Inspired, in part, by the new wave of Grade V big-wall climbs in Yosemite Valley featured in recent AAJs, Tim Tuomey and I established a new route on Atlantis Wall this summer. The south- facing, ca 1,000’ wall is located on Broad Dome, along the ...
The reports began trickling in before we even got on the plane to Anchorage—shoulder-deep snow on the glacier, rivers of spindrift, and helicopter evacs due to avalanche danger. The snowiest spring in recent memory had left the Alaska Range buried...
At 3:56 a.m. on June 16, Jacek Struk of the two-person Polish MJ Expedition, which was located at 17,200 feet (high camp) on the West Buttress Route, called Comm Center by satellite phone. Struk reported that his partner was experiencing respirato...
On May 11, two members of Team Kodiak made a summit bid from 17,200 feet on the West Buttress. Conditions made progress slow. The team reached 19,800 feet before retreating and spent the night out during the way down, not returning to high camp un...
In late July, Gaelen Engler and I climbed a probable new route up Prusik Peak’s south face, finding crack systems that led to the top. Our route started far right of other recorded routes, and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cli...
Several years ago, Jon Pobst spotted a continuous link-up of cracks on the left side of Prusik Peak’s south face, just left of Solid Gold. Approaching the route on a Sunday evening, after a full day of climbing, neither of us had any expectations....
On September 12, Darin Berdinka and I completed the first ascent of the Mile High Club (700’, III 5.10a) on a striking 5,280’ subsummit of Morning Star Peak in the Headlee Pass area. The route offers seven pitches of excellent face climbing and ex...
Around midday on February 21, Braden Downey and I drove to Fish Lake and the start of Chiwawa River Road, only to find it closed more than 20 miles from the trailhead. In hindsight, we probably should’ve checked on this minor detail before loading...
On a Friday evening in June, Jason Schilling and I hiked in to explore the unclimbed east face of Golden Horn (8,366’), just north of Washington Pass on the eastern slope of the North Cascades. Fred Beckey and company made the first ascent of Gold...
Rolf Larson and I finally got our stuff together this summer and enjoyed discovering a new line up Mt. Triumph on August 12. The route climbs directly up the east face and is characterized by a ton of juggy and often steep 5.8-ish climbing, with m...
On September 21, 2015, Grover Rene Mamani, Sergio Dalenz Quispe, and I added another route to the east face of Milluni’s south summit. This was a four-pitch rock route to the left of my own route the Black Condor (AAJ 2015), climbed with my son Ae...
On June 26, 2012, I climbed a possible new route on Peak 5,550m, one of the subpeaks east of Wila Lloje. I climbed the northwest face at D-, a nice mixed route with a steep chimney near the top that provided the main difficulty. This peak was prob...
From July 21–23, 2015, Gabor Fuchs and Dominik Osswald (Switzerland) made a possible new line on Huayna Potosi (6,088m) when they climbed the obvious ridge to the right of the Argentinian-Spanish Route (Godö-Godö-Enriquez-Pagani, 1990, D+ 80°). Th...
On April 20, Andrew Fabian and I skipped work and put up a fourth route on the north face of Colfax Peak. I spotted the potential route in February when I climbed to the col west of Colfax to get a cell phone call out to my wife. I’d been itching ...
At the end of the 2015 winter and into spring, I had a little obsession with Colfax Peak, the prominent subsummit on the western side of Mt. Baker (a.k.a. Kulshan). Ever since simul-soloing the Cosley-Houston with Roger Strong back in 2007, I knew...
I (32 at the time, with 20 years of experience) broke my ankle in a lead fall in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison as the moon rose on September 25. I had been a bit cavalier when Jack Cody (age 30) and I rappelled off the south rim at sunrise to c...
Scottish winter climbing continues to go from strength to strength and remains a fascinating blend of the traditional and modern. Bolts are not allowed and protection needs to be placed on the lead. Several years ago this was thought to be a limit...
The following climbs appeared on the “Big List” of notable 2015 ascents in the Alps prepared for the annual Piolets d’Or jury by Lindsay Griffin, with help from Claude Gardien.WESTERN ALPSAilefroide Orientale (3,847m), north face. On October 26, A...
The Honboro Group, with a high point at Honboro Peak (6,459m), lies northwest and west of the Hushe Valley, between the Hushe and Thalle (a.k.a. Yarkhor or Thalay) valleys. In 2011, Simón Elias accompanied Ester Fresnada and Berta Terres, two memb...
On August 28, Sublette County sheriff’s dispatch center received a satellite telephone call from a backpacker in the Cirque of the Towers. The caller had witnessed two climbers fall from the northeast face of Pingora (IV 5.8+). Tip Top Search and ...