A Little Extra Spice: Stories from the World of Competition Ice Climbing

Catalina Shirley Climbing in Ouray. PC: AAC Member Nicholas Moline

By: Sierra McGivney

Ice cascades into the Uncompahgre Gorge, creating an ice climber's paradise. With more than 150 manmade ice and mixed climbs across almost 2 miles of terrain, Ouray Ice Park is an ice climbing playground, and the Ouray Ice Festival is the ultimate celebration of that. This year, the ice fest kicked off on Thursday, January 18, with a Barbie pool party and lasted through the weekend. Pros and ice climbing connoisseurs taught clinics, pushed grades, and had fun, but Ouray is also often the first and only time rock climbers try ice climbing. All types of clinics are offered, demo gear is included in an all-access pass, and volunteers belay at the walk-up wall, making the Ouray Ice Festival an accessible entrance to the sport. 

That's precisely how Ian Umstead, now a USA Ice Climbing Team athlete, tried ice climbing for the first time two years ago. He originally wasn't sold on ice climbing. He had fun but thought it was sketchy. But something clicked when a friend invited him to go dry tool at a local crag in March 2023. 

"It's like sport climbing with a little extra spice," said Umstead. 

Ian Umstead Climbing in Korea. PC: Provided by the UIAA

Umstead is primarily a sport climber, so he had strength built up from sport climbing that translated into dry tooling. A couple of athletes on the Ice Team encouraged him to try out for the team even though he had only been dry tooling for three months. Umstead was surprised they suggested it but thought: If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. So, he put off his sport project and trained on tools for eight weeks. Then, he went to tryouts and made the team. He was stoked. Umstead returned to training for his sport project, and after five weeks, he sent his first 5.14. Umstead has a semi-professional bike racing background, so he eats and breathes training and competing. 

"I'm a projecter's projecter," said Umstead. 

He picks challenging projects, trains, and tries hard. Drytooling fulfills that, adding an element of goofiness. The movements feel silly and fun and keep Umstead engaged. 

Umstead is one of many athletes who started in Ouray. Connor Bailey first tried ice climbing in Ouray at eight years old. He remembers his crampons falling off because his boots were too small, but he liked it. Scratch Pad, a dry tooling gym in Salt Lake City, contacted his climbing team and asked if anyone wanted to try out for the youth ice climbing team. He and one of his friends, Landors Gaydosh, decided to check it out.

 "I thought it was going to be just ice climbing," said Bailey. "I was pretty excited. I went in there and saw all the different holds and was like—huh?"

Left to right USA Ice Team Athlete’s Connor Bailey, Tyler Kempney, Mathius Olsen. PC: Provided by Stephanie Olsen.

The holds and movements were similar enough to rock climbing that Bailey found success. Initially, the comps had no age requirements, so he could join the team and compete. Unfortunately, this past year, the youth age requirements changed, and Bailey, who is 12, falls below the youth age requirements. Thankfully, he could still compete in Ouray. 

Bailey sometimes questions why he chose this sport, especially when it's cold, but once he begins swinging his tools and warms up, he loves each movement.

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From the snow-covered bridge leading into the vendor village, the giant competition wall rises up from the gorge. Starting from the bottom of the gorge, competitiors climb on rock and ice, until they reach the artificial wall, where they begin placing their tools on holds made of various materials. The Ouray Ice Festival is a crucial competition for the USA Ice Climbing athletes as part of the UIAA Continental Cup Series. On the Saturday of the festival, commentators and spectators gather, and above the din of music playing, people cheer on the competitors in the finals. 

Catalina Shirley began her climbing career young—like most of us do—climbing trees and doorways, scaring the sh*t out of our parents. When Shirley began venturing to the roof of her parents' house, her mom drew the line and signed her up for summer camp. Shortly after, her family moved to Durango, Colorado, where she joined Marcus Garcia's team. Garcia was working on building out the USA Ice Climbing Youth team. Shirley began training and went on to compete in France the following year when she was fourteen. 

"I love the kinds of moves that you can do in ice climbing that you can't quite get in rock climbing—like the crazy floating underclings and gastons and, of course, figure fours and anything on swinging features," said Shirley. 

Shirley likes the thought required for every move and the freedom of movement in dry tooling. Climbers can put their feet anywhere, regardless of body size or strength. But in Ouray, the competition wall reminds Shirley of a puzzle, with only one right way to solve it. Part of that puzzle in the Ouray Finals was a dyno. Shirley set up for it, looking out at the crowd. Then she jumped and closed her eyes, landing slightly above the hold but sticking it. When she opened her eyes, everyone screamed, infusing her with energy. With one minute left on the clock, she went as fast as she could, letting the crowd's energy flow into her. She placed first in the women's lead competition. 

"I feel like I perform the best when I'm under a little bit of pressure," said Shirley. 

Catalina Shirley Climbing. PC: AAC Member Nicholas Moline

The weekend before, January 12 through 14, Shirley placed second in both lead and speed in Cheongsong, Korea. She is the first American to make the lead podium—man or woman. The competition setting is her style: long figure fours, roof climbing, and endurance-based; climbing fast is one of her strong suits. She got to the top of both qualifier routes. She was one of three women to do so, next to Marianna Van Der Steen and Woonseon Shin, both of whom Shirley had been watching since she was a kid. 

But in the Cheongsong finals, Shirley had fallen three moves from the top because she missed the dyno. Sticking the dyno in Ouray means that much more. She credits her team as a big reason why she made the podium. They provided support for her all weekend, from food to encouragement. Her team had her back.

"It really felt like the whole team's medal," said Shirley.  

Shirley believes there are four main challenges to competitive ice climbing: strength, problem-solving, fear of falling, and fear of failing. It's what keeps bringing her back. In "regular" life, rarely are all those elements compounded.

"Overcoming all of that is the best feeling in the world," said Shirley.  

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Sam Serra Climbing. PC: AAC Member Nicholas Moline

Each person on the USA Ice Climbing Team has their own story. 

Sam Serra attended an intro to ice climbing class hosted by the Ice Coop in August 2021. Tyler Kempney was teaching it and asked if anyone wanted to try dry tooling. Serra had a blast. 

"I went to get into ice climbing, but I feel like I really got into dry tooling," said Serra. 

He didn't get on ice until two months later. As Serra spent more time at the Ice Coop, he got dragged into competing. His first competition was in Michigan, only a couple of months after he began climbing. It wasn't his strongest competition, but he found climbers he wanted to surround himself with. The community kept him around until he learned to like dry tooling competitions. Serra grew to love the movement and style of competition dry tooling. The unique way of using your ice tools pushes the climber to be creative in a way that differs from traditional ice climbing. 

Sam Serra being lowered. PC: AAC Member Nicholas Moline

"When It comes to dry tooling and really competition style dry tooling–it just opens the door to so many new movement patterns that they don't even exist outside–they almost can't exist outside," said Serra.  

