In this episode, we sit down with Jarod, a long-time AAC member, to discuss a crazy accident he had at his home crag in Missouri, and how he utilized the AAC’s rescue benefit to cover the cost of his medical expenses. If you’ve been wondering if the AAC’s rescue benefit is for you, Jarod’s story helps explain how it works. We dive into the quirky concept of “girdle traverses” or mulitpitches that go sideways, and analyze his accident— the decisions he made, how traversing complicates gear placements, and the close calls he had. Funnily enough, Jarod also did a FA on that same wall—putting up Missouri’s potentially longest rock climb with Jeremy Collins, and this FA made it into the American Alpine Journal! We discuss the vision behind this 8-pitch traverse, what went into making it happen, the silliness of climbing, the unique belay tactics for traversing, and more!
The Climb that Inspired the Novel that Inspired the Climbs: The Many Stories of the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc
From the AAC Library Collection.
By: Katie Ives
Each book in the American Alpine Club Library is a portal to another world—of golden spires feathered with rime, fluted snow beneath indigo skies, or red-granite aiguilles above a sea of ice. Beyond these worlds, there are countless layers of other worlds encountered by readers inspired to seek their own adventures and return with their own tales. For climbing is an act of storytelling: we trace the arc of a narrative with our bodies and our minds, rising from the base of a mountain toward a climactic point and descending to a resolution. And the history of mountaineering is also the history of reading and imagination, of old dreams endlessly transforming into new ones.
The Climb
On July 15, 1865, English alpinist Adolphus Warburton Moore found himself on the edge of a ridge that looked like something from a fantasy novel. The slender crest of blue ice seemed to rise for an eternity. Sheer voids dropped off on either side. Neither the iron tips of their alpenstocks nor the hobnails of their boots stuck to its flawless surface.
It was inconceivable to climb. No one had yet established a route on this aspect of Mont Blanc, where the Brenva Face rose for 1,400 meters in a chaos of cliffs, towers, and buttresses, fringed by unstable seracs and swept by avalanches and rockfall.
From the AAC Library collection.
Still, the Swiss guide Jakob Anderegg kept going, and the rest of the team, including Moore, cautiously followed. As the crest narrowed, they shuffled along à cheval, one leg on either side, aware that any fall might be catastrophic [1].
Long after they finished the first ascent of the Brenva Spur and descended by a safer route, the ice crest lingered in the imaginations of those who read Moore’s memoir, The Alps in 1864. In 1906, British author A.E.W. Mason located the climactic scene of his crime novel Running Water on the Brenva Spur—a point of no return that appeared perfect for an attempted murder of one climber by another, “a line without breadth of cold blue ice” [2].
The Novel
Mason’s Running Water, like its author’s inspiration, begins with reading. Riding the train to Chamonix, his young protagonist Sylvia Thesiger becomes immersed in an old copy of the British Alpine Journal, published more than two decades prior to the novel. All night, she couldn’t sleep, remembering her first glimpse of the Mont Blanc massif beyond the curtain of a train window, recalling her sense of inchoate longing for its moonlit towers of ice and snow.
Although women climbers had taken part in numerous firsts by the time of the novel’s plot, they weren’t permitted to publish in the Alpine Journal under their own bylines until 1889, when Margaret Jackson recounted her epic first winter traverse of the Jungfrau. And there’s no female author or character in the story Thesiger reads about the first ascent of an aiguille near Mont Blanc. Yet she longs to enter its world, and when she arrives in Chamonix, she hires guides to take her on her own first climb, up the Aiguille d’Argentière. As an ice slope tilts upward, sheer and smooth as a pane of glass, she rejoices, feeling as if she’s finally dreamed her way into a scene from mountain literature, “the place where no slip must be made.” Astounded at her fearlessness and intuitive skill, a guide tells her she bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous climber from the Alpine Journal story she’d just admired.
“I felt something had happened to me which I had to recognize—a new thing,” she recalls. “Climbing that mountain...was just like hearing very beautiful music. All the vague longings which had ever stirred within me, longings for something beyond, and beyond.” Later, after she falls in love with a climber, the memory of that day suffuses their bond with a steadfast alpine glow—“ice-slope and rock-spire and the bright sun over all.”
By the end, however, the novel shifts from her journey of self-discovery toward an outcome more conventional for its era. Newly wed, Thesiger is relegated to waiting below the Brenva Spur while the male hero and villain confront each other above that narrow blue crest. Readers don’t find out, for certain, whether she’ll climb any mountains again. A sense of incompleteness remains: the mysterious promise of her alpine epiphanies and of her suppressed and inmost self seem to flow beyond the narrative’s abrupt conclusion, like the recurring dreams she has of running water.
The Next Climbs
After the publication of Running Water, the ice crest reemerged in a real climber’s recurring dreams. During World War I, Scottish physiologist Thomas Graham Brown took refuge in fantasies inspired by the novel. Night after night, in his sleep, he left behind the horrors of grim battles and shell-shocked men [3] for his own imagined version of the Brenva Face amid a wonderland of shining mountains. The geography seemed so “vivid,” he wrote in his memoir, Brenva, “that a map might be made of the country” [4].
After he recovered from the war, Brown sought the Brenva Face again and again, though its actual topography proved different from what he’d seen in his dreams. Between 1927 and 1933, he established three new routes there, some of the hardest of his day: the Sentinelle and the Major with fellow British climber Frank Smythe; and the Pear with Swiss guides Alexander Graven and Alfred Aufdenblatten. During the last climb, under the shadow of the full moon, Brown felt as if the Brenva had become, once more, “an unknown land,” a flood of dreams subsuming all the real lines he’d climbed.
As they descended from the summit, light flashed along the running water of a stream, and like Thesiger, he heard an unearthly music cascade through his mind. In his sleep, long afterward, Brown continued to explore the dream version of the Brenva Face, its enigmas unresolved. And for the rest of his life, he kept Mason’s Running Water close by [5].
A Real-Life Sequel to the Novel
Meanwhile, currents of Sylvia Thesiger’s story flowed on through another real alpinist’s life. In 1920 a budding English climbing writer, Dorothey Pilley, strained to see the Alps through the window of a crowded train. She was so overwhelmed with long-held imaginings that her own first glimpse of the range seemed like a chaos of snow-reflected light.
Since reading Running Water, Pilley had felt spellbound by the unearthly ice arête of the Brenva Spur, but also by the ice slope of the Aiguille d’Argentière, where Thesiger steps into the world of her dreams. The scenes blended in Pilley’s mind with those of other, mythic peaks into “a strange, now unrecapturable farrago of fantasies…perhaps a vague haunting background to all my mountain experiences” [6].
Like Thesiger, Pilley felt a new self emerge when she climbed, free of the constraints of her society. As if echoing the novel, when she attempted her own early mountain writing, she found herself trying to capture images of running water over stone. Pilley, too, fell in love in the hills, and the awe and light of the mountains remained at the heart of her subsequent marriage [7].
From the AAC Library Collection.
Beyond that point, Pilley’s life story continued along one of many paths that Thesiger might have taken after the novel’s ending—if Thesiger’s author proved bold enough and feminist enough to compose such a sequel. Following a similar yearning for the mysterious, Pilley completed first ascents around the world, often with her husband, Ivor (I.A) Richards. On their most famous new route, the North Ridge of the Dent Blanche, with French guide Joseph Georges, the couple encountered a surreal crest of their own, “as though a dream had got out of place.” Its smooth and at times overhanging rock required “a leap into the void,” they recalled in the Alpine Journal [8].
Pilley also joined the early movement of women taking part in manless, guideless ascents, demonstrating they could be fully independent leaders. And she wrote down her adventures in a book of her own, Climbing Days, which became one of the great classics of literary alpine memoirs. In one of his poems, her husband I.A. Richards quoted her words, “Leaping crevasses in the dark, / That’s how to live!” [9].
The Next Novel?
Mason’s novel haunts me, too. I also fantasize of the imaginary and the real, at times obscuring each other like shadows and moonlight, cascading in unending, luminous streams from ascent to tale to ascent and tale again. Thesiger’s longings appear so vivid they seem to transcend fiction or illusion like the topography of Brown’s recurring dreams. And I wonder what she might accomplish if she were released from the pages of Running Water: Could she return to climb the Brenva Spur herself? Could her life unfold with the same wild audacity that Pilley’s had, taking leap after leap over the voids? Given the intensity of Thesiger’s love of the Alps and her inherent talent, could she, too, write down her own adventures instead of merely reading stories by men? Most of all, could she venture even deeper into the ecstatic communion with the mountains that she’d encountered on her first climb, amid the light, the stillness, and the ice?
We live in a new era now, when alpine literature is expanding and diversifying, with the influence of new voices and new ideas. It seems past time for someone to write a new novel that could be a sequel to Running Water or else a complete reenvisioning—to find new possibilities within that “line without breadth of cold blue ice.”
Perhaps one of the readers of my story, now, will write the next book, one that might inspire as yet unimaginable climbs and dreams.
[I have also explored the story of the Brenva Face in a Sharp End column for Alpinist 75.—Author.]
More From Katie Ives
Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
This article was made possible with research assistance from AAC Library Director Katie Sauter.
Endnotes
[1] Adolphus Warburton Moore, The Alps in 1864: A Private Journal (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1902). Although the book states “1864” in its title, the 1865 climb is included.
[2] A.E.W. Mason, Running Water and The Guide, with introduction and notes by Roberta Grandi (London Academic Publishing, 2021).
[3] For a biography of Thomas Graham Brown, short-listed for the Boardman-Tasker Award, see Peter Foster’s The Uncrowned King of Mont Blanc (Langley, UK: Baton Wicks Publications, 2019).
