Craddock (NZ), David Shotwell (USA), Allison Swintz (USA), and I traveled to the Miyar Valley. We had the advantage of Nick’s vast experience in India. Although he had not been to the Miyar, Nick has spent years working out of Ma...
During September, Spandan Sanyal and I joined our friends Jon Griffin and Tad McCrea (both USA) for an expedition to the Lalung Valley. Base camp was established after a three-hour hike from the road over the Pensi La. The altitude was 4,150m and ...
In May, He Chuan (China), China-based Ola Przybysz (Poland), who led the trip, and I visited the Tibetan village of Zhagana (2,800m) in southern Gansu to explore the surrounding peaks. The area is becoming popular with Chinese tourists, but we lea...
In October, with the support of a Grit & Rock First Ascent Grant, the team of Galina Chibitok (Russia), Marina Kopteva (Ukraine), and Anastasia Petrova (Russia) completed the first route from the north on Kemailong (5,873m), making the second ...
I BECAME AWARE of the Minya Konka massif while looking through Tom Nakamura's book East of the Himalaya. I was so attracted to the pictures of the east face of Mt. Edgar that I decided I needed to see these Chinese mountains myself. On September 2...
Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei. Junko Tabei and Helen Y. Rolffe, translated by Yumika Hiraki and Rieto Hotven. Rocky Mountain Books, 2017. Hardcover, 376 pages, $32 (CDN).When Junko Tabei stepped on to the summit of Everes...
Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue. Bree Loewen. Mountaineers Books, 2017. Paperback, 224 pages, $17.95.In this autobiographical work, Bree Loewen describes the hardships, sacrifices, and intense satisfaction associated with backcountry search and r...
The Snyder-Wilcox Expedition on Denali in 1967 was not only North America’s most tragic mountaineering incident—seven deaths—but also one of the most reported, most recently by Andy Hall in Denali’s Howl (2014). Add Jessica Goodfellow’s Whiteout (...
Takanori Mashimo’s six-member Japanese expedition, which made the first ascent of Dzanye II in October 2015 (AAJ 2016), also made an unsuccessful attempt on Lhonak Peak (a.k.a. Rifil Peak, 6,070m, 27.830876°N, 88.054761°E), a summit with no record...
With a Grit & Rock Award, my wife, Christina Pogacean, was due to attempt H17 in Zanskar, and I came along on a solitary mission and in support. However, shortly after arriving in Padam, Christina's partner fell ill and had to return home.Indi...
On April 30, the climbing world lost one of its all-time greats when Ueli Steck fell from approxmately 7,100 meters on Nuptse in Nepal. He was 40 years old. In typical style, Ueli was climbing by himself, with nothing more than a day pack containi...
ON NOVEMBER 28, four members of Summit Experience Mountain Co.—Sun Bin, Liu Hai Chuan, Zhang Bao Long, and I—made the sixth known ascent of Xiao Gongga (5,928m, a.k.a. Little Konka, Ruiche Gongga, or Tshiburongi). It was the first time most of us ...
Sometime on November 13, Niels Tietze, 31, fell to his death in what appears to have been a rappelling accident on Fifi Buttress in Yosemite National Park. Niels and I met in early May 2011 when he rode into Camp 4 on a motorcycle adorned with a s...
"Glaciers, mountains, rivers, forests, tundra; a landscape rich with places that have never felt the tread of human feet. It thrills me not because I can break first ground, but because first ground remains unbroken." —Alaska author Kim Heacox Fro...
The idea for this adventure came while doing the second ascent of Castle Dome with Courtney Purcell and Aron Ralston in 2015. We were near the top of Castle Dome, looking over at Lady Mountain and Cliff Dwelling Mountain when I suggested it. Looki...
Between October 2016 and May 2017, I made the likely first ascents of eight distinct formations in Zion. In late October, Courtney Purcell and I did the first known ascent of a formation we named Lucky Charm. The peak sits to the immediate northwe...
From October 2016 through April 2017, I drove 11,000 miles and spent eight outings in the Zion backcountry attempting, by various routes, the North Bishopric. Along the way I made the first known ascents of a number of nearby summits and formation...
In October 2017, after working a 12-hour shift at the hospital, I rested in bed for a few hours then got up at 2 a.m. when the cardio machine Chaz Langelier showed up at my door. Our goal was to set out from Crescent Meadow, hike approximately 17 ...
A year prior to getting into technical rock climbing, I saw the sheer east wall of North Cotter [Editor's Note: The main summit of Cotter is 12,719'. The exact elevation of its lower north summit is unknown.] while approaching Mt. Gardiner and Cla...