Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU) performed multiple rescues on Lily Rock (a.k.a. Tahquitz Rock) during 2020. Two of the incidents involved climbers underestimating routes and calling for help when they became stranded. On May 5, a leader ran...
Anyone reading this book understands the value of wilderness medical training. Fortunately, climbers have numerous ways to obtain formal education. Wilderness medicine is now both an industry, with multiple private schools, as well as its own medi...
On February 9, near the end of a good weekend of climbing, my partner/wife (female, 61) and I (male, 61) headed to Hidden Tower to climb Sail Away. A party of four was just starting that route, so instead we set up to climb Split, a 5.6 hand crack...
A climber on Double Dip at Echo Rock. The top anchor is high and to the right of the climber. Photo by Kailey Cox On February 8, our group of friends of varying abilities began climbing in the Echo Rock area of Joshua Tree. One of the climber...
On July 12, Ramiro Mosquera (24) was climbing with a group of friends on Bye Crackie (5.7), a 60-foot sport climb. After cleaning the anchor, Ramiro was being lowered when his belayer lost control of the brake strand threaded through a tube-style ...
Avalanche on Independence Peak. The approximate crown line and injured skier’s location (X) after the slide are shown. The skier was carried about 1,000 vertical feet. Two skiers, male and female, both in their late 20s or early 30s, set out ...
On May 7 around 1:30 p.m., the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office received notification of a fall victim with critical injuries in Pine Creek Canyon. The patient was reported to be near the top of an unnamed scrambling route, approximately 500 feet off ...
On June 10, Inyo SAR was notified of an overdue climber (age 59 and experienced) in the Mt. Humphreys area, west of Bishop. His wife reported that the climber’s intended itinerary was to ascend the North Couloir (ice and snow up to 50°+) and desce...
Some friends and I went to Lembert Dome on August 4. I was a moderately experienced sport and gym climber but new to trad climbing. One friend climbed the first pitch of Northwest Books (5.6) and left the gear for me so I could “pinkpoint” the rou...
Bailing off a steep route is a nearly inevitable outcome if you climb enough walls, so it’s best to know how to get down safely before you find yourself dangling in space, wishing you knew what to do. Yosemite climbing rangers advise the following...
Two climbers attempting the West Face of Leaning Tower in June decided to descend after arriving at Ahwahnee Ledge (the top of the fourth pitch), due to excessive heat and sun. While rappelling the very overhanging first pitch with the haulbag, Cl...
On June 4, Alex and Jane (pseudonyms) started their afternoon of climbing on Mockery, a bolted 5.8 route. Jane began leading, but a few bolts up she asked to get lowered. The climbers switched roles and Alex ascended the route to the bolted anchor...
The number of accidents and searches on Mt. Shasta was down from the last couple of seasons, most likely due to COVID-19 and the associated forest closure and stay-at-home orders, which kept people off the mountain for a while. In 2020, the U.S. F...
Pioneer Peak looms over the Knik River, northeast of Anchorage. The north face is a broad pyramid laced with gullies, starting at 500 feet above sea level and rising to the summit at 6,398 feet. The classic route follows a direct line to the summi...
On July 14, I met up with two partners to climb some trad routes in Hatcher Pass. I had been leading trad for more than four years and regularly traveled outside of Alaska to get practice outside of our very short summer climbing season. After wa...
Last year was a strange one for climbers, to say the least. COVID-19 seems to have brought far more climbers to some areas—with an increase in accidents—while other areas had unusually low numbers, primarily because of long COVID-related closures....
Gail Oberlin Bates spent her last morning at home reading the New York Times, engaged in the world to the end—which was at the grand age of 103. Married for 53 years to the pioneering mountaineer Bob Bates, who died at age 96 in 2007, Gail was an...
Cannon, a Climber’s Guide, written by Howard Peterson, was the first guidebook to Cannon Cliff in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. While writing the three editions between 1972 and 1975, he was able to contact many of the climbers who established t...
Frank Tarver (left) and Warren Harding sorting gear for the second ascent of Lost Arrow Chimney in Yosemite Valley. Photo by Bob Swift Frank Tarver died on March 30 in Edmonds, Washington. He was born in Oakland, California, on July 1, 1935, ...
My partner (49) and I (33) are very experienced climbers. I’ve climbed at the Red several times, and though it was my partner’s first time here, he has climbed and belayed plenty of steep routes. My background is multi-pitch trad, and his is all s...