Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue. Bree Loewen. Mountaineers Books, 2017. Paperback, 224 pages, $17.95.In this autobiographical work, Bree Loewen describes the hardships, sacrifices, and intense satisfaction associated with backcountry search and r...
The Snyder-Wilcox Expedition on Denali in 1967 was not only North America’s most tragic mountaineering incident—seven deaths—but also one of the most reported, most recently by Andy Hall in Denali’s Howl (2014). Add Jessica Goodfellow’s Whiteout (...
Takanori Mashimo’s six-member Japanese expedition, which made the first ascent of Dzanye II in October 2015 (AAJ 2016), also made an unsuccessful attempt on Lhonak Peak (a.k.a. Rifil Peak, 6,070m, 27.830876°N, 88.054761°E), a summit with no record...
With a Grit & Rock Award, my wife, Christina Pogacean, was due to attempt H17 in Zanskar, and I came along on a solitary mission and in support. However, shortly after arriving in Padam, Christina's partner fell ill and had to return home.Indi...
On April 30, the climbing world lost one of its all-time greats when Ueli Steck fell from approxmately 7,100 meters on Nuptse in Nepal. He was 40 years old. In typical style, Ueli was climbing by himself, with nothing more than a day pack containi...
ON NOVEMBER 28, four members of Summit Experience Mountain Co.—Sun Bin, Liu Hai Chuan, Zhang Bao Long, and I—made the sixth known ascent of Xiao Gongga (5,928m, a.k.a. Little Konka, Ruiche Gongga, or Tshiburongi). It was the first time most of us ...
Sometime on November 13, Niels Tietze, 31, fell to his death in what appears to have been a rappelling accident on Fifi Buttress in Yosemite National Park. Niels and I met in early May 2011 when he rode into Camp 4 on a motorcycle adorned with a s...
"Glaciers, mountains, rivers, forests, tundra; a landscape rich with places that have never felt the tread of human feet. It thrills me not because I can break first ground, but because first ground remains unbroken." —Alaska author Kim Heacox Fro...
The idea for this adventure came while doing the second ascent of Castle Dome with Courtney Purcell and Aron Ralston in 2015. We were near the top of Castle Dome, looking over at Lady Mountain and Cliff Dwelling Mountain when I suggested it. Looki...
Between October 2016 and May 2017, I made the likely first ascents of eight distinct formations in Zion. In late October, Courtney Purcell and I did the first known ascent of a formation we named Lucky Charm. The peak sits to the immediate northwe...
From October 2016 through April 2017, I drove 11,000 miles and spent eight outings in the Zion backcountry attempting, by various routes, the North Bishopric. Along the way I made the first known ascents of a number of nearby summits and formation...
In October 2017, after working a 12-hour shift at the hospital, I rested in bed for a few hours then got up at 2 a.m. when the cardio machine Chaz Langelier showed up at my door. Our goal was to set out from Crescent Meadow, hike approximately 17 ...
A year prior to getting into technical rock climbing, I saw the sheer east wall of North Cotter [Editor's Note: The main summit of Cotter is 12,719'. The exact elevation of its lower north summit is unknown.] while approaching Mt. Gardiner and Cla...
Grand Sentinel is a large north-facing tower across from North Dome, and is one of the most eye-catching rock faces in Kings Canyon proper. It features many difficult aid routes, however Chaz Langelier and I found a fun free route going up the pre...
After making possibly the second ascent of Beast and Beauty (IV 5.11a) with Chaz Langelier, car-to-car, I returned to Charlotte Dome in July 2017 with Jeremy Ross after I had noticed an intriguing set of parallel features to the left. Since the ro...
In the spring of 2017 I completed several new routes in the Castle Rocks area with different partners. Daniel Jeffcoach and I hiked out to climb the east face of the Fin, which to our knowledge had never been attempted. We took a wide system on th...
In 2016 Daniel Jeffcoach and I started a new independent line on the middle of the steep west face of Moro Rock. Due to sustained difficult climbing and the need to place several bolts we ran out of time and could not finish the route in a day. We...
GRAND OBJECTIVES within six hours’ drive from your front door are still to be found.In July of 1964, Dick McCracken, Charlie Raymond, and Royal Robbins spent four days making the first ascent of Mt. Hooker’s (12,504’) imposing north face, an audac...
In November, Rob Boulton, Joe O'Connor, Mark Rowland, Ian Stead, Dan Walker, and I, led by Dawa Rita Sherpa and Mindu Sherpa, made the first ascent of the remote Korlang Pari Tippa South (5,738m) on the Tibetan border. This was my third visit to t...
It was 1998 when I first landed in Greenland. Little did I know it would be the beginning of a long love affair with grand rock walls and towers, majestic polar bears, giant diamond-like icebergs, unique Inuit friends, and an endless list of wonde...