As a 16-year-old climber in 1978, with my long hair, swami belt, and patchy EBs, I stood on the damp little ledge at the base of Mazinaw Rock, Ontario, and looked up at the Joke, a beetling 100-meter wall decorated with a couple of bent and rusted...
Early June of 2013 was warm and beautiful in northern Norway. Before summer even began, I was lucky to complete my long-term project, a free ascent of Ikaros on the north face of Store Blamannen, our local big wall. I say lucky because the ascent ...
On June 19, Gregg Beisly, Robert Rauch, and I climbed what we believe to be a new route in the Zongo Pass area. Although I’m not sure the feature we climbed has a real name, we have started calling it Pico Triangular, due to its obvious shape as v...
From July 27 to August 5 Eugeniy Bashkirtsev and Denis Veretenin, from Irkutsk in Siberia, made the second ascent of the Odessa route (1,700m, 6A/6B, A4, Cheban-Lavrinenko-Mogila-Tsushko, 2006) on the right side of the north face of Rocky Ak-su...
On August 23 our team reached base camp at 4,400m below Eagle Rock, the south summit of Potala Shan (a.k.a. Putala Peak). Eagle Rock lies above the valley of Shuangqiao, and was believed to have been climbed only once, by a three-man Swiss team, v...
Eagle Rock (ca 5,300m), southwest face, Invisible Hand and Invisible Hand Sit Start; Peak 5,180m, west face, Speed Indeed. Although from Rio de Janeiro, I've been living in China for the last six years, doing my best to develop various aspects of ...
On September 15 a multi-national expedition completed the first ascent of Dayantianwo, above the Shuangqiao Valley. This granite pyramid lies south-southeast of Baihaizi Lake and is the first summit southwest of Peak 5,180m. Chaohui Zheng of China...
The Daogou peaks (East, 5,466m; West, 5,422m) are steep, rocky mountains, the eastern flanks of which are accessed from the upper Changping Valley. The name comes from their location. Head north and then northwest into the upper Changping, then tu...
South of Potala Shan, above the Shuangqiao Valley, the Central Tower lies between Eagle Rock (ca 5,300m) to the west and Warglesei (ca 5,300m) to the east. As these three peaks form a cirque around the head of a hanging valley containing Baihaizi ...
In July 2012, Dylan Johnson and I made a brief stop at Rogers Pass to climb the classic Northwest Arête of Mt. Sir Donald (3,284m). Although this is a relatively easy route, I was blown away by the quality climbing on this impressive peak, and kne...
From April 27 to May 3, Alexander Gukov and Alexey Lonchinskiy from St. Petersburg, Russia, made the coveted first ascent of the southwest face of Thamserku (6,618m).Despite being an obvious target, within easy distance of Monjo (much of the south...
The Choongbuk Alpine Federation Rescue Team, led by Park Yeonsoo, consisted of 10 members. They split into two groups and from August 27 to October 8 attempted the west- northwest ridge and north face of Hiunchuli in the Annapurna Sanctuary. Avala...
In May, Giuseppe “Beppe” Torre, Rudy Salinas (both Mexico), Rodrigo Fica (Chile), Jesus Ibarz, and I (both Catalan) opened a new route on El Gigante in Mexico. We spent 10 days on the wall, first fixing lines from the ground, then climbing capsule...
Between May 25 and June 14, Erik Bonnett and I climbed about 45 pitches of rock, ice, and snow in a relatively unknown glacial area on the border of southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia, bearing similarities to the Kichatna Spires. We th...
I believe many alpinists suffer from an obsession or two. I am certainly no exception: My interest with Mt. Thielsen began in 1990 when I procured a copy of Jeff Thomas’ guide to the Oregon Cascades. An entry about the McLaughlin Memorial (Bauman-...
From July 16–24, Steve Richert, Blake McCord, and I—all Type 1 diabetics—spent time in the Titcomb Basin of the Wind River Range, hoping to establish first ascents and first free ascents. We packed in with horses to Island Lake, then shuttled load...
In July 2014, Ben Rosenberg and I traveled to the Little Sandy Valley with no fixed plans other than to do some exploring. In part due to laziness and in part due to the attractiveness of walls low in the valley, we did not make it very far.We fir...
I can’t remember the first time I went climbing, but I do remember growing up outdoors. Long walks to Sundance Buttress and sinking my little feet in the sand around Gem Lake at Lumpy Ridge. Following my dad up Stettner’s Ledges and the Diam...
In July, Gregg Beisly, Max Jimenez Llusco—a member of Gregg’s leadership program—and I climbed a possible new variation on Pomerape (a.k.a. Pomerata, 6,282m) in the Cordillera Occidental. Starting from the village of Sajama (four hours’ drive sout...
On December 3, I (Ryan, 31) went to Arch Rock to rope-solo fixed routes. I had heard there was a rope on Supplication (5.10c), and I had wanted to get on that route for more than a year. (Note: Fixed-rope soling is free climbing while belayed by a...