Nya Kangri (6,480m), at the entrance to the Arganglas Valley, has received multiple attempts, including two from me (AAJ 2017 and 2023). In summer 2023, I tried again with Orestis Mitrou- Kintis, approaching the southeast side from Tirit village i...
Our goal, like many teams before us, was the unclimbed southeast pillar of Baintha Brakk (The Ogre) leading to the east summit. François Cazzanelli and Matteo Della Bordella (both from Italy), Symon Welfringer (France), and I arrived in Skardu in...
Antoine Girard, a pioneer in using paragliders to approach and descend from alpine climbs, climbed Diran (7,266m) in early July after flying to the mountain from the hills above Karimabad, about 23km to the north. Girard launched his paraglider a...
In the fall of 2019, I headed out to the limestone area of La Huasteca in search of a new-routing adventure. My dream team consisted of Kai Jacobson (Canadian photographer extraordinaire), Will McEvoy (English rope ninja), and me, the one who came...
In January 2023, Sam Boyce and I bolted and freed a new route on the north side of El Toro over three weeks. La Sombra de Muerte (1,500’, 16 pitches, V 5.12d) climbs the clean face about 100’ to climber’s right of El Sendero Luminoso (15 pitches, ...
I needed a change of scenery. For once, I wanted no glaciers, no heavy backpacks, no wind and cold. I wanted to climb in shorts. Where there was plenty of limestone and, above all, where you could still explore. So, I and three friends, Gio Ongaro...
I didn’t expect to feel so elated and relieved as I scrambled up the final stretch of Mt. Index’s North Norwegian Buttress (NNB) for the first time on July 28. Although plenty of work lay ahead—days of cleaning, trundling, and bolting—the element ...
On June 4, Michael Telstad and I ventured up the southwest face of Concord Tower in the Liberty Bell group. Our route, which is now perhaps the closest to the Blue Lake trailhead on the west side of Washington Pass, starts in the gully between Con...
In late August, Sam Boyce and I took a three-day weekend to climb a new route on the west face of Bonanza Peak’s southwest summit (9,320’). The Cascadian Route (V 5.10+) gains over 2,000’ in 16 pitches and 2,800’ of climbing. Our route is looker’...
Photo by Victoria Kohner-Flanagan Prayer for a Friend, a striking line on the southwest face of Prusik Peak, had been waiting for a free ascent for 20 years, ever since Fitz Cahall opened the route at 5.12- C1 in 2003, along with Becca Cahall...
On July 3, Alex Perz and I set out to climb a new route on the east face of Cutthroat Peak (8,050’), near Washington Pass. We hiked two miles from Highway 20, then cut right into the large basin to the east of the peak. Alex, having never climbed ...
With world-class alpine climbing right out the back door, my enduring curiosity about the Lake Ann Buttress struck friends as lunacy. The comments included “The rock is choss” and “Beckey said it’s repulsive.” But after staring up at the 1,000’ bu...
Sister Spire, a detached gray tower protruding from the south shoulder of Girls Mountain (6,134’), rises to a modest 5,580’. However, the sheer, triangular east face towers about 1,000’ above the Worthington Glacier, near Thompson Pass. Steep head...
On July 3, Matt Callahan made a solo ascent of Thiel Peak (5,910’; 58°41’49.0”N, 134°45’31.8”W). Callahan approached from the north end of the Juneau road system via the Davies Creek drainage, reached the saddle between Thiel and Dean Peak (Peak 5...
The Shark’s Tooth (ca 5,700’, 58°43’4.45”N, 134°45’32.11”W) is a mountain that continues to lure me. Matt Callahan and I made its first ascent via the southeast ridge in 2018, and Evan Hartung, Mike Miller, Ben Still, and I opened the south rib in...
The southeast ridge of Seahpo Peak is one of the longest continuous ridges in the continental United States. Sprouting out of the Cascadian jungle, it rises more than 4,000’ over 1.5 miles of horizontal travel before reaching the summit of 7,441’ ...
On April 23, Mikiko Fischel, our camp cook Lucrecia Chambi, and I camped by the shores of Laguna Huallatani in the central part of the southern Quimsa Cruz. The following day, Mikiko and I skied the glacier northeast of the lake to reach Coricampa...
On August 24, Gregg Beisly and I climbed a short new route up the northeast face of the northern summit of Pico Milluni (ca 5,450m), following a prominent corner system (4 pitches, New Zealand 21). However, the main goal of my visit to Bolivia was...
On July 4, 2022, Maria Teresa Llampa Vasquez and I climbed a new route on the south face of Mururata (5,871m). [Although always traditionally called the south face, this broad snow/ice wall faces more southwest.] We started near Guias AGMTB, the A...
At the start of June 2022, Maria Teresa Llampa Vasquez and I decided to try one of the mixed routes on the southwest face of Huallomen (5,463m). Looking at the face from Condoriri Base Camp, we immediately saw the potential for a new line. We lef...