[4] Thomas Graham Brown, Brenva (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1944).
[5] See Robin N. Campbell’s “Graham Brown’s Eulogy,” in the Edinburgh University Mountaineering Club Online Archives, eumarchives.files.wordpress.com, 1965.
[6] Climbing Days, Dorothy Pilley (London: Secker & Warburg, 1935).
[7] As Pilley’s nephew, Dan Richards, wrote in his biography of her, also called Climbing Days (London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2016), “Ivor and Dorothea were both, first and foremost, mountaineers. They met in the mountains on an equal footing and returned there whenever they could for the rest of their lives…. United climbing companions on a rope, their apparently eccentric union founded in the wild landscape of the mountains.”
[8] Dorothy Pilley and I.A. Richards, “The North Ridge of the Dent Blanche,” Alpine Journal 35 (1923).
[9] As cited in Dan Richard’s biography of Pilley.
The Line — June 2024
FAMILY TIES
With Father’s Day just past, we’re sharing a few stories of multi-generational climbing families that are featured in the upcoming 2024 AAJ (plus one from the archives).
The Uriostes of Red Rock
Joanne and Jorge Urioste are legends of Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, having established many classic routes (Crimson Chrysalis, Epinephrine, Dream of Wild Turkeys, Levitation 29, and on and on). Their son Danny is also a climber, and in recent years he too has been putting up big new routes in the sandstone canyons west of Las Vegas, often in the company of prolific new-router and AAJ contributor Sam Boyce. In December 2023, the two teamed up with Kyle Willis for a new route on the Aeolian Wall: Salami Wand Kenobi (14 pitches, V 5.11- R C2).
Coincidentally, the new route incorporated three pitches of Woman of Mountain Dreams. That route, Urioste explains in his AAJ 2024 report, “was first climbed in 1997 by my parents, along with Dave Krulesky and Mike Morea, and then freed by my mother and Aitor Uson in 1998.”
Danny Urioste and Sam Boyce climbed another route on Aeolian Wall, a long direct start to the classic Resolution Arête, in November 2022. You can read about that climb, the Evolution Arête, on Mountain Project.
Watch the AAC Legacy Series interview with Joanne and Jorge Urioste!
The Millers of Juneau
Mt. Swineford (6,841’) from the northwest. The first ascent was by the west face, partially hidden in clouds. Photo by Dylan Miller.
Dylan Miller has been a frequent AAJ contributor in recent years, with many new routes and winter ascents in the mountains around Juneau, Alaska. He has three reports in the upcoming AAJ, including the story of the first known ascent of Mt. Swineford a few years back, which Dylan completed with his dad, Mike, along with Makaila Olson and Ben Still. Dylan says he owes his love of the mountains to his father: “He has definitely been a big inspiration in my life. He took me on my first adventures, and he has done so many first ascents in the area.”
In AAJ 2019, Dylan described a classic Alaska adventure with his dad: the first ascent of Endicott Tower, about 50 miles northwest of the capital city. “From Juneau we flew to Gustavus, jumped on a Glacier Bay tourist catamaran, cruised up the east arm of Glacier Bay, and got dropped off in a sandy cove at the base of Mt. Wright, near Adams Inlet,” Miller wrote. “We inflated our rafts and waited for the incoming tide to suck us into the 14-mile Adams Inlet. We waded and crisscrossed the Goddess River delta, sometimes crossing swift, waist-deep rivers, and made camp for the night. We then hiked a full day…to Endicott Lake, the headwaters for the Endicott River. Here we stashed our water gear and tromped 2,000’ up through the Tongass rainforest to a pristine hanging alpine valley, where we made our base camp.”
Mike Miller during yet another Southeast Alaska adventure: the first ascent of Snow Tower. See AAJ 2016. Photo by William Wacker.
A few days later, from a higher camp, the two climbed snow, mixed terrain, and rotten rock to complete the first ascent of the 5,805-foot peak. “From the top we looked southeast to Juneau and pointed out our home, which put into perspective how far out there we really were,” Dylan wrote. After a rest at base camp, during which a friend flew in to pick up their mountain gear, they packrafted down the Endicott River, bushwhacked past a deep gorge (climbing another peak along the way), and returned to the river to float out to the sea.
Huayna Illampu (5,940m) from the south, showing (1) the approximate line of the 1973 Mesili-Sanchez Route and (2) Via dei Nembresi (700m, ED AI4 M5). The climbers in 2023 continued up Illampu (6,368m), which is hidden behind Huayna Illampu. Photo by Daniele Assolari.
The Nembrinis of Nembro
“In 1973, an expedition led by Carlo Nembrini climbed Illampu (6,368m) in Bolivia and then moved to Illimani,” begins a report in AAJ 2024. “After climbing that peak, they joined a search for the bodies of Pierre Dedieu (France) and Ernesto “Coco” Sanchez (Bolivia), who had been killed on the mountain. Sanchez had been considered the best alpinist in Bolivia at the time…. The Italians located the body of Sanchez, but tragically, during the evacuation, Nembrini fell to his death.”
A book written about Carlo Nembrini, a leading Italian alpinist of his era, after his death. The book can be seen at the AAC Library but is not available for check-out.
In 2022, Rosa Morotti, a niece of Nembrini’s, wrote to the guide Daniele Assolari, an Italian who lives and works in Bolivia, “about her dream of opening a new route on Illampu, 50 years after the death of her uncle.” Assolari put together a trip with Morotti and Maria Teresa Llampa Vasquez (the first female IFMGA aspirant guide from Bolivia), and in late June of 2023, the trio climbed a new line up the south side of Huayna Illampu, a 5,940-meter peak on the southwest ridge of the main summit, then continued up the higher peak. “Rosa dedicated the route to…all the people of Nembro (immediately northeast of Bergamo), where her father and Carlo were born: Via dei Nembresi (700m, ED AI4 M5).”
Three George Lowes on the Grand
George Lowe III in Tanzania in 2015. Wikipedia Photo.
The 1981 AAJ carried one of the shortest stories in the journal’s history, a one-sentence report on a notable event in the Tetons. Here is the report, in its entirety: “In July three George Lowes, grandfather, father and son, all climbed the Exum route of the Grand Teton together, which may be some kind of a new record.”
The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this publication? Contact Heidi McDowell for opportunities. Got a potential story for the AAJ? Email us: aaj@americanalpineclub.org.
Remembering John Middendorf
Wind River Ranger, 1991 // Photo by Wikimedia/John Middendorf
We are deeply saddened by the loss of the incredible climber, mountaineer, inventor, writer, and historian of climbing gear John Middendorf. John (nicknamed the "Deuce") was a true friend to the American Alpine Club, and his insatiable curiosity and kindness made an impression on everyone he met.
Although his contributions to climbing are many, some in particular changed the sport forever. John’s ascent of the East Face of Great Trango Tower in 1992 with Xaver Bongard epitomized his elite climbing skill—The Grand Voyage was a performance of a lifetime on one of the biggest and remotest big walls in the world, and was one of the first Grade VII climbs. John also put up new Grade VI routes on Half Dome and El Cap, along with many first ascents in Zion National Park. He was otherwise a prolific contributor to the American Alpine Journal with exploratory climbs all across the world. John, an engineer and inventor, started a hardware company, A5 Adventures, in 1986. His innovations in portaledge design, as well as Birdbeak pitons, aiders, haul bags, and other gear, unequivocally changed the big-wall game. He sold A5 to The North Face in 1997. His 1994 book Big Walls, co-authored with John Long, was the crucial reference for many wall-climbing novices.
But besides being a great man in climbing, he also was a dear friend of the AAC. We deeply appreciate the generosity and knowledge he shared with the Club, his support of the AAC Library, and his contributions to the Legacy Series and the 2023 Cutting Edge Grant.
The AAC’s Library Director, Katie Sauter, reflected: “[John’s] insatiable curiosity led him to research so many avenues of climbing, often sending me questions about the most obscure references. He was very knowledgeable and wrote blog posts about a wide variety of topics pertaining to climbing history and the evolution of gear. He was generous with his time, and when he was visiting, he'd identify historic climbing gear for our collections. His enthusiasm was infectious. He was so interested in how gear was made that he even wanted to test the composition of some of our historic pitons to see what kind of metal was used.”
The AAC will truly miss John Middendorf, and our thoughts are with his wife, Jeni, his children, and his other family and friends as they grieve and celebrate him.
All Aspects
The AAC DC Chapter hosts a New Ice Climber Weekend in the Adirondacks with Escala
PC: Colt Bradley
Grassroots: Unearthing the Future of Climbing
By: Sierra McGivney
The sun peeked over the Pitchoff Quarry crag, hitting the ice and creating an enchanting aura. The cool February air was saturated with people laughing and ice tools scraping against the ice. If you listened closely, you'd notice that the conversations were a beautiful mix of English and Spanish.
PC: Colt Bradley
The New Ice Climber Weekend (NICW), hosted by the AAC DC Chapter, has become an annual event. Piotr Andrzejczak, the AAC DC chapter chair and organizer of the New Ice Climber Weekend, believes mentorship is paramount in climbing. The weekend aims to provide participants with an opportunity to try ice climbing, find ice climbing partners, and have a starting point for more significant objectives. Above all, it aims to minimize the barrier to entry for ice climbing.
Last year, Andrzejczak approached Melissa Rojas, the co-founder of Escala and volunteer with the DC Chapter, about partnering to do a New Ice Climber Weekend with Escala. Escala is part of the American Alpine Club's Affiliate Support Network, which provides emerging affinity groups with resources in order to minimize barriers in their operations and serving their community. Escala “creates accessibility, expands representation, and increases visibility in climbing for Hispanic and Latine individuals by building community, sharing culture, and mentoring one another.”
