In late June, we traveled to the Rurec Valley to attempt Chaupi Huanca (ca 4,850m), after speaking with teams of Spanish and Ecuadorian climbers, who both had attempted the peak recently, about an unfinished route on the northwest spur, quite far ...
In August, Damian Bielecki and I climbed a partial new route on the south face of Ocshapalca (5,888m). We had initially targeted an unclimbed wall in the Honda Valley. Although our hopes were enormous, the local community prevented us from enterin...
Part of what makes the Cordillera Blanca so exceptional for climbers is the proximity of stunning high peaks: Hire a taxi in Huaraz and within an hour or two you can be trekking toward your objective. Following an attempt on Alpamayo, I only had f...
On September 3, Antonio Chinchay, Silio Chinchay (both Peru), and I approached Urus Oeste (5,450m; 9°21'42"S, 77°27'21"W) via the Uruscocha Valley, starting from the town of Pashpa (3,450m). We camped near the second lake in the Uruscocha Valley a...
On August 7, Krzysztof Zabłotny, Marcin Kraszewski, and I (all Poland) climbed a possible new route on the southwest face of Churup Oeste (5,495m). We approached as for the normal route up the southwest face, traversing left and then right on the ...
In early August, Steve Meder (France) and Edward Saona (Peru) climbed the first known route on the southwest face of Nevado Sullcón (5,650m, 11°53'41"S, 76°3'5"W). One month prior, in July, they made a reconnaissance of the face and climbed to the...
The seeds of the 2021 “Lost World Expedition” were planted more than 20 years ago. At that time, my life revolved around new routes on the great walls of the world, but it began to dawn on me that expedition climbing can be a selfish pursuit. As I...
In August 2017, Marcos Dias, Pedro Salomão, Wayler Muiños, and I opened the route Segundo Sol (450m, 5.11a) on the west face of Pedra da Gávea (842m), a huge mountain in the city of Rio de Janeiro. This is one of the largest coastline monoliths in...
Volcán Nevado del Huila (5,364m; 2°55'25"N, 76°1'41"W) is the highest volcano in Colombia. However, ongoing volcanic activity and sociopolitical conflict has limited access. In 2019, we attempted to reach the volcano via the town of Gigante to the...
In late May 2020, I met Sam England on the west side of Notch Peak in the West Desert. (I had spent the first day of this trip hiking in gear and scouting route options as Sam finished the last leg of his drive.) Soon enough, we were at the base o...
There and Back: Photographs from the Edge (Ten Speed Press, $50) collects a “best of ” compilation of climber Jimmy Chin’s (of Meru and Free Solo fame) spectacular photographs. Patrick Dean’s Window to Heaven: The Daring First Ascent of Denali, Am...
THE THIRD POLE: MYSTERY, OBSESSION, AND DEATH ON MOUNT EVEREST. Mark Synnott. Dutton, 2021. Hardback, 416 pages. $29. Any armchair mountaineer knows that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are credited with the first ascent of Everest on May 2...
TO BE A WARRIOR: THE ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF BILLY DAVIDSON. Brandon Pullan. Rocky Mountain Books (Canada), 2021. Paperback, 248 pages, $28 (CAN). In the year 2000, the young author Brandon Pullan is on his first trip to the Cana...
THE MOUNTAIN PATH: A CLIMBER’S JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE AND DEATH. Paul Pritchard. Vertebrate Publishing (U.K.), 2021. Hardcover, 192 pages, £24. British climber Paul Pritchard’s 1998 fall on Tasmania’s Totem Pole is one of the most famous accidents ...
DAMMED IF YOU DON’T. Chris Kalman, with illustrations by Craig Muderlak. Privately published, 2021. Hardcover, 170 pages, $24.99. An idyllic, hidden valley. A horde of climbers comes to despoil it. A misguided attempt to preserve the land, whatev...
IMAGINARY PEAKS: THE RIESENSTEIN HOAX AND OTHER MOUNTAIN DREAMS. Katie Ives. Mountaineers Books, 2021. Hardcover, 304 pages, $26.95. The Riesensteins were an invented mountain range, purported to be in British Columbia, that appeared in Summit ma...
MOUNTAINS AND DESIRE: CLIMBING VS. THE END OF THE WORLD. Margret Grebowicz. Repeater Books, 2021. Paperback, 113 pages, $14.95. Mountains and Desire is enigmatically subtitled Climbing vs. the End of the World. A more accurate subtitle might be R...
HIGHER LOVE: CLIMBING AND SKIING THE SEVEN SUMMITS. Kit DesLauriers. Mountaineers Books, 2021. Paperback, 288 pages, $19.95. Every once in a while, someone attempts a feat so ambitious, it seems nearly impossible. We can’t wrap our heads around i...
THE NEXT EVEREST: SURVIVING THE MOUNTAIN’S DEADLIEST DAY AND FINDING THE RESILIENCE TO CLIMB AGAIN. Jim Davidson. St. Martins’ Press, 2021. Hardcover, 409 pages, $29.99. Imagine yourself nine hours into your first acclimatization rotation on Ever...
From September 14–16, Kirill Belotserkovskiy completed the first known traverse of the rugged crest of the Tuyuk-Su cirque, 25km southeast of Kazakhstan’s ex-capital, Almaty. As a guide in the area, Belotserkovskiy has climbed all of this group’s ...