In August 2012, two routes were established on the previously unclimbed east face of Mt. Idaho (12,065’). They both go more or less up the center of the diamond-shaped face. Kevin Hansen and Wes Collins completed the first ascent of the fa...
In April 2012, Mathieu Brown and Zach Harrison climbed a five-pitch, “stellar and demanding” route up the southeast face of Zoroaster, the well-known formation near the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The new route (520’, III 5.10 C1) ascends ...
I was fortunate to spend some time visiting with Layton Kor at his home in Kingman, Arizona, in the last few years before he died on April 21, 2013. While Layton was still healthy enough, we were able to get out climbing. On a trip to wester...
Joshua Foreman, Graham Kraft, Luc Mehl, Josh Mumm, and John Sykesmade an unsupported traverse of Mt. Logan, traveling 370 miles from Yakutat, Alaska, to McCarthy, Alaska. They started out by crossing Disenchantment Bay in pack rafts, attempted L...
After much research and discussion in spring 2012, Ben Ditto, Mason Earle, Bronson Hovnanian, and I combined efforts for an expedition to Mt. Proboscis. Our primary goal was to establish a new free route on the southeast face and, hopefully,...
In mid-August 2012, I had an opportunity for a free helicopter ride into the Waddington Range with landscape photographer Scott Pick and his wife, Marina. We flew from Bluff Lake to the Plummer Hut on the evening of August 11, and I depa...
Big alpine ascents in the Canadian Rockies are few and far between. A variety of reasons for this undeniable fact have been suggested: bad rock, remoteness, poor forecasts. There may even be some merit to all of them. But I believe the rea...
On September 15, 2012, Jim Elzinga and I went to the beautiful Height of the Rockies Provincial Park in British Columbia and completed a moderate gem on Mt. King George (3,422m), having made two previous attempts on the route. To reach ...
In July, Jean-Pierre Ouellet and Matt McCormick climbed a new route on the northwest face of South Howser Tower. The Wandering Direct (IV 5.11 R) starts briefly in the chimney that defines Compassion Club (Gibson-Schaffer, 2012); it then br...
On August 6, 2012, Blake Herrington, Scott Bennett, and I flew into the Sunny Knob base camp on the Tiedemann Glacier of the Waddington Range. We were accompanied by our very good friend and talented photographer Forest Woodward. We spent t...
Bruce Kay and partners have continued to develop the North Joffre Creek rock in the Mighty Mouse area, on the east face of the Mouse’s Tooth, an alpine granite cliff band located outside of Pemberton. There are now a half-dozen separate and ...
In late January, David Allfrey and I established a new route up the center of the south face of De l’S. We left town in the morning and then climbed the first 1,500’ to the large terrace where most of the south face routes begin. The c...
Jonathan Schaffer and I had an incredible three-week trip to the Bugaboos this past summer. Experienced but young, our plan was simple: climb new routes on as many big walls as possible. Jonny and I hiked into the park July 17 carrying bac...
In May 2012, Marcin Tomaszewski and I completed a new route on the north face of Polar Sun Spire in Sam Ford Fjord. We began climbing on April 14, and after 24 days on the wall finished our new route Superbalance (VII M7+ A4) on May 7. ...
After a rest and recovery in Upernavik (see Greenland section), we made a four-day crossing to Pond Inlet in Baffin Island, mainly under sail. Our goal was to discover new lines in an area of fjords 40 miles southwest of Pond Inlet settlement. A...
On July 19, Canadian climbers Bill Borger Jr. and John Furneaux climbed a new free variation on the far right side of Mt. Thor’s southwest face. They began on July 17, trending up and left toward a large horizontal slope where they likely joined...
On the morning of July 17, Joshua Lavigne, Ines Papert, and I got off the plane in Pangnirtung. Three hours later we were cruising past icebergs in the fjord, propelled by our outfitter’s fishing boat. After three days of rugged trekking, frigi...
A couple of moves, no more than one or two meters. That’s not far. Not nearly as far as the 10,000km we have covered to get here and finally decode the moves needed to make it a full free climb. Ten-thousand kilometers for a couple of meters—i...
Big-wall climbing on Baffin Island was a personal dream for many, many years—a dream that was always in my mind but simultaneously far from becoming reality. In June 2012, Riky Felderer, Ben Lepesant, Matteo Mocellin, William Peterson...
Europe The following climbs appeared on the “Super Big List” of 2012 ascents prepared for the 2013 Piolets d’Or jury. This list was compiled by Claude Gardien (Vertical magazine), Manu Rivaud (Montagnes magazine), and Lindsay Griffin (Ame...