Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Punta Miller, Southwest Face Chile, Northern Patagonia, Aysén Region

In early November, Andres Bosch, Lucia Guichot, Nico Tapia, and I climbed the obvious gully in the middle of the southwest face of Punta Miller (1,930m, 46°25’46.3”S, 72°34’05.4”W), at the head of the Miller Valley. We drove from Puerto Sánchez a...

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| Published 2023 | Author Oriol Baró


Feature Article AAJ
Renaissance: A New Route up the Eiger Nordwand in Traditional Style Switzerland, Bernese Alps

I’d been looking for something like this all these years, and it was right on my doorstep. I looked at it almost every day without seeing it—until August 2023. A START WITH GLITCHES Peter and I are sitting on the train from Thun, discussing the ...

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| Published 2023 | Author Silvan Schüpbach


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Ranrapalca, Northwest Face, Ya Pe' Cholo Peru, Cordillera Blanca

In 2022, we made an attempt on the unclimbed northwest face of Ranrapalca (6,162m), but we’d barely reached its base before we retreated, exhausted. We had been active in the Cordillera Blanca for two months and found the ascent too difficult in o...

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| Published 2023 | Author Eneko and Iker Pou


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Great Rapids Ridge, Many Ascents Russia, Siberia, Magadan, Kolyma Mountains

In late summer, the first known climbs were completed on the Great Rapids Ridge, a 70km-long system of granite domes and walls in the Kolyma Mountains of far eastern Siberia, an area better known for former Soviet gulags than for rock climbing. A ...

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| Published 2023 | Author Dougald MacDonald


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Flat Top, First Ascent, via East Ridge India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kishtwar Himalaya

The east ridge of Flat Top descends east and then northeast toward the camera, as seen from the first camp above col camp on the ridge. Photo by Pete Finklaire. The first ascent of Flat Top was not documented in the AAJ, and other reports wer...

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| Published 1980 | Author Pete Finklaire


Feature Article AAJ
Tomorrow Is Another Day: The North Face of Flat Top in Kishtwar India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kishtwar Himalaya

Flat Top (6,100m) from the north. (1) Start of the 1980 first ascent by the northeast and east ridges; a hidden couloir led to a col, above which the team climbed the ridge and left flank. (2) Tomorrow Is Another Day, the first ascent of the 1,4...

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| Published 2023 | Author Matthias Gribi


Feature Article AAJ
Double Dickey: A New Route and Second Ascent on the East Face—In the Same Month Alaska, Central Alaska Range, Ruth Gorge

Mt. Dickey’s 5,000-foot east face, showing (1) Aim for the Bushes (Cornell-Marvell-Rousseau, 2023) and (2) Blood from the Stone (Easton-Steck, 2002). Other routes not shown. Photo by Matt Cornell.  I kept my head down and stared into the ’sch...

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| Published 2023 | Author Matt Cornell


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Coronation Glacier Area, Four New Routes Canada, Nunavut, Baffin Island

The ice around me gleamed as I slid into my dry suit and trusty Crocs. I fashioned an improvised harness out of skinny Dyneema and tied in—it hardly seemed like real life as James slowly lowered me down steep ice into cobalt-blue water. I stretche...

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| Published 2023 | Author Noah Besen


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Klokktinden and Rulten, New Routes Norway, Nordland, Lofoten

For about the last decade, I’ve made a yearly pilgrimage to the Arctic north, where each winter I hope to squeeze some climbing into rare days off from ski guiding. The Nordland, more than anywhere else I’ve climbed, is a hard place for weather, c...

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| Published 2023 | Author Chris Wright


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Jamyang Ri, West Face and Northwest Arête India, Ladakh, Zanskar, Rangtik Tokpo

Patrick Tirler on the crack system of pitch 12 (VII-) on the northwest arête of Jamyang Ri. Photo by Mortiz Sigmund. The Rangtik Tokpo is surrounded by towering granite walls that can be reached in one to three hours walk from base camp. Mori...

