The west face of Xanadu. [Photo] Engberg, Bain, Boning and Braasch collection

The central west face of Xanadu in Alaska's Arrigetch Peaks--sometimes referred to as the Half Dome of the Arctic--was untouched until this year when three parties established three routes in July and August. Jon Krakauer and Bill Bullard made the first ascent of the peak by climbing the lower west face to the southern arete (5.7) in 1974. For many years after, only a few other teams attempted new routes, focusing on other parts of the mountain. According to various records, including the American Alpine Journal, it also appears that the peak had not been summited since the 1974 ascent, though a couple other parties had come close. The new routes range from a 5.13+ and an A4+ aid route that were established over many days, to a 5.11+ that was done onsight in a day after a previous attempt that was halted by a storm. The third team also completed a new route on the Albatross prior to their success on Xanadu.

The new activity began in July when a team of four that included Zeb Engberg, David Bain, Gabe Boning and Billy Braasch aided a route that they eventually freed and named Golden Petals (V 5.13+ or 5.12 A0, 14 pitches). The first pitch contains the crux, a V10 boulder problem. The rest of the pitches are mostly 5.10-5.11, but there were many runouts and a pitch of mandatory 5.12 free climbing.

Engberg submitted a report in which he and Braasch wrote:

Xanadu itself sits as the centerpiece of the Arrigetch range. Although its summit is not strictly the highest peak in the region, its ever-present mass, the aesthetic geometry of its walls, the sheer steepness of all of its facets, and its situation at the headwaters of the Arrigetch Creek give the peak a feeling of utmost prominence within the range. Its eastern aspect is shadowed, stark, and glaciated, whereas its western side appears fertile for climbing. Because the west-facing wall of Xanadu is difficult to access from Circle Lake, it feels desolate yet sublime....

Gabe Boning contemplates the seeping "Butt Crack" pitch of Golden Petals (V 5.13+ or 5.12 A0, 14 pitches). [Photo] Engberg, Bain, Boning and Braasch collection

Months before our trip, Jon [Krakauer] vividly described his vision of the climbing on the west face: beautiful and bold face climbing through vertical and occasionally overhanging granite flakes. His hypothetical route up the west face turned out to match reality closely.... Though we didn't achieve the big wall Holy Grail of sequentially free climbing every pitch in order, we did manage to free our route. Starting late one night, Gabe and David swung leads, free climbing from the second pitch through the eleventh. Over two consecutive windy and cold days at the tail end of our trip, Billy and Zeb free climbed the route starting at the second pitch. All pitches were both led and followed cleanly without falls. Finally, on the last climbing day of our trip, Zeb successfully led Silvia's Seam, the crux free pitch on the route. This V10 boulder problem required thin granite edging, unlikely foot pastes, and wizardry.... Nearly every pitch would have been a classic on its own.... Knowing that we'd need to leave something fixed in order to rappel, we decided to leave behind high quality anchors [that] should last decades. We placed a total of 17 bolts spread out over the 16 anchor and rappel stations on our route.

Krakauer congratulated the climbers with an Instagram post on July 31, in which he wrote, "Climbing this wall was first envisioned by the late Mugs Stump when he saw a photo of it in my house more than 30 years ago. Mugs would be stoked that his vision has finally been realized."

The team was supported by the Dartmouth Outing Club's Chris Vale Adventure Fund and the Copp Dash Inspire Grant.

Zeb Engberg advances his queenside pawns as David Bain bravely walks his king forward. [Photo] Engberg, Bain, Boning and Braasch collection

Une pas mes

Meanwhile, Silvia Vidal, a Catalan climber who is known for soloing difficult big walls in remote areas, was shuttling loads and establishing her new route to the left, Une pas mes--"one step at a time"--(VI 5.10b A4/A4+, 11 pitches).

Silvia Vidal pauses for a selfie while cleaning a pitch on her route Une pas mes (VI 5.10b A4/A4+, 11 pitches). [Photo] Silvia Vidal

"I walked the approach to the wall 20 times from where the seaplane dropped me off," she said.

It amounted to a total of approximately 330 miles of shuttling loads that were half her body weight.

She spent thirty-six days carrying gear and supplies to and from the wall, and 17 days on the route, all without a phone or radio to receive weather forcasts or call for help. She didn't even have a complete map of the area.

"The orientation, the circumstances and the faith helped to find the path of the approach," she said. "In June, the little path that climbs the valley is barely visible, and you constantly get lost. In August, the trail is easy to follow and accessible.... To be alone in bear country where there is nowhere to hide during the 36 days of shuttling loads was a major goal for me. Too scary. I [saw] bears and everything ended well, but I had a bad time, not only during the encounters but the rest of the weeks, until I could transform that fear."

Vidal rappels with a full load after completing her solo route. [Photo] Silvia Vidal

Une pas mes has 11 pitches. Three bolts were placed for protection (sans hangers) and 12 for belays, with two "clean" belays.

"It's granite, sometimes sandy, therefore small copperheads didn't hold out," Vidal said. "There are some loose blocks and more face climbing than crack systems. There are expanding flakes and [features] that made the solo ascent more complicated, as the ropes were usually stuck and I had to rap down to remove them. Sometimes a couple of times in a pitch."

Fast and free in a day

Adam Ferro on the approach to the Albatross, which is visible in the background. The east face of Xanadu is visible through the clouds to the right. [Photo] Vitaliy Musiyenko

Vitaliy Musiyenko, Brian Prince and Adam Ferro arrived August 3, having received a Mugs Stump Award for the trip.

"I've been looking at the wall forever," Prince said. "There's a photo of it in Colby Coomb's Alaska climbing guide. It didn't go exactly as planned because two other parties went in there for it this year! But all good. Instead of purely focusing on the west face, we got to climb a new route on the Albatross. And the route we chose on Xanadu ended up being more suited to alpine style, in-a-day kind of thing. More our style and it was all we had weather for, anyway.... Coldest weather any of us had rock climbed in."

They climbed their route on the Albatross all free in a day, naming it the Direct Southeast Face (IV 5.10+, 1,800'). Then it was time for the main objective.

Ferro follows a loose, steep pitch on the Direct Southeast Face (IV 5.10+, 1,800') of the Albatross. [Photo] Brian Prince

Musiyenko wrote: The following day, the weather looked good still, so we hiked over two passes and attempted to climb the west face of Xanadu but got stormed off from about halfway up. We [rappelled] down, pulled our ropes and retreated back to camp. It rained for the next two days and we stretched our food for an extra day by semi starving [ourselves] and planned to go all out, if weather was OK. Woke up at 3 a.m., got over the pass in OK weather, although it was never sunny on the day of our climb. It was super cold [and] windy, and we climbed the last few pitches and the final 400 feet of ridge in a whiteout.

The crux was a 5.11+ finger crack through a roof, which Prince onsighted.

"...We avoided the time-consuming bolting of any kind by running out lengthy sections of face climbing between cracks...." Musiyenko wrote on Facebook August 21. They eventually decided on the name Arctic Knight (V 5.11+, ca. 1,600').

Brian Prince onsights the 5.11+ finger crack over a roof on their Xanadu route Arctic Knight (V 5.11+, 7 pitches, ca. 1,600'). [Photo] Vitaliy Musiyenko

Vitaliy Musiyenko and Ferro on Xanadu's summit ridge after completing a new 5.11+ route onsight in a day. [Photo] Brian Prince

All in all, Musiyenko said the climbing on Albatross was "pretty good" and Xanadu was "really good."

But finishing the climb proved to be just one part of what turned out to be a 27-hour day on the move. Because they'd stretched their rations to make the climb possible, they were now out of food.

"After Xanadu we had to hike back to camp, move it down the valley, hike out to the strip, pick up our food and hike back," Musiyenko said. [The] last four hours of that we did in the rain and were completely soaked and cold as hell. We calculated that we did over 30 miles, about 7,000 feet of elevation gain, and climbed the new route on Xanadu that day, which was a 27-hour day."

"[The west face] of Xanadu is shorter than everyone thought," he added. "Silvia said her route up the middle was about 11 pitches, which weren't super long. We did ours in seven mostly full 70-meter pitches with 400 feet of fourth class with one move of 5.8 or so on the final ridge.

The west face of Xanadu: Golden Petals (V 5.13+ or 5.12 A0, 14 pitches) is marked in green on the right, Une pas mes (VI 5.10b A4/A4+, 11 pitches) is marked by the thin red line at center; the third route, Arctic Knight (V 5.11+, 7 pitches, ca. 1,600'), is marked in a thicker red line to the left of the previous two. [Photo] Engberg, Bain, Boning and Braasch collection

[David Roberts wrote an entertaining report for the American Alpine Journal about a 1969 Arrigetch expedition that can be found here.--Ed.]

This panorama from the top of Bridger Jack Butte shows part of Indian Creek's classic landscape that is currently protected by the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. Recent reports indicate that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended President Donald Trump shrink Bears Ears and other national monuments. [Photo] Derek Franz

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke submitted his final recommendations to President Donald Trump on August 24 about whether or not to change, reduce or rescind several national monuments, but the details of his report were not immediately released. On September 17, The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal disclosed copies of Zinke's report, which indicated that the Secretary has recommended reductions to four national monuments: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante (Utah), Gold Butte (Nevada) and Cascade-Siskiyou (Oregon). According to the news sources, Zinke's report does not specify by how much he thinks the monuments should be reduced.

Bears Ears has cultural significance for at least five Native American tribes, whose members are largely responsible for the monument's creation. It also contains world-class climbing areas such as Indian Creek.

The Access Fund--an organization that advocates for the protection of, and access to, climbing areas around the country--wrote in a September 18 statement: "The threats to Indian Creek are real. The fate of Bears Ears National Monument, and Indian Creek, lies in the hands of President Trump. Access Fund urges the President not to act on the short-sighted recommendations of Secretary Zinke and Governor [Gary] Herbert."

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Utah legislators are asking Trump to reduce Bears Ears to one-tenth of its current 1.35-million-acre size.

"Governor Herbert's maps show a 90 percent reduction to Bears Ears National Monument, exposing Indian Creek to impacts from industrial development," the Access Fund reported. "Much of Indian Creek is located within Bureau of Land Management parcels that are proposed for oil and gas development."

Trump ordered the 120-day review of the monuments in April, citing "abuse" of the Antiquities Act, which grants presidents the authority to declare monuments "which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected."

Rob Bishop, a Republican Utah Representative and Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told reporters in an August 24 phone conference that he thought the system for using the Antiquities Act was broken; that he believed that monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are too large--larger than what he considered the Antiquities Act intended--and that they were created "without transparency" or public input. At the same time, he said he believed "it's perfectly fair" for the White House to have time to read the report before its details are made public.

That same day, Colorado Senator Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) articulated concerns about Zinke's undisclosed report:

Keeping today's recommendations secret is further proof that this ill-conceived and unnecessary review process is not in the best interest of local communities and tribes. Despite claims of transparency, it is troubling that Secretary Zinke would leave the American public in the dark, while the president decides the fate of our public land and water. Stakeholders and tribes, including the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes and Bears [Ears] Inter-Tribal Coalition, worked tirelessly to protect their ancestral home from future development with the designation of Bears Ears National Monument--yet the Trump administration failed to consider their input or address their concerns in the review. We will continue to oppose this wildly unpopular effort to dismantle national monuments with all the tools at our disposal in the United States Senate.

Access Fund Policy Director Erik Murdock echoed Bennett's statement.

"If you're proud of something, and if it's so good for the public interest, why hide it?" he said.

A lot of people would like to know: the Department of Interior (DOI) reported that it received more than 2.4 million public comments on regulations.gov since the review was ordered.

A typical sunset in Indian Creek, Utah. [Photo] Derek Franz

More background on the debate

Zinke's repeated statements claim that Bears Ears was created with little to no input from the "local stakeholders."

"Too often under previous administrations, decisions were made in the Washington, D.C., bubble, far removed from the local residents who actually work the land and have to live with the consequences of D.C.'s actions," Zinke said in the DOI press release August 24. "This monument review is the exact opposite. President Trump and I opened the formal public comment period...in order to give local stakeholders a voice in the decision-making process...."

Supporters of the monument, however, point out that Bears Ears National Monument had a great deal of stakeholder input. The local tribes were the first to initiate a concerted effort to protect the area starting in 2010, when Utah Dine Bikeyah (UDB) formed. The group ultimately led to the formation of the Inter-Tribal Coalition, which unified the five tribes with direct involvement in the area and garnered the support of many other tribes across the nation.