Phoebe Gabrielle Tourtellotte's story looks a little different. Tourtellotte had to drop out of speed climbing due to a joint condition in the fall of 2021. She felt aimless. At the time, she lived across from the Ice Coop in Boulder. Her boyfriend encouraged her to try that dry tooling thing. Despite inner doubts about how she would look or perform, she went. 

In the first couple of months that she was learning to dry tool, she had to confront why she was still climbing at all after speed climbing hadn't worked out. Then it hit her: here was an opportunity to start over.  

"It's so cool getting to learn all new stuff," said Tourtellotte, "There are so many tiny nuances I never would have expected to learn about in this sport."

She had gone from one of the fastest disciplines to one of the slowest and methodical. Coming from a speed-climbing background, Tourtellotte moves more dynamically. At the Ice Coop, she gets beta and technique spray-downs from everyone in the gym. Her teammates are open to mentoring each other, even if they're competitors. 

The USA Ice Climbing Team in Cheongsong, Korea. Provided by the UIAA

The small community of competition ice climbing supports and uplifts one another. It brings together people of all ages and backgrounds, connected through their niche passion for ice climbing and dry tooling. The team will continue to swing tools, compete, and celebrate their love of climbing through silly and unique movements. 

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Ouray Ice Fest Results 

Catalina Shirley placed first in the Women's lead final, with Corey Buhay in Third. Tyler Kempney placed first in the men's lead final, with Sam Serra placing second. They both topped the finals route. The Ouray Ice Festival competition is a special place for the team, for everyone to gather and celebrate. The USA Ice Climbing team will end their season at the World Championships In Edmonton on February 16 through 18. Tune in to the UIAA YouTube channel to livestream the event and support the USA Ice Climbing Team.

UIAA Ice Climbing Continental Open - Ouray, USA: Top Three

The Women's Lead Final

1 Shirley, Catalina USA 1 [1] 1 [36.100]

2 Louzecka, Aneta CZE 4 [12.0] 2 [31.000]

3 Buhay, Corey USA 3 [9.0] 3 [28.100]

The Men's Lead Final

1 Kempney, Tyler USA 1 [1] 1 [TOP (0:00)]

2 Serra, Samuel USA 2 [4] 2 [TOP (0:00)]

3 Howe, Tyler CAN 3 [15] 3 [33.000]

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The USA Ice Climbing Team is Supported by

CLIMB: Kyra Condie on Winning Hueco, Fear of Falling, and Trying Harder

In this episode, we sit down with Mountain Hardwear athlete and Olympian Kyra Condie. Kyra has so much psyche and energy, and we had a wide ranging conversation, covering her past, present, and future climbing exploits. We start off with her experience winning the Hueco Rock Rodeo in 2017, her advice for competitors this year, and how her spinal fusion pushes her to have a creative mind and find her own beta. She also gave some excellent insight into the way comp climbers think, the key training focuses every climber should have, and how MORE climbers should get on routes and problems that are way too hard for them. Kyra is really open about dealing with fear of falling and fear of the unknown, and we unpack that and more, diving into relatable topics for most climbers. Finally, we cover her Olympic hopes for Paris 2024. Whether it's strategies for competing in Hueco, training tips, or mantras for good mental game, Kyra’s wisdom is worth the listen!

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Learn More

Follow Kyra Condie

Sign up for the Hueco Rock Rodeo

CLIMB: Tom Evans and Two Decades of Reporting on El Cap Climbing

Tom Evans on El Cap back when he was climbing it instead of reporting on it.

New episode of the American Alpine Club Podcast with legend Tom Evans:

Tom Evans is the creator of the El Cap Report. He started out taking photos of all the climbers he’d see on El Cap, and got tired of answering questions about who was doing what and how X ascent was going. So he innovated. He started posting a daily report, accompanied by his photos, of what was happening on El Cap during the main Yosemite climbing season—and he since has crafted a legacy of 22 years of documenting “the center of the universe”—El Cap climbing. With his recent retirement from the El Cap report, we decided we wanted to celebrate this legacy, and hear all his thoughts on the climbing history he’s documented, witnessing accidents and rescues, what’s next in El Cap climbing, the impact of social media in the Valley, and what motivated him in the first place to create the El Cap report. Dive in to get to know one of the legendary names from the El Cap bridge scene—a conversation just for you, unique in all the world!

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Tom Evans in Action: Climbing and Documenting the “Center of the Universe”

Show Notes:

Explore The El Cap Report

Hear More Yosemite Stories at the AAC 2024 Annual Benefit Gala

Measuring Success in the Mountains

PC: Lindsey Hamm

A Story from the Cutting Edge Grant and the McNeill-Nott Award

By: Sierra McGivney

In July of 2023, Lindsey Hamm, Rhiannon Williams, Stephanie Williams, and Thomas Bukowski traveled to the Charakusa Valley in the Karakoram to attempt routes on Naisa Brakk (~5,200m) and Farhod Brakk (~5,300m). To attempt these objectives, Hamm received the American Alpine Club's McNeill-Nott Award and $6,000 from the Cutting Edge Grant. This was Hamm’s second trip to the Charakusa Valley. In 2022, she, Dakota Walz, and Lane Mathis established a first ascent on a formation between Spansar Brakk and Naisa Brakk (which they named Ishaq Brakk): Pull Down the Sky (15 pitches, 5.11 R). In 2023, she defined success a little differently. 

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“I think there were a lot of lessons learned,” remarked Lindsey Hamm from a coffee shop in Moab. She's been enjoying climbing in the desert; today is her rest day. 

She had returned from the Charakusa Valley a couple of months ago without accomplishing the FAs she had dreamed up. This year, her crew went in with two objectives, and they split up in two teams to make their respective attempts. But ultimately, the weather was against them, and it rained 22 of the 30 days they were in the valley. 

PC: Lindsey Hamm

The team desperately wanted to climb, but the weather was a big factor. When they did attempt a line, they would climb for an hour, bivy, wait out the rain, and then climb. They were in this constant mode of stop-and-go that was not sustainable. 

Hamm and Bukowski attempted a route on the Northeast Spur on Farhod Brakk. They were shut down due to objective hazard and need for potable water. The two had only planned for two or three days and ended up being out for about four days. Then bad weather moved in.

“I think it was a bad season for rock climbing,” said Hamm.

This was another lesson learned: Big-wall climbing is better later in the season. She chose to go in July because she wanted to attempt both alpine and rock objectives. The environment is so different from one peak to the next that you could attempt both alpine and rock objectives during this time of the year. 

PC: Lindsey Hamm

“I'm really learning the place,” said Hamm. Hamm is an AMGA Cer­ti­fied Rock and Alpine Guide, and an Appren­tice Ski Guide, but she believes there is always more to learn, especially in alpinism. 

In addition, Hamm and another teammate dealt with altitude sickness. This was something new for Hamm. She had never experienced it to the extent she did on this trip. On one of the climbs, she was breathing heavily. She had to take a moment to feel everything and then “get her shit together.” According to Hamm, her group’s effort to help each other out when they were sick was a highlight of their climbing. 

