In July 2012, Dylan Johnson and I made a brief stop at Rogers Pass to climb the classic Northwest Arête of Mt. Sir Donald (3,284m). Although this is a relatively easy route, I was blown away by the quality climbing on this impressive peak, and kne...
From April 27 to May 3, Alexander Gukov and Alexey Lonchinskiy from St. Petersburg, Russia, made the coveted first ascent of the southwest face of Thamserku (6,618m).Despite being an obvious target, within easy distance of Monjo (much of the south...
The Choongbuk Alpine Federation Rescue Team, led by Park Yeonsoo, consisted of 10 members. They split into two groups and from August 27 to October 8 attempted the west- northwest ridge and north face of Hiunchuli in the Annapurna Sanctuary. Avala...
In May, Giuseppe “Beppe” Torre, Rudy Salinas (both Mexico), Rodrigo Fica (Chile), Jesus Ibarz, and I (both Catalan) opened a new route on El Gigante in Mexico. We spent 10 days on the wall, first fixing lines from the ground, then climbing capsule...
Between May 25 and June 14, Erik Bonnett and I climbed about 45 pitches of rock, ice, and snow in a relatively unknown glacial area on the border of southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia, bearing similarities to the Kichatna Spires. We th...
I believe many alpinists suffer from an obsession or two. I am certainly no exception: My interest with Mt. Thielsen began in 1990 when I procured a copy of Jeff Thomas’ guide to the Oregon Cascades. An entry about the McLaughlin Memorial (Bauman-...
From July 16–24, Steve Richert, Blake McCord, and I—all Type 1 diabetics—spent time in the Titcomb Basin of the Wind River Range, hoping to establish first ascents and first free ascents. We packed in with horses to Island Lake, then shuttled load...
In July 2014, Ben Rosenberg and I traveled to the Little Sandy Valley with no fixed plans other than to do some exploring. In part due to laziness and in part due to the attractiveness of walls low in the valley, we did not make it very far.We fir...
I can’t remember the first time I went climbing, but I do remember growing up outdoors. Long walks to Sundance Buttress and sinking my little feet in the sand around Gem Lake at Lumpy Ridge. Following my dad up Stettner’s Ledges and the Diam...
In July, Gregg Beisly, Max Jimenez Llusco—a member of Gregg’s leadership program—and I climbed a possible new variation on Pomerape (a.k.a. Pomerata, 6,282m) in the Cordillera Occidental. Starting from the village of Sajama (four hours’ drive sout...
On December 3, I (Ryan, 31) went to Arch Rock to rope-solo fixed routes. I had heard there was a rope on Supplication (5.10c), and I had wanted to get on that route for more than a year. (Note: Fixed-rope soling is free climbing while belayed by a...
From April 25–27, Glen Melin, Jon Tylka, and I made the first recorded traverse of the Organ Mountains skyline, climbing from south to north. The Organ Mountains form the rugged barrier between the Tularosa Basin and the Mesilla Valley in southern...
On April 27, Yuri Kilichenko, Makcym Perevalov, Petro Pobebeghnyi, and Yuri Vasenkov from Ukraine completed a new route on the ca 900m east face of Lobuche (Lobuje or Lubuje) East. Incorrectly marked as Abi on the official HMG-Finn map of the Khum...
Janahut (6,805m) had been attempted by five previous teams. In June we (Malcolm Bass and Simon Yearsley) became the sixth—and the sixth team to fail. Our original goal had been the southwest face of Rimo III, which we had attempted in 2012 (AAJ 20...
In June, Italians Marco Erbetta, Enrico Rosso, and Father Antonio Zavattarelli, the latter a missionary in Penas, made an unsuccessful attempt on the south spur of the west ridge on Pico Norte (6,403m). Other members of the team were Paola Anzola ...
Chaukhamba Col lies northeast of Chaukhamba I (7,138m), on the ridge connecting it with Januhut (6,805m). A crossing of this col, from the Bhagat Kharat to Gangotri glaciers, forming the most direct route between the two famous pilgrimage sites of...
A small British party made, more or less, the first ascent of a previously unnamed 6,000m peak in the range running southeast from Kang Yissay (6,400m). They stopped eight meters below the summit, beneath a very rotten cone of rock.Led by Douglas ...
In the post-monsoon a team of eight German females made first ascents in the Satling group south of impressive Thalay Sagar. The Satling Valley had been visited by Martin Moran (AAJ 2003) and Tom Dauer (AAJ 2005), but while both described the high...
Overshadowed by its more extensive neighbour, the Durung Drung Valley immediately east, the Pensilungpa Valley is rarely visited. It does, however, have some fine unclimbed mountains, as Mike Pinney, Chris Storie, Tony Westcott, and I found on our...
On October 2, Stefano Suplizi, Lorenzo Trento, and I climbed a small peak in the Tos Valley. From Manikaran, via Tos village, we followed the Tos River for three days to a base camp at Samshi Thacth (3,800m). From here we had to cross to the east ...