On October 14, I started leading the direct start to Ventre de Boeuf, which begins with an easy squeeze chimney leading to a short 5.10 offwidth. Because of the chimney start, my first piece of pro was a number 4 Camalot maybe 20 feet off the deck...
There were four technical climbing rescues in the mountains of upstate New York in 2017. In addition to the ice climbing accident described here, a 58-year-old man fell on an ice climb in Platte Clove in the Catskills and was injured but able to w...
Ghulam Muhammad, an old Pakistani friend and organizer of many of my travels in Baltistan, knows my taste in mountaineering objectives. He had sent me a photo of a beautiful granite wall, which I tried to find using Google Earth within the seeming...
On September 18, Philip De-Beger and I set up base camp at 4,864m (36.451221°N, 75.713064°E) at the entrance to the East Shuwert Valley, not far from Shimshal Pass. There was a fair amount of snow, but this cleared over the next few days as we set...
The Nyainbo Yuze has held a special place in my imagination since opening AAJ 2014 and seeing Tamotsu Nakamura’s photos of the spiky granite peaks. I visited the range in 2016 (AAJ 2017) and soon began planning a return expedition. On September 25...
Andrew Carson Harvard died in January 2019 after a decade-long battle with younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease. His final days were comforted by phone messages from his extensive network of colleagues, climbers, classmates, and friends.Andy was born...
Damian Göldi and Marcel Jaun (Switzerland) attempted unclimbed Baintha Brakk West I (a.k.a. Ogre IV, 6,660m) via the south face. They acclimatized with an ascent of 5,330m Uzan Brakk VI, and then, in a short weather window, they climbed the lower ...
On the long west-northwest ridge of Baintha Brakk (a.k.a. Ogre, 7,265m) lie several impressive summits, including Baintha Brakk West (6,660m) and Baintha Brakk West II (6,540m). Max Ten and I had the latter as our goal and approached up the Biafo ...
James Bailie, Alistair Bell, Vasili Trigas, and I left Bishkek for Karakol on August 14, ultimately heading for the Ushat-too, south of the town of Inylchek (Engilchek). The Maida Adyr Base Camp for the Inylchek Glacier is a little to the east o...
From July 26 to 28, Murat Otepbayev (leader), Tursunali Aubakirov, Igor Malkin, Maxim Pavlov, and Grigory Shchukin from Almaty climbed a new route on the south side of Bayancol (5,841m). Situated directly opposite Khan Tengri on the North Inylchek...
I FIRST CORRESPONDED with Brette Harrington in 2016, asking her to write an article for the AAJ about her recent route Hidden Dragon, climbed with Marc-André Leclerc on the Chinese Puzzle Wall in British Columbia. She sent in her story, and we beg...
WORKING AS a trekking guide in Torres del Paine for a few years, it was hard to ignore this incredible line on the south side of Cerro Almirante Nieto. I tried the route alone a couple of times, in different times of the year, without success. I r...
The 2018 season saw continued interest in the granite walls of Quebrada Rurec in the southern Cordillera Blanca.In late July, Steve House and Josh Wharton made the second free ascent of Qui Io Vado Ancora (585m, 7c+/8a-; see AAJ 2007 and AAJ 201...
Martin Elias, Francois Poncet (a.k.a. Ponpon), and I approached the east face of Cerro San Lorenzo (3,706m) for the second time in early October. (Martin and I made a previous attempt in 2017, with Sebastien Corret.) The three of us, longtime frie...
In August, my wife, Vahitiare Beltrami, Simon Schonemann-Poppeliers, and I traveled to the Andean village of Pacchanta, where we met our compadres, the Crispin family, to climb some nearby peaks. We spent 10 days in the area, from August 17 to Aug...
On July 9, 2017, I climbed a probable new route on the west aspect of Oje Punta (5,386m), also known as Lliani, in the eastern Cordillera Vilcanota.I left the Ausangate base camp at 5:30 a.m., carrying a pair of rock climbing shoes and a small day...
Nevado Huayllaco (5,460m, also spelled Huaiyacu, approximately 9°50'4.21"S, 77°11'21.61"W) was first ascended in 1963 by Domingo Giobbi (Italy/Brazil) and the brothers Eugenio and Macario Angeles (Peru), who called it Raria Este; they likely ascen...
In 1967, the southwest face of Chilpariti (ca 5,550m) was so highly coveted by two visiting expeditions that the British team, led by Roger Whewell, literally bargained for it with the New Zealand Alpine Club in exchange for Trident (ca 5,490m), t...
In August, I led a 10-day traverse across the Cordillera Carabaya between the towns of Macusani (4,300m) and Ollachea (2,800m), including various side trips. We were an entirely self-supported group of four enthusiastic people: Giselle Field, Matt...
In May, Guy Fonck (Belgium) and I climbed an unnamed peak (ca 5,400m, 11°56'5.79"S 76° 3'18.95"W) in the southern Cordillera Central. It is part of the Suiricocha Massif (sometimes spelled Suerococha) and located just to the north of a peak (ca 5,...