Hamm’s team wasn't the only group stifled by the rain. Base camp, which sits at 14,321 feet, became a hub of climbers waiting for good weather windows. Groups played volleyball together, hosted movie nights, and played Settlers of Catan. Hamm was very social; she went to other campsites, hung out with different people, and got to know everyone. She read, worked out, and cooked with the porters. 

Hamm took it in stride—the trip wasn't a negative experience; things just weren't aligning. With each passing season, she is becoming more and more dialed. Last year, Hamm and Dakota Walz started a line, but they didn’t get to finish putting it up or cleaning it—they only completed one pitch. This year, Hamm got back on that first pitch with S. Williams, R. Williams, and Bukowski, and climbed five more pitches to link into the Southwest Ridge, first put up by Steve House, Marko Prezelj, and Vince Anderson in the early 2000. Their “sit-start” to the Southwest Ridge is called Stop Talking (six pitches, 5.12-). Their plan was to link into the Southwest Ridge and then break off into the west face and put up a new route, but once again, rain and thunder turned them around. Later, S. Williams and R. Williams attempted Stop Talking ground up, but were again foiled by rain.

On expeditions, climbing isn't the only focus for Hamm. She believes in having a positive impact on the local community. The team brought over school supplies for the Hushe Valley, which they distributed among three schools in the area. In addition, Hamm set up a GoFundMe that goes towards the Iqra Fund, which helps Pakistani women achieve their master’s degrees. Hamm and the team met some of the women who benefited from the fund. The team got to see their faces, hear their voices, and see how they lived. Facilitating and helping with these women’s education meant so much to Hamm. 

“I think one of the biggest highlights was meeting those women,” said Hamm.  

PC: Lindsey Hamm

She got to see many of the same porters and guides she worked with last year. They were as happy to see her as she was to see them. Despite the language barrier, the experience was like reuniting with old friends. She gave away a lot of her Rab equipment, including sleeping bags, to her porters and guides. It’s important for her to give back to the community that is helping her achieve her goals in the mountains. 

“It [provided] so much validation about how much of the connection I built with people,” said Hamm. 

Since returning to the United States, Hamm has been looking toward the future, analyzing what she can do better next time.

“I'm going back next summer,” said Hamm, with a big smile on her face. “I already told Jack Tackle.” Tackle chairs the AAC’s Cutting Edge Grant committee, which decides the fate of grant applications.

She will train hard and try her best to get funding without forcing anything. She has 170 lbs. of stashed gear waiting for her return. She's definitely going back. Right now, she is focusing on the next couple of months. Hamm is going through the IFMGA guide certification process—this season, she will take her final exam. She’s still processing this summer’s trip and reflecting on what she can do better next time. Most importantly, she’s living for today.

New Route on White Sapphire

Cerro Kishtwar (center), White sapphire (right). Photo by Vitaliy Musiyenko.

A Story from the 2023 Cutting Edge Grant

By: Sierra McGivney

On October 6, 2023, Christian Black, Vitaliy Musiyenko, and Hayden Wyatt summited White Sapphire, a 6,040m peak in India's Kishtwar Himalaya. The new route was named Brilliant Blue (850m, AI3, M7+). To attempt this mountain, the team received $8,000 from the American Alpine Club's Cutting Edge Grant, made possible by Black Diamond. They climbed the route free and in alpine style. This is the third ascent of White Sapphire.

Pack mules descending the valley on our hike to basecamp. Photo by Vitaliy Musiyenko.

AAC: In 2022, you received the Live Your Dream Grant to attempt a line in British Columbia on Mt. Bute. How did you transition from a Live Your Dream–style expedition to a Cutting Edge–style expedition in just a year?

Christian Black: The funny thing was we just needed an idea. Expeditions are challenging to plan. It all came from our friend giving us the idea—something to dream about, on the other side of the world as opposed to in America or Canada.

AAC: White Sapphire has seen two first ascents previously, via the west face in 2012 and the south face in 2016; how did you choose this peak and, more specifically, the line?

CB: I've always struggled to plan what to do in an area I haven't been to. There's just too much information out there. The story is that I met a guy who had spent his whole life going on expeditions. He had a whole list of unclimbed things he never got around to. He was trying to find people to do them. And he approached me and said: You're a big-wall climber with alpine climbing experience. You should check out this peak. I've got photos of it, and it's pretty cool looking. So, the original intent was to climb the big-wall rock face on White Sapphire, knowing that we had to be flexible to the conditions. We ended up climbing more of an alpine route because we went later in the season, and it had snowed and gotten cold. But to answer your question, it was a gift from someone who has done a lot of cutting-edge expeditions and is out of the game now. He had said: I'm aged out and happy to pass on the torch of ideas if you're interested in going to the Himalayas. The Himalayas are such a large place; you'll never know what to do unless you go once, so you just need a reason to go.

Hayden starting a simul-block up midway up the steep snow and ice of the lower section of the route. Photo by Christian Black.

AAC: Who gave you the idea?

CB: It was Pete Takeda [the editor of Accidents in North American Climbing.] I'm like a bad historical knowledge climber, so I didn't know much about him until later. But, I mean, obviously, he's legendary.

AAC: What type of climbing did you encounter on White Sapphire?

CB: We first encountered 2,000 vertical feet of steep snow and ice with moderate mixed climbing toward the top, anywhere from 60 to 80 degrees snow, and AI3 climbing. Then, it was more like M4 and M5 climbing to the top of the snow part. The upper headwall that goes up the direct north face of White Sapphire Peak ended up being a little over 200 vertical meters of climbing and seven or eight pitches of fairly sustained, steep dry tooling. And so there were about two pitches of M7+, a few of M6 and M5, and some alpine ice and snow mixed in.

AAC: How was the quality of the ice and the rock?

CB: It was really good. The rock up there is not granite; it's a gneiss. I studied geology, so I noticed, but you can't tell from far away. It forms cracks differently. It climbed quite a bit differently, but the rock was very solid. Except for one pitch, all the rock was pretty good.

AAC: Can you walk me through from when you left advanced base camp on October 5 until you returned on October 7?

CB: Yeah, so I might back up a bit because we had two attempts on the peak, the first one thwarted by a broken stove when we were 100 meters from the summit. It adds to the lore of the story. The moral of the story is the fuel mix in India is a little different, so it didn't work well with our stove and caused it to overheat. We learned a hard lesson about not taking a backup stove. That was our first attempt, but I'll fast-forward to the successful second attempt.

Starting to rappel from the notch after first attempt. Photo by Vitaliy Musiyenko.

We came down on that first attempt and had a few days at base camp. The weather looked like it would be good again, so we packed our food and some stoves and hiked up there. We waited about six days of weather for a good window to appear at our high camp. We left around three or four in the morning on October 5 from our advanced base camp at 15,800 feet. Then, we had a two- or three-hour glacier approach to the base. After that, we started simul-climbing the lower, less steep section of steep ice and snow. We did about a 1,300-foot simul-climb pitch. Vitaliy led that, and then Hayden led the second half of the ice and mixed climbing to the notch that day. We camped there that evening in our little corner bivy.