Climbing can be a challenging sport to get into. It can require shoes, a harness, a gym membership, and climbing partners. Ice climbing requires all that plus more: ice tools, crampons, and winter clothing.
"There's a lot more complexity to ice climbing," said Rojas.
PC: Colt Bradley
Ice climbing can be limited not only in quantity but also in quality. Due to climate change, the ice in the Adirondacks loses its quality faster than previous decades and the climbs are only of good quality for a limited amount of time. DC climbers are at least seven hours from the Adirondacks, plus traffic and stops, so ice climbing for them has unforeseen logistical challenges. During the NICW, participants can focus more on the basics of learning to ice climb and less on logistics.
Rojas and Andrzejczak hosted a pre-meetup/virtual session so that participants could get to know each other and ask questions ahead of time. "We wanted to give folks an opportunity to ice climb in a supportive environment where they felt like they were in a community and were being supported throughout the whole process, from the planning stage to the actual trip," said Rojas.
Another focus of the weekend was creating a film. Colt Bradley attended the New Ice Climber Weekend in 2023 as a videographer and as a participant. Bradley volunteers with the AAC Baltimore Chapter and is also Andrzejczak's climbing partner. Last year, he created four Instagram videos that captured the excitement of ice climbing for the first time. When asked to film the Escala x NICW this year, he wanted to do something longer and more story-focused. Bradley and Rojas talked beforehand about focusing the film on the Escala community and highlighting the bond made possible through its existence.
Rojas has worked hard to build up this blended community of Spanish-speaking climbers. Spanish has many flavors, as it is spoken in many different countries with different cultures—all unique in their own way. The film focused on reflecting and representing the vibrant community of Escala.
Soon, they all found themselves at Pitchoff Quarry in the Adirondacks. While the participants learned how to swing their ice tools and kick their crampons into the ice, Bradley sought out community moments. He wanted to put viewers in the moment as participants climbed, so he mic'd some participants; including Kathya Meza.
Meza spoke openly during interviews and had a compelling story that Bradley thought would resonate with the viewers.
PC: Colt Bradley
In the film's final scene, viewers can hear Meza swinging her tools into the ice, see her smiling, and experience her problem solving as she pushes herself outside her comfort zone. Bradley filmed this scene the first day before they even identified her as a focal point of the film.
Bradley continued to capture the essence of the Latino influence over the weekend. On the second day, the group headed to Chapel Pond. Despite the cold 21-degree weather and whipping wind, the energy was high. Mentors taught mentees how to layer correctly, and folks danced salsa at the base of the crag to stay warm. Later, feeling connected and energized from this incredible trip, the group salsa danced on the frozen Chapel Pond with the iconic ice falls that makeup Chounaird's Gully and Power Play in the background.
"For the twenty-some-odd years I've been going to the Adirondacks to ice climb, I've never even thought that maybe one day I'll be dancing on Chapel Pond, hosting a new Ice Climbing weekend with Escala" said Piotr.
For Rojas, it was some of her best salsa dancing. She was so focused on staying warm that it freed her from overthinking her dancing skills. The dancing didn't stop at Chapel Pond. After dinner, the group returned to the inn and fired up the woodstove in the recreation room. The sound of salsa dancing and glee filled the room.
The NICW isn't about going out and sending, so naturally, this isn't the type of climbing film where climbers try hard on overhung climbs overlaid with cool EDM music. Every climber remembers the moment they got hooked on climbing, whether sport, trad, ice, or alpine climbing; they remember the thrill of reaching the top of a climb for the first time, out of breath but more excited than ever. Climbing is a multifaceted sport, and climbing films should be reflective of that. Showing the first-time-swinging-an-ice-tool moments at the NICW inspires someone to take that first step toward something new or nostalgic for the longtime climber.
PC: Colt Bradley
"I think the thing about Escala is it's more than just a climbing group. It's a community," said Rojas.
Escala is a place where Rojas can be all parts of herself. Rojas has four children and refers to Escala as her fifth baby. She doesn't have to explain why she climbs or her love for Sábado Gigante–a famous variety show in Latin America. Everyone in her community recognizes all aspects of her. Her identity as a climber and as a Latina can be one.
One participant of the NICW approached Rojas and said it was the best experience of their life.
PC: Colt Bradley
"He said it with such sincerity that it was really humbling in the moment," said Rojas.
Leading an affinity group can often feel like running on a never-ending treadmill of organizing event after event, where reflection takes a backseat. However, according to Rojas if she can positively affect just one person, it makes all the work worth it.
Salsa music playing over Chapel Pond, smiling faces red from the winter frost, and dancing in crampons are the mosaic of moments that make up the heart of Escala, the DC Chapter, and the New Ice Climber Weekend.
Watch Escala En Hielo Below
Featured
EDUCATE: The Climbing World's Best Books about Accidents and the Cutting Edge
This year’s editions of Accidents in North American Climbing and the American Alpine Journal are off to the printer! We had the editors of these world-renowned books, Dougald MacDonald and Pete Takeda, on the podcast to discuss all the details of what goes into making these books: including how stories get selected, the challenges of investigating how accidents happen, how these books fit into the larger climbing media landscape, and the long history of these books. Our editors also chat about what it’s like to edit over 100 stories about climbers hurting themselves and then still go climbing. We cover how these books have been translated and utilized across the globe, as well as trends in accidents this year. If you’re looking for more details about how the AAC produces such robust reporting on cutting edge climbing and accident analysis each year, you’ll have to hear from the editors themselves!
United We Climb? Or United We VIBE?—The June T-Shirt Is Here
Pack your boombox and rigid-stem cams, it's time to vibe out. This June, we're offering this bodacious limited edition t-shirt when you join the Club, renew your membership, donate $30 or more. If you’re obsessed with the climbing vibe, this 80’s inspired t-shirt is for you!
Use promo code VIBE24 during the month of June only.
AAC Submits Comment on Proposed Bears Ears Climbing Management Plan
PC: Jeremiah Watt
On March 8, 2024 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) opened the public comment period for the Bears Ears National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, notably impacting the world-renowned climbing of Indian Creek, UT. The BLM and USFS held open-house style public meetings with opportunities to speak with resource specialists, as well as provided virtual meeting options to attend. The public comment period closed Tuesday, June 11th, and the AAC submitted the comment below which supports tribal co-management of the Monument, makes recommendations on zoning/area designations, asks questions regarding proposed permitting and closure criteria, and other topics of interest to the climbing community. Read on to learn more about the draft management plan and the AAC’s perspective on it.
June 11, 2024
Bureau of Land Management
Bears Ears National Monument
Monticello Field Office
P.O. Box 7
Monticello, Utah 84535
Email: blm_ut_monticello_monuments@blm.gov
RE: Public Comment, Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Bears Ears National Monument (BENM)
The American Alpine Club (“AAC”) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Bears Ears National Monument. The BENM, and more specifically Indian Creek, is a world-class destination for rock climbing and attracts many of the AAC’s 26,000-plus members nationwide to climb and enjoy the recreation and cultural resources in BENM. The AAC looks forward to continued engagement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in regard to climbing management and values the efforts of the BLM and USFS to steward the abundant and unique resources of BENM. This RMP will be critical in managing the ecological, cultural, and natural resources of the BENM, especially as more people recreate in the outdoors in all forms of activities. The AAC would like to be considered a resource for the BLM and USFS in helping steward these important resources for generations to come and support the BLM’s and USFS’s effort to create an informed and enduring RMP.
I. The American Alpine Club
The AAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Golden, Colorado, with over 26,000 members nationally. Founded in 1902 to support the research and exploration of mountainous regions, the AAC remains committed to supporting the climbing and human-powered outdoor recreation communities over a century later. Grounded in community and location, the AAC’s mission is to share and support members’ passion for climbing and respect for the places they climb. Through education, community gatherings, stewardship, policy, advocacy, and scientific research, the AAC strives to build a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes.
II. Alternative E
A. Tribal Co-Management. The AAC supports the recommended tribal co-management of BENM found in Alternative E1 [1]. Recognizing that this is a precedent-setting methodology of management that may serve as a model for future co-management opportunities, we seek several points of clarification within Alternative E that we hope will be addressed prior to or in conjunction with any implementation plan. While we find points of merit in all the alternatives presented in the Draft RMP, we believe that any plan which does not include a component of tribal co-management would be a missed opportunity to recognize Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK)[2] as a valuable resource in decision-making regarding conservation, environmental, and cultural resources. We support utilization of the Bears Ears Commission (BEC) established in 2016 [3], as described in the Presidential Proclamation creating BENM, stating:
““In recognition of the importance of tribal participation to the care and management of the objects identified above, and to ensure that management decisions affecting the monument reflect tribal expertise and traditional and historical knowledge, a Bears Ears Commission (Commission) is hereby established to provide guidance and recommendations on the development and implementation of management plans and on management of the monument.” [4]
”
B. Zones. Alternative E proposes the management of recreation through a zoned approach, designating four zones consisting of Front Country, Passage, Outback, and Remote [5]. This zoned approach would largely remove existing recreation management designations (such as Recreation Management Zones (RMZ) and Special Recreation Management Areas). The Indian Creek area, as an area of primary interest to the climbing community, would be largely located in the Outback and Remote Zones [6]. Indian Creek is currently designated as a Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA), and subject to the regulations associated with that SRMA [7] such as dispersed camping regulations, regulations regarding interaction with archeological sites, wild species avoidance guidance, trail usage regulations, and more.