UDB Board Chairman Willie Grayeyes issued this statement when Trump ordered the review of Bears Ears and many other national monuments last April:

UDB condemns this partisan attack. We also believe Bears Ears National Monument to be the most qualified area designated in the past 21 years, and also the most thoroughly studied, researched, and vetted by all sides. This monument enjoys support in Utah, is an economic driver for our reservation communities here in San Juan County, and it enables more local control and stewardship of the region by local Tribes and Utahns. Personally, I don't understand why Utah officials can't put these weapons down, sit down with Tribal leaders and San Juan County citizens and all work together on these issues we agree upon.

Prior to outgoing President Barack Obama's designation of Bears Ears National Monument, former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell attended several public meetings in Utah, including San Juan County where the bulk of the monument is located.

In the days leading up to Zinke's Utah visit in early May, Paige Blakenbueler reported for High Country News that the Inter-Tribal Coalition held a conference call in which the members "requested an audience with the Interior secretary. They say Zinke, since he took the helm of the Department of the Interior, has been conspicuously reclusive with the tribal nations he promised to represent...." The tribes also "criticized Zinke for ignoring multiple requests to meet with them and discuss Bears Ears."

During his visit, Zinke met with some tribal leaders for one to two hours but he spent the most of his time with monument opponents.

Murdock said the Access Fund offered Zinke the same consultation that the organization had provided for Sally Jewell, such as tours of climbing areas and explanations of the interests and values of the user group. "Zinke declined," Murdock said. He added that the current Secretary doesn't seem interested in hearing another view. "He has not had open meetings, he's blocked journalists, and avoided protestors. All these were things that...Jewell did not do."

Meanwhile, in mid-August, the Acting Director of the National Park Service Michael Reynolds quietly rescinded two items: a 2011 policy aimed at reducing and recycling disposable plastic water bottles in national parks, and Director's Order 100, known as "Resource Stewardship for the 21st Century," which was enacted in December 2016. According to an Access Fund news release, DO#100 provided "a framework for managing natural and cultural resources in our National Parks. It addressed climate change, engagement with Indigenous communities, and a new approach to addressing management problems by combining natural and cultural resource disciplines.... A brief memo from the DOI regarding DO#100 provided no explanation for the rescission."

Alpinist will continue to follow the developments of this story as more details emerge. A more in-depth background on the issues surrounding Bears Ears National Monument can be found here.

Alpinist is pleased to announce that Nick Bullock's feature article, "Threshold Shift," is one of the finalists for the Banff Mountain Book Competition's Mountaineering Article Award. Bullock's piece, which first appeared in Alpinist 57, recounts his first ascent of the North Buttress of Nyainqentangla Southeast with Paul Ramsden in 2016, and Bullock's subsequent return from Tibet to England to help his aging father. Back home, Bullock confronts the death of his mother, the loss of climbing friends and the uncertainties of Brexit. Bullock's article begins:

I never much thought of the danger when I started all those years ago. I never imagined the pain, the grief. Heroic.... I was indestructible.... I saw myself breaking shackles, becoming free.... But I was naive. In my defense, it's difficult to see the pain when you don't really value what you have at the time. It's easy to make light. Life is cheap, and time is a giveaway. But of course, life is never cheap, and time goes one way only. Entropy.

Nick Bullock on the North Buttress route (ED+ 1600m) on Nyainqentangla Southeast, Tibet. [Photo] Paul Ramsden

A full list of finalists for this and other Banff Mountain Book Competition Awards can be found here.

The Mountaineering Article Award premiered in 2015 at The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, where Ed Douglas won for his Alpinist 49 feature, "Crazy Wisdom," about the lives of Nepali expedition workers and low-altitude porters, who are often left out of mountaineering histories. The following year, Maya Prabhu's article "Notes from the Frontier," became a finalist for the same award. Prabhu's article, which appeared in Issue 54, featured stories of the "HimAlpinists," a group of Indian climbers who are experimenting with fast and light climbing styles and philosophies on the Himalayan peaks within their country.

This year's prize will again be awarded at the festival, which runs from October 28 to November 5 at the Banff Centre in Alberta.

More accolades for Alpinist writers

In other news, David Stevenson's essay, "A Late and Uninvited Correspondent Responds to Maggie Nelson's Bluets," which first appeared in Alpinist 56, has also made the "Notables List" for The Best American Essays 2017, edited by Leslie Jamison and Robert Atwan. In this piece, inspired by Maggie Nelson, Stevenson writes a meditation on the color blue--and the vast array of feelings associated with it--from base camp on Denali's Ruth Glacier. Last year, Chris Van Leuven's Alpinist 51 article "Going Home" was selected for inclusion in the 2016 Best American Sports Writing anthology, and Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives's Issue 49 Sharp End also made the Notables List.

On the North Pillar of Devils Thumb (Taalkhunaxhk'u Shaa). [Photo] Cole Taylor

COAST MOUNTAINS, ALASKA--For nearly 40 years since Bob Plumb and Dave Stuzman's first ascent in 1977, the North Pillar (VI 5.9, 6,000') of Devils Thumb (Taalkhunaxhk'u Shaa) hadn't been repeated. This summer, Cole Taylor made the second ascent of the upper half of the route ("old school 5.8") in impressive style: solo and entirely self-supported--after sailing his boat to the toe of the Baird Glacier--over nine days in early August.

Taylor set sail from Port Hadlock, Washington, in late June and arrived in Petersburg, Alaska, by late July. From there he navigated his boat (which doubles as his home) into Thomas Bay and started up the Baird Glacier during the first week of August.

"Four days later I reached 'base camp,' which, at 6,500 feet, is a bit of a misnomer, but it's where the chopper drops people off," he said in an email. "I got a late start the next morning, bivied on the route, and was back in base camp the following night. Three more days got me back to my dinghy waiting at the toe of the glacier, a nine-day round trip.... I was blessed with amazing weather. By the time I got on the glacier, I had missed three days of stellar weather, but unbelievably, the weather held for my entire trip, finally deteriorating once I was back on my boat."

Cole Taylor at his bivy at a notch in the North Pillar, midway up the route. [Photo] Cole Taylor

The original route started directly on the north face and then traversed to the Pillar. Plumb and Stuzman had intended to try climbing the headwall of the north face, but conditions enticed them to shift their line of ascent. They later recommended that future parties avoid the lower difficulties by accessing the pillar from the glacier higher up.

Taylor said he had spoken with Plumb before he left, and he had gathered all the information he could from Dieter Klose, a longtime climber and historian of the area who has authored several reports for the American Alpine Journal and been dubbed the "Stikine Icecap Manager." Nonetheless, Taylor said it was still a significant challenge to access the route knowing everything he did.

"I used the South Icefall...so I basically circled all the way around the backside of the mountain," Taylor said over the phone.

That 4,000-foot climb up the icefall deposited him where most people arrive via helicopter.

"The four days getting to base camp threw so many obstacles and objective hazards at me, the climb itself felt easy by comparison," Taylor wrote in an email.

On the summit, he encountered a team of two other climbers who had come up the Direct East Ridge (V 5.8+, 3,000'). Taylor said this lucky coincidence spared him from descending alone with his one 7mm rope. According to Klose, this is the first time two parties have coincided on the summit of Devils Thumb.

"This is definitely the first time two parties were on top at same time," Klose said. "Usually there's only one party in the whole range at one time."

On the North Pillar. [Photo] Cole Taylor

In an email, Klose recounted:

I could say a lot about Cole's audacity and total badass attitude on the trip. Each segment--[including] just getting onto the glacier via an iceberg- and slush-infested lake--is daunting in itself, let alone the brutality of the melted-out Witches Cauldron, a true hell of talus walking, through craters, lakes, and crevasses. Then the icefall. Then going around the mountain's glacier at 6,000 feet with crevasses you could drive a semi-truck into. THEN, the climb! With no rest until reversing this all back to his rowboat and onward to his trusty sailboat, in just nine days!

I've been trying to place Cole's super achievement in the context of the Thumb's history. Most climbers just use a helicopter here anymore. Cole's venture stands on its own. One may well compare it to [Jon] Krakauer's audacious solo, [when he] pioneered the Baird Glacier approach, with an airdrop on the upper icecap. Little beta in those days! Bold indeed. Cole was heavily beta-laden, except he's also the first to sail up here and do it all alone via the Cauldron from sea level, round-trip, and unsupported. The only thing he broke was all the layers of skin under his pack straps.

All who walk into the icecap these days suffer. I think Cole suffered more than most, and his badass, hardman determination had him pull off probably the purest, unsupported, bold and totally solo successful trip here, excepting meeting his lucky summit friends, and the great joy of luck with the weather. He could have flown out with their heli, but chose to persevere his way back to the sea.

Exiting the Witches Cauldron. [Photo] Cole Taylor

Taylor--who is known to be quite frugal in his lifestyle--borrowed a tent and some vintage ice tools from Klose for the ascent.

"You should see his old, ratty pack!" Klose wrote. "...[He] borrowed my Mjollnir ice hammer (ca. 1975-76?), which is one of the first interchangeable pick tools (rusted in place for a few decades, though). Yes, it's heavy. I recall it was my spare tool on the northwest face of Devils Thumb in 1982. The other tool was my not-so-old Black Diamond 50cm straight shaft, drooped-pick axe (ca. 1989-92?), [which was] a gift from my friend Peter Metcalf.... He also borrowed my lil' old Bibler tent, and returned everything like 'new.'"

Taylor summed up his trip in an email to his friend Kelly Cordes. The following was shared with Taylor's permission:

During the initial, brutal days of the approach, I thought this trip would surely break me, and [that] I'd have no interest in the mountains for some time after. But on the contrary, I came away from the icecap more deeply inspired by the mountains than I can ever recall....

I really felt that the strong vibes from friends and family contributed significantly to the magic of the trip. Things just worked out, in spite of constant obstacles, and it all played out better than the best-laid plans. The weather was a significant example of divine opportunity; by the time I stepped onto the glacier, three days of sun had passed, and I would use four more making the approach. I couldn't fathom that the weather would possibly hold for so long, but not until I sat down in the cockpit of my boat, unlacing my boots after a nine-day round trip, did the first raindrops fall.

Taylor told Alpinist: "I have not led a boring life, but nothing compares to the...days I spent on the Stikine Icecap."

Sunset from Taylor's bivy on the North Pillar. [Photo] Cole Taylor

[Klose wrote a worthwhile report on the history of the unclimbed northwest face of Devils Thumb that can be found here. A 1995 report by Cameron McPherson Smith about the difficulties encountered on the Baird Glacier during a self-supported attempt can be found here. Krakauer famously recounted his solo experience on the mountain in his collection Eiger Dreams.--Ed.]

A huge plume of granite dust billows at the base of Yosemite's El Capitan where a massive series of rockfalls occurred the afternoon of September 27. A fresh, white rock scar where the event originated can be seen to the right of the black streaks. One person was killed and another injured. [Photo] Tom Evans

[This report is pending a second update after another, much bigger rockfall happened on El Capitan the afternoon of September 28.--Ed.]

One person was killed and one injured after a massive rockfall occurred on the eastern flank of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park yesterday afternoon.

The event happened on the Waterfall Route, which is between the popular routes Zodiac and the East Buttress. Three climbers, including Peter "Pass the Pitons Pete" Zabrok, had been climbing the Waterfall Route and were just above the rockfall when it happened.

"I saw a 100-foot by 100-foot by-100 foot chunk of granite the size of an apartment building peel off two thousand feet above the deck, hit the wall a thousand feet up, and shatter into a hundred thousand pieces...," Zabrok posted on the climbing forum SupterTopo.com just after 1 a.m. this morning.

Six more rockfalls occurred after the initial one, for a total of seven events over a four-hour period.

Tom Evans, a photographer who documents climbing activity on El Cap for his blog ElCapReport.com, witnessed the event from the meadow below. He described it for Alpinist in an email:

...A party of three spent the last several days climbing right through the area that fell. They were a few pitches above it today and watched [it happen].... There was a big one...and then five more over the next three hours. All were big. I heard the booms first then saw the smoke and thunder-like noises from the impact. Everyone was frozen in place watching in awe.... I quickly swung my big lens over to the East Butt but saw no one at its base or low on the route. That is when the impact of what might have happened sunk in. I noticed a woman being helped out of the west end of the rockfall. She could move but was leaning heavily on a man. The two other people were not visible. Turns out that only one of those people was involved in the fall and was killed outright. There was a strong west wind that blew the dust off to the east quickly so we could immediately see the results of the fall on the cliff. Pete, Ryan, and Patrick [the climbers on Waterfall Route] were a few pitches above the affected area. They had spent three days climbing and bivying in the area of the fall and were so lucky to have gotten a few hundred feet higher the last two days. [Yosemite Search and Rescue] was on the spot and mounted a quick rescue and recovery.

