Every climber who has visited Kings Canyon has likely stared at the massive marble monolith, sometimes called King Wall, that’s part of the Windy Cliffs on the north side of the river, less than a mile west of Boyden Cavern. The east ridge of this...
The northeast face of Trapezoid Peak showing three new routes on the "Geometry Wall" (left to right): Man on the Flying Trapezoid (5 pitches, 5.12-), Don't Be a Square (3 pitches, 5.10-), and It's a Trap!...ezoid (3 pitches, 5.10). In the sum...
In October 2018, Jeremy Freeman and I started a new route up the northeastern prow of Neptune Tower, roughly in the center of the Wheeler Crest, north of Pine Creek Canyon. We climbed five pitches that day, fixing anchors and cleaning the line for...
On May 23, Damien Nicodemi, David Pearson, and I trudged up the narrow Fifth Canyon to approach a previously unclimbed 9,600’+ summit near the top of the drainage. This formation, which we dubbed the Space Needle, sits a few thousand feet above th...
The rugged Paradise Crags Gully west of Ainslee Meadow, roughly halfway between Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, is home to three orange rock walls that have the appearance of fins. The central of these was called the Big K-Mart in the 2001 AAJ and is al...
Tad McCrea and I stumbled upon the east face of Mt. Lewis (ca 12,350’) in mid-November during a failed ice climbing foray to nearby Parker Falls. After finding not enough ice and too much snow, we wandered up to the Walker Lake trailhead. I’d been...
Over three days in early September, Chris Koppl and I completed a fun aid climb up the gut of the Ribbon Falls Amphitheater. On our first attempt, in 2020, we found beautiful seam nailing in otherwise mega-polished monolithic rock, climbing about ...
The west face of Mt. Woolsey (12,978’), showing (1) Where the Animals Go (Ochenski-Schunk, 1996), (2) When Old Meets New (Parsons-Schunk, 2021), and (3) Candalaria (Richardson-Schunk, 1995). The normal route up the south ridge is on the right sk...
Most climbers who’ve spent significant time on the Lower Saddle between the Grand Teton and the Middle Teton have looked off toward the western edge of the park and seen the large swath of granite walls that make up the backside of Table Mountai...
The slabs at the Mouth of Clarks Fork Canyon, showing new routes established by Sam Lightner Jr., Mike Lilygren, and Shep Vail from 2019 through 2021. In orange: M11 (22 pitches, 5.11). In yellow: Colter’s Rib (12 pitches, 5.10c). In pink: Back ...
I first noted the 1,200’ north face of Mt. Rearguard while skiing underneath it 11 years ago on the way to the Bears Tooth—a prominent granite/gneiss spire jutting out of the east face of Beartooth Mountain and the namesake for the entire range—an...
Nathaniel Bowen and I originally planned to climb the Abbey-Shock, a long 5.11 free climb from 1999 up the 1,800’ west face of the Upper Doublet. We hiked in from the East Rosebud trailhead on the evening of October 1, in the dark. After getting p...
On July 15, before completing a new route on Illampu (see report here), Brad Ward and I climbed what may have been a new route on a subpeak of Cerro Charquini. This summit of approximately 5,200m lies on the west ridge of Charquini at (16°17’46”S,...
On August 7, Fiona Tummon (Dutch/Irish) and I left Peñas in a taxi with a completely worn-out hand brake—probably due to not replacing the real brakes for far too long. Fortunately, our destination was uphill, close to the Paso Mullu col at 4,730...
Before we arrived in the Yukon in mid-April 2021, Mt. Logan (5,959m) and the St. Elias Mountains already occupied a distinct place in my psyche. In the literature, the desolate, silent expanses of snow and ice were juxtaposed against the fiery hum...
In a trip lasting June 18 to July 23, Mathieu Maynadier (France) and I attempted unclimbed Pumari Chhish East (6,850m, 36°11’59.38”N, 75°16’47.67"E), north of the Hispar Glacier. After around a week of travel from Europe, we arrived at a comfortab...
Peak 6,032m (Peak 243 or Maqbul Sar on Jerzy Wala's orographic sketch map of the Karun Koh Mountains) lies north-northwest of Karun Koh at 36°38'55.58"N, 75°04'03.66"E. It was first attempted in 2015 by Japanese Wataru Takasaki and Tatsutaro Yamam...
COVID-19 appeared to settle down during November, and Takuya Mitoro and I decided to go climbing overseas. It would be our first trip for at least two years. With the summer season in the Karakoram already passed, we opted to try some winter ascen...
On October 20, I reached the summit of the Giants Foot (also known as First Wall) in East Rosebud Canyon via the previously unclimbed northwest face. I climbed the route alone over 12 days of effort (climbing and shuttling gear). I used siege ta...
Snyelmn Pillar seen from the outlet of Sonielem Lake. Peak Y is in the background. Photo by Spencer Gray In early September, Damian Mast and I hiked to a north-facing pillar above the south shore of Sonielem Lake in the Mission Mountains Tri...