The novel zone designations as written and applied to the zoning proposed for Indian Creek are unnecessarily restrictive and do not allow for future management flexibility. In Remote Zones no “new sites/facilities/trails would be developed”[8] and in Outback Zones no “new sites/facilities would be developed”[9] except for the possibility of “minor recreation facilities such as trails, trailhead markers, and informational kiosks” [10] when deemed “necessary.” These in toto exclusions do not provide land managers with the flexibility for future management concerns, which are easily accounted for in the existing SRMA and can be tailored in future SRMA or RMZ designations. We recommend utilizing a hybrid zone/designation system such as that utilized in the 2020 Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan [11] which allows for the development of SRMAs and RMZs that are more tailored within any zone, or sub-component of a zone, to address the specific management concerns of that zone and accounting for BEC collaboration in that decision-making process. The SRMAs and/or RMZs would be managed in accordance with the distinct recreation-tourism market for which they were created and in conjunction with the BEC.
C. Permitting. The proposal to develop a Monument permit system that would require a permit for all “private overnight and day use in all canyons”[12] is a dramatic departure from current practices. If the intent is to simply account for the general number and whereabouts of visitors on a no-cost basis then the AAC supports that proposition provided it has varying methods of registration accommodating various ability levels (i.e., in-person, web-based, etc). If the recommendation is for a permit fee structure, we would request an opportunity to see the specific proposed permit fees prior to making recommendations on a permitting plan. However, we do generally support increased management of the resources at BENM and understand permitting may be a requisite component of efficient management of the resources.
D. Approval Process for New Routes. The AAC appreciates the agencies. recognizing that the climbing in BENM located in and around Indian Creek is “world famous”[13] and important to the local recreation economy [14]. The climbing activity specific management proposal [15] is of particular interest to our membership and impacts climbers worldwide. We support the recommendation that, “replacement of existing bolts, anchors, and fixed gear would be allowed on existing climbing and canyoneering routes as needed for safety reasons without prior authorization”[16]. In regard to the approval of new routes which require fixed anchors we recommend that, where appropriate, the agencies in collaboration with the BEC and delegated climbing organizations/representatives consider programmatic approval of routes for specific zones when considering the overall new route approval process. We also recommend that an interim process of route approval be developed prior to implementation in order to ensure that new routes can be considered by land managers and the BEC while the new process is under consideration, avoiding a de facto moratorium on new route development. For both the interim and final climbing management plans we recommend that local climbers and climbing organizations be engaged in the process for substantive input to inform those plans.
E. Closures. The draft plan states that, “Existing access points, trails, and climbing routes that are consistent with the protection of BENM objects would remain available for use. If site-specific impacts exist, climbing routes can be closed and access trails and staging areas may be closed or rerouted”[17] and that, “Climbing closures would be identified in accordance with applicable law” [18]. The AAC asks for clarification on what criteria would be utilized in the determination of “consistent with the protection of BENM” as well as the criteria that would be utilized to determine “impact.” We understand that the criteria could be dependent upon whether the closure is aimed to protect an ecological/biological resource such as raptors, or a cultural resource such as an archaeological site. We also seek clarification of the factors or criteria to be considered for determining a “resource rest” is appropriate to justify a closure, as well as how the length of time for a resource rest would be calculated.
F. Commercial Filming. Under Alternative E no commercial filming would be allowed [19]. We believe that a wholesale prohibition to commercial filming on BENM could be a missed opportunity to promote the cultural, biological, and ecological relevance of the Monument, as well as amplifying best-practices through the media arts. The agencies should consider reviewing commercial project proposals in conjunction with the BEC through the existing film permitting system [20] and consider those that may enhance and/or promote the image of BENM.
III. Conclusion
The American Alpine Club values this opportunity to represent over 26,000 members, and the collective climbing community, on the future of climbing management in the Bears Ears National Monument. In summary, the AAC would like to reiterate our strong support of this historic tribal co-management opportunity through the BEC. We ask that consideration be given to preserving the current SRMA in Indian Creek, or future SRMAs/RMZs, in order to remain flexible for current and future recreation needs. We seek clarification on matters concerning permitting and fees, new climbing route approval processes, and criteria for area closure and rest periods. Additionally, we ask that consideration be given to the outright prohibition of commercial filming on the Monument.
The AAC will remain committed to instilling the ethos of utilizing the best low-impact climbing techniques and practices, and staunchly supporting appropriate recreation on our Nation’s public lands. The AAC is ready and willing to assist the BLM and USFS to develop a plan that sustainably manages the climbing resources of Bears Ears National Monument, while protecting the culturally significant resources of the Monument. The AAC looks forward to continuing to work with the agencies in the interim and through the implementation of this plan.
Respectfully,
Byron E. Harvison
Director, Policy and Government Affairs
The American Alpine Club
1–U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Bears Ears National Monument, Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 1: Executive Summary and Chapters 1-4, 2.1.6, March 2024.
2— Ibid, 3.3.
3—Presidential Proclamation 9558, Establishment of the Bears Ears National Monument, 82 Federal Register 1139, December 28, 2016.
4—Ibid, page 1144.
5—See U.S. DOI, U.S.D.A., BENM at ES-4.6.
6–U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, National NEPA Register, BENM Draft RMP/EIS Interactive Map, BLM UT BENM Zones Alt E Draft, release date March 13, 2024, accessed June 5, 2024. https://eplanning.blm.gov/EPLCommentMap/?itemId=f11acb57f3f64bbf922335ad796faa20
7— See https://www.blm.gov/visit/indian-creek-bears-ears-national-monument#:~:text=The%20Indian%20Creek%20Special%20Recreation,of%20Bears%20Ears%20National%20Monument. Accessed May 29, 2024.
8— See U.S. DOI, U.S.D.A., BLM, BENM at 2-82.
9— Ibid.
10— Ibid.
11— U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Record Decision and Approved Resource Management Plans for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, 85 Federal Register 9802, February 2, 2020.
12– See U.S. DOI, U.S.D.A., BLM, BENM at 2-102.
13— Ibid at 1-3.
14— Ibid at 1-3, and ES-24.
15— See U.S. DOI, U.S.D.A., BLM, BENM at 2-115.
16— Ibid.
17— Ibid at 2-80.
18— Ibid.
19– Ibid at 2-75.
20— https://www.blm.gov/programs/lands-and-realty/leases-and-permits/filming-on-public-lands/film-permitting-process, accessed June 3, 2024.
The Prescription—June
It’s June and we’ve been busy wrapping up edits on the 2024 Accidents in North American Climbing. If you have an AAC Partner membership or above, you’ll receive the best kind of mail soon–a copy of Accidents, the 2024 American Alpine Journal, and other neat things in a few months. I give thanks to all our volunteers, regional correspondents, and editors, who made this year’s book a reality. I also give deep thanks to those who took the time to submit accident reports. Whether one has personally experienced an accident or is reporting an incident, it is never an easy thing to do.
In closing out the year’s edits I’m reminded of a few things. As with any elective passion, climbing gives us what prudence itself can’t provide—our humanness. While climbing promises a glimpse of the unimaginable and the ineffable, it can also visit us with mishap or tragedy. Gravity constantly teaches us that no matter what gear we use, how much we practice, and how many precautions we take, climbing is dangerous. Stay safe out there.
This month we feature an accident that will appear in the 2024 ANAC. It took place last September and reminds us that not all climbing misadventures occur while actually climbing.
—Pete Takeda, Editor
(L to R) Mt. Darwin and Mt. Mendel seen from the north near Lamarck Col. These are two of nine 13,000+ foot high peaks that comprise the massive Evolution Traverse (VI, 5.9). The col was the scene of an unusual accident in which a climber was pinned by a large boulder while descending. Photo: Will Keightley | Wikimedia
Pinned Under Boulder
Inyo National Forest, Lamarck Col
Around 12:40 p.m. on September 28, Larsen Tormey (28) was pinned under a large boulder while hiking out after an attempt on the Evolution Traverse (VI, 5.9). His climbing partner, Jacob Ireland (35), was able to free him after several hours, prior to the arrival of SAR.
Ireland wrote to ANAC:
The accident took place five miles from the trailhead. Lars was hiking ahead of me. I was at the top of Lamarck Col when I heard someone yelling. I figured this was Lars, but I couldn’t spot him. As I headed toward the sound the cries grew louder, and I knew that an accident had occurred. When I was directly above his voice, I could hear clearly, “I’m stuck! There’s a rock on me! Please help!”
Larsen Tormey, three hours after being pinned by a large boulder near Lamarck Col. This photo was taken shortly before his partner, in a display of tenacity and prolonged heroics, managed to pull the boulder off. Photo by Jacob Ireland.
I hit the SOS button on my Garmin inReach and started down the broken 4th-class terrain. When I made it to Lars, he explained that, because he carried no traction devices nor ice axe, he had been downclimbing through a small tunnel or cave in the rock to avoid a steep section of hard-packed snow. A boulder the size of a city trash can he had been using as a hold came free. The rock was angled and sharp and plugged the slot so his leg was pinned just below his groin.
The boulder was in the way, so I couldn’t see his injuries and had to rely on what he told me. From what I could tell, one leg was pinned near his groin. It’s hard to recall, but the rock was maybe three feet by three feet and one foot wide.
There was no blood, but Lars believed he was bleeding internally and could not feel his leg. He was lying partly on the ice and was cold and shaking. I did my best to drape a puffy over him. I tried to move the boulder, but this only made him scream. The back of the rock was the obvious place to try moving it, but I quickly realized it wasn’t going to move by hand. I told Lars I was going to try the climbing rope and gear we had brought.
He pleaded with me to just try by hand again, and I did my best to assure him that the rope would be better. I frantically unpacked my gear. I jammed a cam into a crack above us, wrapped the rope around the front of the boulder, and set up a hauling system with my harness and two Micro Traxions.