The following day, October 6, we woke up and took our altitude med concoction that gave us superpowers. What we had initially climbed as four pitches of steep mixed climbing the first time—we aided a lot of that and left in some of the crucial pins—this time, I suggested we climb it free. We ended up free climbing all of that terrain and didn't aid climbing anything. We did it in two 50-meter pitches. And that got us to our high point. From there, we continued to the summit. There was no terrain harder than those first two pitches. The headwall pops out directly on the small summit. We ended up being on the summit around 7:45 p.m. It was dark by that time of year, so we spent about an hour up there, melted some water, took photos, and enjoyed our time. Then we rappelled in the dark back to our bivy. The next day, we had a slow morning and rappelled back down to our base camp. It was an uneventful third day, which was nice.

AAC: What do you think was your biggest emotional hurdle on the trip?

CB: Oh, man, there were a few of them. A big one for all three of us was definitely the stove breaking on our first attempt. At that point, we were only ten days into our 26-day expedition and were 100 meters from the top. We thought it would be unbelievable if we did this first try. That would leave us with two weeks to climb whatever else we wanted. Accepting the reality that it was unsafe to go up without water was hard for us. We had less than a liter of water to share between three people, which would have been our ration for the whole day. Especially knowing now what the upper terrain is like, I'm super glad we didn’t go that first time. The climbing was still hard and would have taken a long time. Being dehydrated up there is not a safe thing that any of us would be willing to do. So that was a hard truth to accept.

Excited to be at notch bivy before sunset! Photo by Christian Black.

Luckily, the saving grace is that Hayden, Vitaliy, and I are all close friends. Vitaliy and Hayden didn't know each other before the trip, but I'm close friends with both of them. We all have very similar approaches to safety-related decisions. We were all on the same page about flexing the bail muscle. Other than that, we each had our moments of need, which the other two were naturally able to step in and take care of, which was nice.

AAC: How did you end up picking your team?

CB: Hayden is one of my best friends. We worked on the Yosemite SAR team together for a few years. I met him there, and we climbed El Capitan several times together. We just got along energy-wise. Over the past couple of years, we've gotten to go on multiple, more extensive trips together. One of those trips was to Mt. Bute on the Live Your Dream grant. This summer, we went to the Cirque of the Unclimbables for a month. If you're going to be in gnarly places, you want to be with good people. I only climb with my friends in those scenarios—honestly, in most scenarios.

Vitaliy, I met through messaging online. When I worked in Kings Canyon as a park ranger, he had put up a bunch of routes in the Sierra that I kept seeing his name on and was interested in doing. I messaged him to gather information. We ended up linking up on a climb the following year. We had an epic time. We did The Nose in a day as our first climb, and he took a 100-foot whipper. It was really scary, but we both reacted in a way that felt right. It built a lot of trust between us. Even though we haven't always lived in the same place, we'd casually link up for outings. We know each other as solid partners who know their stuff and are easy to get along with.

Photo by Christian Black.

AAC: That's great it worked out so well. It sounds like you had a good team.

CB: Yeah, that was the best part, for sure. You can't compare any experience to doing this with your two best friends. It's just so fun!

AAC: Do you have any fun anecdotes or funny moments from the trip?

CB: The funniest moments were just like how horrible we felt at various times. That is how we each process hard experiences in the moment. You can't help but laugh at it. And that's why we like each other as climbing partners, because none of us take it seriously.

A funny moment for me was when we made it to the bivy notch on the first attempt. It was pretty late, and I had fallen asleep multiple times on the last two pitches. We got up there, and I was boiling the water. It was dark, I was in every puffy layer I owned, and I was ten times more tired than I'd ever been in my whole life at 19,000 feet. I'm holding the Jetboil upright, and my purpose in life has never been more apparent. I hold the Jetboil. If the Jetboil isn't held, the water spills, and we don't drink water. I had an internal moment of reflection, like, wow, life has never been simpler than it is right now. There are only so many times when your life boils down to doing an incredibly simple task. For 45 minutes, that was my whole life.

The first mixed pitch out of the notch bivy. I'm [Christian Black] contemplating how to navigate the unprotected slab to gain the cracks. Photo by Vitaliy Musiyenko.

AAC: Is there anything else you want to add about the trip?

CB: The only thing I have to add is I feel so appreciative of a good team and good friends to be out there with and make hard decisions with. That was our biggest takeaway. We had a two-part goal going into the trip: A) we obviously wanted to come back alive, and B) become better friends. We achieved those goals through the roof. We have a lot of trust in each other. It's a cool medium to experience friendship in.

*Christian Black is writing a feature article for the 2024 American Alpine Journal about this expedition.

The Cutting Edge Grant is Powered By:

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Four New Routes on Baffin Island, Canada

Noah Besen Climbing. Photo by James Klemmensen.

A Story from the 2023 Cutting Edge Grant

By: Sierra McGivney

Noah Besen didn't expect to find the Atlantic Ocean frozen in the middle of July outside of Qikiqtarjuaq, a hamlet on Broughton Island, in the Nunavut territory of Canada, off the coast of Baffin Island.

Billy Arnaquq, a local outfitter and guide, remarked, that there was a lot more sea ice than normal for this time of year. The plan had been to kayak to Coronation Glacier, about 75 or 80 kilometers from town, and then hike up and into the glacier. From there, they would attempt to ascend granite walls accessible from the glacier. Besen and the rest of the team, James Klemmensen, Shira Biner, and Amanda Bischke, wanted the expedition to be as human-powered as possible, but there were apparent limitations. They couldn't unfreeze the ocean…And they had about 1,000 pounds of gear. 

About 20 kilometers south of town, the ice was beginning to break up, so the trip was still very much within reach. Arnaquq snowmobiled them out with a big load of their gear to the southern limit, where they stashed their equipment on a little island. They wanted to start the expedition with a human-powered effort, even if it meant changing their original plan. He snowmobiled them back, and they began their journey, walking across the sun-pocketed ice with day packs back to their stashed gear, seals and icebergs lining the way. 

“That was the first big crux,” said Besen. 

Noah Besen in the front and Shira Biner in the back of the boat. Photos by James Klemmensen.

Once on the island, they decided to wait out the ice breakup, thinking it would only take a couple of days. A week passed, so they took matters into their own hands and planned a “staged gear shuttle.” The 24-hour sun poured over them as they dragged their gear to the ice's edge. Dry suits on and boats packed, they individually heaved their boats until the ice cracked and they plopped in. Four days later, they saw the Coronation Glacier flowing into the ocean.

Ten kilometers up the Coronation Glacier, they made their basecamp, where the glacier splits into two forks, surrounded by huge rock cliffs. They would stay on the glacier for 20 days. Now, the climbing would begin.