This close-up shows the rock scar where a series of seven rockfalls originated on El Capitan's Waterfall Route. Three climbers were on the route at the time, and were a few hundred feet above the fall zone when it happened. [Photo] Tom Evans

In a video posted to Facebook that Zabrok recorded from the side of El Cap, he said: "I just turned 58 years old. I'm climbing Waterfall Route, and it's my 58th El Cap route. I just spent my 723rd night on El Cap. The five nights before, I was directly underneath that. If I'd been one day later, I'd be dead...."

An updated press release from the Park Service on September 28 reported:

A preliminary estimate for the cumulative volume of all seven rockfalls is about 16,000 cubic feet (450 cubic meters), or about 1,300 tons. The irregular "sheet" of rock that fell is estimated to be 130 feet tall, 65 feet wide, and 3-10 feet thick. The source point is about 650 feet above the base of El Capitan, or about 1,800 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley....

After the initial rockfall, Yosemite National Park Rangers and the Search and Rescue team entered the area looking for people at the base of the rockfall. Two people were found, resulting in one fatality and a serious injury. The victims, a couple visiting the park from Great Britain, were in the park to rock climb but were not climbing at the time of the initial rockfall. The male was found deceased and the female was flown out of the park with serious injuries. The National Park Service is working with the Consulate to notify family members. Until family notifications are completed, the names of the victims are not being released. All other people in the area have been accounted for and search efforts have been concluded.... Yosemite National Park remains open and visitor services are not affected.

A different and much smaller rockfall reportedly happened on or near El Capitan's West Face route around mid-September. No one witnessed it and apparently no one was in the area when it happened. In a September 17 SuperTopo post, climbers reported seeing rock scars caused by falling blocks of granite that are believed to have originated from Thanksgiving Ledge. The route was not damaged but downed trees were reported at the base.

Peter "Pass the Pitons Pete" Zabrok took this photo of his partner Ryan Sheridan on top of Yosemite's El Capitan when the September 28 rockfall broke loose and sent debris flying all the way into the Merced River, which can be seen below. A man was injured when a rock crashed through the roof of his SUV. Zabrok, Sheridan and Patrick Mcredmond were climbing in the area of the wall where the rockfalls originated, and were just a few hundred feet above the first rockfall when it happened. [Photo] Peter Zabrok

On September 27, a series of seven rockfalls resulted in the death of one person and the severe injury of another. Yesterday afternoon, even more massive rockfall rained down from Yosemite's El Capitan, injuring another person.

The first seven rockfalls that happened over a period of four hours September 27 had an estimated "cumulative volume of about 16,000 cubic feet (450 cubic meters), or about 1,300 tons," according to one of the national park's press releases, which described the piece of rock that fell as approximately "130 feet tall, 65 feet wide, and 3-10 feet thick," with the "source point being about 650 feet above the base of El Capitan, or about 1,800 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley."

The Park Service reported that the second event happened at 3:21 p.m. September 28 and "is significantly larger."

"Geologists are assessing the size and weight of the rockfall and these estimates are forthcoming," the Park Service reported in its second press release that day. "There was an injury associated with [yesterday's] rockfall event. The injured person was flown out of the park via air ambulance to receive medical care at an area hospital.... Roads within Yosemite Valley have been rerouted and the changes will be in effect at least through tomorrow. All roads remain open in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite National Park remains open and visitor services are not affected by the rockfalls over the past couple of days."

A huge plume of granite dust billows at the base of Yosemite's El Capitan where a massive series of rockfalls occurred the afternoon of September 27. A fresh, white rock scar where the event originated can be seen to the right of the black streaks. One person was killed and another injured. A second rockfall event happened approximately 24 hours after this photo was taken, and was significantly larger. The rockfalls originated on El Capitan's Waterfall Route, which three climbers were ascending at the time, and they were just high enough to be out of harm's way. The National Park Service estimated the first event to have a cumulative volume of about 16,000 cubic feet. The second was "significantly larger." [Photo] Tom Evans

A Fresno television station reported that the latest injury happened when a rock fell through the roof of a Florida couple's SUV and hit the male driver in the head. An interview with his wife can be seen here.

The rockfalls originated on and around the Waterfall Route, which is between the popular routes Zodiac and the East Buttress. Three climbers--Peter "Pass the Pitons Pete" Zabrok, Patrick Mcredmond and Ryan Sheridan--had been climbing the Waterfall Route and were just above the first rockfall when it happened.

"I saw a 100-foot by 100-foot by-100 foot chunk of granite the size of an apartment building peel off two thousand feet above the deck, hit the wall a thousand feet up, and shatter into a hundred thousand pieces that completely annihilated everything be nice," Zabrok posted on the climbing forum SupterTopo.com that night. Later, in a video posted to Facebook that Zabrok recorded from the side of El Cap, he said: "I just turned 58 years old. I'm climbing Waterfall Route, and it's my 58th El Cap route. I just spent my 723rd night on El Cap. The five nights before, I was directly underneath that. If I'd been one day later, I'd be dead...."

Zabrok and his partners had completed their climb to the top of El Cap by the time the second event unleashed a wave of debris that tumbled all the way to the Merced River in the valley below.

Zabrok on top of El Capitan with a Yosemite Search and Rescue helicopter flying below. [Photo] Peter Zabrok

"I was standing on the summit of El Cap, and we all felt the ground--which is solid granite--shaking beneath our feet," he wrote in an email. "Imagine being a climber/caver/outdoor adventurer for all of your life, up to [my] age, 58, and [then] witnessing the greatest natural catastrophe you've ever seen in your life. Now imagine this afternoon, seeing a natural catastrophe perhaps 100 to 1,000 times bigger...."

Mcredmond was impressed by Sheridan's "calm and collected" reaction.

"He called [Yosemite Search and Rescue] straight away, and was precise and exact in how he described the details of the fall," Mcredmond said. "...The search and rescue teams were amazingly fast. It felt like minutes before we could see the chopper in the air."

Tom Evans, a photographer who documents climbing activity on El Cap for his blog ElCapReport.com, witnessed the rockfalls of September 27 from the meadow below. He described it for Alpinist in an email:

...A party of three spent the last several days climbing right through the area that fell. They were a few pitches above it today and watched [it happen].... There was a big one...and then five more over the next three hours. All were big. I heard the booms first then saw the smoke and thunder-like noises from the impact. Everyone was frozen in place watching in awe.... I quickly swung my big lens over to the East Butt but saw no one at its base or low on the route. That is when the impact of what might have happened sunk in. I noticed a woman being helped out of the west end of the rockfall. She could move but was leaning heavily on a man. The two other people were not visible. Turns out that only one of those people was involved in the fall and was killed outright. There was a strong west wind that blew the dust off to the east quickly so we could immediately see the results of the fall on the cliff. Pete, Ryan, and Patrick [the climbers on Waterfall Route] were a few pitches above the affected area. They had spent three days climbing and bivying in the area of the fall and were so lucky to have gotten a few hundred feet higher the last two days. YOSAR was on the spot and mounted a quick rescue and recovery.

The Park Service reported:

After the initial rockfall, Yosemite National Park Rangers and the Search and Rescue team entered the area looking for people at the base of the rockfall. Two people were found, resulting in one fatality and a serious injury. The victims, a couple visiting the park from Great Britain, were in the park to rock climb but were not climbing at the time of the initial rockfall. The male was found deceased and the female was flown out of the park with serious injuries.... All other people in the area have been accounted for and search efforts have been concluded.

The man who died in the September 27 rockfall was identified as Andrew Foster of Wales, 32, and he was the husband of the woman who was injured that same day and who has yet to be identified.

A different and much smaller rockfall reportedly happened on or near El Capitan's West Face route around mid-September. No one witnessed it and apparently no one was in the area when it happened. In a September 17 SuperTopo post, climbers reported seeing rock scars caused by falling blocks of granite that are believed to have originated from Thanksgiving Ledge. The route was not damaged but downed trees were reported at the base.

The north face of Mt. Hooker in Wyoming's Wind River Range. [Photo] Austin Siadak

Located in Wyoming's Wind River Range, with a 15-mile approach and a 1,800-foot north face, Mt. Hooker (12,504') has continued to provide a full-value alpine objective ever since Royal Robbins, Richard K. McCracken and Charlie Raymond's first ascent of the Original Route (VI 5.10 A4) in 1964, which was also the country's first Grade VI climb outside of Yosemite. Since then, other prominent climbers--such as Todd Skinner, Paul Piana, Josh Wharton, Whit Magro, Nik Berry, David Allfrey and Mason Earle, to name a few--have established high-end free routes from 5.12 to 5.13+ on the mountain's steep, cold north face.

After Tommy Caldwell and Adam Stack made the first car-to-car ascent of Jaded Lady (V 5.12a) in 2016, Caldwell told Alpinist Associate Editor Paula Wright that Hooker was "way bigger, way more remote, and way more impressive" than he had expected.

In Alpinist 55, Wright noted that "Piana recalled the cold on the north face being 'bitter and painful,' even in August."

On August 10-21, Jesse Huey and Maury Birdwell joined the distinguished list of names when they completed a free variation to the original Robbins route that they named Original Sin (V 5.12+). The crux, Pitch 4, was led entirely on pre-placed beaks.

"Freeing an old Robbins route from 1964 ground up is certainly a lifetime achievement for both Jesse and me, add in that it was the first backcountry Grade VI in Yosemite style, and it gets even better," Birdwell said.

The yellow line shows the Original Route and the red lines mark the free variations of Original Sin. A route description and topo can be found here on MountainProject.com. [Image] Maury Birdwell

It was Birdwell's first visit to the Winds. Huey had climbed Hooker before--via the classic Jaded Lady, which is another free variation to the Robbins route. He told Alpinist in an email that Hooker was not at the top of the agenda when they were first planning the trip:

Maury and I were tossing around many ideas before we committed to Hooker. We wanted to try to do something new, something big, and something hopefully really challenging for ourselves. We originally wanted to go to Northern Canada, but both of our careers limited the amount of time we could leave home. I was [inclined] to stay away from Hooker, mostly because I thought the route looked very likely too difficult to free climb for our abilities. I also was leaning on going somewhere else, as I try not to recreate experiences I already have had, especially in the mountains. Ultimately, it was the proximity of the area to our homes, the likelihood of there not being many people in the area, the size of the wall, and our limited timeframe that made us decide to go into Hooker.

Like so many others, they were not disappointed in their decision, and after some initial doubt, they both sent the route on August 20.

Maury Birdwell belays Jesse Huey at the start of Pitch 4 of their new free route Original Sin (V 5.12+, 1,800'). [Photo] Austin Siadak

Huey recounted his first experience on the mountain:

In 2015 I went to Hooker with Mike Pennings to try and free climb as much as possible.... At the time I really didn't have much info about the free routes out there, as really there wasn't much you could find without going down a Google rabbit hole searching American Alpine Journals and blogs, etc. We couldn't find a topo for the Jaded Lady (the first free route on Mt. Hooker) but had Whit Magro there who had climbed the route the year before to show us at least where it started. With poor information as to where the route went, we used our first day to climb the bottom half of the Jaded Lady. It took us a full day to sort out where the route actually went as there was very little fixed gear, no chalk at all, and plenty of features that could draw you off course without a proper topo. As we climbed the Jaded Lady I kept looking over at the steep features to our left, (the original route) and figured it was a perfect candidate for a new free route (if it hadn't already been free climbed by a local crusher.)

They maintained the traditional ground-up ethic, and aided some pitches to reach the top before cleaning sections of the route and working moves on toprope. A couple of unlikely, hard-to-find holds proved to be the keys for a free ascent.

"We thought it very important to proceed in that style as the '64 ascent is really--in my opinion--important to the history of North American big wall climbing," Huey said.

Huey on Pitch 4. [Photo] Austin Siadak

In a blog for Arc'Teryx, Huey wrote:

...We had 300 feet of a very steep wall ahead of us, and the features weren't lining up as we had hoped. It all came down to a roof encounter that I thought at first wasn't going to link. Demoralized and broken from a 10-hour day of leading, I felt a sloping hand hold that the eye couldn't even see. Out of almost divine intervention, all of the pieces came together and we had ourselves a bottom-to-top free route.