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| Published 2023 | Author Patrick Tirler


Notes AAJ
AAJ Comprehensive Index

Click here to download the comprehensive index for the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), indexing the key place names and people covered in every edition of the AAJ from 1929 to 2024. Some readers may find it helpful to scan or browse subjects in thi...

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| Published N/A | Author The Editors


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Stetind, Southwest Face Norway, Nordland

With its vertical, anvil-like shape, Stetind (1,392m) rises straight out of the ocean, about 80km southwest of Narvik, and for sailors it’s a well-known landmark. In 2002, Stetind was selected as Norway’s national mountain. Stetind has a climbing ...

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| Published 2023 | Author Joda Dolmans


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Segla, The Horns of Segla Norway, Troms, Senja Island

Greg Boswell starting up The Horns of Segla on the north face of Segla, with the first-pitch offwidth above him. Photo by Hamish Frost. My wife and I visited Senja during a van tour around Norway in the summer of 2022, and I took a photo of t...

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| Published 2023 | Author Greg Boswell


Feature Article AAJ
Brilliant Blue: A New Route up White Sapphire in Kishtwar India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kishtwar Himalaya

Approaching advanced base camp for White Sapphire (6,040m), the sharp peak in the center. The team had hoped to climb the big wall facing the camera, but an early winter storm prompted them to switch to the northwest couloir, left of the wall. F...

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| Published 2023 | Author Christian Black


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Yipengfeng and Erpingfeng, First Ascents China, Sichuan, Tatsienlu Massif

During the first modern survey of the Tatsienlu Massif, led by Arnold Heim in the 1930s, nine major peaks were named. Prior to 2023, seven had been summited, leaving only Yipingfeng (5,800m, 30°1’3.73”N, 102°2’27.81”E) and neighboring Erpingfeng (...

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| Published 2023 | Author He Lang


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Pik Breeze (Pik 4,431 Meters), West Face Kyrgyzstan, Pamir Alai, Karavshin, Ak-Su Valley

Pik 4,430 meters in center left. (The summit was measured at 4,431 meters with a GPS watch.) The scree-filled approach past Pik Ortutyubek (3,895m; 3,850m in the photo) took a day and a half. The climbers descended the far side of Pik 4,430. Pho...

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| Published 2023 | Author Dougald MacDonald


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Cholatse, West Face, Just One Solution Nepal, Mahalangur Himal, Khumbu Section

Looking east at Makalu (left) and Cholatse, showing (1) northwest ridge (1988), (2) Just One Solution (2023), (3) West Rib (2023), and (4) Southwest ridge (1982). Photo by Zdeněk Hák. Radoslav Groh and I planned to climb a new route on the we...

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| Published 2023 | Author Zdeněk Hák


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Tengi Ragi Tau, West Face, Honzova Cesta Nepal, Rolwaling Himal

Jan Kreisinger, Jakub Vlček, and I travelled to Nepal in the post-monsoon season, planning to climb a new route on the west face of Tengi Ragi Tau (6,938m). Kreisinger and Karel Roudnicky had already attempted our proposed line in 2021 but descen...

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| Published 2023 | Author Marek Disman


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Historical Climbs at the Head of the Langtang Valley Nepal, Langtang Himal

Tilman’s Col seen from Peak 6,102m on the east side of the upper Langtang Glacier. Left of the col stands Chumsundo (6,581m, the summit lying on the Tibetan side of the border), while to the right is part of the southwest ridge of Langtang Ri. P...

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| Published N/A | Author Lindsay Griffin


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Goldum, First Known Ascent, via North-Northeast Ridge Nepal, Jugal Himal

Also known as Pangri Goldumba, Goldum (6,632m, 28°19’44.10”N, 85°43’25.08”E) is situated toward the head of the Langtang Glacier, on the border with Tibet, directly opposite Xixabangma. The only known prior attempt took place in 1962, when Lord Pa...

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| Published 2023 | Author Oh Young-hoon