While descending from the summit on December 30, a 16-year-old unroped climber slipped at the Pearly Gates and fell approximately 500 feet into the Devil’s Kitchen area. The slide resulted in a femur fracture and a cracked helmet. The injured clim...
On May 5, an inexperienced 39-year-old solo climber slipped while traversing a summit route, falling several hundred feet into a fumarole in the Hot Rocks area. With the assistance of another climber who witnessed the fall, he extracted himself, b...
On October 5, an organized college group divided into two parties to expedite climbing the Daddy (500 feet, 5.6). The first group (A) summited and then hiked out to the parking area. Prior to starting, the groups had agreed that if the second grou...
On June 30, Austin Howell (31) met climber/photographer Ben Wu at the Shortoff Mountain trailhead. Their plan was for Howell to free solo a few routes on Shortoff and have Wu photograph him. Reaching the climbing area, Ben photographed Austin on T...
During the afternoon of May 6, ranger J. Anderson received a call reporting a fallen climber. When Anderson found the patient, Matthew Starkey, he was walking out, holding a shirt on the right side of his head and covered in blood. However, he was...
On March 28, Noah Cleveland (20), Ben Rader (19), Carson Yates (19), and I (22) went to Rumbling Bald to boulder. Ben and I were familiar with the area, and our plan was to introduce Noah and Carson to bouldering outdoors, so we focused on moderat...
Jed (42) and I (28) climbed frequently at Looking Glass Rock, specifically the South Side area. On February 2, a sunny, bluebird day, we had planned to get on a different route and carried only one 60-meter rope with us. However, when we passed Di...
An avalanche thunders down the clasic Polar Circus ice route in the Canadian Rockies. Photo by Max Durrah Every winter, ice climbers are caught and sometimes killed by avalanches. Even small avalanches can be deadly when they get funneled int...
“Der be somtin’ in me boot, man,” shouted Troy Henry in Caribbean-English creole—his primary tongue as a native Guyanan. “It gone bit me!” Troy had just arrived on Tarantula Terrace, a vegetated ledge the size of a dinner table, three rope length...
In 2019 there were 22 reported climbing-related accidents on the Mohonk Preserve. Injuries sustained during these accidents included: three head injuries, one fractured jaw, one spinal fracture, one pelvis fracture, two long bone fractures, and a ...
On July 13, two men and a woman went to Chimney Canyon in the Sandias, planning to rappel the 140-foot route Skinwalker (5.10+) in order to preview gear placements on the climb. The woman went to the base of the crag while the two others went to t...
At 1:58 p.m. on April 22, a skier fell over the Tuckerman Ravine headwall and into one of several holes in the snowpack that frequently open in this area in the spring, caused by waterfalls flowing off rock walls. Partners and bystanders quickly i...
On February 10, Jeremy Ullmann, 37, was attempting to solo climb Central Gully, an easy snow and ice climb in Huntington Ravine. His partner had turned back earlier in the day. After Ullmann was reported overdue at 4:45 p.m., search and rescue tea...
On September 8, Sean Goodrich (45) and his partner planned on climbing Funhouse to Upper Refuse, the classic moderate link-up on Cathedral Ledge. After finishing Funhouse (5. ), the pair eyed what they thought to be Upper Refuse (5.5), a right-lea...
On June 22, George (30) was leading and Steff (30) was belaying on Toxic Gumbo, a 5.8 sport climb on the left side of Main Cliff at Rumney. On a low-angled slab above an overhang, and while out of sight to the belayer, George unexpectedly fell. T...
On August 24, at Echo Crag, Lizzy Ragan (24) fell while climbing Avalanche (5.7), a single-pitch trad route. Lizzy was reported to be comfortable leading 5.10 sport, but was new to leading traditionally protected routes. According to her partner ...
At 11:30 a.m. on September 15, Liam Kirkpatrick (20) and his partner were climbing Moby Grape (8 pitches, 5.8 PG-13) on Cannon Cliff. The 5.7 fifth pitch of this route wanders, and from the traditional belay stance it is not possible to see the le...
Climbers are naturally detail oriented. We compare carabiner weights, argue over gates in or gates out, and research beta down to which way to hold that crimp rail on the third pitch. This level of scrutiny, and the intention that goes into it, ma...
Two falls occurred within the same week in August on the Southwest Ramp route of Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana. On August 20, a 50-year-old female climber slipped on a section of snow in the couloir portion of the route and was unable...
On July 19, two male climbers (ages 24 and 25) ascended the east ridge of Granite Peak (ca. 12,800 feet), summiting at 1:30 a.m on June 20. They became disoriented while attempting to descend in the dark and decided to bivy a few hundred meters to...