In September 2013, I traveled with British writer Jamie Bunchuk to produce a film, in association with the Murghab Ecotourism Association, about a Kyrgyz-Tajik hunter and herder named Orozbek, who lives in a small settlement just off the beautiful...
Ben Dare and Daniel Joll, who did the first ascent of the south face of Marian Peak (2,102m) in March 2013, added a second line on the left side of the 1,000m face on February 7, 2014. Mater Dei (20) shares the same start as the 2013 route thr...
On the day before Thanksgiving, a 24-year-old climber was top-roping her last climb of the day: Gorilla (5.10). Approximately 15 feet up the climb, her foot slipped out of a jam while her left hand remained jammed in the crack. As she fell, her ha...
On April 6 my partner (age 44) and I (age 29) set out to climb Laurel Mountain (11,812’) via the Mendenhall Couloir (3,000’, III, Class 4, Steep Snow). We started hiking around 8 a.m. and reached the base of the couloir by 8:45 a.m. The weather wa...
Viewed from the Milford road, Mt. Suter (2,094m) is all but indiscernible. Standing among a cluster of peaks, it appears as nothing more than a small dot on the horizon, easily lost into the array of surrounding summits. From the Falls Creek drain...
Stress and Re-engagement Following a Critical IncidentPlease consider helping me complete this research in support of my doctoral studies at Texas A&M University. I am interested in learning about stress and re-engagement of outdoor adventure ...
In August and September 2014, I visited Kyrgyzstan, a country that is mostly covered in mountains, with the Russian climber and guide Nikolay Totmyanin. Our destination was the east part of the Trans Alai chain and a little-explored, north-south v...
Mt. Buckland and Mt. Giordano Mt. Buckland was named by Phillip Parker King in February 1827 and portrayed on the extraordinary nautical charts of the British Admiralty, the main geographical reference for the area for about a century. It is ...
Bongalong (600’, 5.5 A1) was established by Jerry Brown and Rod Smythe in 1966. Knowing how obscure the lower left side of the east face of Longs Peak is, and that this route was established before the free-climbing era, I thought it might be low-...
In late October, Wenny Sanchez and I climbed a new route on Aguja El Marinero (ca 3,300m). This fine wall is located in Cajon de Arenales in the Mendoza Range, outside of Tunuyan, a granite canyon that has seen much recent development on its 200-4...
In October, my girlfriend Wenny Sanchez and I climbed a new route in a remote part of Argentina’s Central Andes: the Cordillera de Ansilta. The area is reached from the town of Barreal, in San Juan Province, and then by following harsh and rugged ...
In late August, Rafael Caceres, Nicolas Navarette, Carla Perez, and I climbed a new route on a pillar to the right of the main east-southeast face of Kyzyl Asker (5,842m), reaching the upper northeast ridge. We were accompanied to base camp by fel...
In 2009, Sergey Nilov and I were part of a relatively large Belorussian-Russian expedition with the goal of a new route on Kyzyl Asker (5,842m). As an acclimatization climb we made a new route on the northwest face of beautiful Pik Vernyi (AAJ 201...
At approximately 11:40 a.m. on July 12, I greeted a solo climber as I was rappelling Chicken Delight on the Barber Wall at Cathedral Ledge with a client. I observed that the solo climber had just rappelled Double Vee/Jolt on a static line, and app...
Between October 11 and October 25, Tsuyoshi Nagai (82), Tadao Shintani (70), and I (79) drove 4,500km between Bayizhen and Lhasa, as well as north of Lhasa, to photograph various lesser-known mountains. A perfect blue sky warmly welcomed us ...
I led a four-man team from the Gakushuin University Alpine Club to the Lenak Valley, having seen a picture of L15 (6,070m) in Kimikazu Sakamoto's AAJ 2012 report. We were fascinated by its elegant shape, and by a snow ridge on the left side of the...
On January 17 a party of 12 was ascending Central Gully in Huntington Ravine in four teams when one rope team triggered a soft slab avalanche. The avalanche swept over the three other rope teams, carrying one to the bottom of the gully. This team ...
Castle Dome (10,800’), in Kings Canyon, has been on my list of places to visit for quite a while, with good-looking rock, a high adventure factor, giant approach, and only one recorded climb: Silmarillion (IV 5.10), established by Mark Menge and J...
In August, Whit Magro and I completed a free version of the Boissenault-Larson Route (VI 5.11 A4, 1979), which we called Hook, Line, and Sinker (1,800’, V 5.12). We accessed Mt. Hooker from the Big Sandy trailhead using horses. The horses dropped ...
I’m never too surprised when I get an email from John Frieh showing the weather in some obscure part of Alaska. He is one of the best in the country at finding a weather window and capitalizing on it. I trust his judgment and just go along for the...