The team spent days on the glacier with binoculars in hand, scouting out different possible rock climbs and sometimes hiking for hours to get a better angle on certain features. Klemmensen and Besen found a route near their base camp and “just went for it.” 

“We brought enough stuff that we're like—if it doesn't make sense, we have what we need to … just epic back down,” said Besen. 

Twenty hours of climbing on multicolored alpine granite later, the two put up a new route, Salami Exchange Commission (800m, V 5.10). They slept on the top of the wall and spent the next day returning to base camp. 

Photo by James Klemmensen.

Blank chossy walls near camp stymied Bischke and Biner, so they decided to venture to another section of the glacier. Four thousand-foot walls loomed over them as they searched for a choss-free wall to climb. A lower feature snagged their attention. Psyched, they put up a new route, The Big G (350m, III 5.8 ).  

Storm clouds gathered, and rain descended on the team, staying for a week. The days drizzled by. Once the week was up, the rain cleared, and the walls dried. Besen and Klemmensen started another epic.

From far away, Escape from Azkaban looked heinous; blocky rocks and blank faces seemed to greet the two, but once up closer, perfect splitter cracks formed the route. The route was 650 meters and had the most challenging climbing on the trip, with the grade of IV 5.10+.

“It proved to be the best alpine rock I've ever climbed in my whole life,” said Besen. 

The journey back was the inspiration for the name. After topping out, they descended an easier-looking route involving some scrambling. They popped out on a side glacier that connected to the main Coronation Glacier that their base camp was on. Glaciers are constantly moving, creating, and ever-changing. This side glacier had carved out a canyon with raging river rapids, between 60 and 70 feet deep, completely impassable.

At three in the morning, the two ate the last food, mulling over their unfortunate circumstances. The sun hovered on the horizon—all hours normally considered night appearing like sunset—allowing endless daylight hours for their epics. They journeyed around the river and onto a boulder field with water running underneath it. 

“The name came from us feeling trapped and needing to escape,” said Besen. 

Photo by James Klemmensen.

Bischke, Biner and Besen attempted another route, but unfortunately, had to bail. The rock had become very loose, so they decided to put in a couple of bolts and abandon the project. After returning, both groups finished the trip together on one last attempt.

Cerulean water pooled on the sides of the glacier, forming deep, bottomless basins in between the bedrock and the glacier. Besen, Bischke, Biner, and Klemmensen stared down at the water, the rock on the other side just out of reach, but they started to get to work. Besen had brought his dry suit on the glacier in case they might have to ford a raging river. They constructed an anchor using ice screws and lowered Besen into the water. 

“I didn't have to swim that much. I got into about my chest, and I was able to lean, reach, and scurry up,” said Besen. 

From there, they built a Tyrolean traverse and shuttled across and soon found themselves at the base of a cliff. The crux of their climb brought them to a steep hand crack. They topped out farther from the ocean than their previous climbs, seeing the Penny Ice Cap stretch across the expanse. They called the climb Raise the Drawbridge (400m, III 5.10-).

They rappeled down in the dark; it was the first time Besen had experienced true night the whole trip. The season was changing. Their journey was coming to an end but was not over yet.

Photo by James Klemmensen.

By the time they reached the rock that bordered the glacier, the sun began to rise. They still had one more crux: the glacial basins. Crossing back onto the glacier, the ice was tilted upwards, forcing Besen and the team to climb out of the water. Besen had only brought Crocs with him besides his mountaineering boots. There was only one real solution. Besen donned his Crocs, fitting his crampons to them, and shimmied up the other side. He set up a zipline for the others to come down. 

They strolled into basecamp, the glacial ice gleaming, and watched an unbelievable sunrise.

“It was a beautiful moment, too, because we all had this awesome success on this route together,” said Besen. 

The way back was quiet save for laborious gear shuttles and near encounters with polar bears. Big polar bear footprints were left in the sand at their camp near Qikiqtarjuaq. Luckily, Arnaquq had spotted the polar bear 300 meters from their camp and warned them to go uphill. Nothing was destroyed or taken, just a clear path the bear had taken through camp. Once they made it to Qikiqtarjuaq, the group camped and waited out their delayed flights. 

From right to left Noah Besen, Shira Biner, Amanda Bischke. Photo by James Klemmensen.

“For a lot of climbers, us included, Baffin Island has taken on this sort of mythical sense,” said Besen. 

Recent films featuring climbing adventures on Baffin Island, like Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll’s Asgard Jamming and Dodo‘s Delight, inspired the group. After Googling, they stumbled upon a painting by the late Corey Trepanier of the Coronation Glacier. They studied his reference photo, noting the large granite walls surrounding the mass of ice. From there, the idea of this trip started to take form. 

There is still so much potential for exploration on Baffin Island. “This area is really special. I think that more teams or even stronger teams—because we're not pro athletes by any stretch—should go and check it out because we didn't even do the biggest, craziest things at all. There's a lot more to be done,” said Besen.

If you have a cutting edge idea, apply to the Cutting Edge grant today! 

New Route on The Northeast Face of Pik Alpinist, Kyrgyzstan

Photo by Jared Vilhauer.

A Story from the 2023 Cutting Edge Grant Recipients

By: Sierra McGivney

Dane Steadman (25), Jared Vilhauer (42), and Seth Timpano (41) traveled to the Western Kokshaal-Too in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan in September 2023, powered by the American Alpine Club's Cutting Edge Grant to attempt three possible objectives. 

Vilhauer and Timpano had known each other since 2010, when they met in Antarctica. The two had climbed quite a bit together: two trips to Alaska, two trips to India, and a lot of ice climbing over the years. The trip was originally just the two of them, but they decided to bring on Steadman to have three people on the trip.

"He's young and keen, and Jared and I are in our 40s, and it's always good to have some younger energy there just to keep it going," said Timpano. 

Each brought something to the team: Timpano has a lot of experience at altitude and climbing steep ice, Jared is an ultrarunner, and Dane is the strongest mixed climber. Each climber had their own strengths, making a well-rounded team. As summer faded into falling leaves and cooler temperatures, they were soon headed for Kyrgyzstan. 

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In Seth's Words:

Photo by Jared Vilhauer.

We chose this timeframe based on two factors: 

1) The temperatures are significantly cooler than mid-summer and, therefore, better for ice climbing objectives.

2) The weather seems more stable with less afternoon convective build-up and precipitation. 

However, when winter does come early to the Tien Shan, it can make travel into and out of the region challenging, and most people said we should be out of there before October.  

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The East Face of Pik Alpinist was a pipe dream, the least likely of the three objectives they had set their sights on. The photos used for their trip planning showed that the ice up the face of Pik Alpinist was not continuous. The trip as a whole was nebulous, an idea dependent on exploration. They didn't know what they would face until they were in Kyrgyzstan. 

After a week of travel— flying halfway across the world, then driving over bumpy roads deep in the Tien Shen Mountains—the three stood looking at Pik Alpinist. They got excited. Unexpectedly, the ice was in. The other two objectives were explored but were not viable for this season. They would attempt to climb Pik Alpinist. 