Huey on Pitch 4. [Photo] Austin Siadak

Huey noted that one of the route's stemming cruxes felt similar to El Capitan's Freerider (VI 5.12d/13a). Recounting the day they sent, Huey wrote in the Arc'Teryx blog:

...Having clipped six beaks and a stopper, I was staring at the crux of the route. My mind didn't even consider the nature of the fixed gear and whether it would hold a fall or not. My mind went into stillness as I was wholly committed to freeing the pitch. Several screams, desperate foot smears, and difficult pulls later, I was at the belay with the pitch that once seemed impossible, free climbed below me.

Birdwell leads Pitch 5. [Photo] Austin Siadak

Jaded Lady is considered the original free variation to the Robbins route. In 1990, Annie Whitehouse, Stuart Richie and Mark Rolofson established the route and freed all except for 50 feet of it. Days later, they gave Skinner and Piana a topo of their route. Together with Tim Toula, who lead the former 50-foot stretch of aid, they completed the first free ascent.

Mt. Hooker and the Wind Rivers were featured in a Mountain Profile by Paula Wright in Alpinist 55, which included an essay by Robbins titled "Wyoming's Range of Light." The opening lines read: "The Wind River Range of Wyoming is the closest mountain landscape I have yet found to my first love, the Sierra Nevada."

Alpinist contributor Nick Bullock was recently named the winner of Banff Mountain Book Awards' "Mountaineering Article" category for his story, "Threshold Shift," which appeared in Alpinist 57. The recognition comes with a $2,000 prize.

Bullock's piece recounts his first ascent of the North Buttress of Nyainqentangla Southeast with Paul Ramsden in 2016, and Bullock's subsequent return from Tibet to England to help his aging father. Back home, Bullock confronts the death of his mother, the loss of climbing friends and the uncertainties of Brexit.

Ian Welsted, a member of the Book Competition jury, wrote:

A threshold shift is the ear's defense against loud noise; Nick Bullock's years of experience defend his mind from registering the mortal hazard he and his compatriots face, and all too commonly perish from, in the mountains. Equally, a life climbing and writing has insulated Nick from the "rush and push and strain...(and) disappointment" of a more traditional lifestyle. Elevating moments from a first ascent in Nepal contrast with the difficult final journey Nick makes with his aging widower father. In spite of a life spent in search of "something better" through climbing he realizes he shares traits with the old men he swore he would never become. Not a lighthearted tale, it addresses mortality with an honesty [that] must be admired.

Nick Bullock on the North Buttress route (ED+ 1600m) on Nyainqentangla Southeast, Tibet. [Photo] Paul Ramsden

Bullock's article begins:

I never much thought of the danger when I started all those years ago. I never imagined the pain, the grief. Heroic.... I was indestructible.... I saw myself breaking shackles, becoming free.... But I was naive. In my defense, it's difficult to see the pain when you don't really value what you have at the time. It's easy to make light. Life is cheap, and time is a giveaway. But of course, life is never cheap, and time goes one way only. Entropy.

A list of the other award categories and their recipients can be found here.

Fred Beckey in 2012. [Photo] Jerry Dodrill

Fred Beckey, one of the most prolific alpinists the world has ever known, died October 30 at age 94 in Seattle, Washington, while in the caring arms of his close friend and biographer Megan Bond.

Bond told Alpinist that a burial is scheduled for 1 p.m. this Saturday, November 4, at Mountain View Cemetery, just outside Leavenworth.

"This is a stone's throw to Icicle Canyon, where he spent so much of life climbing and exploring; a gateway to ranges in the North Cascades," she said. "All are welcome. Another memorial will be put on by the Mountaineers in Seattle, date not set."

Beckey's climbing career started at a young age, well before he became a member of Seattle's Mountaineers club in 1939 at age 16, and he climbed nearly to his dying day. Along the way he explored thousands of remarkable first ascents on mountains across the globe--his name is associated with several routes featured in Steve Roper and Allen Steck's Fifty Classic Climbs of North America--and he authored a stack of books, starting in 1949 with A Climber's Guide to the Cascade and Olympic Mountains of Washington.

"Fred is without a doubt the most accomplished climber ever to come out of North America, and is among the all-time greats, alongside figures such as Ricardo Cassin, Herman Buhl, Lionel Terray, Walter Bonatti, and Reinhold Messner," renowned alpinist Colin Haley concluded at the end of his speech when he presented Beckey with the Mountaineers' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

"If you were to combine all of Alex Honnold's skill and all of Ueli Steck's skill into one super-climber, then had that super-climber continue climbing non-stop until their 80s, then you [would] find a modern equivalent of Fred Beckey," Haley said in his speech.

Beckey is often hailed as the godfather of the climbing-bum lifestyle, because he was so dedicated to his passion that he was perpetually traveling; he often slept on the ground and was notoriously frugal in his living.

"He chose to eschew climbing fame, financial security, marriage, and all other aspects of the 'American dream' in pursuit of climbing, back when it was an unheard of choice," Haley said in his speech.

But his friends Megan Bond and Cameron Burns noted that Beckey did not care for the title.

Bond told Alpinist in an email:

I know Fred mostly never wanted to be considered a "dirtbag".... He actually worked a TON [and] saved every cent--he was not a bum.... He was not only a climber, but an academic in every sense of the word--a scholar of the mountain world: terrain, flora, fauna, geology. He was meticulous in his research, careful with his relationships, protective of wild places, and never wanted to die in the mountains. He out-climbed two generations, and outlived three. He made numerous trips to the Himalaya, many of these in the last 30 years, interested in uncharted landscapes, or at least untrodden.... He didn't smoke, rarely drank, was the king of one-liners. He would become so one-thousand-percent fixated on a topic or project that there was no rest for anyone in his orbit until it was finished and complete; he hated to leave things undone. Most important to him in friendships was loyalty. If someone made a commitment to him to spend time with him and cancelled or didn't follow through, he would continue to be gracious to that person, but the trust would be gone. Time was critical, and not to be wasted. He squeezed more juice out of this life than anyone, and he had no guilt about prioritizing his agenda above all others (except for me, [whom] he always put first).

Megan Bond and Beckey in Ed Cooper's library, 2013. [Photo] Ed Cooper

A natural born climber

Fred Becky was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1923. His given name was Wolfgang Gottfried Beckey. His brother Helmy was born a couple years later, about the same time the family moved to the United States in 1925.

Beckey is quoted in a tribute on the Mountaineers website: "I was 13 when I climbed Boulder Peak in the Olympic Mountains by myself--and I guess you can say that I never stopped climbing after that. For me, the appeal of climbing has many sources: a longing to escape from the artificial civilized order, a need for self-rejuvenation, a desire to restore my sense of proportion. When you are climbing, you experience freedom from constraints."

During his first year as a member of the Mountaineers, 16-year-old Beckey turned heads as he accomplished his first first-ascents.

The world took notice three years later, in 1942, when 19-year-old Beckey and 17-year-old Helmy made the second ascent of the remote Mt. Waddington in British Colombia.

"The climb was of comparable difficulty to the Eiger's north face [first climbed in 1938], but in very remote wilderness, not above the hotels and telescopes of Kleine Scheidegg--At the time it was one of most difficult climbs in the world, and the route still today has been climbed fewer than ten times," Haley said in his 2015 speech. ".... The modern equivalent would be two students from Garfield High School going to Pakistan over summer break and climbing a new route in alpine style on the West Face of Gasherbrum IV."

Though Helmy did not follow Fred's lifelong climbing pursuit and moved back to Germany in recent years, Bond said the two brothers remained close.

"Helmy adored Fred," she said.

Beckey climbing in British Columbia, ca. 1958. [Photo] Ed Cooper

A climbing legacy

In a tribute on Climbing.com, Cameron Burns noted:

[Beckey's] record of first ascents is probably not the biggest list tendered by a climber--just look at Harvey Carter with the 5,000-plus he's reputed to have established. Rather, it's the caliber of Beckey's climbs that stands out. Big, long, steep, tough--and often remarkably enjoyable. And, more often than not, Beckey's climbs--at least when he did them--came with a devilish barrel of logistical demons like complicated access, and finding reliable (and sometimes willing) partners, time, and money.

An interactive map designed by Michael Skaug is based on Beckey's records in the American Alpine Journal and shows at a glance just how prolific Beckey was.

Burns wrote:

Beckey wrote 22 feature articles and hundreds of firsthand reports for the American Alpine Journal. As AAJ editor Dougald MacDonald noted in 2014, "No climber in the 88-year history of the AAJ has written more reports or had more climbs cited in these pages than Fred Beckey."

Indeed, Beckey was educated and put his knowledge to use after graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in business administration in 1949--the same year he published his first guidebook.

Burns recalled:

...His was a keen intellect. In 1997, he stayed at my home for 10 days, and grunted out something that sounded like: "I need to send an email to Lindsay Griffin [a British editor]." I set him up with my computer, and after an hour and a half, came back into my office to read some of the most commanding and interesting language ever written about mountains and geology anywhere. It was, literally, unbelievable. "Send it, will ya?" he grunted. "I'm hungry."

Clint Helander, another friend of Beckey's, and who is a third of the man's age, told Alpinist in an email:

I never heard Fred address his mortality or physical decline. Even in his 90s, Fred wanted to go to remote corners of Alaska to tackle massive peaks that he had annotated 30, 40 or 50 years prior. His withering, 90-year-old body could no longer keep up with his ageless mind and aspirations. The closest I ever heard him come to admitting that he was slowing down was a few years ago when he was prodding me for information on some peaks in Alaska's Revelation mountains. I asked if he was planning a trip. "I don't know about this year, I'm getting pretty ancient," he said. "Maybe next year." I found his drive and focus to be incredibly genuine and inspiring. It went beyond desire. It was something completely unique. Fred Beckey deserves to be regarded as one of the greatest explorers of all time.

On SuperTopo.com, John Long, a prolific author and climbing pioneer, wrote, "There will never be another Fred Beckey. No words."

A documentary about Beckey's life, titled "Dirtbag; The Legend of Fred Beckey," is currently screening on a film tour. A biography by Megan Bond is expected to be published by the Mountaineers in the not too-distant future.

Fred Beckey, belayed by Les McDonald, climbs in British Columbia. Mt Garibaldi (2678m) is in the background, August 10, 1958. [Photo] Ed Cooper

Fred

The following story by James P. Sweeney first appeared in Alpinist 23 and has since been revised for his short story collection, The List, published in 2011.

It's almost ten, Lover's Leap is still in the shade, and Fred Beckey sleeps in the back of his red Subaru wagon. It must have been after two last night when I heard him pull into the campground. Now, a dirty window frames his craggy face, poking from a sleeping bag.

Fred's been climbing for nearly "sixty-five years," more than anyone, and tomorrow he'll leave for another partner and another climb. Four months ago today he asked me to climb The Line. He's writing a guide to his one hundred favorite climbs. He hasn't climbed The Line, but he's sure it will make his book.

Swathes of golden light and purple mountain shadows fill the valley. A squirrel chitters on a giant deadfall. Two blue jays poke at the ground next to the picnic table. I hear moving water. Out on the highway a truck shifts gears. The sky could not be bluer. One more cup of coffee and I'll wake Fred.

I met Fred twelve years ago in Alaska, where he's been climbing since 1946. He called, we went to an Anchorage coffee shop, and he showed me pictures of an unclimbed granite minaret, north of the Neacola Mountains in the southwestern Alaska Range. We never got to the minaret and Fred and I haven't had much luck in the mountains. We got into an argument two years ago on Thunder Mountain. I was pissed but we still met at the coffee shop, and last winter I climbed and skied with him in British Columbia.

Fred is hunched, his pants are hitched up, and his hair's disheveled when he crawls from the Subaru. "Can't complain about the weather," he smirks. Seems impossible to get a straight answer to where he was yesterday. Maybe Portland, because he said he was on Highway 5. Can't be sure.

I feed him coffee and cereal at the picnic table. He sits cross-legged and talks about a woman we both know. "She's a pain in the ass," he says. "Yes, she is," I say. Twice, he heads for the outhouse.

"Let's go," I tell him. Fred's seventy nine, The Line is three pitches. The parking lot fills with climbers while Fred fiddles with highly secretive papers in FedEx cardboard envelopes: notes, phone numbers, pictures, future climbs. I get the climbing rack together. Fred says, "You have too big of a rack." I take off a few cams. Then he asks if I have enough.

Fred wanders off to talk with some dudes from Tahoe and it's afternoon before we leave for the climb. Sauntering through the open forest, Fred pivots his head and swings his arms slowly, taking everything in. He stops and stares at the cliff. A couple tags along as far as some big boulders, and two friendly young guys follow us to the base of Lover's Leap. They're going to climb next to us so they can hang with Fred.

