Frederick O. Johnson died on November 1 in his Berkeley, California, home of heart failure, following dinner with his wife of 67 years. A fourth-generation Californian, Fred was born in Los Angeles and was a longtime resident of Berkeley. During h...
Paul Beatty Crews, pioneer Alaskan climber and founder in 1958 of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA), died in Anchorage on July 20. He was just 18 days shy of his 100th birthday. He had led an active, exciting, and inquiring life, and as a na...
Fred Beckey had three favorite subjects that he enjoyed talking about: challenging mountains, the weather, and the pursuit of women. His photographic memory of mountains and challenging new routes was amazing. His obsession with climbing made him ...
In July 1938 the north face of the Eiger was finally climbed, after many attempts and multiple fatalities. It was Europe’s greatest prize in climbing at the time and a widely celebrated ascent. During the same period, a similar race was taking pla...
In September, Juan Diego Amador and David Pérez (Spain) made the first ascent of Tetleh Kangri (6,025m altimeter reading; 33°12'45"N, 76°51'20"E), toward the head of the Tetleh Nala, one of the three main offshoots of the Raru Valley. The peak had...
In December 2015, Marissa Bieger and Marcelo Mascareño made the first known ascent of Cerro Cremilda (1,980m), the northern point of a chain of rocky spires northwest of Monte San Lorenzo. They approached via old horse trails, following the river ...
British climbers Ruth Bevan, John Crook, John McCune, Will Sim, and Paul Swall spent several weeks in the Avellano Towers, north of Lago General Carrera, in early 2018. The climbers made several first ascents, notably the east face of South Avella...
The North Patagonian Icefield has enormous potential for exploration and mountaineering. The area can be divided in three zones: The northern section is mostly within the basin of the San Rafael Glacier and is dominated by Monte San Valentin (4,03...
At 2:40 p.m. on May 26, Alpine Ascents International (AAI) guide Stuart Robertson reported that a climber on an independent team had fallen into a crevasse while traveling unroped at 8,300 feet on Denali’s West Buttress Route. Robertson and fellow...
I WOULD BE VERY HAPPY if every reader of this book would make a simple three-step pledge. Doing so might save a few lives. A few of your own lives.This year’s edition reports a worrying leap in the number of accidents while lowering or preparing t...
In May, Americans Chris Figenshau, Jim Morrison, and Hilaree O’Neill climbed a variation start to the 1991 New Zealand route up the west face couloir on Papsura (6,461m) and then skied back down it, completing the first ski descent of the mountain...
In 2016, Johannes Steidl and I were in the Baltoro, our first expedition to Pakistan. During our stay we repeated all but the last few pitches of Sadu Masu (450, 6c) on Sadu Peak, PM Route (250m, 5.10+) on Little Trango (with a variant start to av...
Alexei Kurochkin, Konstantin Markevitch, and Dmitry Skotnikov (all from Russia) established a direct start to the Swiss route Claire de Lune on the southwest face of Trango Tower (6,250m), adding around 600m of difficult climbing.In 1999, Gabriel ...
Steve Swenson, Chris Wright, and I spent the summer close to the junction of the Kaberi and Kondus glaciers, near the border with India. While ultimately unsuccessful in our goal of climbing the east face of Link Sar (7,041m) due to bad weather, h...
Anton Kashevnik, Yegor Suzdaltsev, and Ivan Temerev (all from Russia) climbed new ground on the northwest face of Great Trango Tower in August. Starting on the 14th, using a portaledge, they began with a couple of new pitches immediately left of t...
Gasherbrum IV (7,925m) is perhaps the ne plus ultra of inaccessible mountain giants. The 18th-highest peak on the planet has no easy routes, has never been climbed in anything other than an epic, and has seen fewer pairs of feet (10) on its true s...
Ryo Masumoto and Yusuke Sato traveled to the Charakusa Valley with the goal of free climbing a big wall in capsule style. During acclimatization and reconnaissance, their attentions were drawn to the sheer 750m southeast face of Beatrice (ca 5,800...
On June 15 and 16, Ines Papert (Germany), Joseph Pfnür (Germany), Luka Lindič (Slovenia), and Paul McSorley (Canada) established Ruby Supernova, the second route up the Slanghoek Amphitheatre in the Du Toits Kloof area. The 13-pitch route is 520m ...
In the winter of 2017-’18, I spent two months in Colombia exploring different areas and climbing a few new lines with various partners. Since climbing has been banned in the popular El Cocuy National Park (see note below), climbers have been force...
On February 1, 2018, Dave Allfrey (USA), Kieran Brownie (Canada), and Paul McSorley (Canada) completed a route up the previously unclimbed northwest face of Cerro Pajarito, one of the Cerros de Mavecure (also spelled Mavicure) monoliths in Guainía...