On the afternoon of March 6, Joseph Chen (33) fell from near the top of American Express (5.9). The climb is described on Mountain Project as a top-rope. However, the 15-foot granite slab is often climbed as a boulder problem. Chen was unroped. C...
On a spring day in Joshua Tree, a climber returned to practice roped soloing after many years away from the sport. He started up Granny Goose (5.7), a 50-foot traditional route in a well-traveled area. After passing the initial flake on the route,...
In March, Lucy Kim (23) fell from Classic Thin Crack (V2) in Joshua Tree, severely damaging her left ankle. With her hands at the top, Kim chose to jump off in order to retry the problem. Below were six crash pads and two spotters. She fell in an ...
On Saturday, March 6, Tylea Brown (39) and her husband, Casey Cruz (32), accompanied by their two young daughters, were enjoying climbing in the Southern California high desert. After completing several single-pitch routes, Brown was belaying Cruz...
My wife (Kelly Perkins, 59) and I (Craig Perkins, 60) have rock climbed for 20 years. After a long hiatus, I took time to refresh my skills, including anchor building, knots, and gear placement. Our climb, Miss Pacman (5.9, sport), was fun and ini...
On May 31, Vik Waghray (24) fell to his death while traversing from Temple Crag to Mt. Gayley. He and Michael Layton (45) were attempting the long and arduous Temple- Gayley-Sill-Thunderbolt traverse. The pair had summited Temple Crag and were on...
On August 13, BJ Cook and I responded to an accident while climbing on the Southeast Buttress of Cathedral Peak, a five-pitch, 5.6 traditional climb in Tuolumne Meadows. BJ and I are experienced climbers and have many moderate multi-pitch trad cli...
Nathan Hadley on pitch two of Rubbernecker (600’, IV 5.14-). Photo by Jeremiah Watt Shortly after moving to Washington in 2015, I was scouring the guidebooks for aid lines to free. In 2016, I found Midnight Ride (600’, 5.9 A4) in Fred Beck...
On June 16, Matthew “Mash” Alexander (50) was struck by rockfall in the face and head as he slept. He and his climbing partner, Sean McGinness (48), were bivying in hammocks midway up El Cap, near the Nose route. The team had spent seven nights o...
On April 11, Josh Ourada (31) fell while free soloing Nutcracker (5 pitches, 5.8) on the Manure Pile Buttress. Ourada has been climbing for over ten years and was no stranger to free soloing. He had climbed Nutcracker before, both with and without...
On April 13, Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) responded to a roped soloist who had fallen and injured himself while climbing the second pitch of After Six (5 pitches, 5.7) on Manure Pile Buttress. It was reported that the rope-soloist had come t...
In the evening of October 17, two climbers, Kate (28) and Nick (26), started up the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome (23 pitches, 5.9 C2) after completing the Nose on El Capitan (31 pitches, 5.9 C2) earlier in the same day. Nick and Kate were b...
On March 4, two climbers, “Jeff” and “Erin,” climbed Munginella (3 pitches, 5.6) to the base of Selaginella (4 pitches, 5.8) in the Five Open Books area near Yosemite Falls. The pair were both experienced, and these routes were within their abilit...
I (Bobby Hutton, 31) wanted to show my friend Adam a new area that my friends and I were developing. In early April, we decided to drop lines down a cliff to work on new routes. To access the top of the cliff, we crossed a steep granite gully and...
On July 17 my girlfriend, Hannah (29), and I (30) went out for a day in an obscure climbing area, just southeast of Lake Tahoe, called Cloudburst Canyon. On my third climb I fell at the crux, ripped three pieces of protection, and fell to the grou...
On May 27, while climbing at Rainbow, west of Donner Pass, I (Carl Alsup, 39) rappelled off the end of my rope. I had just led Malcolm’s Route (5.9) to the top of the formation. My wife was going to follow but decided she was going to save her str...
On June 19, a family of seven from Utah attempted to climb the Hotlum/Bolam Ridge route. By midmorning they had begun the steeper section of the route at 12,300 feet. They were all roped together—with no intermediate protection nor belay anchors—w...
In the afternoon of April 9, a solo climber took a glancing blow to the thigh by a quoted “500-pound rock” while climbing Avalanche Gulch. The climber was near the Heart, which is the steepest part of the route, with slopes reaching 35°. Another s...
The east side of Mt. Shasta in September 2012 (left) and September 2021 (right). Exceptionally dry conditions in 2021 contributed to a number of accidents on the mountain. Photo by Phil Rhodes On June 23, a lone male (31) was climbing the Cle...
On the afternoon of January 31, Tim Parker (35) suffered a ground fall from the anchors of Naked Prey (5.12a) in Cochise Stronghold. Parker is a climber with over 15 years of experience. His partner, Darcy Mullen (32), is a climber of over 10 year...