Fred's ready; he holds the green rope with just enough slack. "On belay," he says. I pose at the crux; he takes lots of pictures. I'd love to have my picture in his book. Once I'm at the anchor, he yells "Off belay" twice, and waits until I pull hard before he starts climbing.

Fred's straight up on the balls of his feet. His back is not hunched anymore. He lie-backs and finger jams. The wall's steep; I look right down at him. "Up rope," Fred says. He's at the crux. "I got you, Fred." I pull tight. Three more times: "Up rope." The lanky kid from Berkeley on the other route takes pictures. The sun feels good. Fred's past the crux. "Barely made the move," I hear him say.

Fred lie-backs, stems, jams up to me, then clips his blue-and-white daisy chain to the belay. I throw a clove hitch in his end of the rope, clip it, and snug it up. Sometimes he doesn't seem to hear anything, but when we had our argument, six months later he repeated what I said, word for word.

"You guys are moving fast," says one of the guys at a belay to our right. Their camera is out. Fred's pushed right up against me. The skin is lighter in the deep creases on his face. He leans out and looks up. White hair flows from his big nose and ears. There's still a little brown on his head, but his sideburns are completely white. "Nice lead," he tells me. "You put in lots of gear." "I don't want to die," I say. "I don't want to die either," he says. The next pitch goes fast: horizontal dikes protruding from the stone makes the climbing easy. I tell the kid climbing next to me, "We got ninety years of climbing experience on you guys." Fred sings up the rock and says, "Up rope."

The last pitch is 5.7, but it's steep, so I keep the rope tight. The young guys' route has merged with ours. Maybe Fred's tired, because he leaves some gear for them to take out.

Sunlight creeps through the forest. The young guys give us our gear and head down. We sit for a while and don't say anything. Across the valley, the mountainside blazes yellow and there's a waterfall. The descent trail winds east through the forest and down a slab. Johnny and Chris, two friends of ours from British Columbia, hike up to greet us. "Fred's sure smiling," Chris says. "Look at him, he's dancing down the trail. Did you guys have a good climb?"

Beckey, center, MacDonald, right, both legendary climbers, sip Canadian Club whiskey after a climb, ca. 1958. Man at left is unidentified. [Photo] Ed Cooper

Helander wrote a story about Fred Beckey and a first ascent in the Revelations that was published in the 2015 American Alpine Journal and can be found here. Beckey authored a story for Alpinist in 2007 about his 1963 first ascent of the Northeast Buttress of Mt. Slesse with Steve Marts and Eric Bjornstad that can be found here.

Tickets are now available for the American Alpine Club's annual benefit dinner weekend on February 23-24 in Boston, Massachusetts.

This year's event will honor the 40th anniversary of the first American ascent of K2 (8611m), when Jim Wickwire and Louis Reichardt summited on September 6, 1978, followed on September 7 by their teammates Rick Ridgeway and John Roskelley.

Fred Beckey at a previous American Alpine Club event. Beckey passed away October 30 at age 94. [Photo] Jim Aikman

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner--an Austrian who became the first woman to summit all 14 8000-meter peaks without bottled oxygen or high-altitude porters when she summited K2 in 2011--is the keynote speaker. She will present her address on February 24 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.

Other weekend events are open to the public and begin Friday, February 23, with the annual AAC membership meeting and Climbers Gathering at Central Rock Gym. The Gathering includes a food truck, drinks and a friendly climbing competition featuring plenty of recognizable names and faces. Saturday morning features panel discussions at the hotel that will be focused topics that are affecting the modern climbing community.

The Annual Benefit Dinner begins at 6 p.m. February 24. Tickets start at $250 for Club members and $350 for non-members, and can be purchased by going here to the AAC website.

The AAC press release reports that "in addition to Kaltenbrunner's keynote address, attendees will enjoy fine dining, beer and wine, live and silent auctions, and acceptance speeches from this year's awardees." The event is expected to sell out and tickets are limited. For more information and to reserve your spot, visit americanalpineclub.org/annual-benefit-dinner. Registration closes on February 14, or when sold out."

Carry Roberts places a bid at a previous event. [Photo] Jim Aikman

From left to right: Tree Allen, Maria Povec, Mikhail Martin and Shelma Jun. [Photo] Tegra Nuess

[Photo] Tegra Nuess

About the American Alpine Club

The American Alpine Club describes itself as "a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose vision is a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes. Together with our members, the AAC advocates for American climbers domestically and around the world; provides grants and volunteer opportunities to protect and conserve the places we climb; hosts local and national climbing festivals and events; publishes two of the world's most sought-after climbing annuals, the American Alpine Journal and Accidents in North American Mountaineering; cares for the world's leading climbing library and country's leading mountaineering museum; manages five campgrounds as part of a larger lodging network for climbers; and annually gives $80,000+ toward climbing, conservation, and research grants that fund adventurers who travel the world. Learn about additional programs and become a member at americanalpineclub.org."

Melissa Arnot Reid, Keegan Young and Adriane Lakin [Photo] Jim Aikman

From left: Savannah Cummins, Anna Pfaff and Lindsay Fixmer. [Photo] Lindsay Fixmer

Starting near the end of August, Savannah Cummins, Lindsay Fixmer and I spent 24 days climbing and exploring the remote Raru Mountains in northern India's Zanskar Range. We encountered a plethora of unclimbed 5000- to 6000-meter peaks, rock walls and spires. During our time spent on the Tetleh Glacier we were able to summit the previously unclimbed rock spire of Peak 5400, as well as attempt new routes on Peak R6 and Peak 5750. Weather was the bane of our expedition as we had a total of five days with feasible climbing conditions and 19 with rain, snow, hail and wind.

On August 20, our team arrived in Delhi ready for adventure. This was to be my fourth expedition to northern India's Zanskar Mountains. I have an affinity for this range and will continue returning to it. We were welcomed by Mr. CS Panday of Himalaya Run and Trek, our logistics company, and he brought us directly to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation to receive our climbing permit and meet with our liaison officer.

The next day we started the long journey north with a flight into Leh. There, we gathered last-minute supplies and loaded up a minibus that would be our chariot for the next three days. We drove endless, winding dirt roads deep into the Jammu and Kashmir mountains. We ventured to the border town of Kargil, past Rangdum, home of the epic Shafat Fortress (ca. 5944m), over the Pensi La and onto Padum, the capital of the historical Zanskar Kingdom. From Padum we finished our last leg of driving and arrived in the village of Raru on August 26.

After an overnight stay in a local resident's home, we packed up 12 horses from an adjacent village with gear and started the journey into base camp. The site had been established by the British and Slovenian teams visiting the area in previous years, and our cook, Heera Singh, had been there the prior year. To minimize impact we utilized the same area of the moraine as the other groups had at 4600 meters.

Fixmer at base camp. [Photo] Anna Pfaff

Arriving under blue skies, I was awestruck by the shimmering granite peaks that surrounded the valley. Wanting to see more the very next day, Lindsay and I moved a load of gear up the glacier to an area we deemed fit to establish a high camp around 5000 meters. Massive, thick grey clouds soon moved in from the south, shrouding the valley, and snow started falling. We retreated to base camp and spent the next few days acclimatizing on small hikes around the area while the clouds waxed and waned throughout the days.

On September 5 we decided to try Peak R6 (6177m)--a broad mountain with multiple options for new routes--to see how we were moving and acclimatizing. We took gear for a potential bivy and set out in the early morning light. Navigating steep, loose terrain we climbed approximately 400 meters before inclement weather started to form once again, and we retreated through a notch, rappelling down the southeast face of the wall. We returned to base camp just as violent winds set in.

Fixmer and Cummins scope lines from the Tetleh Glacier. [Photo] Anna Pfaff

Four days later, we pushed our high camp farther up the glacier towards Peak 5750 and the Kang La, which leads into the popular Miyar Valley. Peak 5750 is a snow-covered peak with glistening lines of ice that cover its north face. Lindsay and I climbed pitches of WI4, M4-5 to just below the summit ridge. Once again the weather crumpled, and we retreated to high camp by rappelling the route on V-threads.

Back at base camp, we discussed our options based on the weather pattern. The three of us decided to give Peak 5400, which we dubbed "The Gem," a go. It is by far the smallest formation in the valley but we successfully made it to the summit on September 13, after climbing approximately 400 meters of unknown terrain up to technical difficulties of 5.10. There were no signs of previous climbers on the summit. We celebrated our adventure with hugs and retreated to the glacier just before sunset.

Cummins belays Pfaff on Peak 5400. [Photo] Lindsay Fixmer

With less than a week left, Lindsay and I decided to return for a second attempt on Peak 5750. We once again returned to high camp and waited out a few storms. In the early morning hours of September 17, we started back up our original route only to find conditions less than stable with all of the fresh snowfall. More than a foot of powder covered the steep ice runnels and granite crack systems. The small serac on the summit also looked more loaded than it had on the previous occasion. As we bailed and packed up our high camp, we were confident in our decision to retreat because of these objective hazards.

Pfaff on Peak 5750. [Photo] Lindsay Fixmer

The Raru Valley is a special place, and I highly recommend going there. Local residents said the weather is usually not as wet, and that this year we were experiencing a late monsoon.

Thank you to everyone who supported this unforgettable journey into the unknown.

The south face of Nuptse with the new route marked by the thin red line. [Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

On October 14-21, Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet completed a risky new route on Nuptse's south face in mostly alpine style. They fixed one pitch of WI6--which all three free climbed at the end of Day 1 while conditions were ideal--and then they used one more fixed rope on a traverse to a bivy site on Day 3. The overall technical difficulty of their as-yet-unnamed route weighs in at M5+ WI6, 65° snow, with a length of 2342 meters to the summit from advance base camp. For Millerioux and Guigonnet, this was their second attempt on this route after trying it in 2015.

This is the same team of climbers who completed a difficult new route up the west face of Siula Chico (6265m) in Peru with Robin Revest in 2014, which they called Looking for the Void (M7 WI6 R, 865m).

Similar to their ambitious line on Siula Chico, the new route on Nuptse is prone to rockfall and seracs. Finding safe bivouacs was a challenge, and even their best efforts failed to yield sites that were ideal. Millerioux's arm was injured on the descent by a falling rock while he was belaying at 7100 meters, and he had to make do with only one functioning arm the rest of the way down.

On the summit, from left to right: Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet. [Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

Nuptse's south face has received quite a bit of attention from bold alpinists ever since the peak's first ascent in 1961, which followed a snowy buttress up the middle of the face. But many talented climbers have been turned around. After attempting a few different lines in 2014 with Jason Kruk, Ian Welsted authored a report for Alpinist.com in which he wrote:

For Himalayan alpinists the face does not require an introduction. The southeast pillar is legendary. Jeff Lowe, Mark Twight, Jim Elzinga, Pete Arbic, Barry Blanchard, Steve House, Marko Prezelj, have all tried it. Early attempts on the pillar employed alpine-style climbing tactics. After his two failed attempts, solo in 2002 and with Vladimir Suviga in 2003, Valeriy Babanov theorized that, on a face of this size and technical nature, climbers would almost inevitably run out of steam before summiting....

At the end of the article, Welsted outlined two potential routes to the mountain's western peak (7742m)--one of lines drawn on the photo follows the same approximate line as the French team's new route.

In a simple, by-the-numbers report, Degoulet lists a total of at least 11 pitches of WI5 in addition to the first pitch of WI6, with several more technical pitches at slightly easier grades. There were also long stretches of soloing or simulclimbing on snow. Besides the hard climbing, a lot of time and energy was consumed with finding and constructing suitable bivy sites.

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

Degoulet described their efforts:

[Day 2] Not a very safe camp position. We spent two and a half hours digging the ledge for the tent. We dug into a snow slope, creating a right-angled triangle to make a wall as high as possible behind the tent to protect it from rockfall (this camp position the year before had resulted in a rock ripping the tent and landing close to Ben). We tried to make it safer by digging farther into the slope this year. In the end it was still threatened by rockfall and we had to sit with our backs against the snow....

Camp 3 had to be moved from the original site, as this year there was less snow. An alternative site was found slightly off route. A snow spur was well-protected from rockfall. It took one and a half hours to dig the bivy ledge....

Camp 5 was in a precarious position on a snow ridge (a snow mushroom)--safe from rockfall but we weren't 100 percent happy for stability. It took one hour to dig and secure the tent....

Looking down on Camp 5. [Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

They reached the summit at 3 p.m. October 19 and returned to Camp 5. Millerioux was injured by rockfall the following day, forcing the team to change plans on their descent strategy. Degoulet wrote:

We had planned to go to the safe Camp 3 but this required some climbing, so we chose to go down to the less-safe Camp 2, which did not require climbing to access.... We then had to cross a large couloir...with a lot of rockfall. We had to go as quickly as possible across and to help Helias who was wounded. We did eight more abseils using abalakovs, still helping Helias who could use only one of his arms.

