On November 12 at around 11 a.m., two experienced climbers were attempting Doritos (5.12c). One of the climbers (male, age 28) was leading the route when he fell off and the belayer (female, approximately 30) failed to arrest his fall. A witness o...
On June 22, Cordero Chavez (29) and Tyler Coleman (age unknown) climbed the Monkey Face spire via the Pioneer Route (5.7 C0). Upon completion of the climb, the pair failed to identify the correct descent route. With their two ropes tied together, ...
A 37-year-old climber was leading Blood Clot (5.10b) on March 19 when he fell from approximately 15 feet up while attempting to clip his second piece of protection. The climber landed on the ground on his side and fractured his arm. ANALYSIS Pulli...
At around noon on June 30, Brian Robak (28) left Big Lake Youth Camp to attempt Mt. Washington (7,795 feet). Robak posted a social media photo confirming that he’d reached the summit at approximately 4:30 p.m. He was reported missing around 3 a.m....
A party of four Seattle climbers left Timberline Lodge early Saturday morning, January 2, for a summit climb via the Wy'East Face. High winds, cold temperatures, and icy conditions slowed the ascent. The party summited at 3 p.m., and with superfic...
On June 9 a party of two experienced climbers (ages 49 and 52) fell high on the South Side Route while descending the “Old Chute.” The roped pair was unable to arrest the fall. One of the climbers suffered facial lacerations and bruised ribs. He w...
On September 17, a male climber, JC (23), took a ground fall that resulted in a medical evacuation. JC was leading Veg-O-Matic (5.7+ or 5.8), a one-pitch trad climb, when he fell approximately 40 feet to the ground. A climber on an adjacent climb ...
On September 17, four climbers set off to attempt the Prow (5.4), a classic three- or four-pitch route in the Amphitheater. All four had significant gym climbing experience. However, this would be their first time climbing outdoors on a multi-pitc...
During July, an organized group was climbing at Catheys Creek when it began to rain. The group leader moved the students under the shelter of an overhang. While waiting for the rain to stop, one of the teenage students reached up and grabbed a roc...
During the morning of February 6, SO and his partner started the three-pitch classic Dopey Duck (5.9). Both were experienced climbers, and SO had climbed the route before. SO began leading the first pitch, placing three solid pieces. Somewhere abo...
Our party of six, with three experienced climbers and three newbies, headed to the Lower Beer Walls on June 25. I chose to lead a 5.8 trad route, Rockaholic, a left-leaning finger crack on polished granite. As I started up the climb, I placed a nu...
The following report is condensed from “Unbelayvable: A Missed Catch,” published November 2016 in Climbing magazine, with permission of the author, Kevin Corrigan, and the climber, Annie Nelson.I’m a 20-year-old from upstate New York. Last August ...
I organized a trip to the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks for March. The plan was to summit Mt. Haystack, Saddleback Mountain, and Basin Mountain in one day, under late-winter conditions, in order to simulate a long alpine climb. There were n...
Cochise Stronghold, Arizona: A climbing instructor stands on a ledge, cleaning an anchor for her students. Amid multiple pieces of tat, she incorrectly threads the rope on which she is to be lowered. She misses the error due to excess slack in the...
Mark Davis was 50 years old and had been climbing for 25 years, with successful ascents of El Capitan and routes in Patagonia. He was well loved by his community in Salt Lake City and around the country. On Saturday, March 12, Mark and friends wer...
On November 14, Kelsey Brasseur (29) and I (28) planned to climb all of Indian Creek’s Bridger Jack towers in a day. By 3 p.m. we had dispatched four of the towers and arrived at the base of Hummingbird Spire, where we ran into an acquaintance, ...
Visiting the Kijai Nala had been on the bucket list for Hayden Kennedy, Marko Prezelj, and me since 2015, when we climbed together above the Chomochior Glacier in eastern Kishtwar (AAJ 2016). We had planned to head into this western Kishtwar valle...
The Zayliyskiy Alatau is the most northerly system of the Tien Shan (see note below). It extends around 350km and reaches its maximum elevation on Pik Talgar (4,973m, 43°7'5.18"N, 77°20'21.34"E). The region has a rich climbing history, beginning 1...
I set off from Italy with Giovanni Penna and Marco Rainone to achieve two goals: working with the Università Campesina and attempting a new route on the south face of Illimani. Università Campesina is a project run by my friend Antonio “Topio” Zav...
My two partners and I (male, age 40), all experienced climbers, were in the Adirondacks on January 26 for the AAC Metro New York Section’s Winter Outing. We decided to climb Screw and Climaxe, a well-known, 350-foot WI3+ on the north side of Pitch...