The story begins with an awkward mistake many years ago: In 1997 my friends and I climbed a beautiful 6,132m peak in the Rupal Valley, close to Nanga Parbat, and claimed the first ascent in the 1998 AAJ, calling it Laila Peak. In April 2009 an ema...

After a year of research, we agreed on a plan to attempt the virgin northwest buttress of Nanga Parbat (8,125m). Our group of close friends included Austrians Günther Unterberger, Hans Goger, and Sepp Bachmair, along with the two of us. We joined ...

During our 2009 climb of Schlagintweit Peak (5,979m, AAJ 2010), I spotted an impressive summit in the neighboring Chiche Valley. Back home I did some research. I found a sketch map, on which it was named Chiche Peak. Later, I was told that the fam...

The original goal of our seven-member expedition, supported by the University of Ljubljana, was to climb Nanga Parbat by the Kinshofer Route. Although we planned to climb in classic siege style, we wanted to use no supplementary oxygen and no high...

Raghshur (Lagh Shar) is an unclimbed mountain east of the Istor-o-Nal group. Theodoros Christopoulos, Ioannis Kovanidis, and I established base camp beside the Raghshur Glacier (4,430m), north of the peak, in early August.On August 6, after mov...

Ideally, climbing partners should do many short routes together before attempting a long and serious climb, especially in the alpine environment. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes climbers hook up for a big climb without tying in even once...

In August and September, two teams from Keio University Alpine Club climbed three possibly new peaks from the Shuangqiao Valley; they also did one second ascent and completed the fourth ascent of Eagle Rock via a new route.The first team, Yusuke K...

Prior to our ascent of Gujon Ri, above the source of the Mekong River, Josito Fernandez, M'Paz Garrido, Dani Martin, and I explored the mountains of northwest Sichuan, basing our activities around the villages of Ganzi and Manigango on the Sichuan...

In 2012 Chinese Chen Hui and Pan Xiaobing made a late-November ascent of Pomiu via a partial new line. On the 17th, using horses to carry equipment, they reached base camp southwest of the mountain at 4,100m. Next day they climbed through scree an...

A Chinese party including Li Yuan and Zhang Xaiohui climbed the north-northeast face of Nyainbo Yuze (5,396m) in the summer of 2011. This was their second attempt, the previous in 2009. Approaching from the tourist center, via the Ximen lake and v...

The Mekong River, the 10th longest in the world, rises in the historically Tibetan province of Kham and flows ca 4,350km to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. It's hard to believe that its source was not reached until 1994, but it lies hidden in a remot...

In June, Tadeo Shintani and I traveled to Zadoi with the aim of exploring unknown peaks and glaciers around the headwaters of the Mekong River. We were able to reach Hongse (4,700m, 33°24.887' N, 94°36.433' E) to the west of the mountains, but Jun...

For nine years I had toyed with the idea of climbing in Qinghai, which has many virgin summits. The relatively few peaks climbed to date have mostly been ascended by Chinese Army units. With only two weeks to spare, I focused on a small glaciated ...

Due to the terrorist attack in Pakistan, we had to change our summer expedition plans. After a couple of weeks’ research we decided on the Chinese side of the Western Kokshaal-too. We couldn't find much info, but the little we gained led us to bel...

In June we returned to Keketuohai, and as in 2012 were welcomed by the park authorities (AAJ 2013). Permission to climb was granted after fulfilling a number of basic requirements, which have been subject to change over the past few years. Lodging...

On October 11, Erik Harz, Felix Parham, and I reached the top of what we believe to be a previously unclimbed peak in the Changping Valley. Joey Shan, named for the incredible spirit of our friend Joey Hernandez, a Californian climber who passed a...

In October a team including Andrew Hedesh, Sylvain Millet, Claire Thomas, Thomas Vialletet, Zhuo Lei, and I visited the Jarjinjabo Massif, north of the Zhopu pastures. We climbed a number of new routes, including but not limited to, those describe...

From July 27 to August 25, Vincent van Beek, Vincent Perrin, Bas van der Ploeg, Bas and Saskia van der Smeede, and I visited the western sector of the Western Kokshaal-too. Following the usual approach through Kyrgyzstan, we reached the unnamed gl...

In June, Saro Costa, Luca Vallata, and I (all from Italy) explored the southern part of the Cordillera Huayhuash, where we attempted four peaks and succeeded on one climb (though we didn’t reach the summit). We set up base camp close to Sarapococh...

“Slip on Snow.” The phrase seems innocuous enough. It certainly doesn’t sound like something that might lead to an injury or a fatality. But the reality of those three words in Accidents is quite different. If a slip or fall on snow appears in the...