Mt. Parandas (4,250m) has an 800m north wall with lots of overhangs but also decent ledges, so one can climb without using a portaledge. The sun hits the north wall for only 1 to 1.5 hours a day. I had studied a line on the right side in 2010, ...
Russian climber Sergey Nefedov, who in 2010 had freed the 335m route Machombo at 7c+, revisited Morcheka in May and free-climbed four other routes or variations on Crimea’s traditional limestone wall. This included a free ascent of Center (10 p...
Alexander Lavrinenko and Taras Tsushko (Ukraine) added a route to the ca 750m limestone wall north of Bezengi, climbing as a two-man team in the dead of winter. The new line ascends the western bastion, starting right of Land of Mist, a route t...
After eight years of research, I obtained permission to go to Franz Josef Land, a 192-island Arctic archipelago, on my never-ending search for unclimbed walls and towers. In July I got a ride there on a Russian sailboat. I found what I’d dream...
Sergey Nefedov, Alexey Romanov, and Max Sotnik explored the winter climbing potential of Khibini in the Murmansk region, just east of northern Finland. These mountains rise to 1,200m, and the area has been developed for skiing. In February the ...
In December 2011, Andrej Grmovsek, Tanja Grmovek, Matic Obid, and I were sitting in the first row of a chilled out Venezuelan bus, headed from the chaos of Caracas toward the small town of Santa Elena, the last stop before our jungle adventure. Be...
During December 2012 and January 2013, I made my fifth climbing visit to Oman’s Western Hajar mountains, this time with Dave Wynne-Jones. To make the most of the waning moon, on arrival we threw ourselves at the committing north face of Jabal K...
Pat Goodman, José Miranda, and I first attempted this line in February 2012 with a Jonny Copp Foundation Grant, completing four pitches, but Pat and José both got injured. We felt some serious voodoo from the wall, and so decided to come back ...
In January 2013, Miquel Sanchez, Alfons Valls, and I climbed a possible new route on Bisotoon. Along with Joan Sole? and Edu Sanchez, we first repeated a classic line, Gharagash (1,200m, MD), to get a feel for the rock. This took us two days, w...
. I left Huaraz on October 14 with aspirant guide Yonny Rosales to teach a guiding course. Our itinerary included Shacsha, Huruashraju, Rurec, and Cashan, in addition to some rescue training. After a couple of days in the mountains we decided t...
The second International Rock Climbing Festival, organized by the Iranian Mountain Federation and Iranian Alpine Club, took place in mid- October on the magnificent ca 2,700m Bisotoon. This mountain in western Iran, near the city of Kermanshah,...
Florian Burger (Austria) and I left Huaraz on August 18 with a plan to climb the west face of Yerupaja in the Cordillera Huayhuash, but due to unpredictable conditions were forced to choose a different objective at the last moment, opting fi...
The Geyikbayiri area is popular for sport climbing, but when Michael Pearson and I traveled there in July we had trad in mind. Our goal was the possibly unclimbed 600m northwest face of Geyik Sivrisi (Sivridag). This limestone face is about thr...
In June 2012, Asa Firestone and Gil Weiss traveled to the Cordillera Blanca. During a day trip to scope out conditions on the south face of Ranrapalca, they were enamored by the brilliant flutings on the west face of a sub-peak, Palcaraju Oeste...
On March 24, Peruvian climber Jorge “Coqui” Gálvez, who had made two previous attempts on the southeast face of Nevado Chicon (5,530m), began climbing alone toward the mountain’s slightly lower northeast summit. Gálvez started his approach a...
On May 27, 2012, German climbers Michi Wohlleben, Johannes Arne, Bergau Jahn, and photographer Hans Hornberger traveled to Lima to attempt Jirishanca (6,094m). From Huaraz they headed to Chiquian, and a few days later set up a base camp above C...
While climbing La Esfinge in the Paron Valley in 2011, the Ecuadorian climber Joshua Jarràn (IFMGA) took interest in the northwest face of Huandoy Este (6,070m). In August 2012, he decided to try the route with aspirant guide Juliana García. ...
In June, a group of Spanish mountaineers, Jorge Perez, Eduardo Ruiz, and Jose Martinez, climbed a new route up one of the central summits of the Coropuna massif from the south. This great snow-capped mountain, approximately 150km northwest of A...
In June 2012, Michael Wejchert and Erik Eisle (U.S.) made an ascent of the rocky south ridge of Urus Este (5,420m), believing the line to be unclimbed. [This expedition was backed by an AAC Mountaineering Fellowship.] Previously unrecorded, the...
Nocarane Volcano (5,787m) is located on Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca, close to Arequipa. Beginning in May 2012, Xavier Ossola and various partners established three new routes on a rocky aspect of the southwest face, which does not ...