The next hour was a blur. We tried multiple configurations of the rope and hauling methods. Nothing worked beyond a small amount of movement. One method from the side caused Lars to cry out, “Stop! You’re making it worse!” Between all my attempts, poor Lars begged me to keep trying. Every now and then we made eye contact, and I could see his horror and pain. I’d exhausted myself and started needing longer breaks between tries. My hand was bleeding, so I wrapped it with climbing tape. I had to cut the rope multiple times to quickly fix jams when I’d reset a system. Everything was failing.
I realized my phone had been getting messages. I had cell service and called 911 and relayed information. Lars was screaming at me to keep trying. He didn’t believe help was going to come fast enough. Part of me believed him, so I did my best to talk on the phone and work on the boulder at the same time. Someone from the Inyo SAR team called back and I sent them photos and exact coordinates. They assured me they were on the way.
It had been almost three hours since the boulder fell on Lars, and I was beginning to lose hope. Every failed attempt was devastating. I felt weak and my hips were raw and bruised from the harness. Then, in one adrenaline-fueled attempt, I clipped my harness directly to the rope around the boulder via a sling and pulled to the side. The boulder started to move. My foot gained a bit of new leverage and the boulder moved more. Lars began yelling that he was able to move. “Keep going!” I found a hold in the back of the wall and pulled as hard as I could, screaming from the adrenaline and pain in my waist.
Lars slipped down and behind the boulder to a larger ledge below. He was free and I was ecstatic. I used the rope to swing down to him. He was shaking, cold, and couldn’t feel his leg. I got him flat and bundled up with both sleeping bags and an air mattress under his body. He was in and out of consciousness, but his breathing remained stable. I checked his wound, and to my astonishment it didn’t look worse than a large bruise. Of course, I had no idea what was happening internally.
An hour and a half later, a helicopter appeared and I felt massive relief. The U.S. Army had been flying training missions in the area, and the SAR team was able to use their Chinook helicopter to reach us. They landed at the bottom of the snowfield. An hour later Lars was in the chopper heading for Fresno. He suffered abrasions, major impact trauma, nerve damage, and internal bleeding. He still has trouble making large upward steps, but he is out hiking, biking, and getting back to normal.
Members of the Inyo County Search and Rescue Team package Lars Tormey for helicopter extraction. Photo: Jacob Ireland
ANALYSIS
I think the main factors in this accident were:
Lack of gear for snow travel: We should have had Microspikes or crampons and an ice axe. With those items, we would have directly descended the snow in Lamarck Col and avoided the loose rock.
Getting separated: With our technical objective behind us, we became complacent. Had we stuck together, we might have chosen a different way or at least been able to help each other sooner. Lars spent almost an hour under the boulder before I found him. Had he been unconscious, I might have passed by and not realized he was missing until hours later.
More knowledge of hauling systems and pulleys: I tried a number of techniques with the climbing gear on hand. A few of these systems moved the boulder, but not enough to free Lars. If I had more knowledge, I could have rigged something to free him faster.
(Source: Jacob Ireland.)
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Climbing Grief Fund Spotlight: Gratitude
PC: Jessica Glassberg/Louder Than 11
Grief, Beauty, and Loss in the Mountains
by Hannah Provost
“When Meg climbs on the Diamond these days, she can’t seem to shake a glimpse of red in her periphery–the color of Tom’s red Patagonia R1 as he climbed with her. When she turns to catch a better look, he’s not there. Tom: her dear friend, who fed a bumblebee on a belay ledge to bring it back to life; who encouraged Meg to lead harder and harder pitches on gear; who introduced her to her husband; who she trusted more than anyone on rock. She wants to turn and see Tom’s red R1 climbing up the pitch behind her. But Tom won’t ever climb the Diamond again.
Meg Yingling is an American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) rock guide, a lover of the high places, deeply embedded in our community—and intimately aware of the grief that haunts our sport. When she lost her friend, Tom Wright, to a climbing accident in the summer of 2020, her relationship to climbing radically changed—it mellowed and thickened and burst all at once. But thanks to the Climbing Grief Fund Grant (CGF), she was able to get the resources she needed to start processing her grief, her new relationship to climbing, and actively sit with the messiness of it all…”
Read more about Meg’s experiences with both grief and beauty in the mountains:
The American Alpine Club Announces 2024 Cutting Edge Grant Winners
PC: Nelson Neirinck
May 2024
The American Alpine Club and Black Diamond Equipment are pleased to announce the 2024 Cutting Edge Grant recipients. The Cutting Edge Grant continues the Club's 120-year tradition by funding individuals planning expeditions to remote areas featuring unexplored mountain ranges, unclimbed peaks, difficult new routes, first-free ascents, or similar world-class pursuits. Five recipients have been awarded a total of $20,000 for this cycle, with objectives featuring a low-impact style and leave-no-trace mentality looked upon with favor. Black Diamond Equipment is a proud sponsor of the Cutting Edge Grant and a key partner in supporting cutting-edge alpinism.
PC: Fanny Schmutz
Chantel Astorga will receive $4,000 to attempt the Direct East Face of Mount Shivling (6543m), located in the Gangotri Valley of the Garhwal Himalayas of India. Astorga and her team had attempted the route in 2023. Astorga has previously received the Cutting Edge Grant and McNeill-Nott Grant, and has put up the first ascent of the southwest face of Nilkanth, also in the Central Garhwal. She is known for her first ski descent of the Seattle Ramp variation to the West Rib of Denali, and her first female solo of the Cassin Ridge.
Dane Steadman, PC: Fletch Peterson
Dane Steadman will receive $3,000 to attempt the first ascent of Yashkuk Sar, in the northern Karakoram, from its north side. The objective was the product of a strong desire to climb in the Karakoram, especially a technical route on a mid-elevation peak in the less traveled regions, coupled with Google Earth wanderings and internet scouring. The team, which evolved over time due to injuries, now consists of Steadman, his primary climbing partner, Cody Winckler, who also lives in northern Wyoming with Steadman and shares his passion for winter climbing, and August Franzen, a resident of Valdez, Alaska, who Steadman has yet to share a rope with but whom Steadman and Winckler have been wanting to climb with for a while. In 2023, Steadman was part of a Cutting Edge Grant team that put up a new route on the northeast face of Pik Alpinist, Kyrgyzstan.
Pc: Gardner and Hennessey, living large
Sam Hennessey will receive $4,500 to attempt the north face of Jannu East, an alpine big wall rising 2400m from schrund to summit. It has only been attempted twice (by Hennessey’s team), and the peak is unclimbed by any route. In 2022, Hennessey was part of an astonishing record-breaking speed ascent of Denali’s Slovak Direct in 17 hours and 10 min.
PC: Mathilde Sjostedt.
Ethan Berman will receive $4,000 to attempt the Southeast Pillar of Ultar Sar (7388m), located in the Batura Muztagh Karakoram, Pakistan, and often referred to as the "Walker Spur" of the Karakoram. As Colin Haley put it after his 2007 attempt, "With the route proper more than 3100m tall, it makes the North Ridge of Latok 1 look small by comparison, and while not as technical it is still sustained real climbing—very little simple slogging." It has been attempted by several strong parties since 1992, with a high point of ~6500m by the Giri-Giri Boys in 2011. Besides the sheer scale of the route, the main difficulties will be sustained mixed climbing from 6500-6900m. Berman has previously received an AAC Live Your Dream Grant. In late 2022, Berman and Maarten Van Haeren put up the first ascent of the northeast face of Khang Karpo (6,646 meters) in Nepal.
Chris Wright will receive $4,500 to attempt the north face of Chiling II, which Wright calls “one of the most handsome unclimbed north faces on the planet.” Wright met his climbing partner Stian Bruvoll while guiding in Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where they quickly connected over an enthusiasm for the particular style of Arctic alpinism, which is nothing if not an acquired taste. They started dreaming up bigger things, and are excited for Chiling II, which should offer almost five thousand feet of exceptional, hard climbing in lightweight, alpine style. In 2019, Chris Wright, alongside Graham Zimmerman, Steve Swenson, and Mark Richey, accomplished the Piolet D’Or winning first ascent of Link Sar, a 7,041-meter peak buried deep in the Pakistani Karakoram and long considered one of the world's greatest unclimbed mountains.
Applications for the Cutting Edge Grant are accepted each year from October 1 through November 30.
Contact:
Shane Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer: sjohnson@americanalpineclub.org
Eddie Espinosa, Community Programs Director: eespinosa@americanalpineclub.org
Presented by:
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The American Alpine Club Announces 2024 McNeill-Nott Winners
May 2024
The American Alpine Club (AAC) and Mountain Hardwear are excited to announce the 2024 McNeill-Nott recipients. With the untimely death of Sue Nott and her climbing partner Karen McNeill on Sultana (Mt. Foraker) in 2006, the AAC partnered with Mountain Hardwear to establish the McNeill-Nott Award in their memory. This award seeks to preserve the spirit of these two talented and courageous climbers by giving grants to amateur female climbers exploring new routes or unclimbed peaks with small teams.
Michelle Dvorak On Murchison Falls, Alberta, Canada. PC: llia Slobodov
Michelle Dvorak will receive $4,000 to attempt a 7000m peak in the Uttarakhand with an all-female team, including Fay Manners. Manners and Dvorak are close friends and experienced climbing partners. They have put up first ascents on steep rock faces in Greenland and did an all-female ascent of Denali's Cassin Ridge. Sue Nott and Karen McNeill completed the first female ascent of Denali’s Cassin Ridge in 2004.
Khan’s planned objective in the Karakoram Range.
