On the morning of September 1, we set off to climb the Surgicle, a beautiful yet obscure feature on the Temple Crag buttress. Peter (22) and I (27) were to climb the East Face (II 5.7), while Gabe (27) and my twin brother Brian (27) were going to ...
Chris Larson (unrelated to the incident described here) ascends Bee Sting Corner. Photo by Kyle Stapp On April 17 an inexperienced male climber (age unknown), a member of a three-person team, was rappelling for his first ti...
Inspired by an article in AAJ 2014, Jessica Keil and I traveled to the Nyainbo Yuze range of Qinghai. In late September we flew to Chengdu and were soon en route to the mountains in a hired car. A 10-hour drive brought us to Jiuzhi, the nearest to...
On July 16, I traveled into the Vilcanota Range with my client John Lewis (USA) and assistant guide Luis Crispin (Peru) to climb Ausangate’s normal route. However, we abandoned this plan due to deep snow and instead turned our attention to smaller...
On June 29, Vahi Beltrami (Chile), Yasu Beltrami (Chile), German Silva (Chile) Nathan Heald (Peru), Duncan McDaniel (USA), Aaron Zimmerman (USA), and I traveled to the Cordillera Carabaya. This seldom-visited range, with impressive snow and rock p...
On June 1, Nathan Heald (Peru) and I climbed a new route on the east face (700m, D+) of Nevado Jatunhuma (6,141m, a.k.a. Tres Picos). This is the only known ascent of the east face since a Yugoslavian team visited in 1980 (see AAJ 1981) and climbe...
Bedson Ridge is a beautiful gray and yellow wall of south-facing limestone that stands 1,000’ above the Athabasca River. Although contained within the boundaries of Jasper National Park, the face isn't easily accessed from a convenient highway pul...
Over the course of multiple weekends throughout July and August, a group of friends and I completed nine long new rock routes in the Cracked Ice Arena, a popular backcountry skiing zone near Thompson Pass, in the Chugach Mountains, north of Valdez...
On May 25, a 32-year-old male climber leading Agatha Christie (5.8 trad) fell and pulled out one or more pieces of protection. He fell about 45 feet to the ground, sustaining broken bones and internal injuries. He was short-hauled from the scene a...
In January, Arizona State University student Katelyn Conrad died after falling 125 to 150 feet to the ground while rappelling. Conrad, who had some climbing experience, and two other women were part of a group practicing rappelling techniques. The...
High above the Trans-Canada Highway, in the Rogers Pass area, Mt. Macdonald (2,883m) holds a commanding view. The peak is comprised mostly of quartzite, and just like its neighbors, it boasts long, clean ridgelines of solid (enough) rock for kilom...
At approximately 11:30 a.m. on June 19, Ranger Joseph McBrayer’s patrol at 17,200-foot camp was notified about a tent-bound climber presenting with a decreased level of responsiveness. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the patient...
Over seven days in the middle of July, Chris Williams, Gus Barber, and I climbed three new routes above the Sheep River Glacier, in the Talkeetna Mountains, north of the Matanuska Valley. I had seen some photos from a friend’s ski trip in this are...
Just when we thought that the Hulk had been pretty much tapped out of quality long, independent lines, Peter Croft visually pieced together a wild and improbable series of features that hugged the steep arête dividing Airstream and Positive Vibrat...
Standing to the east of Langtang Lirung, Kimshung (6,781m) has no recorded ascent. On October 6, François Cazzanelli, Giampaolo Corona, and Emrik Favre arrived at Langtang Lirung base camp (4,300m), on the west back of the glacier of the same name...
Pouring rain, nightmarish mosquitos, tussock bog–hopping with 90-pound packs—the struggle was real when Cigdem Milobinski, Nick Pappas, Todd Torres, and I began our approach into the Arrigetch Peaks on July 2. But the objectives we’d dreamed of...
On June 12, guide Michael Horst of Alpine Ascents International contacted rangers by radio to say he was attending to a patient with frostbite at 17,200 feet. The patient was stable and non-critical but had frostbitten all 10 fingers while setting...
On May 11, at approximately 5:30 p.m., rangers received a call from K2 Aviation saying that one of their pilots had spotted an SOS stamped in the snow above 747 Pass (between Mt. Dickey and Mt. Bradley). Two climbers were present at the SOS and wa...
On May 5, Javier Callupan, a 39-year-old male from Argentina, was observed moving from the 11,200-foot camp to the 14,200-foot camp on the West Buttress. On May 6 he moved from the 14,200-foot camp to high camp at 17,200 feet. All other parties at...
Around sunset on November 7, Angela Uys (26) was at an anchor on Snake Dike (III 5.7), preparing to rappel. Her tether system was not effectively clipped to the anchor, and when she weighted the system it failed. She fell approximately 500 feet to...