The east face of Castle Rock Spire was first attempted in 1949 by John Salathé and Jim Wilson; the direct crack system is obvious. However, it took 64 years for the route to see a complete ascent (AAJ 2014), at 5.9 C1. When Daniel Jeffcoach mentio...
In mid-April, Adam Burch and I teamed up to finish a route I had started on Lower Tokopah Dome in 2014. Below-average precipitation during the winter allowed us to complete the approach without encountering any snow. The climbing itself was fun an...
While climbing the Prism and Saber Ridge earlier in the summer I noticed two attractive, unclimbed domes to the west on the same ridgeline, above Tamarack Lake. Local climbers had dubbed these the Choss Boobs. The larger of the two domes was quite...
For a climber, finding a direct line from the bottom of the peak to a spire-like summit is equivalent to winning a lottery. Emilio Comici’s most famous quote is, “I wish some day to make a route, and from the summit let fall a drop of water, and t...
During an earlier outing in the Eagle Scout Creek area [see report here], Brian Prince and I found heinous bushwhacking while approaching the Hamilton Towers via Granite Creek. On a weeklong trip later in the summer, we decided on a different appr...
Climbers like to argue about which is the most difficult summit in the High Sierra. Some claim Castle Rock Spire, others note Clarence King, Devil’s Crag, or other challenging peaks in remote parts of the range. After climbing most of these aforem...
Brian Prince and I visited the west face of Hamilton Dome in September as part of a weeklong trip to the area. We found it had incredible rock, many possibilities, and the best moderate route I have climbed in the High Sierra. The west face is alm...
The southwest buttress (far left side) of Angel Wings was completed by Fred Beckey, Bill Lahr, Craig Martinson, and Alan North in 1977. It took four days spread over a few years to finish the route Wings Over Sequioa.(See Fred Beckey’s 100 Favorit...
Twelve years after traversing a major unnamed icefield east of Kingnait Fiord on Cumberland Peninsula (AAJ 2004), Louise Jarry and I returned to continue exploration of the region. Using local outfitter Joavie Alivaktuk, we left the village of Pan...
November 2014. Ian Welsted and I were gunning for the Hole (AAJ 2015), a natural arch in the middle of the north face of Mt. Lawrence Grassi, a prominent yet obscure wall above Canmore. We missed the break leading up to the route and instead found...
From July 19–20, Jason Ammerlaan, Tony McClane, and Paul McSorley climbed a new route up the northeast buttress of Mt. Louis (2,682m), to the right of the route Homage to the Spider (Auger-Bunyan, 1987). They completed the approach and climbed the...
The Leaning Towers are 50 miles south of the Bugaboos in the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy. They’re practically an untouched part of the world, and the quality of the granite and wilderness setting were the main allures for Jasmin Caton and me. O...
On February 14, Carl Dec (48), Morgan Lavery (33), and Billy Smallen (33) were enjoying unseasonably warm and sunny weather on the Standard Thumb route (III 5.7) on the Thumb formation. The three climbers were very experienced, each of them certif...
In 2013, Edwin Espinoza and I climbed the lower east summit (5,700m) of Nevado Tucarhuay (5,943m GPS). The main, western summit remained a challenge to me. Lionel Terray called this peak Pico Soray, and the locals call it Humantay, but on the Peru...
Nevado Palqay (5,422m) is a peak to the northeast of Salcantay (also spelled Salkantay) in the Cordillera Vilcabamba. Technically, it is the east-northeast ridge of Salcantay, which drops down to Palqay Pass and forms the peaks Chuyunco and Palqay...
The Cayangate massif lies 10km northeast of Ausangate in the Vilcanota Range, southeast of Cusco. This chain of five high peaks is aligned and numbered I–V, north to south, comprising a 4.5km-long ridge. The history of these peaks is confusing, du...
Huayna Ausangate is the name used for two different peaks on the western side of the Cordillera Vilcanota. One of them is a subpeak of Nevado Ausangate that is located two miles west of the main summit, along its west ridge, and has a height of 5,...
Nevado Pumahuanca (5,350m) is a quite accessible peak located between Halancoma and Chicon; however, it is a minor peak in the Cordillera Urubamba and does not have big pull as an objective. In fact, on Malcolm Slessers’ 1964 map of the area, this...
In late May and early June, Eleazar Blass, Quique Apallinario Villafan (both Peru), and Frank Nederhand (USA) established variations to existing routes on two peaks in the Cordillera Central. On Nevado Sullcón (5,650m) the group ascended a short v...
In July, Brandon Workman and I headed into Cathedral Provincial Park to climb the Deacon, a granite wall a few hundred yards from the USA-Canada border. We repeated a route on the Deacon and then set our sights on the 700’ east-facing cliff a few ...