Simon Messner and Phillip Pruenster (Italy) planned to attempt the north side of Gangapurna West (a.k.a. Asapurna, 7,140m) from the Manang Valley in September. The weather was good on arrival at base camp (5,000m) and the planned route not too tec...
The east face of Liberty Bell in the North Cascades is the most easily accessible major wall in the state. In the past few years, it has seen several new variations and first free routes added to the trio of original 1960s aid routes that evenly d...
In June I guided Michael Ellis (USA) on the direct routes up Pirámide Blanca and Condoriri. At the same time I had organized a trip for two British clients, with Cecilio Daza as their guide. We shared base camps, and on the 17th, a rest day prior ...
In October, Germans André Günzel, Manuel Möller, and Jürgen Schütz attempted the unclimbed west ridge of Chulu West (6,419m), generally accepted to be one of the more difficult trekking peaks. On the 19th they gained the ridge at a rocky tower. Ab...
SUPPORTED BY the German Alpine Club, Nils Beste, Bernde Emmerich, Franz Friebel, Harry Kirschenhofer, and I flew to Jumla in western Nepal at the start of October. From there we drove 10 hours to reach Gamghadi, north of Jumla, and then trekked fo...
Mike Arnold (USA), my client Tim Wheeler (U.K.), and I arrived at Lukla on October 5. We acclimatized in the Khumbu and used the Tashi Laptsa pass to reach the Rolwaling, reaching the village of Na on the 18th. During our time in the area, a group...
BETWEEN JUNE 28 and August 6, Wojtek Malawski, Konrad Ociepka, and I visited the Uummannaq and Upernavik regions aboard the yacht Berg. We flew to Illulisat on Greenland's west coast and then sailed north for a few days to the Horn, a 1,000m w...
On the first day of May, Pacifico Machaca (Bolivia) and I climbed a partial new route on the impressive southwest face of Huallomen (a.k.a. Wyoming, 5,463m). The previous afternoon we had hiked to Chiarkhota base camp, and because of recent snowfa...
On March 19, after a small incident in which we had to extract the car from some mud, my wife dropped me at dawn at the “road head” (ca 4,800m) a little short of Serkhe Lake. I then climbed the southwest face of what some call Serkhe Negro (5,460m...
On March 12, I circumnavigated Charquini (5,392m) on skis and spotted interesting steep granite on the “hidden” east face. While this face is visible from the popular Choro Trail (an ancient paved Inca road), most people are descending the trail a...
In early May, Greg Boswell, Lindsay Yule, Paul Prentice, and I flew to the lower Buckskin Glacier with food for three weeks. It was a trip with no set objectives, but with lots of ideas and flexibility in mind. Aware that we had flown in during a ...
In May 2012, I attempted to solo Begguya (a.k.a. Mt. Hunter, 14,573’) via the North Buttress, and in a state of extreme exhaustion I turned around and descended from only 100m below the summit. One hundred meters is not a lot of mountain, especial...
PAUL AND I had been climbing at Red Rock for about a week. On February 7, after a windy rest day, we decided to take it easy and stay close to the ground. We chose the Red Spring area of Calico Basin because we figured it would be somewhat shelter...
THE VISION for an expedition to Baffin Island had crystalized in April 2016, during a solitary walk near the base of Mt. Dickey in Alaska. Severe conditions had forced Marcin “Yeti” Tomaszewski and me to retreat from the east face. Waiting f...
IN LATE JULY, Tito Arosio, Matteo Bernasconi, and I traveled to the Cordillera Huayhuash with high hopes of climbing the impressive limestone wall in the center of the east face of Siulá Grande (6,344m). We had a little information about the place...
THE GOAL OF MAKING the first documented ascent of Sauyr Zhotasy (a.k.a. Muztau), a remote 3,840m peak on the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan border, has been discussed for years. Although its technical difficulties and altitude are not great, its topographi...
On October 11, four climbers and I were cragging in Day Canyon. After warming up on a nearby climb, my partner and I threw our rope down in front of Boognish Tower, a 100-foot chimney climb (5.10-). I tied in on the follower's end and started to b...
CLIMBING HAS BEEN the hub of my life, with spokes of interest radiating in all directions, like a magnetic field. Asked by the editor to write a short piece for this journal regarding the future of climbing, I foolishly accepted. I was honored and...
ABOUT 20KM EAST of Canmore is one of the most impressive rock features in the Bow Valley: the Goat Buttress sector of the Goat Wall. In morning light the buttress appears almost like a spire, towering 1,800’ above the trees and scree below. Althou...
Looking northwest across the Pasu Glacier to (A) Pasu Sar East (6,842m), (B) Noukarsich (6,498m), (C) Maidon Sar (6,085m, Spanish, 1985), and (D) Hiriz (5,550m, Spanish, 1985). (1) The 2016 American route to Maidon Sar. (2) The southeast couloir o...