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In Seth's Words:

After ten days of acclimating and window shopping for different objectives, we set our sights on an elegant and sustained ice line on the Northeast Face of Pik Alpinist (5482m). Given the steep ice climbing on the route, we determined our best strategy was to attempt the route without carrying bivy gear. We left our bivy at the base of the wall at 3 a.m. and crossed the bergschrund (the terminal crevasse), or 'schrund, shortly after that. Using 70m ropes, we made 16 pitches, many of which required 10+m of simul-climbing through difficulties up to AI4 on the steeper pitches and 60+m of simul-climbing on the lower angle sections. 

Dane in the red puffy. Photo by Seth Timpano.

Dane in the Yellow; Olan's musk (our mascot) is the name of the marco polo sheep horns. Photo by Seth Timpano

Jared climbing below. Photo by Dane Steadman.

Dane in the yellow jacket, Seth in the blue jacket. Photo by Jared Vilhauer.

Photo by Seth Timpano.

Photo by Jared Vilhauer.

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"[It] was some of the best ice I've ever climbed in the big mountains," said Timpano.

Seth in the blue with white pack. Photo by Dane Steadman.

This was due to the freeze-melt cycle that mimics waterfall ice. The ice was similar to what a climber would find in Montana, Wyoming, or Colorado, sticky and good enough quality for V-threads. However, the rock–compact limestone—proved hard to protect. The crack systems in the wall were brittle and shattered, so they mainly relied on ice anchors. 

As the team ascended, pulling past the mixed crux, the sun began to descend, illuminating the Taklamakan Desert, one of the harshest deserts in the world. All of the days put in planning, scouting, trekking, and traveling for two days of climbing—for this—were coming to a head. They knew they were in for a long night, but the summit was within reach. 

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In Seth's Words:

Dane with the red backpack. Photo by Jared Vilhauer.

We gained the summit ridge at 8:15 p.m. and stood on the summit in the dark at 8:30 p.m. on September 24. We simul-climbed down the upper part of the route and then made 18 rappels using our 70m ropes on mostly V-thread anchors. The limestone rock was particularly compact and made rock anchors challenging, both on the way up and down. However, we did leave a few stoppers and piton anchors when the ice was too thin or nonexistent for safe ice anchors. We crossed the 'schrund 26 hours later, making for a 27-hour round trip time on this objective.

Alpine climbing is inherently tricky to grade due to the number of factors that can affect the perceived difficulties (acclimation, health, weather, etc.). Nonetheless, we are calling our new route Trophy Hunt (AI5+, M5, 1100m 'schrund to summit height).

Generally, we found good weather and cold enough temperatures for most objectives, except for those facing due south. We snuck out just before a winter storm covered the roads in snow on September 30.

Finally, we would like to thank the American Alpine Club for supporting this expedition through a Cutting Edge Grant.

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"I've received a handful of these over the years, and it's an honor to get it, but it also makes it possible for us, non-sponsored climbers, to do a rad trip," said Timpano.

This grant is made possible by Black Diamond. We encourage all climbers who are pursuing cutting edge ascents to apply for the Cutting Edge Grant, which is open from now until December 31, 2023.

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The Line — Ice Climbing Special

Winter ice routes are already forming in many high places, and in case anyone needs inspiration to sharpen the tools, here are three fresh reports from the world of ice climbing. Each of these stories will appear in the 2024 AAJ—or follow the links below to read these reports online right now.

An easy but unforgettable ice pitch in the Grotto Creek canyon. Photo by Ethan Berkeland.

CHITISTONE MOUNTAIN, ALASKA

Hiking toward the final pitches of Hot French Grotto on the upper slopes of Chitistone Mountain. Photo by Ethan Berkeland.

In March 2023, four climbers discovered a long and very unusual ice route in the Chitistone Valley of Alaska’s Wrangell–St. Elias National Park. A steep 200-foot staircase of ice in the Grotto Creek drainage brought them into a canyon with 500-foot side walls and hidden ice pitches around every bend. “The ice burrowed into and out of the narrowing canyon walls,” Tristan O’Donoghue reports in his AAJ story, “making the whole scenario more reminiscent of navigating a slot canyon in the Utah desert than climbing an Alaskan peak.”

The climbers thought their route would end at the top of the canyon, but then they spotted more ice higher up. Another day’s exploration continued the line through the upper rock bands on the east side of Chitistone Mountain. All told, Hot French Grotto (IV WI4+) had about 1,400 feet and 12 pitches of technical climbing and 3,500 feet of total gain—a modern classic!

NUBRA VALLEY, INDIA

Javier Sánchez climbing the first pitch of Nubra-Spanish Chugyud, named after the Chugyud drainage in which it’s found. The steep ice to the right is unclimbed. Photo by Rafa Vadillo.

Rafa Vadillo on the first pitch of Changlung Right, a cascade-like ice formation typical of the Nubra Valley.

The AAJ reported on the first water ice climbs in Ladakh’s Nubra Valley in our 2021 edition. Inspired by that story, this past February, a group of Spanish climbers organized by Rafael Vadillo journeyed to the Nubra at the invitation of Rigzin Tsewang, a Ladkhi guide who is a driving force of the development of ice and rock climbing in the area. The Spanish climbers repeated most of the area’s established routes and put up several new climbs, including what might be the longest frozen waterfall yet climbed in India: The Masri Gyad, a 480-meter cascade that went at WI4+.

SLOAN PEAK, WASHINGTON

Last January, Tucker Merrill and Aaron Minton climbed a long new ice route on the west face of Sloan Peak, a well-known landmark to the west of Glacier Peak in the Cascades. The two found seven new pitches, with difficulties up to WI4+, to the left of Superalpine, a WI3/4 on the face that was established by Porter McMichael and Kyle McCrohen in 2020 and climbed to the summit by Fabien Legallo and Nick Roy in 2022. Merrill and Minton’s line eventually angled into Superalpine, which they followed for another three pitches before calling it a day at sunset; they rappelled and were back at their car after 22 hours on the move.

Above: Aaron Minton romps up easy ice and past an unclimbed hanger on the west face of Sloan Peak. Photo by Tucker Merrill. Below: The Merrill-Minton on the left and Superalpine on the right. Photo by John Scurlock.

The two dodged several harder pitches along their new route, and in the right conditions, it seems as though a Canadian Rockies–style line of drips might form down much of Sloan’s west face. Merrill noted in his AAJ story that these “steeper pitches appeared formidable, although a stronger party might be able to get the job done.”

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ICE CLIMBING IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Ice climbing is amazing—but the world’s ice climbing zones are changing fast. In a first-of-its-kind study that was a finalist for the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) Mountain Protection Award, a team from the AAC joined up with climate researchers from the University of New Hampshire and the University of Calgary to take a close look at the data on seasonal temperatures and ice season length in the Mt. Washington Valley of New Hampshire, one of the premiere ice climbing destinations in the United States. The team ultimately created a climate model to predict the length of future ice climbing seasons under moderate and high emission scenarios. Learn about the AAC’s involvement in climate research and how it's impacting climbing by diving into this compelling new film about the project. Want more? The resources at this page on the AAC website go deeper.

