On February 19, Juho Knuuttila and Sami Modenius climbed Finnjävel (450m, M5 R 90°), a new route up the northeast face of Breidtinden (1,001m), leading directly to the main summit. The route is to the left of the “Scottish Wall,” which holds a nu...
Senja island in northern Norway has been described as Scotland on steroids. Steep mountains with fairy-tale summits plunge straight into the sea. The maritime climate combined with Arctic Circle temperatures provide a host of winter climbing oppor...
In January and February 2023, on my sixth expedition to Queen Maud Land, I spent three weeks ski mountaineering in the western Wohlthat Mountains, climbing peaks in the Humboldt Mountains and Petermann Range. Rupert Heim (Germany) and I climbed: ...
On January 4, 2023, Penn Newhard, Todd Passey, Jon Styslinger, and I flew 150km north from the Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE) camp on the Union Glacier to the eastern side of the Sentinel Range. After evaluating the upper Ellen Glacie...
Alex Honnold on Mt. Dolence. Photo by Esteban Mena In January 2023, Sam Hennessey, Alex Honnold, Esteban “Topo” Mena, and Nate Opp ascended the last obvious unclimbed couloir on the west face of Branscomb Peak (4,520m), a subpeak of the Vinso...
It was that familiar feeling you get when you finish a big climb. That immense wash of relief that climbers all know, when you finally touch down from that last rappel, and you are once again planted on solid ground. It’s a bittersweet transition ...
Inspired by Erik Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry’s trip to Anijaaq Fjord in 2020 (see AAJ 2021), we visited the area in August with Scottish friends Steve Kennedy and Colin “Cog” Moody. Using Skip Novak’s Pelagic sailboat, operated by Chris Kobusch...
Looking down pitch nine of MikroKozmik Variations (1,062m, VII M5 A4+) on Polar Sun Arm. Photo by Marek Raganowicz. Marek Raganowicz completed a solo ascent on the north face of Polar Sun Arm, the huge buttress extending from Polar Sun Spire ...
Skiing across the quickly melting sea ice, Erik Boomer and Sarah McNair-Landry head toward Stewart Lake. Photo by Erik Boomer. The first time I remember hearing about Baffin Island was in 2009 when I met Sarah McNair-Landry on the kite-surfin...
This year's review comes among the author’s growing awareness of the importance of respecting previous use of the land that we climb on. Whether it is appropriate to name and claim climbs will occupy more of the author’s thoughts and efforts in ye...
From May 23–27, David Allfrey, Whit Magro, and I established a new alpine big-wall route on the northwest face of Kichatna Spire (8,985’) in the Alaska Range. The Kichatna Mountains are a small clutch of exceptionally steep peaks 70 miles west ...
On August 2, Aaron Harris and I shouldered heavy packs and started the pleasant hike toward Dewar Creek Hot Springs and ultimately Wall Tower. Two days later, we were settled into one of the nicest alpine campsites we’ve had the privilege of visit...
When Brent Nixon started insisting he had an idea for what would be the longest sport route in North America, I told him to stuff it. As I looked up at the notoriously loose, convoluted architecture of Marble Canyon’s golden walls, it was obvious ...
With a sidelining injury plaguing my A and B plans for the summer, I decided to poke around close to home. For a warm-up and to test my tweaky shoulder on easier ground, I headed up to the Place Glacier with Natalie Afonina to check out a small do...
In late September 2020, while exploring the main southeast face of Whiteside Mountain, Brian Barwatt and I discovered and climbed two phenomenal pitches high on the wall, left of Route Doctors (700’, 8 pitches, III 5.12 R, Bayne-Heuermann, 1994) a...
We set off from the airstrip in Talkeetna, totally psyched for the challenge waiting for us high up above the Shadows Glacier. Mike “Twid” Turner and I would have to dig deeper than ever before on past big wall trips—it was just the two of us, a...
Over two days in March, along with Pat Cooke and Seth Fisher, I pieced together the first free ascent of Across the Great Divide, an old aid line on Cannon Cliff. The route travels along the wall that forms the left side of the famous Black Dike (...
The northeast face of Lady Mountain (6,945’) soars over Zion’s Emerald Pools Trail and dominates the view from the Zion Lodge. This monstrous face had held my attention for years, both because it is one of the tallest in the park and because it ha...
Deep in the drainages and up the sandy scree slopes of Oak Creek, Landon McDowell and I wandered below the cliffs in mid-October, itching for an adventure. When we saw a horizontal roof 400’ off the ground, we knew we’d found it. It was about 300’...
The 2022 route on the northwest face of Karun Koh. The first ascent, in 1984, was by the west-southwest ridge, along the right skyline. Photo by Kenro Nakajima. In the winter of 2021, Kazuya Hiraide and Takuya Mitoro planned to attempt Karun ...