Dawn on the northwest ridge of Pik Ketiley (4,710 meters). Photo by Derek Billings Few of us had heard of Kyrgyzstan, let alone considered it as a climbing destination. Tommy Caldwell had made it famous, right? Or was that Kazakhstan? Wait, n...
The left half of the north face of Pik Free Korea in the Ala Archa National Park. There are more than 25 routes and variations on this face; only the routes mentioned in the text are marked. (1) Studenin. (2) Barin. (3) Kustovsky. (4) Semiletkin...
Andy Vine descending the southwest glacier (Deception Route) on Ak Chukur. At distant left is Bel Uluu Mont Blanc (5,402m), while in the center is Pik 5,284m. Photo by Stuart Hurworth The Trans-Alai mountains delineate part of the border betw...
During a spell of excellent climbing conditions in December, four new winter routes were climbed on Sutton Peak (1,874m). Ryan Van Horne and I completed routes on three separate days throughout the month, the first of which was Blackbird Raggin...
On February 9, Matteo Agnoloni, Tom Schindfessel, and Antony Wood completed the first known winter ascent of the north face of Goat Mountain via Sugar Mummy (600m, AI4 R). Goat Mountain (1,401m) lies within the North Shore Mountains, just north of...
Pik Mechta from the south. The ridge falling towards the camera, separating the southwest face (left) from the unclimbed east face (right) is the Boyko-Tkachenko route. Photo by Evgenia Leontyeva In 2019 a small team organized by Evgeny Glaz...
The north face of Pik Communism (C) as seen in winter from Pik Korzhenevskaya. (D) Pik Dushanbe. (1) Bezzubkin Route (1971). (2) Barca (2020). The 2020 climbers’ line above the plateau was up the face left of Route 5 (Borodkin) to Pik Dushanbe...
I had planned a solo expedition to Greenland in 2020, but due to the pandemic and a ban on entry, I had to find an alternative. Northern Norway immediately sprang to mind. I had first seen the famous pyramid of Stetind (1,391m, 68°9'55.00"N, 16°3...
The east side of Luza (5,710m) showing (left) 2020 route up the southeast face/ridge to the summit and (right) attempted route up the middle of the northeast face. Photo by Pemba Sharwa Sherpa Project Luza Winter was a joint expedition of...
Krister Jonsson on the first ascent of Cascade de Quarantine. Photo by Anna Backlund Mostly free to climb around the country throughout the pandemic, my wife, Anna Backlund, and I did two new routes in northern Scandinavia. On February 22, w...
Looking southeast across the head of the Ratkaban Glacier toward Chaturangi and Satopanth. Photo from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering In October 2018, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (established in 1965) and the Uttarakhand Tourism ...
Rory Harrison on the upper traverse of End of the Line, southeast face of Skarðatindur. Below and to the left is the vast Skaftafellsjökull. Photo by Bjartur Týr Ólafsson Bjartur Týr Ólafsson writes: The southeast face of Skarðatindar (Skard...
Matteo Mucci hiking below the rime-ice towers of the east face of Hvannadalshnjúkur after descending from a new route on the west face, headed toward the saddle between the summit and the square-shaped Dyrhamar (the Gate). The approach to Hvanna...
Sam Hunt on the first ascent of the northeast ridge of Mt. Gwendolyn. Photo by Rob Taylor Sam Hunt and I work as field guides at Rothera research station on Adelaide Island. On November 27, we left the base at 6 a.m., and with two sledges of ...
Tucked away to the south of the Terskey Alatau Range and west of the Inylchek Valley is the compact range known as Kuilu (Kuylyu). The first recorded expedition to the Kuilu Range took place in 1937, when a team led by I. Cherepov made the first a...
From September 20 to October 7, 2002, two legendary alpinists, Pavel Shabalin (Russia) and Ilyas Tukhvatullin (Uzbekistan), climbed the Nose Direct on the north face of Ak-su North (a.k.a. Rocky Ak-su, 5,217m). They made 11 portaledge camps and gr...
Taking advantage of a partial loosening in COVID-19 restrictions by Polish and Pakistani authorities, Jakub Bogdański and Michał Ilczuk returned to the northern Karakoram in September for a second attempt on unclimbed Dih Sar (reported as either...
Granite Peak from the south. (A) Location of climber after fall from the Snowbridge, the saddle in the east ridge directly above. (B) Site of rappel anchor failure. (C) Position of fallen climber. Two falls occurred on September 5 on the east...
On July 2, Emma Ely (25), Randy Smersh (36), and I (Zach Eiten, 28), all experienced mountaineers, set out to climb the Notch Couloir route on the north face of Granite Peak (12,799 feet), Montana’s high point. The Notch Couloir is described as “s...
Levan Lashkarashvili (left) and Archil Badriashvili at the first bivouac site during their ascent of the southwest face of Ailama in early September 2020. Their route continued up the headwall above and a little to the right of the two climbers....