Standing beneath Hairline (12 pitches, IV 5.10d C2+) for the first time in 2018, looking up at Mt. Whitney’s imposing east face, I could hardly imagine the vision and audacity it had taken Bruce Bindner and Alex Schmauss to attempt this route back...
As a climber just beginning to explore the Sierra, the possibility of finding unclimbed terrain seemed unlikely. But when I started working as a fire and fuels assessment tech for the U.S. Geological Survey in Sequoia and KingsNational Parks (SE...
On December 17, Christian Black, Chris Koppl, Josef Maier, and I completed a project that I had originally envisioned in 2016. After multiple trips over several years, including a three-pitch false start that dead-ended at unclimbable terrain, we ...
Frozen lakes weren’t part of my childhood in Rhode Island, so I was a little nervous when Jack Cramer and I skied out onto Convict Lake at dawn. The ice came alive with sound: booms, cracks, and all sorts of sci-fi noises. Panicking, I started pol...
The Sierra Nevada is a range where pristine golden granite dominates the landscape. Mt. Morrison, however, doesn’t care about fitting in with the masses. Known as the “Eiger of the Sierra,” the 12,240’ peak’s notoriously chossy northeast face, mad...
From September 13 to 15, Greg Rickenbacker and I finished a new route up the southeast face of the Elephant’s Perch. I grew up in the nearby town of Stanley, so establishing a route on the formation was a longtime dream come true. I first attempt...
The legendary duo of Fred Beckey and Louis Stur made the first ascent of Rotten Monolith in 1961 via its 150’ west face. In a report for the AAJ, Stur described decomposing stone and wrote that the “conspicuous tower...presents a formidable impres...
On May 4, Brad Ward and I climbed a new route on the north face of the west summit of Mt. Heyburn (10,229’). From the upper Bench Lake, our route ascended a large snowfield before entering the broad couloir directly below the summit. We soloed sno...
Over six days in early October, Lani Chapko and I completed The Red Rock Traverse (RRT). A couple of iterations of Red Rock traverses had been done in the past—including The HURT, an impressive ultra-running crossover by Alex Honnold in 2022—but a...
High above the Las Vegas valley, between Red Rock and Mt. Charleston, lies the La Madre Mountain Wilderness. Its tallest, steepest, and most inspiring cliff is the south face of La Madre (8,154’), a 1,000’ wall of limestone. Few people make the ap...
Travis Heidepriem on pitch ten of Golden Corners. Photo by Samuel Crossley. I have always been impressed with Kevin DeWeese’s eye for new routes on obscure formations in Yosemite Valley. Perhaps no route exemplifies this better than Blue Coll...
During a 28-day frenzy on the sandstone walls of Wadi Rum, in January and February 2023, Alberto Luque and Albert Segura (both from Spain) established seven new multi-pitch climbs from 6b to 8a. It was a particularly meaningful trip for Segura, wh...
In February 2024, shortly after completing a team-free ascent of Riders on the Storm (1,300m, 5.13a) on the Central Tower of Paine, Siebe Vanhee (Belgium) headed to Cochamó Valley and made a free ascent of Entre Cristales y Cóndores. Located up ...
In late March 2023, Lisandro Arelovich, Federico Barberis, and Glauco Muratti (all from Argentina) climbed Cerro Santa Clara (ca 5,400m, 33°10’21”S, 69°41’35”W) via its northwest slopes. The mountain is approximately eight kilometers west-southwes...
Of the hundreds of climbers who enter Little Slide Canyon every year, only a few venture onto the cluster of soaring, granitic spires positioned on its west slope—collectively known as Little Slide Spires—rising above the approach to the famed Inc...
In early October 2023, Brandon Adams and I put up a new route in Little Slide Canyon on a formation called the Thing, which is down-canyon from the Incredible Hulk. This was the first first ascent of which I’ve been a part, so I was stoked. The ro...
In mid-August, Moshe (Mo) Shtilman and I climbed a route up the prominent central buttress of the west face of the Matterhorn (9,826’) in the Wallowa Mountains. In a state characterized mainly by basaltic crags and broad-shouldered volcanoes, the ...
Located 80km by road northeast of Srinigar, the hill station of Sonamarg (2,730m) has long been a popular tourist destination, with picturesque alpine meadows and lakes. To the south and east of Sonamarg lies a collection of attractive alpine peak...
Thoda Peak (5,604m) and the 2023 route of ascent up the west ridge. Photo by Tom Davis-Merry. Brumkhangse (5,635m, several ascents) is one of Sikkim’s Open Alpine Peaks, accessed from the Lachung Valley to the east. It is surrounded by eight ...
In July, massive rainfall and flooding in Himachal Pradesh caused widescale loss of life and destruction of roads, properties, and livelihood. My wife, Vineeta, and I were to visit the Miyar Valley, but at the suggestion of a friend in Manali, we ...