Amber Khan will receive $3,500 to attempt to complete a loop from Shimshal village—summiting numerous climbed and unclimbed peaks, ranging from 5,900 to 7,440 meters, during her expedition with Nafeesa Andrabi. Khan and Andrabi are two Pakistani-American climbers seeking to establish a moderate, attainable training loop for aspiring Pakistani and female alpinists in the Karakoram. Their proposed climb provides them the opportunity to develop as budding alpinists while climbing in their homeland. For Khan and Andrabi, this trip is just the beginning of a larger goal to expand mountaineering access to communities in Pakistan, especially for women.
Applications for the McNeill-Nott Award are accepted each year from October 1 through November 30.
Contact:
Shane Johnson, VP of Marketing and Comms: sjohnson@americanalpineclub.org
Eddie Espinosa, Community Programs Director: eespinosa@americanalpineclub.org
Berkeley Anderson, Foundation and Grants Coordinator: banderson@americanalpineclub.org
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About Mountain Hardwear
Mountain Hardwear, Inc., was founded in 1993 and is based in Richmond, CA. We exist to encourage and equip people to seek a wilder path in life. For 30 years, we’ve built essential equipment for climbers, mountaineers, and outdoor athletes and have supported expeditions on the world’s highest peaks. Relentless precision continues to inspire everything we do — our designers sweat every stitch and detail to continuously improve function, durability, and comfort. Mountain Hardwear is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear Company that distributes its products through specialty outdoor retailers in the United States and 34 countries worldwide. www.mountainhardwear.com
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EDUCATE: The Untold Stories of Sherpas, Baltis, and other Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges
In this episode, we cover the untold and complex experience of local climbers in the Greater Ranges—how Sherpas, Baltis, and other local climbers have navigated the complex landscape of living near and working on Everest and in the Karakoram. We sat down with three incredible writers—Nandini Purandare and Deepa Balsavar, who are the authors of the newly released book Headstrap–Legends and Lore from the Climbing Sherpas of Darjeeling; and also the well-known mountain writer Bernadette McDonald, who has recently released Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges.
Though it's easy to lump these mountains together from a foreign climber’s perspective, these books cover distinct geographical locations that are deeply impacted by the politics of this region of the world. In conversation, these writers illuminated the unique challenges for Nepali, Tibetan, Pakistani, and Sherpa climbers from Darjeeling, as well as the shared challenges that all of these climbers have faced in making a name for themselves, fighting for safe working conditions, navigating the way colonization has impacted the boundaries of mountaineering, and more. We discuss topics like how Tenzing Norgay’s identifying as Sherpa when he first climbed Everest catapulted the idea of “Sherpa” into the limelight, how the Partitioning of India and Pakistan affects the work prospects of Darjeeling Sherpa, navigating relationships with foreign climbers vs climbing for themselves, and much more. Whether you’re a mountaineer yourself, or just have a passing respect for Everest, join us in this episode to hear about the deeply human stories of individual Sherpas (from various regions) and Pakistani climbers, and how they navigate death, risk, financial independence, and glory in the big mountains of our world.
Show Notes/ Resources:
Buy Headstrap: Legends and Lore from the Climbing Sherpas of Darjeeling
Buy Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges
Attend the Alpine Rising book talk in Denver, CO—May 29, 2024
More about Bernadette McDonald
More about Nandini Purandare
More about Deepa Balsavar
Climb United Feature: Finding Impact in a World of Performance
Salt Lake Area Queer Climbers (SLAQC) showing some pride at Black Rocks, St. George, UT. Land of the Pueblos and Paiute people. AAC member Bobbie Lee
A Deep Look Into the Affiliate Support Network
By Shara Zaia
Drawing on personal experience in co-creating Cruxing in Color, and the experience of affinity group leaders across the country, Shara Zaia reflects on the unpaid labor that goes into creating affinity spaces within climbing—and yet just how much it means to so many traditionally marginalized climbers to find community. Zaia uncovers the true cost and benefit of this work, and lays out why the AAC has developed the Affiliate Support Network (ASN)—our Climb United program that provides fiduciary and other administrative support to affinity groups across the country so that they can raise donations and/or become nonprofits, ultimately making their organizations more sustainable and long-lasting. Dive in to get a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible power of this work, and how the Climb United team has been determined to find impact.
The Line — May 2024
Most American Alpine Journal (AAJ) stories cover climbs from the prior year. But in some parts of the world, where January and February are prime for climbing—Patagonia, Antarctica, parts of Africa—we do our best to report the latest ascents. With that in mind, here are a few stories about recent climbs that will appear in the 2024 AAJ—plus one ski descent—from four different continents.
Fanny Schmutz follows the wild ice chimney just below the headwall on Cerro Torre’s Southeast Ridge. Photo by Lise Billon.
HISTORIC WOMEN’S CLIMB ON CERRO TORRE
On February 23, 2024, Lise Billon, Fanny Schmutz, and Maud Vanpoulle launched an attempt on the Southeast Ridge of Cerro Torre in southern Patagonia. This historic route avoids most of the bolts on the headwall placed by Cesare Maestri in 1970, and was completed in 2012 by Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk, who then removed more than 100 of Maestri’s bolts. The Southeast Ridge was freed, with variations, the same year by David Lama and Peter Ortner. The 800-meter route goes at around 7a+ C2 WI5 (or free at 7c). All three women had spent many seasons in the massif, and this year they traveled to El Chaltén with no other goal besides the Southeast Ridge. After a month of waiting, a good window arrived.
Despite difficult, snowy conditions on the start of the climb, the three women topped out on Cerro Torre after three days, completing the 13th ascent of the route since the Maestri bolts were removed. (Americans Tyler Allen and Scott Bennett summited via the same route on the same day.) The French trio’s climb of the Southeast Ridge was the first by women and is highlighted in the 2024 AAJ as part of our initiative to elevate coverage of cutting-edge ascents by female teams. (See “State of the Art: Expanding the Coverage of Women’s Climbing in the AAJ” in the 2020 edition.) Lise Billon wrote the story of the 2024 climb, and you can read it at the AAJ website now.
Adam Fabrikant descending Third Ledge on the north face of the Grand Teton in March 2024. Photo by Sam Hennessey.
WILD TETON DESCENTS
Sometimes great stories take time—we started work over two years ago on a history of ski alpinism in the Tetons with ski writer and producer Jason Albert. For AAJ 2024, Albert paired with IFMGA guide and big-mountain skier Adam Fabrikant to complete our “Recon” feature on the Tetons, but not without some last-minute additions. One of these was Fabrikant’s second ski descent of the north face of the Grand Teton with Sam Hennessey; the two descended the face in March 2024, about a month before the AAJ headed to the printer. This roughly 2,500-foot face was first skied in 2013 by local guides Greg Collins and Brendan O’Neill. Although many rappels were required to negotiate the complex line, Hennessey said the ski route was far from contrived: “Honestly, the north face has some amazing skiing in an outrageous position. We thought it was an excellent day of skiing.”
The north face descent made it into the upcoming AAJ, but then, in April, Fabrikant, O’Neill, and Michael Gardner teamed up for a massive link-up that instantly put our story out of date: Their “Enduro Traverse” linked the full southern Tetons skyline on skis, from Buck Mountain to Teewinot. As Fabrikant presciently wrote about the Tetons at the end of the “Recon”: “‘Skied out’ isn’t part of the vocabulary here.” Stay tuned for his AAJ report on the Enduro Traverse.
By the way, if you’re a fan of ski alpinism, be sure to check out The High Route, an excellent website and podcast on backcountry skiing produced by Jason Albert, co-author of the “Recon” in AAJ 2024.
Above: Nathan Cahill working on the route Dez Mangas at Serra da Leba, Angola, later led free at 5.11c. Photo by Diogo Rebelo. Right: a sandstone headwall floating above the mist at Fenda da Tundavala. Photo by Nathan Cahill.
THE SANDSTONE OF SOUTHWEST AFRICA
American climber Nathan Cahill has spent recent years helping to develop the climbing of Angola, a nation in southwestern Africa that has spectacular granite, conglomerate, and sandstone cliffs. In February 2024, Cahill traveled to the Huíla Plateau, site of Angola’s second-largest city, Lubango, to explore sandstone walls that rim the plateau. A highlight, described in Cahill’s report for the upcoming AAJ, was Serra de Leba, a deep canyon west of Lubango, where he put up a few short routes and a six-pitch 5.10c. Many unclimbed routes await. In a few months, Serra de Leba will be the site of the first Angola Climbing Festival (August 16–25), hosted by Climb Angola.
FIRST FREE ASCENT OF PICAFLOR IN COCHAMÓ
Hayden Jamieson pulling the crux on “The Strenuous V4” pitch (5.13+). Photo by Ian Dzilenski.
Who doesn’t love a good story of perseverance? A last-minute addition to this year’s AAJ tells a great one. American climber Hayden Jamieson spent two seasons in the Cochamó Valley of Chile on a quest to free Picaflor, a 24-pitch route up Cerro Capicua, first climbed in 2017 at 5.10+ A1. In January 2022, Jamieson and friends freed all but a single crux of the 1,050-meter route: a desperate slab sequence on pitch 20. “I had invested around ten days of work into pitch 20 and deemed it possible, but just barely,” Jamieson wrote in his AAJ story. “I knew that I’d need to improve my climbing level if I wanted to stand a chance at freeing Picaflor, so for the next two years I trained with that specific intention.”
Jamieson returned in January of this year with Jacob Cook and Will Sharp, and for five weeks the trio worked the route. At some point, Sharp spotted a potential variation to the crux slab traverse that had shut down Jamieson in 2022. “Despite being ‘easier,’ this pitch still clocked in at around 5.13+, and we gave it the tongue-in-cheek name ‘The Strenuous V4,’ ” Jamieson wrote.
