Drone photo of James Price in the Passu Cwm en route to climbing Passu Sar, with Shispare behind. Price is carrying the long pole to protect against crevasse falls. Photo by Sebastién Carniato. It’s August and I’m back in the Hunza Valley. Pa...
Niccolò Bartoli and I traveled to the Ak-su in the summer of 2022 and found a west-facing wall directly above base camp that has beautiful granite. The Wall of Dykes, on the south buttress (Pik 3,850m) of Pik Slesova, is about 800m high, and the ...
Joseph Hobby on the summit ridge of the Citadel after the first ascent of the Borealis Face (2,000’, 85° ice). Photo by Zach Lovell. Time is often an unhelpful metric when weighing the value of a trip in the mountains. Even a few days can gi...
In the summer of 2022, Moritz Sigmund and I traveled with four friends, all from the South Tyrol region of Italy, to the Kara-su valley. It was our first expedition, and none of us had ever climbed such big walls, but we wanted to open a new route...
Mike “Mr. El Cap” Corbett’s contributions to Yosemite include big-wall first ascents, speed records, becoming the first person to climb El Capitan 50 times, and, perhaps most importantly, his time and hard work for friends and partners as they mad...
During the last few years, a route was climbed on the left side of the northeast face of Nirekha (6,159m), finishing at the southeast top (ca 6,100m, 27°58’36.21”N, 86°45’49.86”E). The climb was completed from the Khangri Nup Glacier in one day to...
Esteban Mena (Ecuador), Roberto Morales (Colombia), and I arrived in the Langtang Valley in October with a permit for Langtang Lirung (7,227m). On the 15th we attempted the ca 2,200m east face, reaching 5,800m. We decided to retreat due to the amo...
The 2022 route up the south-southeast ridge of Nagoru Far East. Photo by Wolfgang Drexler. I first visited the Nagoru peaks in 2013, then again in 2016 and 2018 (AAJs 2017 and 2019). In October, I returned with Michaela Bohdalek, Lawang Taman...
Tiphaine Duperier in front of the unclimbed northeast face of Dhaulagiri II. Photo by Boris Langenstein. From September 16 to October 16, I was in Nepal with my best companion Boris Langenstein to attempt Dhaulagiri II (7,751m). This mountain...
The view south from the summit of Lukeko Baref (Peak 6,122m). (A) Peak 6,506m. (B) Lachama Chuli. (C) Gave Ding. (D) La Sum (Peak 6,076m). (E) Lachama Khola North Fork. The sharp summit directly below B and nearer the camera is Peak 6,233m, atte...
Changabang seen from the Bagini Glacier to the north. The west face route more or less follows the right skyline. In 1976, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker approached Bagini Col, the low point in the ridge, from the far side to start their ascent o...
The north face of Chaukhamba in spring 2022 showing the line of ascent. Photo by Boris Textor. It took us five days to get to a base camp for Chaukhamba at 4,627m (30.793025°N, 79.299557°E) at the fork in the Bhagirathi Kharak (Glacier). Chau...
Approaching the roofs at the top of pitch seven on the south face of Kirti Nose. Directly behind, across the moraines of the Gangotri Glacier, is the southwest face of Bhagirathi III. At the beginning of September I traveled to the Garhwal w...
Wadim Jablonski on the upper (south-facing) headwall of Phaalkan Meenaar. Photo by Ondrej Huserka. At 5 p.m. on October 16, after three days of climbing, Wadim Jablonski (Poland) and I reached the top of a previously unclimbed rock tower of 5...
Since 2004, foreign parties attempting peaks of the Garhwal and Kumaon in the state of Uttarakhand have been required to pay double peak fees. One fee, as per normal in India, was paid to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the other to the gove...
After a day’s drive from Leh, Will Harris, Callum Johnson, Tom Seccombe, Dave Sharpe, and I made a six-hour walk to base camp on the west side of the Hagshu Glacier. On arrival, it was obvious conditions were extremely dry: The monsoon appeared to...
Base camp in the Lalung Valley with Chiling I (left) and II. The steep, unclimbed north face of Chiling II (in shadow) faces right. Photo by Innes Dean. In September-October 2022, Innes Dean, Alex Mathie, and I spent five weeks in the Lalung ...
Ibsti Kangri from the east face of Kang Yatze I. Photo by Simon Fraser. During the summer of 1976, I was part of a British university expedition that made ascents of the now popular trekking peak Stok Kangri as well as four neighboring peaks ...
Adad Medni from the south. The mountain’s steep hiking route climbs to (E) East Notch and then to the summit. In 2019, climbers traversed from East Notch to (S) South Notch, and one group attempted the South Pillar above the notch, while another...
A few years ago, looking at maps, I found a mountain called Blokktinden (1,035m) on the shore of Tjongsfjord. Initially I thought the steep northwest face would be a cool summer objective, but after seeing photos showing a black, wet stripe runnin...