Chiling I (left) and II from the Lalung Glacier to the northeast. The east ridge of Chiling I, climbed in 2017, is marked, as is the 2016 Spanish route on the east ridge of Chiling II. Four Americans attempted a similar l...
LIFE IN EL CHALTEN, a small town in Southern Patagonia, revolves around the weather forecast. Waiting for elusive weather windows is an exciting and sometimes frustrating way to live. When I first came to climb in El Chaltén, ten years ago, a frie...
A FIERCE GUST of wind blew across the summit ridge of Mt. Huntington. The snow hissing across the tent’s thin fabric sounded like the moan of a haunting wraith. The chill penetrated beyond my physical core, intensifying the dark emotions that had ...
On July 2, at 1:15 p.m., the Coconino County Sheriff's Office received a report of a climbing accident at Oak Creek Canyon Overlook. The report indicated that a climber had taken a 15- to 20-foot fall while on rappel.Once responders reached the pa...
EVEN AS A CHILD, knowing very little about the world, I remember conjuring images of India. These mental snapshots were total Indiana Jones fantasies: chaotic scenes filled with noisy, swirling crowds of people. Decades later, as the time for my f...
In 2010, I attempted a new route on the southeast face of the incredible Jebel Misht. During the ascent, I was hit by rockfall, leaving me with debilitating injuries to my face and foot. My climbing partner, Hamza Zidoum, and I began a self-rescue...
On July 22 a party reached the summit of Little Sister via the Grassi Route (northeast buttress) late in the day and chose to descend the way they’d come up because they were familiar with the terrain. During their descent, the climbers set up a r...
There were four separate rescues of uninjured but stranded groups of climbers on the Rundle Traverse in the summer of 2017. This 18-kilometer (11-mile) traverse follows a ridge across the many summits of Mt. Rundle. The terrain is mostly scramblin...
On August 23, two climbers were attempting the southeast ridge of Mt. St. Bride, near Lake Louise. To gain the base of the route, climbers must do a 45-meter overhanging rappel. The first climber successfully rappelled and moved off to the side to...
On July 16, a guided party of three was ascending the Fuhrmann Ledges route to Abbot Pass Hut. They had to make an exposed traverse under a large gully near the base of the northwest face of Mt. Lefroy in order to access the ledge that crosses the...
Two rockfall incidents on the popular east rige of Temple resulted in injuries and evacuations. On July 30, a party of three high on the route had just made the long traverse left across loose ledges to gain gullies through the Black Towers. Route...
June 18 was a busy day at the Back of the Lake. We were a group of seven; everyone knew each other, but not everyone had climbed together. Everyone was a physically strong climber, which may have led to a sense of complacency.Several of the climbe...
My girlfriend and I were climbing the standard Takakkaw Falls route (12 pitches, 5.6) on Labor Day weekend. When we arrived, two parties were already on the route: a guide and a young woman, and a less experienced party that had been knocking off ...
On September 3, a four-person team ascended the west ridge of Mt. Hungabee after a high bivouac the previous night. During the descent, one team member was struck on the helmet by a large rock while he was attached to an anchor. The climber had be...
Two climbers were attempting the west ridge of Chancellor Peak (3,266 meters) on July 24. They were expecting low fifth-class climbing and instead encountered what felt like 5.8 or 5.9, with little protection, on poor rock. The two simul-climbed a...
On July 15, TP and AM climbed the classic northwest ridge of Mt. Sir Donald. On the summit they met another pair of climbers and decided to descend together via the West Face Bypass route. As the group made their way down, they had to cross a few ...
Our party of six attempted an abbreviated version of the North Selkirks ski traverse, starting on April 16. On Friday, April 21, we left the Great Cairn (Ben Ferris) hut for the Guardsman Glacier and the summit of the Footstool, adjacent to Mt. Si...
On October 8, a 24-year-old woman caught her climbing partner’s fall at the Lower Deck of the Sunnyside climbing area. (Whether the climber was leading or top-roping was not clear from reports.) The belayer was pulled forward, slamming into rock a...
On June 27 my climbing partner and I witnessed an accident on Cardhu Crack (one pitch, 5.8) in the Shannon Falls area. After successfully completing the climb, the leader was being lowered. When she was about four meters above the ground, the bela...
My climbing partner, Scott, and I were first responders to an accident high on the Chief on September 7. We had climbed Rock On and planned to continue up the Squamish Buttress (mostly 5.6 with one 5.10c pitch; about six more pitches). At the top ...