CLIMBING HAS BEEN the hub of my life, with spokes of interest radiating in all directions, like a magnetic field. Asked by the editor to write a short piece for this journal regarding the future of climbing, I foolishly accepted. I was honored and...
ABOUT 20KM EAST of Canmore is one of the most impressive rock features in the Bow Valley: the Goat Buttress sector of the Goat Wall. In morning light the buttress appears almost like a spire, towering 1,800’ above the trees and scree below. Althou...
Looking northwest across the Pasu Glacier to (A) Pasu Sar East (6,842m), (B) Noukarsich (6,498m), (C) Maidon Sar (6,085m, Spanish, 1985), and (D) Hiriz (5,550m, Spanish, 1985). (1) The 2016 American route to Maidon Sar. (2) The southeast couloir o...
OVER THE PAST few years, Valhalla Provincial Park—a once-sleepy alpine climbing destination about 100km southwest of the Bugaboos, near Nelson, B.C.—has seen an explosion in activity. Local guide David Lussier has authored about a dozen new ...
At 2,773m (9,097’), Thunder Mountain (Mt. Nirvana) is the tallest peak in the Northwest Territories. Prior to 2017, it had received five ascents, all via the north and east faces. But the biggest face of Thunder Mountain, the 1,000m-tall, 2km-wi...
The primary aim of our trip was to climb summits of the Teri Himal, a small subrange northeast of the Teri La (itself northeast of the Thorong La) in the southern Damodar Range. I felt these 6,000m peaks would offer interesting climbing at a moder...
I live right below La Meije in the Ecrins Massif of France, and it is a pleasure to be able to traverse such a peak in the Alps or in other ranges. Traversing a high summit is like opening the door to a new world. At the point where the trip is n...
FOR MANY YEARS I had dreamed of going to Kyrgyzstan to climb perfect granite walls above green meadows filled with wild horses. The first question was exactly which destination to choose. After much research we decided on the Ak-su branch of the L...
HEART MOUNTAIN is a very popular scrambling peak along the Bow Valley, just an hour’s drive from Calgary. I’d often wondered whether a worthwhile line could go from Heart Creek at the base all the way to the summit. There had been activity on the ...
UNTIL RECENTLY, there has been little exploration by foreign mountaineers of the more remote areas of the East Karakoram. The availability of permits for the region is still not a foregone conclusion. In 2016 we successfully obtained permission ...
(A) Khalkhal West, (B) Praqpa Ri southeast top, and (C) Praqpa Ri (Central), seen from the east across the Savoia Glacier. The Chileans climbed a new route (not visible) on Khalkhal West and made the first ascent of Praqpa R...
After months of waiting—and in the end only four weeks before we were due to leave Italy—Federica Mingolla, Simone Pedeferri, and I received a permit to climb in the Kondus Valley. The idea for this trip had been in my mind for four years, ever si...
In August we visited the Gezart Valley, establishing base camp at 3,550m, not far from the start of the Gezart Glacier. Our campsite was at least 10 hours’ walk to the south (either one very long day or two days’ trek) from the village of Ak Art, ...
In late February, in partnership with Dutch guide Jan Bakker, I led a small team of American skiers on what we believe to be the first complete ski ascent and descent of the highest mountain lying fully in Iraq: Mt. Halgurd (3,606m, 36°44'27.75"...
In early August, Tom Schindfessel (Belgium) and Vlad Capusan (Romania) established a long new route on the north face of Bugaboo Spire. After a couple of warmups on established climbs in the Bugaboos, the duo approached the north face and began cl...
During April, Jesse Dufton, Alastair Everett, Oliver Mentz, Jennifer Roberts, and Molly Thompson (expedition leader) completed a self-supported expedition to the southern Stauning Alps. We aimed to rekindle the link between science and mountaineer...
Tabsar (Tobsar) was brought onto the permitted list in 2002. On the HMG-Finn map it is clearly marked as Tabsar (6,065m) at 28°34'51.27"N, 85°3'24.90"E in the Chamari Himal. However, coordinates given in the recent Ministry of Tourism list confusi...
On a rainy April day, Curtis Chabot and I carried 1,000’ of static line and a double set of cams up the northwest arête of the Unaweep Wall (possibly establishing a new mountaineer’s route in the process), the largest cliff in Unaweep Canyon with ...
Sharphu is a collection of peaks on a north-south ridge to the west of Kambachen, forming the watershed between the Ghunsa and Yangma valleys. Well to the north lie the peaks of Sato (6,176m) and Nupchu (6,044m); to the south is the Nango La, a pa...
Kyrgyzstan is rich in little-explored mountains. One example is the At Bashi, a beautiful range of snowy summits and technical rocky peaks near and parallel to the Chinese border. The range is more than 100km in length, and the highest peak ...