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IT’S TIME TO SUBMIT NEW AAJ REPORTS!

The long nights of winter are almost upon us—the perfect time to sit down at your keyboard and write a report for the 2024 AAJ. If you’ve done a long new route in the mountains or on a wall anywhere in the world, we want to hear about it. We also cover significant free ascents, link-ups, and mountain exploration. Write to us to learn how to submit a report.

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Sign Up for AAC Emails

The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this online publication? Contact Billy Dixon for opportunities. Questions or suggestions? Email us: [email protected].

CONNECT: Undercover Crusher Andrew Leich Talks Developing in West Virginia

Welcome to the first episode of our “Undercover Crushers” series, where the AAC talks to some of the hidden gems of the climbing community—those climbers who are hitting big numbers under the radar, but also crushing in a different sense…contributing to their community in big ways, that often go unnoticed.

In our first episode, we’re talking to a prolific developer and local West Virginia crusher—Andrew Leich—who's based out of an area of West Virginia that’s ALSO undercover…the bouldering and climbs of Cheat Canyon and Morgantown, WV. We talk to Andrew about the excellent rock around this area, and his projects—including a massive endurofest double digit sloper boulder and a clean crimping 14b at the historica Seneca Rocks. We dive into developing, the trouble with grading, wrestling rhododendrons, land use ethics when developing, writing a comprehensive guidebook for the exploding rock in the region, and more. Oh, and we also briefly cover his dramatic run-in with a timber rattlesnake.

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Learn More

Buy Andrew’s Guidebook: Cheat Canyon Rock

Learn More about Andrew Leich

The Line — Buried Treasure

The Line is the monthly newsletter of the American Alpine Journal.

In this edition of “The Line,” American Alpine Journal editor-in-chief Dougald MacDonald offers his annual insider’s guide to the newest AAJ, pointing out a few gems that readers may overlook. “The AAJ mainly exists to document new climbs, but it’s a testament to our contributors’ creativity that their stories are rarely dry,” says MacDonald. “Nearly every report reveals something unexpected: a moment of humor or fear, or a bit of climbing history. You never know what you might find.”

This online feature is made possible by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, presenting sponsor of the AAJ’s Cutting Edge Podcast. 

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Deep in the Fango

Aritza Monasterio trying not to get stuck in the fango on the east face of Hualcán in Peru. Photo by Andrej Jež.

I love a route name with interesting origins, and so it was hard to ignore the fact that two new routes in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca shared the word fango in their names: Fango Fiesta, the first route up the east face of Hualcán, climbed in early July last year, and Fango, Mushrooms, and Cornice, the first ascent of the southwest face of Caraz II, done in August. Both teams included Aritza Monasterio, a resident of Huaraz, whose original home was in Spain. It turns out the Spanish word fango means “mire” or “mud.” Anyone who has attempted to wallow up unconsolidated snow on the shady side of Peru’s big peaks will know exactly how these names originated.

By the way, the “cornice” part of the Caraz II route name has a pretty wild backstory—check it out on page 208 of the new book or read it online.

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The Source

The peaks labeled C, D, E, and F all were climbed by the two-person expedition of Lindsay Griffin and Jan Solov in 1984.

Sumayar Peak (center, now known as Pheker) and Mirshikar Peak (right ) both were climbed solo by Lindsay Griffin in 1984.

Lindsay in recent years. Photo by Anna Piunova.

Lindsay Griffin, the AAJ’s senior editor, is without a doubt the premier chronicler of alpine and Himalayan climbing in the English language. He began working at the AAJ in 2003, and before that he had long contributed to the famed “Mountain Info” section of various British magazines—a sort of mini-AAJ that appeared in every issue—starting with the esteemed Mountain magazine around 1990. Based in North Wales, Lindsay has made dozens of first ascents all around the world, and his knowledge of obscure and remote mountains—and the ability to recall details of their ascents—is astonishing.

Yet somehow, various climbs of Lindsay’s have never made it into the pages of the AAJ. This year, prompted perhaps by the renaming of peaks he climbed and named decades ago, he shared an account of a two-person trip in 1984 to the Sumayar Valley, near Rakaposhi in Pakistan. Climbing solo or with partner Jan Solov, Lindsay made the first ascents of six technical peaks up to 5,750 meters. I’ve asked him to dig into his file cabinets for more stories!

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Don Quixote for a Day

Photo © Jim Herrington.

Some of the best writing in the AAJ often can be found in the In Memoriam section, where climbing partners and friends recall the people they loved. Sometimes, not all of their tales will fit into the printed edition, but we always tell the full stories at the AAJ website. This was the case with John Thackray’s lovely tribute to mountaineer Roman Laba, who died last December; one anecdote in Thackray’s piece, summarized here, appears only at the website.

In the mid-1970s, traveling from Peru to Bolivia, Thackray and Laba caught a ride in an open truck packed with local people and uniformed soldiers, some of whom began harassing some young women in the truck. Despite a fierce altitude headache, Laba leapt to the women’s defense, confronting the soldiers and yelling at the ringleader in Spanish, “What kind of man are you? Why not pick on someone your own size? Me!” Fortunately, this confrontation ended with laughter instead of bloodshed. Years later, Laba recalled to Thackray, “I was Don Quixote for one day. And it was great.”

By the way, our photo of Laba is by Jim Herrington, creator of the brilliant 2017 book of portraits called The Climbers. Jim said he shot this photo of Laba in a tent during a ski tour in the Sierra Nevada in 1999, and that his friend was passing some time by reading a book by the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau…in French.

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Advanced Rockcraft

Readers of the AAJ occasionally may glean information about new techniques making the rounds of advanced climbers. I remember, for example, when climbers started mentioning the use of ice hammocks to help pitch tents on steep ice and snow slopes. (The ice hammock was invented by Mark Richey and first described in AAJ 2012 during his account of the first ascent of Saser Kangri II, with Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson, in 2011.) In this year’s book, I noted several new-ish techniques for moving efficiently in the mountains.

One of these is “fix and follow,” described by Vince Anderson in his story, starting on page 42 of the new AAJ, about a difficult climb on Jirishanca on Peru with Josh Wharton. With this technique, the leader fixes the rope at the end of a pitch, and then, instead of ascending the fixed rope, the follower self-belays with a Micro Traxion (backed up), so she or he can attempt to free the pitch while the leader relaxes, rehydrates, and prepares for the next pitch. As you’ll hear in the newest Cutting Edge podcast, covering the second ascent of the Cowboy Ridge on Trango Tower, parties of three also use this technique: The leader can start up the next pitch, belayed by the second, while the third climber is freeing the pitch below.

Krasnoyarsk style on the north face of Pik Korolyova. Photo courtesy of Nadya Oleneva.

