An experienced local climber, age 68, was leading Peak Season in Harlem (5.8/5.9), a nine-bolt sport route, in June. He attempted to take a rest by hanging at the ninth bolt, but when he sat back on the rope, he fell to about the height of the fou...
Situated between Pangnirtung and Kingnait fiords on Baffin Island’s Cumberland Peninsula, 35 kms northeast of the village of Pangnirtung, is a rugged, glaciated group of alpine peaks: the Gateway Glacier complex. Here, glaciers have carved an impr...
In 1995, a Russian-Swiss team made a long exploratory journey through the eastern end of the Western Kokshaal-too. The team was Otto Chkhetiani, Vadimir Nikitin, Dmitry Oborotov, and Felix Weinstein, all from Moscow except for Weinstein, who is Sw...
After a trip to the Terskey Ala-too with Callum Nelson, he had to return to Europe, so I decided to continue alone to the At-Bashi. With my excellent ITMC driver Sasha, I came in from the south and chose a final destination as we approached: the K...
Top alpinists have two main “practice climbs” within Japan to prepare for the Himalaya. “Pachinko” involves a linkup of 200m to 600m walls and mixed ridge climbing in the Mt. Hotaka region. Pachinko means “pinball,” and the climbs are so named b...
The Mirror Wall (center) has only one known route, climbed in 2010. The Citadel is at left and Great Sail Peak to the right. David “Pelut” Palmada and I flew to Baffin on April 27, 2010, and traveled by snowmobi...
Red line: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2016). Yellow line: Apocalypse Now (2015). Will Mayo Collection On March 7, 2015, Anna Pfaff and I completed Apocalypse Now, a traditionally protected mixe...
In August 1999, Jonny Copp and Mike Pennings climbed a new line on the 3,200’ west face of North Howser Tower. They called their route Armageddon (VI 5.11+ A2) and free climbed most of it. “Arghh,” Copp wrote in AAJ 2000, “a pecker and a blade; da...
The Minaret is a gorgeous prow shaped like a rocket ship that leans against the south side of South Howser Tower. Despite having made many trips to the Bugaboos, I’d never climbed on it. In August, Maury Birdwell, Leo Houlding, Jesse Huey, and I p...
During late April and early May, an expedition of the Groupe Excellence Alpinisme National, a mentorship program of the federation of French alpine clubs (FFCAM), led by Mathieu Détrie, Frédéric Gentet, and Christophe Moulin, completed several new...
I had intended to try the unclimbed east face of Kang Nachugo (6,737m) in 2015, but the massive earthquake prevented access to the region and forced us to change our objective to the north face of Kantega, on which we were unsuccessful. A year lat...
Nangamari I (center) and II (left). The 2016 first ascent of Nangamari II gained the col between the two peaks, then followed the northeast ridge. In 2013 the Kanzai section of the Japanese Alpine Club had discussi...
On May 3, at approximately 11:30 p.m., a climber notified park rangers that his climbing partner might have sustained a broken leg during a rappelling accident while descending from the route Sons of Yesterday. The patient was located on a belay l...
John R. Filsinger of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, died September 24 at the age of 95. He was married to Marjorie Filsinger from 1949 until her death in 1977. In 1980 he married Elaine (Guildalian) Filsinger, who survives him. He is also survived by h...
In 2002–’03 the leashless revolution was just starting, and it brought together a small group of Salt Lake and Provo, Utah, climbers. Focusing on the steep choss of Provo Canyon limestone, they farmed ice and created new routes, and one of Scott...
Hooman Aprin, climber and mountain guide, succumbed to frontal temporal dementia in May 2015 at age 68. At death he was surrounded by loved ones: Lisa Goldoftas and their children, Dora Aprin and Joey Aprin, Hooman’s daughter Tara Aprin, and his g...
I climbed the classic west ridge of North Twin Sister Mountain near Mt. Baker on a fine August day. It was very warm and I got a late start. As many do, I used a mountain bike for the approach, which follows about nine kilometers of logging roads....
In late July, Tim Halder and I ventured into the remote and mythical Arrigetch Peaks for three weeks of packrafting and climbing. I’d first read about this range in David Roberts’ autobiography years ago, and had dreamed about granite towers, blue...
Two and half weeks, one African country, and three completely unique objectives: Why not? In December 2016, I traveled to Kenya with Alex Honnold, Cedar Wright, Ted Hesser, and Taylor Keating to climb the country’s biggest rock wall, put up firs...
Isolated by wide longitudinal valleys, the At Bashi Range extends 100km in a southwest to northeast direction, with an average width of 25km, and has a collection of mostly rocky peaks reaching about 4,790m. It is bordered on the northern side by ...