On February 23, the trio began a seven-day push: Each climber led the route’s two 5.13+ cruxes, and they split the other leads evenly, with everyone freeing every pitch. Jamieson’s inspiring story for AAJ 2024 is available now at our website.
FIRST ASCENT (AND SKI DESCENT) IN ANTARCTICA
In January 2024, Antarctica guide Phil Wickens led a team of six aboard the yacht Icebird to make ski ascents and descents on the Antarctic Peninsula. On January 14, the team landed on the east coast of Liard Island and traversed to the unnamed glacier that flows northeast from Mt. Bridgman, the highest point of the island (around 1,410 meters). The following day, they made the first known ascent of Bridgman, via an improbable-looking line up its east face, and then enjoyed the 4,500-foot ski descent back to sea level. Wickens’ report is at the AAJ website.
Descending Mt. Bridgman on Liard Island, along the Antarctic Peninsula, after the first ascent. Photo by Phil Wickens.
The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Contact Heidi McDowell for sponsorship opportunities. Got a potential story for the AAJ? Email us: aaj@americanalpineclub.org.
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Climbers of the Craggin' Classic: Ozarks
Ozarks Craggin’ Photos by Joe Kopek
We’re interviewing a climber from each event in the Craggin’ Classic Series—Rumney, New River Gorge, Devil’s Lake, Smith Rock, Shelf Road, Moab, Bishop, Ozarks—to take a deep look into the breadth of climbers that come to Craggins, and how they make the most of each unique event.
Read on to hear from climbers just like you, and their take on the things that matter to climbers.
Meet Ozarks Climber: Andrew Gamma
Scroll to read Andrew‘s Story…
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Artist Spotlight: Marty Schnure & The Art of Maps
By Sierra McGivney
Photo courtesy of Marty Schnure.
In this profile of cartographer Marty Schnure, we uncover the philosophy that has influenced her creation of several beautiful maps for the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), the world-renowned AAC publication that reports the cutting-edge ascents and descents of each year. For Schnure, map-making is about blending geographical information while also evoking and displaying the relationship between that geography and whatever is important about that place to the map user—aka climbing routes, or the animal corridors of that area. Dive into this article to learn about the art of map-making, and how Schure thinks about the responsibility of a cartographer, the power of maps to express an idea, and more.
Rewind the Climb: The North Face of North Twin
Photos Courtesy of the George Lowe Collection
First Ascent by George Lowe and Chris Jones
By Grey Satterfield
Fifty years ago, George Lowe and Chris Jones plunged deep into the Canadian Rockies in search of an adventure. They had read in the 1966 American Alpine Journal of a “mountain wall which acts like a strong drug on the mind.” This wall was the north face of Twin Tower (more often referred to as the north face of North Twin), and Lowe and Jones’ adventure turned into one of the proudest ascents in the history of alpinism…
To this day, their route has yet to see a full second ascent. The north face was finally climbed again by a different route 11 years later. In 50 years, only five teams have started at the bottom of the north face and made the summit. Every climber returned with a story more harrowing than the next.
Dive in as Grey Satterfield revisits this historic ascent, and uncovers truths that helps us reflect on modern climbing:
CONNECT: Inside the Life of a Climbing Photographer
Note: This episode is explicit.
In this episode, we had adventure photographer Jeremiah Watt on the pod to talk about all things climbing photography. Miah is a big fan of the AAC, and regularly donates his incredible photos to us! In this episode, Miah and the AAC’s award-winning Graphic Designer Foster Denney dive into topics like the life of a freelancer, what it takes to get the right shot on the wall, trends in climbing photography, the physical toll like jugging fixed lines to get the shot, mistakes new photogs make, and more. Ever wondered what’s going on behind the lens? Listen to this episode to get the behind the scenes life of an adventure photographer!
Resources:
Crag Development During Deployment: A Story from the Live Your Dream Grant
PC: Joseph Stuart
Joseph Stuart received a 2023 Live Your Dream grant from the American Alpine Club to help start a mountaineering club and develop a crag while deployed in Iraq.
*This article was originally published in the Blah, Blah, Black Sheep newsletter and is lightly edited for clarity.
How have the 250th FRSD (Forward Resuscitative Surgical Detachment), who call themselves the "Blacksheep," been spending their downtime in Iraq, you might ask? We started a mountaineering club! It all began when our fearless orthopedic surgeon and climbing extraordinaire, MAJ Griff Biedron, discovered a uniquely shaped rock crag formation about two miles away from our living quarters. It's located in an infrequently trafficked corner of the base, just off the road. The rock face is about 90 feet wide and 25 feet tall, with steep overhanging sections. The crag is sandwiched between sloping hills, so it is easy to hike or scramble to the top if approaching from the side. On top of the ridge, MAJ Biedron discovered some massive boulders and imagined the mountaineering possibilities. He quickly requested that his family back home ship his modest collection of climbing gear including climbing shoes, ropes, carabiners, and harnesses. When the gear arrived, MAJ Biedron started training his teammates to climb cracks between T-walls to familiarize themselves with the equipment and belay techniques.
Pc: Joseph Stuart
The Club was officially founded when MAJ Biedron and co-founders CPT Armstrong (veterinarian), SGT Johnson (medic), and 1LT McCarthy (ER nurse) returned to the crag for their first outing. SGT Stewart (preventive medicine tech) joined shortly after and became the Club's deputy. We anchored ratchet straps around boulders at the top of the ridge to serve as a static rope. Then, we harnessed up and sunk our full body weight into the rope to test the holding capacity of the boulders, and the static line was solid to a fault. Next, we tested the hand/footholds on the rock face and discovered that "rock" is a generous way to describe this formation—maybe siltstone is more accurate, like a ragged chunk of sedimentary silt and clay. Many seemingly solid holds broke right off in our hands. Climbers who wore T-shirts or shorts quickly regretted their attire as the jagged surface repeatedly abraded their exposed skin. Nonetheless, the climbers put up several routes on their first excursion and were motivated to keep climbing!
During the early days of the AAAB Mountaineering Club, the crag was laden with trash and debris. We made quick haste of the mess by organizing a work party. In one day, our crew picked up 50 pounds of trash. Since then, we have made numerous improvements to the site. We carved out a trail leading from the base of the crag to the top of the ridge and installed some flat rocks as steps. We dug a fire pit and lined it artfully with rocks. We positioned larger boulders around the fire pit for resting and spectating. We installed several bolts in the rock to practice lead climbing. We scrupulously cleaned and dusted the rock face so climbers don't get peppered with dirt as they ascend.
We have since dubbed the rock "Canine Crag" because the area is close to a dog den, and we often see Iraqi dogs passing by, traveling in packs of six. In addition to naming the crag, we have also named all eight of our routes. In the tradition of mountaineering, the person who is the first to "on-site," the route gets to name it. The names and naming members are as follows:
PC: Joseph Stuart
Pelvic Binder - Karen McGrane
Northeast Face - Griff Biedron
Bridget Midget - Ryan Johnson
Dog Leg - Gordon Armstrong
Bird Sh## Traverse - Joseph Stewart
Allagash White - Brandon Barnes
GH - Griff Biedron
Rabid Otter Ridge - Karen McGrane
Our club quickly gained popularity through word of mouth and a flyer posted at the gym. Now, our club has garnered a base-wide following! Member participation ebbs and flows, but right now, we have 27 members in the active club and 23 members in our fan club. In addition to climbing on the weekends, we host weekly movie nights on Fridays, where we watch a climbing movie. So far, we have watched Free Solo, The Alpinist, Touching the Void, and The Dawn Wall, among others. We have many goals to keep growing and improving!
We received the American Alpine Club Live Your Dream Grant. With this grant funding, we hope to purchase more equipment to develop sport lead climbing and install better top roping anchors. We hope to provide a safe and supportive environment for other soldiers to learn the art of climbing and route establishment.
An Excerpt From a Subsequent Newsletter That Provides a Further Update on this Club's Climbing Activities:
PC: Joseph Stuart
The AAAB Mountaineering Club has grown in terms of membership and scope of activities. Currently, there are 51 members in the active club and 28 members in the fan club. We advanced from climbing the siltstone rock formation we call "Canine Crag" to climbing a vertical sedimental wall with ice axes. This crazy idea was the brainchild of MAJ Biedron, an avid ice climber, who figured he could keep his ice-climbing skills sharp by training on the tall sediment walls in Iraq.
Unfortunately, MAJ Biedron already departed Iraq by this time, but MAJ Armstrong and SGT Neiffer spearheaded the creation of an ice axe climbing route on a 50-foot-tall sediment wall.
For members who had never climbed with ice axes before (most of us), picking up the skill was pretty simple compared to rock climbing. Actually, it was a lot more approachable because although it required some technical skills and endurance, it involved much less strength than negotiating the overhanging cliffs at the rock crag.
The first few climbers that ascended the route used the adze of the axe (the butt end) to chip out some good foot holds, so it became easier and easier for all the subsequent climbers. Despite the sturdy foot holds and the wall's gentle downward slope, climbers still got to feel the wrist burn that quickly ensued from clinging onto the axe shafts, with the weight of their body suspended on its narrow picks. Climbers ascended slowly and methodically, tapping their picks into the sediment wall until they found secure cracks in the rock. When climbers finally reached the top, they dangled the ice axes from their harnesses and relaxed into the rope as the belayer lowered them 50 feet to the ground. It was an exhilarating experience, for sure!