Upon returning to Camp 2, the three sat on the ledge they'd excavated days before and waited six hours for the temperature to drop and freeze the snow and rock "for the most treacherous passage of the descent." While they waited they made a satellite phone call to a doctor in France to address Millerioux's injury. They arrived back at advance base camp (5400m) at 3 a.m. October 21 after 16 rappels and three hours of walking on the glacier and moraine on a moonless night.

[Claude Gardien assisted with this article.--Ed.]

[Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, Dec. 4, and he is expected to announce plans to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is organizing rallies at the Utah State Capitol on Saturday, December 2, and Monday, December 4, to oppose the reductions.

According to leaked documents obtained by The Washington Post and Outside Magazine, Bears Ears may be reduced by 85 percent, from 1.35 million acres to 201,397 acres, and Grand Staircase-Escalante may be reduced by about half its current size, from 1.9 million acres to 997,490 acres. The Washington Post reported that its sources cautioned changes could still be made before Trump makes his final announcement, but the plans outlined in the documents call for the following changes, as explained by The Post:

Grand Staircase-Escalante would be split into three areas known as Grand Staircase National Monument, Kaiparowits National Monument and Escalante Canyons National Monument. Bears Ears will be divided into Indian Creek National Monument and the Shash Jaa National Monument, the latter of which will include two well-known ruins, Moon House and Doll House.

Looking east from the summit of North Six Shooter in Indian Creek, Utah, provides a glimpse of the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. President Donald Trump is expected to announce plans to reduce the monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by half of its current 1.9-million-acre size on December 4. [Photo] Derek Franz

Copies of maps illustrating the proposed changes can be found here.

Grand Staircase-Escalante was designated by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Bears Ears Monument was designated by President Barack Obama less than a year ago. Last April, Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review all monuments that were designated since 1996 and larger than 100,000 acres. Zinke submitted a final report with his recommendations to Trump at the end of August but didn't disclose any details to the public. His report was ultimately leaked to The Washington Post and it was revealed that he had recommended shrinking the monuments.

The Bears Ears region is culturally significant for at least five Native American Tribes that banded together in recent years to form the Utah Dine Bikeyah and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. The tribes started the campaign to protect the region in 2009 and plan to fight any changes to the monuments in court. Natalie Landreth, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, told The Salt Lake City Tribune, "The tribes view this as an affront to themselves and their own self-determination. All of us, all five tribes, will be suing jointly the day he makes an announcement." The monument also contains world-class climbing areas such as Indian Creek. Other organizations are likely to file lawsuits as well.

Jacob's Chair and Long Canyon are no longer included in the two smaller national monuments that replaced the former Bears Ears Monument. [Photo] Tim Peterson, courtesy of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

On December 4, President Donald Trump signed two proclamations to shrink Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by more than half of their current acreage. Changes to other monuments are expected to come, and a handful of lawsuits have been filed in response to Trump's action since December 4.

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition--consisting of the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian, Ute Mountain and Zuni tribes--were among the first to file their suit hours after the president's announcement. The cases carry heavy implications for tribal sovereignty and the sanctity of the Antiquities Act, which has never been tested so heavily since it was ratified by Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Erik Murdock, policy director for the Access Fund, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the access and protection of climbing areas, anticipates it will be a protracted fight that may go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Trump Administration and several Utah state legislators say the case is about federal overreach and state's rights. The outdoor industry, environmentalists and the majority of Native American governments say it is about environmental protection and Native American rights.

A page of the Inter-Tribal Coalition Coalition's website reads, "President Trump's action to revoke and replace the Bears Ears National Monument is not only an attack on the five sovereign nations with deep ties to the Bears Ears region, it is a complete violation of the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution. No president has ever revoked and replaced a national monument before because it is not legal to do so."

"I don't think it is controversial, actually. I think it's so sensible," Trump said in a speech in Salt Lake City, Utah, before signing the proclamations in front of an invite-only crowd of cheering supporters. "These abuses of the Antiquities Act have not just threatened your local economies; they've threatened your very way of life. They've threatened your hearts.

"Our precious national treasures must be protected. And they, from now on, will be protected. Under my administration, we will advance that protection through a truly representative process, one that listens to the local communities that knows the land the best and that cherishes the land the most....

"Together we will usher in a bright new future of wonder and wealth, liberty and law, and patriotism and pride all across this great land."

Trump's proclamations slash the 1.9-million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument, which was established in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, to three monuments totaling 1.004 million acres--Grand Staircase (209,993 acres), Kaiparowits (551,034 acres) and Escalante Canyons (242,836 acres). The 1.35-million acre Bears Ears Monument, designated by Barack Obama less than a year ago on December 28, 2016, will shrink to a total of 201,876 acres split between two separate monuments named Shash Jaa (129,980 acres) and Indian Creek (71,896 acres).

[Image] Courtesy of the Access Fund

The "Indian Creek" monument, however, excludes some of the finest climbing areas in the region, including the Cliffs of Insanity and The Wall, as well as lesser-known areas such as Harts Draw, Lockhart Basin and Valley of the Gods (see map). In total, 40 percent of the crags within the former Bears Ears Monument will not be included in the new monuments, according to the Access Fund, which teamed with the Inter-Tribal Coalition to see the original Bears Ears Monument established under the Obama administration less than a year ago.

The climbing areas no longer included in one of the new monuments will remain under federal oversight and will still be open to the public. But the character of places removed from the former monument remains at risk, as federal land management agencies such as the BLM have been generally directed to prioritize energy development over other uses such as recreation. When the Grand Canyon was originally designated as a national monument by Roosevelt in 1908 (it became a national park in 1919), ranchers in particular complained that it was too large, but there is little argument today that the scale of the park is what makes it special. As for the large size of the former Bears Ears Monument: "Access Fund believes 1.35 million acres is an appropriate size," Murdock said. "If you start cutting it to pieces you lose that value. These vast landscapes are becoming more and more rare. Like the Grand Canyon, the vastness is the feature."

There are also a great number of archaeological sites that are no longer included in the new monuments--some of them predate the arrival of Europeans in North America and represent thousands of years of cultural heritage to the surrounding Native American tribes.

The Access Fund joined the Native American group Utah Dine Bikeyah, Friends of Cedar Mesa, Patagonia and five other organizations in a class-action lawsuit that was filed on Dec. 6. The other class-action suit was filed by a group of 10 environmental organizations, including The Wilderness Society, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club.

"Bears Ears was the first National Monument proclamation to specifically acknowledge rock climbing as an appropriate and valued recreation activity," Access Fund Executive Director Brady Robinson said in a press release. "[The former monument] was a huge win for the climbing community, as the Bears Ears region is home to a substantial amount of world-class climbing. We cannot afford to lose that acknowledgement or allow the climbing experience to be compromised."

"This is a precedent-setting moment," Robinson said. "This fight is about more than just protecting the incredible climbing at Bears Ears. Nearly 60 percent of climbing areas are on federal public lands, and this proclamation threatens the Antiquities Act and the very foundation of our public lands system. Bears Ears is a critical battle in the greater fight for America's public lands."

Len Necefer is a member of the Navajo Nation who holds a PhD in engineering and public policy, and is also the founder of Natives Outdoors. He posted a reaction to Trump's proclamations in a Facebook post:

...The Bears Ears National Monument was established as a result of a multi-decade effort by the five tribes of the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition. These tribes worked to collectively exert their sovereignty as native nations in an effort to protect the numerous cultural and ecological resources of their ancestral homes. The Coalition was driven by an understanding that the value of these ancestral resources far outweigh the value that could come from extraction of mineral resources.... [The Bears Ears Monument] represents a monumental step in recognizing the intrinsic capability and sovereignty of native nations. It also sets a precedent for advancing even more effective and sustainable public lands management. Sovereign tribal nations have a proven track record of honoring culture and history over money and profit; doing so is critical to protecting the integrity of public lands....

The administration's decision to reduce national monuments is an opportunity for organizing. This is a critical moment for varied and diverse sets of user groups to come together in protecting public lands, tribal sovereignty, and our shared opportunity to have more sustainable economies. As the opposition to the Bears Ears reduction clearly indicates, this has already begun to happen. With advancements toward inclusivity in the politics of the outdoor industry, the administration has picked a losing battle that will only serve to strengthen public support for public lands and the many tribes who call these places home.

[Photo] Courtesy of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

[Stay tuned for a forthcoming opinion feature by Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz, who has followed the Bears Ears controversy all the way to Washington, D.C., since the monument was designated 11 months ago. Previous coverage can be found on Alpinist.com that includes Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's review of the national monuments that was ordered by Trump last April, and a more comprehensive look at various opinions on the issue.--Ed.]

Barbara Zangerl on Pitch 22, Magic Mushroom (5.14a). [Photo] Francois Lebeau

Jacopo Larcher and Barbara Zangerl made a rare free ascent of Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a, 2,900') on El Capitan, topping out on December 10 after an 11-day push from the ground. With nine pitches of 5.12, nine pitches of 5.13 and two pitches of 5.14a, and much of the difficulty concentrated on the top half of the route, Magic Mushroom is considered one of the harder free lines on El Cap.

Tommy Caldwell and Justin Sjong first freed the route in May 2008, and a month later, on his second attempt, Caldwell freed the entire route in less than 24 hours. No free ascents have been recorded since. Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton completed the first ascent of the aid line in 1972 at 5.10 A4 (the modern aid rating is 5.7 A3). The free version utilizes a few variations, most notably where it links into Jolly Roger (5.11 A5) on the headwall while the original aid line of Magic Mushroom pendulums to the right.

"We had to do a lot of cleaning (especially on the lower part), as most of the cracks were full of dirt; it took us a lot of time," Larcher said in an email.

The pair started by climbing the route ground-up and aided sections before rehearsing moves on toprope.

"On most of the upper pitches, the gear isn't great," Larcher said. "We had to place some beaks on some pitches, where it wasn't possible to place other mobile gear."

In total, Larcher and Zangerl spent over a month working the route, including two five-day stints and an eight-day stretch on the wall before their final ground-up free ascent that began November 30. On their final push, each of them led all the pitches harder than 5.12+ and they swung leads on the easier sections.

This is their third free route on El Cap. Last year they made a rare free ascent of Zodiac (VI 5.13d, 1,700'), and before that they climbed El Nino (VI 5.13c A0, ca. 2,900') in 2015.

Larcher described the challenges in an email:

Magic Mushroom felt way harder than the other routes we'd climbed on El Cap! It has a lot of hard pitches, most of which are beautiful (but weird) corners: it offers a very specific and unique type of climbing. At the beginning we looked at all those corners and had no idea how to climb them; we spent a lot of time figuring out beta. You have to be very creative with your body to climb some pitches. For me the hardest pitch was the 18th: a very weird 13c flared corner--I had a very hard time with that one! The scariest was probably a short 13c protected just with bad copperheads; I was surprised that they held a fall when I broke off a hold. The hardest pitch for Babsi was the last 14a (Pitch 26); she struggled on the last moves before the anchor. For her the scariest pitch was the second last; it's a sandbagged 11b with long runouts. She was tired and it's hard to find the holds.

Larcher said the lack of information and the few free ascents attracted them to the line.

"The plan B was to try the Nose, but it was very busy in November," he said.

That might have had to do with the unseasonably warm weather.

"We were super lucky!" Larcher said. "We had just a few days of bad weather during our stay in the Valley. During the push it rained/snowed just a couple of hours. Generally it was very warm (weird for this period), so we climbed a lot at night or early in the morning."

Jacopo Larcher on Pitch 26, Magic Mushroom (5.13a). [Photo] Francois Lebeau

The Nose: A speed record, an accident and a free ascent

On October 21, Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds set a new speed record on the Nose (VI 5.8 C2, 2,900'), blasting the route in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 44 seconds--4 minutes and 2 seconds faster than the record of 2:23:46 set by Alex Honnold and Hans Florine in 2012.

Gobright is known for his bold free solos, which have included regular laps up the Rostrum (5.11c, 800') in Yosemite and the Naked Edge (5.11b, 460') in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. Reynolds is a member of Yosemite Search and Rescue and has also been known to free solo long 5.11 routes.

Gobright told Climbing Magazine that the speed ascent "was the most dangerous thing I've ever done."

