In 1989, Steve Porcella and I scoped out the massive climbing potential on the west side of the Middle Palisade massif, which includes peaks like Norman Clyde, Middle Palisade, and Disappointment. The obvious standout line was a massive chimney ...
Having both been born within a few days of each other in mid-August, Drew Smith and I have made a tradition of celebrating together with an annual backcountry getaway. This year we decided to make it a real party and invited our good buds Jack C...
This year in southwest Utah began with a wet winter and spring, swinging wildly to a record dry spell over the summer and autumn, allowing for more climbing in the monsoon season than the average year. In March, Derrick Fassbender and Steffan G...
In early 2019, while teaching university geology in Southern California, I made two trips to Red Rock National Conservation Area. Local wise man and climbing historian Larry DeAngelo convinced me to investigate First Creek Canyon for new route o...
Twenty-one years ago, I camped beneath the north face of Mt. Breitenbach (12,140’), the fifth-highest peak in Idaho, on a six-day solo backpacking trip through the Lost River Range. Of course I wanted to stand on the summit, but climbing the fac...
The 800’ walls on the west side of Bear Canyon are visible from the road, east of the town of Questa, but perhaps due to New Mexico’s lack of climbers, the steep, overgrown terrain, and dubious-looking rock, they stood unclimbed until recently. ...
From May 3–5, Kevin Boyko and I made a continuous, 38-hour, unsupported push expanding a previous traverse (see AAJ 2015), climbing all of the major and minor technical summits with prominence in the ridge of the Organ Mountains, between Fillmor...
Gilson Butte is a hefty formation just west of Highway 24, midway between Green River and Hanksville, with a quarter-mile plateau summit surrounded by 400' cliffs of shale (or worse). The formation promised lousy free climbing but stimulating ai...
The thin streak of ice seemed to defy gravity as it clung to the gently overhanging, blank granite. As I tiptoed onto the ice sheet, I noticed how my rope arced through space to Justin at the hanging belay. With a bolt still above my waist, I bo...
In January 2020, Bayard Russell and I put in three days of work to establish and send Maidenhead (165m, 5 pitches, M8 (M6+ R) NEI5+) above Lake Willoughby. This adventurous new route explores a less-traveled section of a famous and popular wall ...
When traveling uphill from the east on State Route 20 toward Washington Pass, several distinct granite panels are seen to the southeast after passing the Silver Star massif. They are regularly spaced along a 2/3-mile stretch of road, their bases a...
The Silver Star Mountain massif and immediate area, just northeast of Washington Pass, contain relatively few documented snow and ice routes—like much of the Cascades, this area is normally buried under deep snow in winter. But as there is norma...
"It’s amazing granite and it’s 20 minutes from the road," Mikey says emphatically, leaving no room for debate as to whether the climbing on the east face of Liberty Bell in Washington Pass is worthwhile. Over the last decade, Mikey has freed or es...
On September 1, Rolf Larson and I pioneered a nine-pitch, 1,000+’ line on the turreted massif of Mt. Cleator (7,625’), the north side of which offers many ribs and ridges that are probably unclimbed. After a pleasant trail tramp past Buck Mountain...
Fifty-eight years after the first ascent by Art Gran and Yvon Chouinard (AAJ 1962), two parties met below the ominous northwest face of East Temple Peak to vie for its first free ascent, resulting in a pair of routes on the cusp of 5.12. Their p...
Mark Robson and I have made several trips to the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and were keen to visit the Stikine Icecap, which straddles the USA-Canada border farther north. Despite the area’s notorious reputation for poor weather, we dre...
At 8,005', Bashful Peak is not only the tallest peak in Chugach State Park, it is the park's only peak over 8,000'. It has long been sought as a ski descent, and has seen attempts by Chugach hardmen such as Zach Schlosar, Aaron Thrasher, Mike Burm...
Peak 8,010’ is located on the eastern shore of the Copper River, upstream of the Bremner River and within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It's notable for the outstanding prominence of its western flank, going from the summit at 8,010' to the ...
In what is becoming an annual tradition, Michael Gardner and I showed up in Alaska in the final hours of a massive high-pressure system. This year we chose to ignore the ominous forecast and flew into the west fork of the Ruth Glacier, with no r...
In July, Giselle Field, Dave Spies, Joey Jarrell, and I used an AAC Live Your Dream Grant to partially support a nine-day expedition to the Juneau Icefield. On July 14, after two days in Juneau, we were flown to the west side of the Taku Range b...