INNER RANGES: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MOUNTAIN THOUGHTS AND MOUNTAIN PEOPLE Geoff Powter. Rocky Mountain Books, 2018. Paperback, 330 pages, $22 Canadian.In this masterpiece of mountain writing, Geoff Powter describes his journeys to the crags of western C...
CHASING DENALI: THE SOURDOUGHS, CHEECHAKOS, AND FRAUDS BEHIND THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE FEAT IN MOUNTAINEERING Jonathan Waterman. Lyons Press, 2018. Hardcover, 184 pages, $24.95In the early 1900s, the town of Fairbanks still bore many of the character...
THE ANDES: THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF MOUNTAINEERING IN SOUTH AMERICA. Evelio A. Echevarria. Joseph Reidhead & Co., 2018. Paperback, 840 pages, $64.50.If you’re a longtime fan of this journal, Evelio Echevarria is a name you’ve likely read dozens...
The climbs featured in the AAJ don’t happen in a vacuum—they are part of the broader evolution of climbing performance. The following achievements in 2018 provide additional context for the big-wall and mountaineering ascents documented in the 201...
FAR NORTHWESTERN NEPAL has, until recently, been the area of the country—and indeed of the Himalaya in general—least explored by mountaineers, with the exception of parts of Bhutan and of Arunachal Pradesh (Assam Himalaya) in India. From the weste...
On October 6, a 25-year-old female was climbing a route at Bruise Brothers wall in Muir Valley. Approximately 15 feet up the route, she was bitten by a copperhead snake after placing her hand within a crack. Venom was received from the bite, resul...
Philippe Batoux, Aymeric Clouet, and Michel Coranotte spent 10 days of February in Sognefjord, staying in the centrally situated Flam. The conditions were perfect, with lots of ice—all the known lines were in, and some new lines had appeared. The ...
THERE ARE MOMENTS in life when one simply knows something special is happening. There’s a tug at the heartstrings, a charge to the air, and a preciousness to each passing second that reminds us we are lucky to be there. The winter of 2017–2018 in ...
FOULA is the most remote inhabited island off the coast ofBritain, and in Roman times was known as Ultima Thule—the most northern land. Despite being part of the U.K., it takes more time for me to reach it from my home in North Wales than to go to...
OVER THREE WEEKS in July and August 2017, Yuji Hirayama (Japan), Cedar Wright (USA), and I traveled to the Faroe Islands with hopes of climbing Cape Enniberg. Located at the northern tip of the island of Viðoy, it had one the tallest unclimbed sea...
THIS TRIP to Oman was a bit like an unexpected gift: It arrived at the last moment, and I had no idea what to expect. In fact, this season I had been planning to realize a dream of climbing the famous Venezuelan tepui; we had a close-knit and moti...
Tunç Fındık and partners have developed numerous routes in the mountains of Turkey, with roughly 25 long new rock, ice, and alpine routes from 2016 to 2018. [See AAJ 2016 for reports on previous Fındık climbs.] In 2017, in Antalya, Fındık and Cema...
IN APRIL, a group of 13 climbers led by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) engaged in an exploratory expedition, organized by the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), to explore the Wadi Sulam region and establish new rock climbs and canyoneering routes. Wadi ...
AFTER ASKING Arnaud Petit, a great French climber with experience in Wadi Rum, for various ideas, we arrived in Jordan in January 2019 and drove around to check out the walls that Arnaud had suggested, together with local guide Salim Zalabya. Afte...
SUNDENVAN, THE LATERAL moraine meadow under Kedar Dome, is the highest base camp site on the Gangotri Glacier. I have probably spent more months living there than most of the summer-resident blue sheep. It has become a place of great peace for me ...
In mid-May, Léo Billon, Sébastien Moatti, and Sébastien Ratel from the prolific Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne (GMHM) made the fourth ascent of the north face of Changabang (6,864m) in a scant three days. The French trio followed the line of t...
Austrian alpinists Hansjörg Auer, Max Berger, Much Mayr, and Guido Unterwurzacher traveled to the Baspa Valley in late September, looking for interesting technical objectives. Despite unstable weather during their short reconnaissance and acclimat...
On July 9, a 23-year-old man with about two months of climbing experience was scouting for new climbs at the top of a popular crag called Taylors Falls, one hour north of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. The climber was not wearing a harness, helmet, or an...
An Indian Himalayan Club team comprising Rajesh Gadgil, Ratnesh Javeri, Vineeta Muni, Imran Pathan, and Ashish Prabhu, led by veteran Divyesh Muni, made the first ascent of the northwest ridge of Chemma (6,130m), which was probably also the first ...
At 10:45 a.m. on September 25, Koki Ikeda, Daisuke Shimozuru, Yujiro Suga, and Asahi Takeshita (Japan) with Dendi Sherpa, Ngima Sherpa, Penba Sherpa, Tenjin Sherpa, and Bir Kaji Tamang (Nepal), all from a Japanese expedition led by Sachio Nakamizo...