In a social media post for the Alpinist Community Project, Brad Gobright wrote, "I think the achievement I'm most proud of in my climbing career so far is breaking the Nose speed record. Jim Reynolds and I teamed up this autumn and got a time of 2:19:44 after attempting it 16 times. It was one of the most fun and stressful things I've done. Christian Cattell rapped over the top and got this shot of me coming up the last 20 feet on the day we broke the record." [Photo] Christian Cattell

On October 11, Quinn Brett slipped and fell 100 feet onto a ledge during a speed record attempt on the Nose with Josie McKee. Brett was airlifted with spinal cord injuries and is currently adapting to a new lifestyle in her home state of Colorado. (Updates on her progress can be found here.)

On November 15, Keita Kurakami finished a bid to redpoint all the individual pitches of the Nose (5.14a, 2,900') after a campaign that began last season. This year he returned and redpointed all the pitches over seven days--completing the hardest climbing with a shredded left pinky finger--but they were climbed out of sequence: he used fixed ropes to bypass some easier terrain to Sickle Ledge that he'd climbed previously, and later he jumared a fixed rope to El Cap's summit to rest and then rappelled back down to redpoint the Changing Corners pitch. His accomplishment was initially hailed as the fifth or sixth* free ascent of the route after Lynn Hill, Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden and Jorg Verhoeven, but Kurakami later asked for his name to be taken off the official record because he did not redpoint the pitches in consecutive order from the ground, as previous ascents had been done. (*A 1998 ascent by Scott Burke has been debated as to where it fits into the record books because he toproped the Great Roof pitch as a storm threatened to end the climb.)

"I will come back again to climb it in better style," Kurakami said. "I've been told my ascent can be accepted as a free ascent, but even so, if I myself have doubts about [its validity], I can't accept it. Being honest with myself is the most important thing for me."

Keita Kurakami sending the Changing Corners pitch (5.14a) on the Nose. [Photo] Keita Kurakami collection

[The following is a report by Alan Rousseau about an expedition funded in part by a 2017 Mugs Stump Award. The award, a collaborative effort of Alpinist, Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd., Mountain Gear, Patagonia, Inc., and W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., was created in 1993 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America's most visionary climbers. In the 24 years since its inception, the Mugs Stump Award has provided over $400,000 in grants to small teams pursuing climbing objectives that exemplify light, fast and clean alpinism.--Ed.]

An overview of Alan Rousseau and Tino Villanueva's attempt at a route up Rungofarka's north face (center), their successful route up the north ridge (left), which they dubbed The T&A Show (VI M6 WI4+, 1200m), and their descent route (right). [Photo] Alan Rousseau

For as long as I can remember, India has been a place I've wanted to experience firsthand. In 2017, I finally made a trip to Kashmir to climb in the Suru Valley of the Zanskar Range. Our expedition research began by looking through the list of peaks that the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) opened in 2009. I was searching for peaks that were aesthetic, had big technical features, and no record of exploration--to our knowledge we are the first people to travel on the glaciers we encountered. My longtime climbing partner Tino Villanueva and I decided the north aspect of Rungofarka (6495m) was worthy of an expedition. After Tino and I wrapped up our summer guiding seasons in Chamonix we took off for India on September 6.

Getting to the north side of Rungofarka involves a domestic flight from Delhi to Leh, followed by two days of driving on roads of varying quality into the Suru Valley. There, we met horsemen who brought ponies to establish our base camp. Everything was going well until we hit a talus field half a mile from our planned camp. The horses couldn't cross, leaving Tino and me to shuttle loads the final half-mile. After a bit of bargaining, a few of the horsemen helped carry loads, and we had all necessary supplies in an idyllic grassy base camp at 3900 meters before sunset.

Packing into base camp. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

Villanueva on the north face attempt. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

We spent the following days acclimatizing and establishing our advanced base camp at 4900 meters. After scouting our glacier approach and enjoying some good bouldering sessions, we decided to attempt Rungofarka's north face. Halfway into our trip, during a short high-pressure system, we moved from our base camp (3900m) to the bergschrund (5300m) for the night. The next day, we attempted our intended line, which proved steeper and more difficult (AI5+ M5) than we anticipated. Eventually darkness engulfed us. With worn-out calf muscles and no ledge in sight, we called off the attempt. We rappelled through the night back to the "shrund bivy," and reached base camp the following day (September 26).

After our attempt on the north face, we felt as if we needed hammocks. The terrain was too sustained and down-sloping for the small single-wall tent and two-person sleeping bag we had brought, so we decided to set our sights on the north ridge for the next try. A huge high pressure system arrived after a few days of rest. It was perfect timing because porters were scheduled to arrive back in our base camp just six days later.

On September 30, Tino and I packed up and headed to our ABC (4900m) for the night. Walking across the glacier the next morning I was feeling awful, nauseated, with general malaise, and I thought, "Why am I trying this thing again?" I was thankful that these feelings faded as we crossed the 'shrund and we climbed nine rope lengths of AI3 to a prominent col where we could access the north ridge. Although the col was narrow, we quickly stomped a platform out and had a restful first night on route (5700m).

The first crux of the north ridge route. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

Pitch 10. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

Pitch 11. [Photo] Tino Villanueva

While our bodies rested, our minds raced. The next morning, we would have to negotiate 200 to 300 meters of near-vertical mixed terrain. From our photos this appeared to be the most sustained and driest portion of the route. On October 2 the climbing was slow, thought-provoking, at times loose, and mostly in the M5/6 range. We had some incredible pitches, along with some horrific ones, and at the end of the day, we were 10 pitches higher, at a glacier cave bivy (5950m). The cave had a flat floor, big enough for the tent, and an opening so narrow we needed to take off packs to get in and out. Although we made a modest elevation gain that day, we had gotten through a huge section of uncertainty, and were beyond excited to have the opportunity to battle another day.

The next morning (October 3) was a mental challenge. That day we had a lot of terrain to cover--we needed to move--but we also needed to think realistically about turn-around times if we found ourselves climbing slowly. Fortunately the difficulties were mostly in the M4 range to start. The first handful of pitches eased away, along with some of the mental weight, before the ridge steepened with some more M6 cruxes. Higher up, two pitches slabbed out, and we had to make tension traverses off knifeblade pitons to transfer from the slab into ice runnels.

The start of Day 3. [Photo] Tino Villanueva

One pitch below our high bivy (6200m) we faced an unavoidable, 6-inch wide vertical offwidth crack. We had seen it looming above, guarding our planned bivy for hours as we got closer to it. Climbing it involved some serious runouts between pitons in horizontals because our largest gear was a 3-inch cam that was used for the belay anchor. It was the nineteenth pitch of that day and was likely the mental crux of our route.

The high bivy, or "prow bivy" as we dubbed it because it was perched on top of a feature resembling the prow on Mt. Hunter's Moonflower Buttress--was less than ideal. After two hours of chopping into a snow arete in the dark, with winds gusting 40 to 50 mph we created a ledge about three-quarters of the width of our tent. We spent the night bracing the tent from the wind, and sharing the uphill side of our ever-shrinking tent platform, as the snow was difficult to compact, so any movement caused our tent platform to deteriorate on the downhill side.

We woke to clear skies and calm winds. Our next obstacle required rappelling off the prow to reach the next ice runnel, which was the only clean exit off the upper north face. Committing to the rappel was a serious moment for us. We couldn't see into the heart of the lower portion of the runnel. We didn't know if it was iced or if there was a crack system. All we knew was if we could make it through the 50 feet of unknown terrain we would have one pitch of WI3 to get off the face. There was a lot of deep breathing as the ropes were pulled.

The next pitch proved to be one of the most challenging of the route. Thin, delaminated ice, and powerful M6 moves linked one iced seam to the next--a hell of a sting-in-the-tail exit. I felt that clipping into the anchor on the top of that pitch was more of a highlight than standing on the summit, because at that point we knew we had solved the puzzle.

The ice runnel crux near the top of the route. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

The summit ridge. [Photo] Alan Rousseau

At the top of the north face headwall, we put one cord away and transitioned to simulclimbing for several rope lengths up the 60-degree summit icefield until we both had to clip into screws and shake our legs out. The angle eased and a couple hundred meters on neve led us to the summit. After a short stay and obligatory photos, we began our complicated descent down the west face. This involved around 20 rappels through areas of high objective hazard coupled with breaking trail through unsupported snow crusts. We trudged on with continual movement and made it back to base camp that night, descending 2,700 vertical meters in around nine hours, and arriving in BC just 12 hours before our porters! Our route, The North Ridge of Rungofarka (The T&A Show) VI M6 WI4+ (ca. 50 pitches, 1200m vertical technical terrain) was established from September 30-October 4, 2017.

Villanueva (left) and Rousseau at base camp. Rungofarka is the center peak in the background. [Photo] Tino Villanueva

Thanks to the Mugs Stump Award and The Copp-Dash Inspire Award for making this adventure possible.

The 2018 recipients of the American Alpine Club Climbing Awards. [Image] Courtesy of the American Alpine Club

The American Alpine Club has announced the recipients of its 2018 Climbing Awards, given annually to distinguish individuals for their service, leadership and accomplishments. This year's honorees include John Roskelley, Alex Honnold, Ellen Lapham, Margo Hayes and Sally Jewell.

The awards will be presented at the AAC's Annual Benefit Dinner on February 24 in Boston, Massachusetts. The event will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the American Ascent of K2, and will feature a keynote talk by Austrian mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. Tickets begin at $250 and are available for purchase at the AAC website.

Since the founding of the American Alpine Club in 1902, the title of Honorary Membership bestows "the highest award the AAC has to offer," according to their website. The distinction was first given to the Arctic explorer and writer Admiral George Wallace Melville (1841-1912). This year, the title goes to alpinist John Roskelley. As award selection committee member Louis Reichardt explains, "The American Alpine Club bestows Honorary Membership only rarely and after extensive review to the very best among us, those climbers who have advanced the standards of worldwide climbing and mountaineering and have in addition made major commitments of service to the climbing and outdoors communities. In both climbing and service, John has set standards that serve as an inspirational example to the entire worldwide climbing and mountaineering communities." Roskelley's achievements include the first ascent of Nanda Devi's Northwest Face in 1976, the first ascent of Great Trango Tower (1977), the first ascent of Makalu (1980) and more.

John Roskelley at Camp 3 on Menlungtse (7181m), Tibet, in 1990. [Photo] John Roskelley collection

The Robert and Miriam Underhill Award was established in 1983 to recognize a climber who "has demonstrated the highest level of skill in the mountaineering arts and who, through the application of this skill, courage, and perseverance, has achieved outstanding success in the various fields of mountaineering endeavor." Alex Honnold will receive this year's award for his achievements in big-wall soloing. The selection committee remarked in particular on Honnold's "groundbreaking, visionary ascents" of Zion's Moonlight Buttress and El Sendero Luminoso in El Potrero Chico, as well as "his extraordinary, futuristic free-solo of Freerider on El Capitan." Committee Chair Mark Richey adds, "The ascent of Freerider places Alex firmly in a category by himself as the greatest free-solo rock climber of all time."

Alex Honnold. [Photo] Andrew Burr

Named for the founder of the American Alpine Club, the Angelo Heilprin Citation was created in 1976 to recognize "exemplary service" to the AAC, in particular, "those who have worked to maintain and strengthen the organization and thus further its ability to serve its fundamental purposes." As committee member John Kascenska explains, Ellen Lapham receives this year's award for her role in "developing the five-year strategic plan that revolutionized AAC membership growth and started the Cornerstone Conservation Grant." Kascenska said Lapham was also "an initial founder of the Cordillera Blanca Environmental Expeditions that soon evolved into the current American Climber Science Program."

Ellen Lapham. [Photo] Ellen Lapham collection

Another award this year goes to former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. Established in 1991, the David R. Brower Conservation Award recognizes "leadership and commitment to preserving mountain regions worldwide." As committee member Mark Butler explains, "The American Alpine Club is honored to recognize Secretary Jewell's unparalleled leadership in landscape conservation and her strong commitment to youth outdoor education, which have both been vital in helping to preserve and protect America's most important public lands and mountain environments."

Sally Jewell. [Photo] Tami Heilemann

The youngest of the AAC Climbing Awards, the Robert Hicks Bates Award was created in 1996 in honor of the explorer and educator Robert Hicks Bates to recognize "outstanding accomplishment by a young climber." The AAC award committee selected Margo Hayes for this year's award. As committee chair Rolando Garibotti explains, "This has been Margo Hayes' year. She climbed two of the world's hardest and most iconic sport routes, La Rambla in Siurana, Spain and Realization in Ceuse, France, the first and third 5.15a routes ever climbed by a woman.... With her ascents, Margo redefined what is possible." Hayes is the fourth woman since 2000 to receive this award.

