THE WORLD has lost a great climber, friend, and mentor.Jim Bridwell made huge contributions to the world of climbing. He was adept in free climbing, big wall, and alpine climbing, establishing over 100 first ascents in Yosemite Valley and multiple...
On the afternoon of December 22, Nicholas C. (29) led Dominion, a 5.10a crack. After pulling the crux and moving through 30 feet of easy 5th-class terrain, Nicholas reached a set of bolted anchors and rigged to lower. He asked his belayer, Robert ...
The Line (5.9), a popular traditional route, has been on my tick list for a couple of years. There’s normally a conga line of climbers at the base, so my partner, Ben (30) and I (30) woke early on July 2 to make sure we were the first ones on the ...
In 2017 there were four climbing-related incidents on Mt. Shasta. One accident was the result of rockfall, while the other three were primarily due to poor preparation for the terrain and environment. On April 23, a party of three male climbers at...
On April 13, Kurt Ross, Steven Van Sickle, and I flew into Kahiltna International and skied to a point near Camp 1 on Denali’s West Buttress route to scope out the southwest face of West Kahiltna Peak (12,835’), between the east fork and northeast...
On July 10, Giselle Fernandez and I made the first known ascent of the east ridge of Bedayan Minaret (12,080’). This feature is one of the largest in the Minarets, rising nearly 1,000 vertical feet out of the fleeting icefield below. The twin east...
During an extended trip through South America, James Monypenny (U.K.) made what’s probably the second solo ascent of the south face of Illimani (6,439m) in the Cordillera Real. With some variations, he ascended the route climbed in 1978 by Christi...
From July 20 to 22, Anar Demirov and Andrey and Dmitriy Panov completed the first ascent of the main east face of Breiflogtinden via Arctic Odyssey (950m of climbing, 20 pitches, 7a A3). The left side of this face is bounded by the damp and some...
Catalan climbers Guille Cuadrado, Gerber Cucurell, Jordi Esteve, Pau Gómez, and Felix Queipo established multiple new routes in the Lofoten Islands in the late spring and summer of 2016 and 2017. The team completed all routes in alpine style and f...
On June 21, a 58-year-old male climber injured his right shoulder during a self-arrest to stop a roped teammate’s sliding fall on the ridge above 16,200 feet on the West Buttress Route. At 14,200-foot camp, the patient was examined and the shoulde...
On the afternoon of June 16, a 28-year-old male triggered and was subsequently caught in an avalanche while skiing the Rescue Gully, below 17,200-foot camp on the West Buttress Route. During a tumbling fall of approximately 200 feet, the skier cam...
On the evening of June 11, mountaineering rangers Melis Coady, Dave Weber, and Mark Westman responded to a 24-year-old male climber suffering from snow blindness at 14,200-foot camp. The climber had summited Denali via the Cassin Ridge one day ear...
On June 16, a 28-year-old male climber died from suspected high altitude pulmonary and cerebral edema (HAPE and HACE) at approximately 17,500 feet, while descending the West Buttress Route. Reports from his teammates revealed that he had struggled...
AT APPROXIMATELY 11:30 p.m. on June 4, an unroped climber fell into a crevasse just below the 7,800-foot camp on the West Buttress Route. The climber fell approximately 60 feet before coming to rest where the crevasse narrowed to about 12 inches i...
On June 4, mountaineering ranger Dan Corn and his team assessed a 23-year-old male for stomach pain at the 14,200-foot camp. The climber and Corn decided that self-evacuation to base camp was the best course of action, given his current symptoms.L...
IN THE SUMMER of 2010, after a ski descent from Shkhara in the Georgian Caucasus, Peter Schön traveled to the Tien Shan with Anders Ödman, hoping to make a ski descent of the north face of Pik Pobeda (7,439m). That objective proved too avalanche p...
Peter Schön and Andreas Riesner made the first ski descent of Lyap Nazar (5,990m) in August 2009. This peak, recently renamed Afzalsho Olimov by local authorities and situated at 38°21'58.74"N, 72°17'41.97"E, lies more or less immediately south-so...
LATE IN THE climbing season of 2017, Harry McGhie and I (both U.K.) headed to the east side of the Illampu massif, which appeared to have plenty of potential for new routes. We made base camp on a flattish boulder about 400m from the base of Peak ...
At the end of October, Jark Barker and Emil Tjonneland, two spritely 18-year-olds from Maryland, and I left Soray Pampa, along the popular Salcantay trek to Machu Picchu, with a couple of horses carrying our packs, aiming for Nevado Humantay South...
Oriol Baró and Marc Toralles (Spain) completed what’s likely the second ascent and first alpine-style ascent of the northeast ridge of Huantsán (6,395m). The two climbed the 1,700-meter route from June 4–8, finding mostly snow and ice, with sectio...