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An Ultraneering Challenge in the Cordillera Blanca: A Story From the Live Your Dream Grant
Out for a glacier stroll the day before Alpamayo. PC: Nick Nasca
Adapted from the 2023 trip report by Nick Nasca
Mike in a meadow with the Husacaran Massif in the background on our first day in the range. PC: Nick Nasca
In the Summer of 2023, I went to the Cordillera Blanca with my friend and climbing Partner Mike Buyaskas. We were supported by the AAC's Live Your Dream Grant and the Loa Fund. We intended to complete an ultra mountaineering link-up. I spent countless hours researching the terrain via satellite imagery and corresponding internet photos, messaging with Peruvian guides via social media, and reading obscure trip reports I'd found from buried corners of the internet. We planned to pre-stock four camps and make a three-week push, summiting eight mountains along the way. In addition to the mental and logistical prep, Mike and I followed a training program for the six months before our expedition.
On June 18, we landed in Lima with a ridiculous amount of luggage. One bus ride later, we were in Huaraz packing the bags that would be used for our restocked camps. We hung out around the Andean Kingdom and the Casa de Guias to learn about recent mountain conditions. We soon met Manuel Bernuy Ponte, a young Peruvian guide and owner of Peruvian Climbs. He was our most helpful connection in Huaraz. Manuel made himself and his experience in the range incredibly accessible, giving us an accurate picture of what to expect in the stretches where our route departed from the usual trodden paths of the Blanca. He also helped us secure a driver, safely stash our gear in multiple locations, and find fair prices on bulk supplies we needed.
Chopicalqui
We prepared nonstop for two days, then launched into the range with a plan of acclimatizing and stashing resupplies. We were scouting terrain between Huascaran and Chopicalqui five days later when we decided to adjust plans. A snow bridge had collapsed on Huascaran, killing a guide in the process. The prospect of equipping a ladder crossing was on the table, but there was no telling if or when that would occur. Furthermore, our on-the-ground appraisal found that linking Huascaran and Chopicalqui would require traversing extremely dangerous and highly technical terrain. The conditions that would have allowed for a more reasonable attempt simply no longer exist due to the rapid melt-out in this range. Here, we conceded our first route change, deciding to drop the first leg of our ultraneering challenge and to ration our food to stay longer and make an attempt on Chopicalqui's summit while we were at the moraine camp.
Nick posing for a sunset picture at Chopicalqui base camp. PC: Mike Buyaskas
Knowing how slowly we moved in our barely acclimatized state, we started from moraine camp at 10 p.m. We plugged along the most extensive glacier we had ever walked on all night until we found ourselves 400 feet short of the summit by sunrise. We had fought the effects of altitude for the entire push when they finally caught up to us in the form of a costly miscommunication, which ended in our rappelling. We broke down our camp that afternoon and hitchhiked back to town by night.
Quitaraju and Alpamayo
Nick revelling in the sunset and stoke underneath Alpamayos West face. PC: Mike Buyaskas
After a day and a half of rest, we packed enough supplies for a week, intending to climb Quitaraju and Alpamayo. The climb from Moraine camp to the Alpamayo Quitaraju col was strenuous. We climbed two pitches of low-grade alpine ice with heavy packs, which made for a more challenging day than expected. Before we could drop our packs at Col camp that afternoon, a giant ice mushroom cleaved, sending an avalanche careening directly down the runnel that contained our intended climb. These factors combined to make Alpamayo loom in my heart the same way its western face would loom over our tent for the next few days. Unfortunately, the next morning, Mike woke up altitude sick, and we decided to rest instead of attempting Quitaraju. The day after, we climbed Alpamayo. The climbing in the upper runnel was fantastic, and it felt like the whole world rotated on the axis of single moments between swings and kicks. I topped out on the summit ridge, and due to time constraints, we rappelled from there, despite the ridgeline traverse posing no more difficult climbing.
Rest days
The next day, we got into town, and the day after that, we went for a trail run to celebrate Mike's birthday and take a break from the expedition. We reveled in our further acclimatization and returned to the base of Huandoy and the Pisco refugio, where friends were looking after the bag filled with our first stocked camp. Our ultraneering traverse received the final nail in the coffin when we observed our route up Huandoy's East Face nearly melted out, exposing bands of heinous chossy mixed climbing that otherwise would have been ice and snow. Our route would be too dry when we were poised for a summit attempt. We had yet to make a true summit but now believed ourselves to be acclimatized, so we set our sights on doing Tocllarajus W Face Direct (D+) in a faster and lighter style.
Tocllarajus
Nick roping up for the hike back from Tocullaraju high camp, The line Nick and Mike attempted on Tocullaraju's W face climbs the icey path directly through the rocky pinch high on the climber's right side of the face.
We approached the base camp in one speedy push the night we returned from our trail run. The next day, we reached glacier camp directly underneath the face. We watched our route for a day and planned a detour from the original line to thread a safer needle between seracs high on the face. We heard the route had just yielded its first successful summit days before, after turning around many this season. We started at midnight this time, and after delicately climbing the giant icey flower petals of the upper bergschrund, we suffered excruciatingly cold and exposed belays up the sheer ice face. About two pitches from the summit ridgeline, as the sun rose, Mike began to feel too altitude sick to continue. Using zero threads, we were able to bail down the face relatively quickly.
Expedition Changes
Mike had to leave Peru early due to a personal situation developing at home, which greatly limited our options for the remainder of the trip. We now had ten more days, and due to Mike's altitude issues, we eventually settled on a smaller, more technical route. We decided to try what we thought may be an unclimbed line on the south face of Vallunaraju's south summit. It involved 300 feet of 70-80 degree mixed climbing, which gave way to 3-400 more feet of easier mixed terrain.
Vallunaraju
Nick finding the start of the potential new line we attempted to climb on Vallanaraju Sur. PC: Mike Buyasakas
We attempted the peak in true alpine style, starting from the gate for the national park at the mouth of the approach canyon and going gate to gate. I led an awesome M4- pitch at the start of the technicalities on beautifully striated granite. Still, we again bailed due to dangerous deep-faceted snow lurking underneath trapdoors of semi-firm crust on the upper face. Over the summer, we found that the south-facing slopes were the most likely to have that terrifying, completely unstable Peruvian snow.
Huamashraju
We had time for one more climb before Mike's departure, and we chose to switch things up and try the classic Sins-Hanning route on Huamashraju. It is a five-pitch 5.9 on a splitter granite wall that finishes up a moderate snow ridge to the summit. We approached in the evening and bivied in a boulder cave at the very base of the route. The rapidly melting glaciers in the Blanca have formed a small pool at the base of the wall, allowing us to advance past basecamp and skip out on melting snow. The following day, we led in blocks, with Mike tackling the delicate slabby corner crux of the lower wall while I got the pleasure of pulling a fantastic roof and bumping our only #4 up the back of the offwidth squeeze pitch. We started simuling when we got up high, and once atop the ridge, we found nothing but smooth low-angle granite for another three rope lengths. These 3 pitches are apparently a new development even compared to just two years ago when it was reported that snow was reached at the beginning of the ridge. We transitioned into our crampons and soloed to the summit. Unfortunately due to a crampon malfunction Mike decided to stay behind and set up our first rappel. The final snow ridge included a 100 foot long steep airy traverse across calf high penitiente. The Penitiente gave way to a final rope length of easy mixed climbing requiring a couple of easy blocky mantles on rock. At the top I admired Nevado Huantsan for a moment before turning around to start the descent: a snowy down-climb proceeded by 4 rope stretching double rope 70 meter rappels. One very long hike later, we were back at the trailhead around 11 p.m., where the onset of giardia rocked me the minute I sat down on the side of the road.
Leaving the Andes…
Our driver Freddy, a cousin of our host in Caraz. Freddy enjoys Mountain Biking through the canyons of the blanca, and his company was much appreciated during the few down days we had in Caraz. PC: A Passing Tourist
Mike left the next morning, and after five days of being sick in bed, I finally recovered. For my last adventure in the Andes, I took a long, all-day trail run up a lesser-known Quebrada. I had a hunch of where I might find water ice based on locations where I'd seen some ephemeral smears over the past two months. Right where I was expecting, I found an ice line that was even better than I could have imagined. This line of nearly 1000 ft of steep ice was the best-looking ice climb I'd seen in Peru. There is a small vanishing serac above it, and judging by pictures I found of the same face in 2013, the overhead danger will continue to decrease in the coming years. This experience had me leaving Peru with lots of stoke in my heart for the many lifetimes' worth of adventures to be had here on our planet. Overall, I learned a great deal on this trip. I now understand how to look at prominent, snowy peaks from a distance and estimate where the most sensible weakness may be and what the terrain will entail. I also got my first taste of leading out into entirely unknown terrain and am hooked.
On the upper slopes of Chopicalqui, shedding layers before continuing the descent. That evening we would make it back to the canyon floor and haggle/hitchhike our way back to Caraz. PC: Mike Buyaskas
In terms of our ultraneering challenge, the goal is still accomplishable. I don't know if I will ever attempt it again. It required massive amounts of logistical challenges as well as blue-collar prep work. I underestimated just how demanding the conditions might be between 8 different mountains. Although all of the routes we intended to climb would go at some point during the season we spent there, being able to climb all of them safely in the same three-week window would be a rare occurrence. If one were to fly off the summits of these peaks using a wing, the ultraneering traverse would become much more feasible and enjoyable. Hopefully, one day, I will get the time and resources to begin learning the art of flying, but I must return to the ordinary world via the booter. Thank you, American Alpine Club, for helping me have a once-in-a-lifetime summer in the Andes.
This could be YOU! Apply for the Live Your Dream grant before it closes, on April 30. Don’t wait, your dream expedition is just an application away!
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