Mount Williamson, Direct South Arête. The south face of Mount Williamson is a complex wall of chutes, ribs and faces. The easiest approach to the face is via George Creek. However, this is closed for ten months of the year as a bighorn sheep prese...
Nevado Ulta, Andinista-Rifnik, to summit ridge. On July 18, after two failed attempts in 2006 and 2007, Slovenian Viktor Mlinar and I made the first ascent of Nevado Ulta’s south face. The whole climb took four days from Huaraz. The first day, aft...
FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT–SANDALS, OFF ROUTE, NO HARD HATColorado, Boulder Canyon, Near Security Risk CragOn April 2, a 31-year-old male was attempting to set up a top-rope system when he suffered a fatal fall from a rock outcropping near...
El Gigante, Logical Progression. Over a seven-and-a-half-week period in spring Peter Baumeister (Germany), Luke Laeser (U.S.), and Bert van Lint (Belgium) established an entirely bolt-protected 28-pitch route on El Gigante's northwest face. All of...
Washington, Mt. Baker. On 25 May John Dallmeyer (27), Mario Strim (30), Margaret Secrett (28), and Judy Small (26), had been siding on Mt. Baker and decided to climb to the summit. The party was last seen on the summit of Mt. Baker in a rising sto...
Peruvian climbers Beto Pinto, Rolando Morales, and Steven Fuentes left Huaraz at midday on July 8. After a two- hour drive to Llaca Valley at 4,300m, they walked toward Vallunaraju’s (5,600m) south face. One-and-a-half hours in, they found a sma...
Broad Peak. A six-man party was organized by the Pakistani Army School of Mountain Warfare and Physical Training which successfully climbed Broad Peak. Three camps were placed along the normal route. On July 30 the summit team left Camp III at 725...
French Himalayan Expedition. The long-awaited French expedition to the Himalayas finally chose the mountains of Baltistan as its goal. Its main base was Skardu, from which it continued on to Askole. arriving there May 14th. Base camp at the Concor...
Cerro Chepical, first ascent and Cerro Fandango, ascent. In February 2005 Antonio Pontoriero and I erected a camp on the southwest shores of the salty Laguna Brava (Fierce Lagoon). Nearby were Inca ruins, the Inca Trail, and a wrecked airplane tha...
Mt. Louis. Essentially the route up Mt. Louis that I did in 1952 with Walter Perren, the Zermatt guide then with the CPR in Lake Louise, was identical with the standard one to the base of the final tower. There it diverges to the right (direction ...
Watchman, West Face, Zion National Park. In May 1973 Mike Weis and I climbed the west face of the Watchman via a direct route below the summit. The 13 pitches were all free save for a pendulum on the twelfth. On the first lead we passed a rappel n...
“Wallace Stegner Spire.” In the summer of 1992, Peter Cummings and I explored the granite towers and drainages to the south of Hamilton Lake in Kings Canyon National Park. The most spectacular tower in the region, however, was marked by a smooth a...
Peaks 6222m and 6140m, Ascents. A 12-member Japanese expedition led by Takako Kato climbed two unnamed peaks of 6222 and 6140 meters in July-August. Peak 6140m was climbed on August 5 via its north face by seven members. Peak 6222m was climbed by ...
Pumori Tragedy. Our 7-member expedition established Base Camp on September 16 at the foot of the southeast ridge of Pumori. From the 17th until October 3, we worked at placing camps on the mountain, having many difficulties because of the weather....
Gran Trono Blanco. The Libro Abierto route on the north face follows a continuous right-facing dihedral for six pitches. There was a little aid on the first three pitches, but these went largely free. The steep route is delightful, mostly cracks a...
During April, while Graham Dudley was making a ski ascent of Kazbek (Kasbegi, or more properly Mkinvartsveri, 5,034m) in the Eastern Caucasus, he noticed an attractive range of lightly glaciated peaks ca 30km to the southeast and was determined to...
KIM MOMB1956-1986Kim was with me in thought the day before his tragic avalanche accident. The air temperature and continuous drizzle was such that it made me think of avalanche. I dismissed the thought easily knowing that the man I had climbed wit...
Djungart Range, first recorded visit and exploration. After an acclimatization ascent in the Ala Archa, Graham Sutton and I traveled from Bishkek via Karakol to At Jailoo (2,655m). From there we were able to make a 25-minute flight by helicopter t...
Kanchenjunga Attempt. Jean Troillet and I set out to climb the world’s third highest peak by the southwest ridge to the south summit and then to traverse northwards on the long, high ridge to the main summit. We arrived at Base Camp at 5350 meters...
Feather Peak, Feather Peak Couloir. In December Mike Grabor and I climbed the left-hand branch of the couloir on Feather Peak’s north face via six pitches of moderate, enjoyable ice climbing. Although the angle never exceeded 60°, the beautiful se...