Cerro Huinay (1,430m; 42°23'59"S, 72°5'59"W) has a beautiful, 1,000m granite wall hidden in the Northern Patagonian jungle. The name Huinay means “curved because of the strong winds” in the Mapuche language and refers to the massive alerce trees (...
In late October, Yorly Batlle, Juan Pablo Cabbada, Adrián Gambetta, Alejandra Morales, and Álvaro Zerené drove from Santiago to the Parque Andino Juncal (V Region). They approached up the Quebrada de Lagunillas, heading north to a camp at 3,400m n...
Volcan Campanario (4,049m; 35°55'24.15"S, 70°22'2.55"W) is an eroded volcanic skeleton between Chile and Argentina in Mendoza Province. Campanario was first attempted in 1963 by Bión González, Osiel González, Sergio Kuntsmann, and Mario Puig and h...
Gabriel Fava reports that he and other Argentine climbers have established many new routes at the Agujas Del Glaciar Fría (31°45'41.80"S, 69°51'34.30"W), an area of remote, high-elevation granite needles along the eastern ramparts of Ansilta 7 (5,...
On July 25, Michael Gardner and I set out from the Exum Mountain Guides office to take a look at the northwest face of Mt. Owen (12,933’). We departed around 6 a.m. and briskly hiked up Cascade Canyon, wallowed across the creek, and bushwhacked ...
Ground-up first ascents are ephemeral experiences, like steep turns in perfect powder, burning briefly and brightly before flickering from fantasy to memory. Top-down route development is a long, dirty, and masochistic affair, like fighting throug...
On July 4, Damien Nicodemi and I completed a new route on the upper portion of Tehipite Dome and named it in memory of friends and family lost this past year. Two weeks prior, Rett English, Damien, and I had attempted a different line ground-up,...
Royce Falls is notable for being perhaps the highest of the large waterfalls in the Sierra. This obscure horsetail fall descends approximately 700’ over its 1,200’ length, fed by the drainage of Royce Lakes atop the 11,000’ Merriam plateau. The un...
In 2013, Scotty Nelson, Jon Griffin and I slogged 18 miles back to the "netherworld between the Palisades and LeConte Canyon” in Kings Canyon National Park, home to the Cyclorama Wall [37.001365, -118.506994]. The only recorded route on the wall...
The 2,000’ Bubbs Creek Wall has seen a fair amount of development during the last several years on its main southern face, but the east face had yet to see an ascent. During the socially distant summer of 2020, that's where I set my sights: a mass...
In late August 2019, IFMGA guide Henry Moya (Ecuador) and I guided Ted Mueser and Mark Yoder (both USA) up a new route on the west face of Nevado Palqay (5,422m; 13°17'23.40"S, 72°30'8.22"W) in the Cordillera Vilcabamba. This peak lies along the f...
In late July 2020, Luis Crispin and Thomas Schilter (both Peru) planned to try the unclimbed south face of Nevado Mariposa (5,842m; 13°47'7.92"S, 71°12'35.94"W) from the same base camp used to access the normal route on Ausangate. However, because...
I have been exploring the Cordillera Vilcanota in southeastern Peru for 10 years, climbing all of its 6,000m peaks and many 5,000m peaks. At the northeastern edge of the range, beyond Yayamari (6,049m) and the Ritipampa de Quelcaya, are many peaks...
On June 25, 2019, James Baragwanath (Chile) and I climbed a new route up the west face of Huamashraju (5,434m; 9°31'27.98"S, 77°23'5.32"W). The route consisted of 300m of high-quality granite, which we climbed free to 6a+, having only to overcome ...
In early June 2019, Ian Schwer, Juan Pablo Cano, and I (all Argentina) climbed a new route up the west face of Huamashraju (5,434m; 9°31'27.98"S, 77°23'5.32"W) to the left of El Chumita (see AAJ 2021). The west face consists of a 300m headwall mad...
In July 2019, Nicolas Secul (Chile) and I headed into the Rajucolta Valley in the Cordillera Blanca. The Pou brothers from Spain had tipped us off about their first ascent of the huge granite northeast face of Cashan Oeste earlier in the same summ...
On September 19–20, Nicolas Davalos and I climbed what may be a new route on the rarely visited southwest face of Illiniza Sur (5,263m) in Ecuador’s western Andes. This face, according to our local sources, was first climbed by Jorge Anhalzer and ...
Over October 9–10, Nicolas Davalos and I targeted the very rarely visited southeast face of Chimborazo (6,268m) and its attractive southeast summit, which is commonly known as Pico (or Cumbre) Nicolas Martinez (5,719m). After a relatively short ap...
In late 1996, the late Jean-Christophe Lafaille (France) planned a bold, solo, clandestine ascent of the southwest face of Xixabangma during the first few days of the official Nepal-China winter mountaineering season (December 1–February 15). He w...
On December 13–14, 2020, Juliana García, Francisco Pulluquitin, and I completed the first ascent of Antisana Este (5,580m, 0°29'14"S, 78° 8'28"W) from its base via the south face. This face is located between the central (main) and south summit in...