Margo Hayes. [Photo] Jon Glassberg/Louder Than Eleven

With over half of this year's awards going to women, AAC CEO Phil Powers believes there's cause to celebrate. Over the phone, Powers acknowledged that the awards still don't reflect the racial and socio-economic diversity of the climbing community at large. "I'm happy that our awards are largely going to women," he said. "But there's still a long road ahead of us."

The red line shows the route taken by Marc-Andre Leclerc and Tom Livingstone on January 3 for the first winter ascent of the Navigator Wall on Canada's Mt. Slesse. They estimated the difficulties to be M7+ R or "Scottish VIII or IX," according to Livingstone. [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc

Conditions in the Canadian Cascades aligned at the start of the New Year and Marc-Andre Leclerc realized one of his long-standing goals with British climber Tom Livingstone--a winter ascent of Mt. Slesse's Navigator Wall.

In the summer, the Navigator Wall is a Grade IV 5.10+, which Leclerc had previously free soloed. In 2014 he did it as part of a triple linkup with the East Buttress Direct (IV 5.10+) and the Northeast Buttress (IV 5.9+) in about 12 hours. (A first-person account can be found here.)

Livingstone arrived in Canada late January 1, "super jet-lagged." The weather was ideal, however, so he and Leclerc skied in to the peak January 2. They topped out the next day, returned to camp, then packed out on January 4.

Approaching the Navigator Wall. [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc

Leclerc wrote in an email:

I've wanted to climb any/all of the big routes on Slesse in winter for years. It's such a cool peak that has so much to do in one little zone. I naturally was interested in Navigator, as I like the summer line in general, and this window seemed appropriate as the temperatures were mild and it's basically a big rock climb, so dry, mild conditions are ideal.

I've kind of been 'projecting' the area for the last couple winters, doing trail work and getting gear cached in there to climb and ski when the weather is good. Last year Luka Lindic came out for a month but we dealt with some very cold snowy conditions and only managed smaller, easier climbs on the satellite peaks.

Tom arrived just in time to use this last good weather spell and things just worked out. Brette Harrington and Kieran Brownie came up, too, and did the [first winter ascent] of a route called Labour Day Buttress that looks like a classy moderate, as well as the [first winter ascent] of Station D peak, by its east ridge, which was the last satellite peak without a winter route. Everybody was psyched and it was a great couple days out!

The climbing was quite good and interesting with a couple more serious sections. We made some major variations to the summer route. Starting on a sharp snow ridge to reach the wall instead of slabs further left. After climbing the main central part of the wall on the summer route we reached a large terrace, which we followed around onto the upper south ridge and easier terrain to reach the south summit.

The crux was probably M7+ with an R rating. There were a lot of other pitches in the M6 to easy M7 range, sometimes with sparse protection. Some classic frozen moss blobs helped us connect features on otherwise pretty homogenous compact terrain. Tom reckons it would be Scottish IX, whatever that means.

Livingstone on the sharp end. He told UKClimbing.com, "We climbed some parts in crampons but with bare hands, which was cool. The wall was in the sunshine for about an hour in the morning, but then went into the shade. This made the bare-hands climbing quite problematic at times." [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc

Livingstone. [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc

On an Instagram post, Livingstone wrote, "Marc described the climbing as 'rowdy!' I agreed: after about three Scottish tech 8 or 9 pitches things were certainly getting a little crazy."

Leclerc said he met Livingstone briefly while he was on a climbing trip to Scotland and this was the first time they have shared a rope.

"I knew that Tom...had come to the Rockies and climbed the North Face of Alberta in mixed conditions; a good indicator that mixed climbing on Slesse would be up his alley, so when he expressed some interest I suggested he come out for some climbing!" Leclerc said.

Leclerc. [Photo] Tom Livingstone

They hope to do another winter ascent on Slesse that's even more challenging.

"There are a lot of other harder lines on the mountain," Leclerc said. "We're hoping this route was just our warmup for another project. It was a super good climb and really satisfying to finally climb one of these harder lines on the mountain in the winter."

"Fingers crossed we get some more good weather for the Mega Proj," Livingstone said. "It looks like a wild line...."

Harrington and Brownie climb two satellite peaks

About the same time that Leclerc and Livingstone were on Mt. Slesse, Brette Harrington and Kieran Brownie made a linkup of two satellite peaks in the cirque.

Brette Harrington on Labour Day Horn, one of Mt. Slesse's satellite peaks. On Instagram, her partner Kieran Brownie wrote, "We topped out early and decided to traverse the ridge to take a look at Station D (the peak just over Brette's shoulder). We reached the summit in the blue hues of dusk to find a stunning view of the Cascades; a sprawling vista of pristine mountains, a place where the imagination can run free." [Photo] Kieran Brownie

Harrington described their trip in an email:

We climbed Labour Day Buttress on Labour Day Horn, making the first winter ascent of that line, but not of the peak, then descended by down climbing and making one rappel to the col between Labor Day and Station D. From the col we hiked across the arete to the east ridge of Station D. We wrapped around and onto the East Face climbing a line just right of the arete. We topped this out in four pitches making the first winter ascent of the line as well as the peak.

Both routes consisted of steep snow, a few steep ice sections, and rock cruxes. It's hard to say exactly, but I would grade the Labor Day Buttress at M3+. Three main cruxes occurred on route, the first was a 5.8 hand crack, that mantles onto a slab, the second is a micro finger crack that takes the ice tools quite well, but gear is very slim (this can be avoided by a short down climb over to a snow ramp), and the third crux occurs on the fourth pitch as a mantle over a slabby rock buttress.

I would grade the Station D climb at M4, it is more sustained and steeper, involving many long run outs and committing moves.

"It was a blast," Brownie said. "It's so hard getting a window for a temperate zone like that."

Kyle Dempster soloed up to 6000 meters on Vigne peak to "gain a better look around" at the huge peaks surrounding him on the Baltoro Glacier in 2014. He'd traveled there to attempt Gasherbrum IV's Shining Wall with Urban Novak, but they called off their expedition after learning that some Slovenian friends of Novak's were missing, and Novak felt the need to return home to be with the surviving friends and family. Dempster commended Novak's decision, recalling the loss of his own cousin in a rappelling accident on Baffin Island in 2005. [Photo] Kyle Dempster

Today marks the official opening of the application period for the inaugural Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award.

Dempster's family, friends and sponsors created the grant to honor his legacy after he disappeared on the north face of Ogre II (6980m) in Pakistan with Scott Adamson in August 2016.

The Dempster Award website reads:

Each year, the Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award will be given to an American solo adventurer embarking on a journey that embodies Kyle's passionate spirit and love of exploration, with an emphasis on storytelling and leave-no-trace ethics. The recipients are by no means limited to climbers, and the trips awarded by no means must involve the big mountains Kyle loved--on the contrary, we encourage applications for human-powered solo adventures of all kinds--big or small, remote or urban, cold and icy or hot and sunny....

One of America's great young alpinists best known for first ascents of big remote peaks around the globe, Kyle Dempster was a passionate climber, adventurer and friend who fully lived his 33 years....

Though Kyle loved climbing, traveling and going on adventures with friends, many of his most memorable and creative trips were done alone, traversing wild corners of the world by himself and under his own power. From kiteskiing hundreds of miles across Baffin Island, to his now legendary biking and climbing trip across Kygryzstan that was made famous in the short film "The Road from Karakol," Kyle found a deep sense of meaning and joy in exploring the world on his own.

Applications for the 2018 Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award are due by March 15 for trips taking place between April 1, 2018-March 31, 2019. The winner(s) will be announced on March 27, Kyle's birthday.

Visit the website here to find more information and download the application.

Additionally, the grant recipient(s) will be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to Alpinist magazine and have their trip report(s) appear on Alpinist.com.

The American Alpine Club recently announced that Whitney Clark, Ryan Johnson, Kurt Ross and Alan Rousseau will receive Cutting Edge Grants this year, totaling $20,000. The grants will support expeditions to Alaska, India and Pakistan.

An AAC press release reads, "The Cutting Edge Grant seeks to fund individuals planning expeditions to remote areas featuring unexplored mountain ranges, unclimbed peaks, difficult new routes, first free ascents, or similar world-class pursuits. Objectives featuring a low-impact style and leave-no-trace mentality are looked upon with favor...."

Whitney Clark explores unknown terrain on a peak above Sphinx Lake in Kings Canyon, California. [Photo] Tad McCrea

Whitney Clark is receiving $5,000 to lead an all-female team on a bid for the main summit of the west face of Arjuna (6230m) in India. She and her partners plan to climb "a steep 1400-meter unclimbed buttress, which lies to the left of all current established routes," the AAC reports. "The peak is accessed via a complex icefall, followed by technical high-alpine climbing. It is their goal to climb the route free and operate in a fast, light ethic." Clark has made previous expeditions to India and South America, and often explores new routes in California's Sierra Nevada Range.

Ryan Johnson on Tide Line (WI5, 420m), one of two new ice routes that Johnson and his partners established in Southeast Alaska in 2012. [Photo] Jason Nelson

Ryan Johnson is receiving $3,000 to attempt the east face of Mt. Hayes (4215m) in the Alaska Range. According to the AAC, "Ryan attempted the line in 2013 but extreme cold and illness shut down the expedition. The line on Hayes is primarily an ice hose, with a 600-meter steep mixed section." Johnson has completed several other Alaskan first ascents, including multi-pitch ice routes, and a 14-pitch line on the north face of the West Mendenhall Tower in a 33-hour round trip with Sam Magro in 2008.

Kurt Ross on the French Route of the North Buttress of Begguya (Mt. Hunter), Alaska. [Photo] JD Merritt

Kurt Ross is receiving $6,000 to attempt the unclimbed peak Karmading Brakk via the Lachit Valley in the eastern Pakistani Karakoram. The 6000-meter peak offers such striking lines that "it certainly would have been attempted earlier had it not been for historically restrictive military control in the area," reads the AAC press release. Ross mentioned to Alpinist that Jess Roskelley is partnering with him for the expedition. Roskelley made the first complete ascent of Mt. Huntington's South Ridge in Alaska with Clint Helander last April. Ross placed in the middle of a talented pack of climbers at the Ouray Ice Fest competition in 2015.

Alan Rousseau leads Pitch 11 on the first ascent of Rungofarka's north ridge, India. [Photo] Tino Villanueva

Alan Rousseau is also receiving $6,000. He will attempt the remote north face of Chiling II (6400m) in the Himal India. "With a difficult, mostly unsupported approach and hard climbing at altitude, this objective represents a step forward in Alan's climbing and [is] likely one of the harder north faces he and his team have ever attempted," reports the AAC. Rousseau's first visit to India culminated with the first ascent of Rungofarka via the peak's north ridge with Tino Villanueva this past autumn, which entailed 50 pitches of sustained technical climbing up to M6 WI4+.

The American Alpine Club notes:

The Cutting Edge Grant is supported in part by Global Rescue, the world's leading provider of integrated travel risk and evacuation memberships. CEG recipients are additionally awarded a one-year, full Global Rescue Membership--an upgrade to the standard AAC rescue coverage. Upgraded benefits include: $500,000 of rescue evacuation; repatriation back to the US; deployed Global Rescue Personnel; and more--a service intended to help AAC members climb hard and return home safely....

Applications for the Cutting Edge Grant are accepted each year from October 1 through November 30. For more information on Global Rescue and their memberships, click here.

Alpine Club sees record membership

In other Club news, the AAC now has more than 20,000 members--a new benchmark.

"Watching our membership quadruple to 20,000 over the last few years has been a testament to our community and what we can do together," Club CEO Phil Powers said in a press release. "The benefits are great but people stay because they care about sharing knowledge, participating in efforts to conserve our climbing environment, and advocating for the landscapes in which we climb."

About American Alpine Club

The American Alpine Club is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose vision is a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes. Together with our members, the AAC advocates for American climbers domestically and around the world; provides grants and volunteer opportunities to protect and conserve the places we climb; hosts local and national climbing festivals and events; publishes two of the world's most sought-after climbing annuals, the American Alpine Journal and Accidents in North American Climbing; cares for the world's leading climbing library and country's leading mountaineering museum; manages the Hueco Rock Ranch, New River Gorge Campground, Samuel F. Pryor Shawangunk Gateway Campground, and Grand Teton Climbers' Ranch as part of a larger lodging network for climbers; and annually gives $100,000+ toward climbing, conservation, and research grants that fund adventurers who travel the world. Learn about additional programs and become a member at www.americanalpineclub.org.