Kate Harris, Rebecca Haspel, and I created Borderski, a ski mountaineering expedition that took place during February and March, to document the fences and frontiers of the Pamir. Our goal was to bring awareness to tightened border security and su...
From June 15–19, Chantel Astorga and Jewell Lund completed the Denali Diamond (7,800’, WI5+ 5.9 A3 or M6 A1/ M7) on the southwest face of Denali. This was the seventh reported ascent of the route and the first time it had been climbed by an all-fe...
At the end of June, Pachi Ibarra, Drew Seitz, and I flew into Little Switzerland. We spent six days climbing, mostly doing the classic routes of the area, on Middle Troll, the Throne, and Lost Marsupial. At the end of our trip we decided to try a ...
I had long dreamed of climbing a direct route up the big northeast face of Zvezdniy (2,265m), in the Ergaki massif of the Western Sayan, between the Hvostenko Route (2001, 6A) and Balezin Route (1997, 5B). (This peak is located at 52°49'45.88"N, 9...
In late August, Eugeny and Sergey Glazunov climbed a new route up the center of the north face of Sever (2,826m) in the Barun Handagay Valley of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. The peak is situated above the head of the valley defined by coordinates ...
In April, Dashi Ayusheev, Alexander Baguza, Anton Fedotov, and Purbo Norboev made the first ascent of Moryan. Their route, up the eastern pillar on the south-southwest face, then along the southeast ridge to the summit, had a vertical gain of a li...
In February, Dmitry Romanenko and Vladimir Roshko (Ukraine) made the first ascent of the center of the Triangle on the north face of Mamison (4,319m), a peak in North Ossetia on the Russia-Georgia border (42°44'45.25"N, 43°47'39.67"E). The 820m ne...
Snow Tower tops out at an elevation of 6,572’ and has unusual prominence for its height: The peak ranks 62nd among all peaks in the United States and 32nd in the state of Alaska. Amazing, also, for an unclimbed summit that it was named on the USGS...
Most new-route activity in New Zealand in 2015 was focused in and around the Darran Mountains, both in summer and winter.Things started off with a flurry of activity during a sustained period of warm and fine weather in February. On the upper tier...
I arrived in El Chaltén on October 26 and two days letter met Gabriel Fava (Argentina). We hoped the weather conditions, which are difficult in this area, would allow us to climb at least one mountain by a new route in the little-visited Marconi...
In November and December, Oriol Baró (Spain) and partners climbed five new routes on five different peaks in the Central Andes. The peaks were Cerro Yeguas Heladas, Cerro Morado, Cerro San Francisco, Cerro Yeguas Muertas, and Gemelo Este, and the ...
At the end of April, Pablo Miranda and I left Santiago with the idea of finishing a project on Cerro Morado (4,647m). We hoped to ascend the unclimbed northeast ridge on this beautiful mountain’s principal summit.[Editor’s note: Cerro Morado is a ...
On August 9, Silvano Arrigoni and I climbed a new route on the icy northeast face of Jirishanca Chico, reaching a sub-summit on its west shoulder. Our route Via Dei Ragni (400m, D+ 90°) climbs the right margin of this face and is mostly 65–70° wit...
From November 17–25, Israel Pérez (Mexico), Georg Pollinger (Germany), and I climbed a new route on the right side of Piedra Bolada, ascending its southwest face. Our route is a few hundred feet left of the Piedra Volada waterfall and well to the ...
In January 2015, Billy Brown, José Ramón Torre Zea, Alfredo Zubillaga, and I climbed a new route on the right side of the Acopán Tepui. This part of the wall is approximately 2,000’ tall. Our first trip up the wall—using a mix of free and aid—took...
On August 17, I joined Ines Papert (Germany) and Mayan Smith-Gobat (New Zealand) for a lightning-fast, four-day trip to Mt. Waddington (4,018m). I’d been to the Wadd before to scout locations for a feature film with some Hollywood types, but climb...
After a multi-year absence from Alaska, I spent some time considering what makes me enjoy the climbing and environment of the south-central part of the state. While the rock quality of most areas leaves much to be desired, there are other redeemin...
There would be no sleeping. The wind moaned a slow, agonizing cry among the summits and the lenticular clouds. My partner, Tad McCrea, was also awake, and we just lay in our base camp tent, listening in silent fear. Despite our snow walls, the win...
This expedition had its beginnings in 2013, when I completed a 21-day snowboarding and climbing trip in the Tordrillo Mountains. During an initial recon flight and subsequent ground travel in this range, I became increasingly aware of its alpine r...
On July 6—coincidentally our second wedding anniversary—we departed Seattle to fulfill a long-sought dream of climbing in the remote Arrigetch Peaks. Two days later, Brooks Range Aviation set us down at Circle Lake under a heavy gale, with 230 pou...