“Beavers!” Ky Hart yelled over his shoulder. “No! Bears!” I yelled back. Actually, it was three bears. Two small black bear cubs were timidly swimming on an eddy line in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. The large mama bear was waiting for he...
In late May, a group of three was attempting to climb King Trench (aka King’s Trench), the most frequented route up Mt. Logan (5,959 meters). Mt. Logan is the highest peak in Canada. This area of Kluane National Park and Reserve (KNPR) is known fo...
A skier captured images of his own sliding fall down a couloir on Little Bear Peak, a Colorado 14er. He impacted rocks in the choke but fortunately stopped soon below and was not very seriously injured. Photo Dan Apodaca On April 15, I (male,...
On Wednesday, March 15, a skier and a snowboarder departed from Heather Meadows near the Mt. Baker Ski Area, planning to climb and descend both Herman and Slate mountains. They climbed the south side of Mt. Herman to 6,000 feet (about 250 feet bel...
Looking up the avalanche path and debris on the north side of Hurd Peak. (O) Location of Skier 2 at the time of the avalanche. (X) Estimated location of Skier 1. Photo: Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center On the morning of June 14, a party of two...
Climbing the North Couloir of Mt. Emerson, shortly before falling ice struck the team. The frozen waterfall that was shedding ice is seen high on the right Team Photo Our party of four planned to ski the North Couloir on Mt. Emerson (13,210...
Gunky is a popular route in Sinks Canyon that protects well with hexes and nuts. Familiarity with passive gear and more cam-placing skills might have helped prevent an accident that occurred in July 2023. The high X marks where Taylor fell, a...
The East Face of Teewinot was the scene of a fatal fall in August 2023. A late start, a large team size, and reliance on a popular hiking app contributed to this tragedy. Photo: Acroterion | Wikimedia On August 10, a team of nine climbers wer...
The 2023 Teton climbing season saw several incidents involving rockfall and climbers taking shortcuts. One incident occurred on July 30, involving a 26-year-old female climber descending the Southwest Couloir on the Middle Teton (12,809 feet). Th...
At 10 a.m. on July 30, the NPS was notified of a 23-year-old female climber who had sustained injuries the day before during a fall, while roped, on the Valhalla Traverse on the west side of the Grand Teton. The climbing party of two was able to s...
On July 20, the NPS received a cell phone call reporting that a 41-year-old male climber had fallen and was unresponsive. The injured climber had been leading the Owen Chimney feature (5.5) on the Grand Teton (13,770 feet) and had fallen ten minut...
Last year, Grand Teton National Park was the eighth-most-visited U.S. national park. The year 2023 also saw a disturbing trend in which technical climbs were listed on popular hiking-specific apps. This contributed to several rescues and a fatal...
At 5 a.m. on June 13, NPS personnel received an emergency notification from a climbing party descending the Koven Route (3,000 feet, 5.4) on Mt. Owen (12,933 feet). A 57-year-old male climber was showing signs of high altitude illness (HAI) and ex...
In this highly unusual accident, the carabiner on the rope-bearing end of an alpine quickdraw appears to have acted like a belay device configured in guide mode. The load-bearing/climber strand (on top) trapped the belay strand (on bottom, under...
The Tooth is one of the most popular summits in the Cascades and was the scene of a fatal solo fall in August 2023. The climber was probably traversing northwest toward the Fang (sunlit spire on the right) when she fell. Photo: Climbing partner ...
On June 7, Jessi (30) and Tyler (33) were on their way to five days of rock climbing in the Enchantment Lakes area. First, they had to cross Aasgard (a.k.a. Colchuck) Pass (7,841 feet). Jessi wrote to ANAC: It was early season and there would st...
The Northeast Couloir of Colchuck Peak rises through the center of the face. Four climbers were carried to the bottom of the couloir in an avalanche triggered when they were in the vicinity of the yellow circle in February 2023. Three perished. ...
Alden Pellett mistakenly attached his rappel device to the extra-long tail in his figure 8 knot (re-creation in the photo). The result was a 100-foot sliding fall. Photo Pete Takeda On September 8, Alden Pellett (61) was bolting a new route ...
My interest in Argentina’s Turbio Valley was piqued in January 2024 when Jasper Pankratz sent me a video of the valley. I half jokingly, half seriously responded, “We’re going!” A year later, she and I began hiking into that wild valley with the g...
After a reconnaissance in February 2023, Diego Diaz Aguilera (Chile), Angelo Contessi (Italy), and I returned to Cochamó in 2024 to begin a project in the heart of the valley. Our plan was to establish a new route up the northwest face of Cerro Tr...