On July 13, Matt Hearn (26) was climbing High Fructose Corn Syrup, a long single-pitch 5.8 at the Slips, a popular Salt Lake beginner area. When Hearn reached the top of the route, his belayer and a few others on the ground thought they heard him ...
On the afternoon of August 13, a female climber (21) and her brother (25) became disoriented while descending Three Fingered Jack when heavy fog blanketed the area. [The standard south ridge route on Three Fingered Jack (7,844’) has a couple of hu...
On August 12, a male climber (age 49) fell while descending the North Sister via the South Ridge (Grade II, Class 4) after summiting the peak with a group of 11 climbers from a local climbing club. The accident occurred in the “Bowling Alley,” a l...
On November 21 at around 11 a.m., two experienced climbers were attempting a multi-pitch sport route called Lost in Space (5.10b). Climber 1 (male, age 28) was leading the third pitch of the route. After clipping the third bolt, a foothold broke, ...
On October 21, JM (40) attempted a rappel from the top of the climb Honey Pot (5.5), located in the Three Bears area. As she rappelled, one end of the rope passed through her device and she fell approximately 30 feet, hitting a ledge, and then fel...
Late in the afternoon on April 16, a male climber (28) was injured after falling approximately 20 feet to the ground in the Moore’s Wall Amphitheater while being lowered from the route Quaker State (5.11a). The belayer’s end of the rope slipped th...
In 2017 there were 16 reported climbing-related accidents at the Mohonk Preserve. These resulted in four head injuries, one spinal fracture, four long-bone fractures, three shoulder dislocations, and minor ankle, wrist, and hand injuries. Ten acci...
On October 14, I started leading the direct start to Ventre de Boeuf, which begins with an easy squeeze chimney leading to a short 5.10 offwidth. Because of the chimney start, my first piece of pro was a number 4 Camalot maybe 20 feet off the deck...
There were four technical climbing rescues in the mountains of upstate New York in 2017. In addition to the ice climbing accident described here, a 58-year-old man fell on an ice climb in Platte Clove in the Catskills and was injured but able to w...
Ghulam Muhammad, an old Pakistani friend and organizer of many of my travels in Baltistan, knows my taste in mountaineering objectives. He had sent me a photo of a beautiful granite wall, which I tried to find using Google Earth within the seeming...
On September 18, Philip De-Beger and I set up base camp at 4,864m (36.451221°N, 75.713064°E) at the entrance to the East Shuwert Valley, not far from Shimshal Pass. There was a fair amount of snow, but this cleared over the next few days as we set...
The Nyainbo Yuze has held a special place in my imagination since opening AAJ 2014 and seeing Tamotsu Nakamura’s photos of the spiky granite peaks. I visited the range in 2016 (AAJ 2017) and soon began planning a return expedition. On September 25...
Andrew Carson Harvard died in January 2019 after a decade-long battle with younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease. His final days were comforted by phone messages from his extensive network of colleagues, climbers, classmates, and friends.Andy was born...
Damian Göldi and Marcel Jaun (Switzerland) attempted unclimbed Baintha Brakk West I (a.k.a. Ogre IV, 6,660m) via the south face. They acclimatized with an ascent of 5,330m Uzan Brakk VI, and then, in a short weather window, they climbed the lower ...
On the long west-northwest ridge of Baintha Brakk (a.k.a. Ogre, 7,265m) lie several impressive summits, including Baintha Brakk West (6,660m) and Baintha Brakk West II (6,540m). Max Ten and I had the latter as our goal and approached up the Biafo ...
James Bailie, Alistair Bell, Vasili Trigas, and I left Bishkek for Karakol on August 14, ultimately heading for the Ushat-too, south of the town of Inylchek (Engilchek). The Maida Adyr Base Camp for the Inylchek Glacier is a little to the east o...
From July 26 to 28, Murat Otepbayev (leader), Tursunali Aubakirov, Igor Malkin, Maxim Pavlov, and Grigory Shchukin from Almaty climbed a new route on the south side of Bayancol (5,841m). Situated directly opposite Khan Tengri on the North Inylchek...
I FIRST CORRESPONDED with Brette Harrington in 2016, asking her to write an article for the AAJ about her recent route Hidden Dragon, climbed with Marc-André Leclerc on the Chinese Puzzle Wall in British Columbia. She sent in her story, and we beg...
WORKING AS a trekking guide in Torres del Paine for a few years, it was hard to ignore this incredible line on the south side of Cerro Almirante Nieto. I tried the route alone a couple of times, in different times of the year, without success. I r...
The 2018 season saw continued interest in the granite walls of Quebrada Rurec in the southern Cordillera Blanca.In late July, Steve House and Josh Wharton made the second free ascent of Qui Io Vado Ancora (585m, 7c+/8a-; see AAJ 2007 and AAJ 201...