The lead-up to our planned trip to India had been a test of bureaucratic nerves, ultimately ending with it falling through at late notice. With little time, we managed to throw together a new itinerary in Pakistan, and on August 27, Arran Turton-P...
In September, Tim Oates and I hoped to make the first ascent of Dih Sar (6,200m) by the east ridge. Our plan involved crossing Joshi Pass (5,423m, 36°32’25.44”N, 75°18’26.63”E) to reach a base camp on the Dih Glacier. Unfortunately, Tim got altitu...
In August 1982, after attempts by Spanish climbers in 1975 and 1977, a third Spanish team, comprising seven members led by Joan López, made the first ascent of the southwest pillar of Saraghrar Northwest, reaching an indistinct top on the northwe...
The spectacular 1,200m west face of Mirror Wall (2,030m) appeared on most climbers’ radar during the first decade of the new millennium, when it was named and photographed by a British expedition. It was climbed in 2012, when a four-member Swiss t...
Pawel Haldas and I quickly learned that the temperature in West Greenland varies enormously in winter, and speed is often key to success when one’s access is dependent on sea ice. Our original goals lay on the walls of Storen, Uummannaq, and Agpat...
In late July and August, Ivan Shilnikov, Pavel Tkachenko, and I spent two weeks exploring the area west of Muisky Giant (also spelled Muiski or Muysky, 3,067m), the second-highest peak of Transbaikalia. This area of the South Muya Range (South Mui...
As Jed Brown observed in a report about his and Colin Haley’s first ascent of the southwest face of Abercrombie Mountain (7,037’) in 2007, good spring alpine conditions around Valdez are hard to come by. The mountains begin at sea level and rise t...
On April 7, Laron Thomas and I set out to explore a likely unclimbed 3,500’-plus couloir that slashes up the southwest face of Hearth Mountain. Standing at 6,182’, Hearth is located up the South Fork of the Snow River in the Kenai Mountains. We s...
The relative ease of access to Nenana Mountain, at the western margin of the Hayes Range, makes it well suited for smash-and-grab trips during short Alaskan high-pressure systems. On August 1, Tristan O’Donoghue and I returned to Nenana Mountain (...
After climbing a new route on Mt. Huntington (see story here) with Zac Colbran, Dane Steadman and I bumped over to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at the end of April. In ten days, we caught just one frigid day to climb between weather ...
On June 5, Jack Kuenzle (USA) climbed and descended the West Buttress route on Denali (20,310’), using skis, in 10 hours, 14 minutes, 57 seconds. Kuenzle followed the Rescue Gully cutoff between the two highest camps on the route. The previous fas...
Silvia Loreggian and I arrived in Alaska in mid-May for our first expedition to the Alaska Range, unsure what lay in store. At the first opportunity that weather allowed, we flew into the Kichatna Mountains and established a base camp on the Cul-d...
Tobias Wolf tiptoes across one of the amazing dike features of Karma on Half Dome. Photo by Oliver Schmidt. In 2017, when I climbed Growing Up (VI 5.13a A0, Borchard-Jones-Jones-Montoya- Watson, 2007) on the south face of Half Dome, I had a l...
Hard Mox (8,504’) is considered the most difficult of the Bulger List (Washington’s 100 highest peaks) and was previously unclimbed in winter. [Hard Mox is the southeastern of the two Mox Peaks and is less than four miles south of the Canadian bor...
Capping an extended bike-and-climb journey from Colorado to British Columbia and a sail up to Petersburg, Alaska, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold made a one-day traverse of the Devils Thumb group. The Diablo Traverse, pioneered by Colin Haley and ...
The Taku River flows from British Columbia and eventually empties into a glacial fjord east of Juneau. Its environs are a landscape of 5,000’ to 8,000’ peaks that fall all the way to sea level. Mt. Swineford (58.43548, -133.72378) rises from the T...
In every part of Felix Bub’s and my expedition to the Mythics Cirque, we placed the “how” above the “what.” Our journey to East Greenland from Innsbruck was made by train and yacht. This resulted in a direct carbon cost of only 280kg per person, r...
Fay Manners (U.K.) and I arrived in Tasiilaq on August 7, after a delay of several weeks due to reports of impassable sea ice in the east coast fjords. A boatman then took us on a journey north of about 350km, and on the 10th we arrived in the alp...
Having climbed with Sam Boyce on several occasions, including a handful of first ascents, I’m well aware that he is into the kind of weird, ungroomed terrain that most strive to avoid. I also knew—despite never having climbed with him—that Kyle Wi...
In 1973, an Italian expedition led by Carlo Nembrini climbed Illampu (6,368m) and then moved to Illimani. After climbing that peak, they joined a search for the bodies of Pierre Dedieu (France) and Ernesto “Coco” Sanchez (Bolivia), who had been ki...