Thanks to an Alpine Club symposium in 2012 and information from past expeditions, identifying objectives in the Western Kokshaal-Too proved to be straightforward. The main goal for our six-member British team (Scott Gillespie, Huw Goodall, Robert ...
Christina Pogacean and I had planned to attempt the southwest face of Chaukhamba II during our honeymoon. However, through reasons beyond our control we could not get porters and staff anywhere near our proposed base camp, toward the head of the G...
Until recently the areas northeast of the Spiti Valley were closed to non-Indians, and even today their proximity to the Tibetan border makes access sensitive. Encouraged by Harish Kapadia, who led the only two teams known to have explored east of...
In August and September, Arunas Kamandulis and I (Lithuania), and Cyrill Boesch and Elias Gmuender (Switzerland), spent just over 20 days in the Miyar Valley. We were surprised to find ourselves the only team at base camp, and to see only a single...
At the start of September, Andreas “Dres” Abegglen, Thomas Senf, and I left Switzerland for Kishtwar, a magical and remote region I first visited in 2011. We were greeted in Kashmir by a late and heavy monsoon, but despite mass flooding and terrib...
In September I made a solo ascent of Abi (5,694m) at the top of the Shuangqiao Valley, climbing some new ground left of the southeast ridge before following a previously climbed route to the summit. I’d planned to spend several days acclimatizing,...
Hu Jiaping and Liu Zhixiong died November 29 while descending from Siguniang (6,250m). The two had just climbed a difficult route on the south face. (Their goal was a new line, but it is thought they may have repeated Free Spirits, the line climbe...
In August a Chinese team including veteran climber Wu Peng made possibly the third ascent of the southeast ridge of Pomiu, first climbed by American Keith Brown in 1985 and repeated in 2010 by Russians, who found ca 1,500m of climbing up to 6c. Th...
It was just getting light toward the east, always the coldest part of the day. I’d been walking for hours in the darkness, slowly, my shoulders painful under the weight of a heavy pack. My feet were frozen, crammed into an old pair of plastic Kofl...
Welcome everyone!” Bundled in a thick parka against the autumn chill, I toss my notebook on a picnic table in Ouray, Colorado, and address a group of ten climbers. They have come from all over the United States and even Europe for the first Alpine...
Volcanoes and glaciers have shaped the geography throughout Patagonia. Artistic masters in the opposing forces of orogeny and erosion, together they have created the most extraordinary landscapes.The most pristine, remote, and untouched of the Pat...
The north face of Hagshu (6,657m) looks an immaculate climb, and our expedition to its north face started much like any other expedition. Lots of research and Mick Fowler’s prodigious organizational skill meant that permits were in place nine mont...
Ales Cesen, Marko Prezelj, and I had hoped to try Rimo III in India. We learned that a British team was also planning to attempt the mountain, and in May we found the British had been refused a permit—our agents and the IMF advised us to find anot...
Our team of four Canadians departed from Clyde River, Nunavut, with little certainty that we would reach our destination. We had decided against the traditional snowmobile approach to Sam Ford Fjord over sea ice because we wanted to free climb dur...
"Rock!” The choss bomb exploded onto our haulbag and tag line. “You’ve got five meters left!” I yelled up to Sean. The ropes fed surprisingly quickly through my belay device, and when they came short Sean continued to tug. “I can’t stop here,” he ...
Benjamin Guigonnet, a guide from Nice, hatched the idea for our Peruvian expedition. His friend Stéphane Benoist had told him there was a huge dihedral still waiting to be climbed on the west face of Siula Chico in the Cordillera Huayhuash. In 200...
Insignificant against the blinding white backdrop of Gasherbrum V’s south face, we stood like silhouettes atop a moraine, the wall before us in full view. The complex glacier leading up to the face reminded me of scaly dragon’s tail. We had spotte...
Standing at the base of the Dawn Wall on December 27, 2014, I attempt to break the nervous tension. “It’s the low-pressure push,” I say with a grin. I know it’s bullshit. Once we start, we’re going to the top. “One pitch at a time,” Tommy responds...
Cycal-Yang Fan and Ye Yun climbed a new route on the granite formation called Qiezi (“Eggplant”) Feng in July. After rappelling the line to clean it and place bolted anchors on all 18 pitches, they climbed the first seven pitches (up to 5.10b and ...
A group of nine young British alpinists—Emma Crone, Joel Evans, James Matthews, Cora Moffat, Dave Searle, Sam Simpson, Libby Southgate, Simon Tracey, and Emily Ward (leader)—intended to operate from the Navlikin Glacier, at the southern end of whi...