THE PATAGONIAN SEASON was marked by very unstable weather. This prevented any groundbreaking ascents, but a good time was had by most and for the first time in years there were no serious accidents. If bad weather is what it takes to accomplish t...
I first met Christchurch mountaineer Norman Hardie in May 1983, outside my favorite old bookshop in New Regent Street. At the time I was Field Operations Officer for the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme, so I introduced myself and asked No...
After making the first ascent of the south face of Pico Tunari in June, Rodrigo Lobo and I decided that we simply had to climb all three of the most significant rock walls in the extensive Cordillera de Cocapata: Tunari’s south face, the southeast...
From June 21-22, during the austral winter, Rodrigo Lobo and I made the first ascent of the south face of Tunari (5,035m, 17°17'8"S, 66°23'30"W), a long escarpment situated well over 200km southeast of La Paz and clearly visible from Cochabamba, B...
AT THE END OF JANUARY, Christian Fascendini, Matěj Svojtka, and I arrived in Basaseachi National Park with one goal: to open a new line. We chose Rancho San Lorenzo as our base camp, an ideal and quiet place. The owner, Don Fernando, helped us a l...
On August 6 we lost yet another incredible man to the mountains that he loved. Tom Zajicek was killed in a 90-foot fall while descending Starlight Peak in the High Sierra of California. It was one week before his 67th birthday. I had the honor of ...
On May 27, a 53-year-old male, climbing solo, sustained frostbite injuries to all ten of his fingers while ascending from the 14,200-foot camp toward the 17,200-foot camp on the West Buttress. At 9:10 a.m., he made a satelite phone call requesting...
AT APPROXIMATELY 6 p.m. on September 16, I responded to the report of a fatal rock climbing accident at the Lower West Bolton climbing area. I was directed to anambulance where the two subjects who had been climbing with the deceased (20-year-ol...
THE PEAKS of the Kondus and Kaberi valleys are mostly virgin. Some rise above 7,000m. The valleys are part of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, once in the ancient kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir and nowadays in territory disputed by Pakistan, India, and ...
AFTER LEADING the first Korean Way project in 2016, climbing the south face of Gangapurna (AAJ 2017), I led a second expedition with the concept of fostering a younger generation of Korean climbers, developing their skills and experience. I was jo...
IN JANUARY 2018 a team of five from the elite Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne (GMHM) visited the Pirrit Hills, an isolated group of sharp granite peaks, around 13km in length, sitting on the icecap around 160km south of the Antarctic Logistics ...
From December 1–17 our team of seven climbers, ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-50s and comprising Jimmy Chin, Savannah Cummins, Pablo Durana, Alex Honnold, Anna Pfaff, Cedar Wright, and me, visited the Fenris Kjeften (Wolf's Jaw) in the mountai...
It was 1998 when I first landed in Greenland. Little did I know it would be the beginning of a long love affair with grand rock walls and towers, majestic polar bears, giant diamond-like icebergs, unique Inuit friends, and an endless list of wonde...
THE TRIP STARTED as a 10-year-old dream of Luke Holloway's, one of my longest climbing partners: Boat the Little Nahanni and South Nahanni rivers to Brintnell Creek, hike into the Cirque of the Unclimbables, then boat the Nahanni for another 100 m...
More than two decades ago, Bernd Arnold and friends traveled to Madagascar in search of big cliffs. They had hardly any information, only an illusory description of rocks from a missionary. In the Tsaranoro Valley, the party found impressive walls...
Frederick O. Johnson died on November 1 in his Berkeley, California, home of heart failure, following dinner with his wife of 67 years. A fourth-generation Californian, Fred was born in Los Angeles and was a longtime resident of Berkeley. During h...
Paul Beatty Crews, pioneer Alaskan climber and founder in 1958 of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA), died in Anchorage on July 20. He was just 18 days shy of his 100th birthday. He had led an active, exciting, and inquiring life, and as a na...
Fred Beckey had three favorite subjects that he enjoyed talking about: challenging mountains, the weather, and the pursuit of women. His photographic memory of mountains and challenging new routes was amazing. His obsession with climbing made him ...
In July 1938 the north face of the Eiger was finally climbed, after many attempts and multiple fatalities. It was Europe’s greatest prize in climbing at the time and a widely celebrated ascent. During the same period, a similar race was taking pla...
In September, Juan Diego Amador and David Pérez (Spain) made the first ascent of Tetleh Kangri (6,025m altimeter reading; 33°12'45"N, 76°51'20"E), toward the head of the Tetleh Nala, one of the three main offshoots of the Raru Valley. The peak had...