In Nadya Oleneva’s story about a direct new route up the north face of Pik Korolyova in Kyrgyzstan last summer, she described another interesting technique: “When the wall became steeper, we switched to the ‘Krasnoyarsk style,’” Oleneva wrote in the AAJ. “The leader climbed for 30 meters, made an anchor, fixed a second rope at its midpoint, and then continued climbing; the belayer ascended the fixed rope and at the same time belayed the leader with a Grigri [on the lead rope], while the third member of the team ascended the rope below. This allows the team to climb very quickly, and we climbed all the difficult sections in this style.”

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Been There, Done That

“The first time I saw the north face of Table Mountain, I got pulled over for driving too slowly.”

— Ben Hoste

Sometimes a quote just resonates with me, like this one from a report about a recent route near Tucson, Arizona. I definitely can relate: Although I’ve never been pulled over by the cops for scoping while driving, my wife sometimes insists on taking the wheel when we drive up or down a rock-lined canyon, because I can’t keep my eyes on the road!

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The Power of Youth

For climbers of a certain age, like me, it can be astonishing to see the strength and motivation of younger climbers—and to remember that, way back when, similar strength resided in our own legs and lungs. The new AAJ reports three long new routes and a significant repeat by Sam Boyce and partners in the remote and rugged Picket Range of the North Cascades—where brutal two-day approaches are the norm—all during the span of a single month last summer.

Sam Boyce on top of East Twin Needle in the Southern Pickets after the first ascent of the north buttress. The 4,000-vertical-foot Mongo Ridge of Mt. Fury’s west summit drops into the valley behind him on the left. Photo by Eric Wehrly.

Boyce, a 28-year-old guide, and Lani Chapko, another guide, first made the third ascent of the Mongo Ridge of Mt. Fury, including the second ascent of the Pole of Remoteness, named because it might be the hardest-to-reach point in the Lower 48. Boyce then paired up with Joe Manning, made another two-day approach into the Northern Pickets, and climbed the 2,000-foot south ridge of Spectre Peak. At the end of July, Boyce and Eric Wehrly climbed the north buttress of East Twin Needle in the Southern Pickets. Boyce and Chapko then returned to the Northern Pickets to climb the 2,000-foot south buttress of Whatcom Peak (likely the first route in that entire cirque). “We only had three days off work—a short window for the Pickets—but we were motivated,” Chapko wrote in the AAJ. She added, “We did the 16-mile approach, with 6,000 feet of gain, in one day.”

Fred Beckey described the Pickets this way: “Although the wild and jagged Picket Range is only 95 miles from the center of Seattle, it remains the most unexplored region in the Lower 48 because of its rugged nature.” Thanks to Boyce and his stalwart partners, it's a little less unexplored now.

South Yuyanq’ Ch’ex

The northwest face of South Yuyanq’Ch’ex in the Chugach Mountains, showing the line of We Fear Change (1,700’, WI4 M4). Photo by Elliot Gaddy.

The relabeling of certain mountains and routes that had troublesome names, though controversial to some climbers, continues to gain traction. In the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, the twin summits once known as Suicide Peaks, visible from Anchorage, were renamed North and South Yuyanq’ Ch’ex last October. At the end of that month, Dana Drummond and Elliot Gaddy climbed a cool new ice and mixed route up the northwest face, calling it We Fear Change (1,700’, WI4 M4). The peaks’ new name is from a Denai’ina Athabascan phrase meaning “breath from above” or “heaven’s breath.” That’s a very beautiful name for a mountain.

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This edition of The Line and the AAJ’s Cutting Edge podcast both are presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, which has been making strong, versatile tents for more than 50 years. Visit Hilleberg’s website to order “The Tent Handbook,” their super-informative catalog.

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How to Climb in Hueco

Photo by: Dawn Kish

By Sierra McGivney

Down in southern Texas, where tumbleweeds and cacti rule the desert, lies a bouldering mecca with a rich history and hundreds of problems waiting for you to climb.  With 300 days of sun and perfect holds carved into boulders, Hueco Tanks State Park has it all.

"It's a wonderland of boulders bristling with positive micro-flakes and peppered with gaping huecos; it's enormous roofs, vein-bursting traverses, and pleasant mantle-free topouts; it's joyful jughauls, cerebral sequences, and impossible-looking problems that go." —John Sherman, Hueco Tanks Climbing and Bouldering

Highballs, Crimps, and Huecos, Oh My!

Hueco Tanks is the birthplace of the V grading system, the Yosemite of bouldering if you will. Climbers can find trad and sport climbs here, but they are few and far between. Hueco Tanks is the quintessential bouldering destination.

PC: Michael Lim

As Todd Skinner said in Desert Dreams, "This place is brutal. [But] if your elbows hold together and the tendons of your fingers hold together, then you'll leave Hueco stronger than you've ever been."

Hueco has a range of bouldering from V0 to V15. If you're just starting or looking to get stronger in the offseason or just love bouldering, Hueco Tanks is for you. Better Eat Your Wheaties, a V9 boulder problem, is an overhung crimp marathon that won't leave you missing your gym's moon board. If you love highball bouldering, The Maiden V0 is the must-climb highball—topping out at 35 feet; you won't want to look down. You are visiting Hueco, so you'll want to climb some of the world-famous holds: The Ghetto Simulator V2 follows an incredible line of chalked huecos up to a crux finish. Be warned, this climb may be greasy because of its popularity. 

North Mountain alone has 850 problems, so there are hundreds of options, grades, and climbing styles at Hueco. For more information about climbing in the area, check out the essential bouldering guide by Matt Wilder and Jason Kehl from the AAC Library. 

"I have traveled the world and have yet to see a place superior to Hueco Tanks in problem concentration or one that better embodies the inexplicable desire to progress that all climbers share. Hueco's rock quietly urges you to come closer, to take a look under all the roofs, touch the holds, and somehow gives you the audacity to try things you would never have dared before." —Scott Milton, Hueco Tanks: The Essential Guide to America's Bouldering Mecca

Training

Training is an important tactic for a successful and fun climbing trip. Since you'll be visiting Hueco during the winter months, you'll want to begin training in August or September. Next, you'll want to focus on a goal for your trip. Hueco is known for having lots of different climbing styles, so the more you narrow it down, the better. As there are hundreds of problems with varying levels of difficulty and style, you can get as specific as training for roof climbing V5 and up, or you can leave it as open as wanting to climb all of the highballs in the park—either way, you can build a solid base to be prepared for any type of climbing you'll come across in Hueco.

PC: Dawn Kish

Porphyritic syenite is no stranger to wearing down, and you are bound to find a few polished climbs. Train to improve your body tension and get good at using tiny feet. Hueco's classic and popular climbs have seen a lot of people and tend to be slippery, so improving both tension and foot placement will go a long way. 

Even if techy vertical walls and boulders call your name, improving roof skills will benefit your climbing at Hueco. Focus on strengthening your core and legs. If you have yet to explore climbing on a roof, practice heel hooks, toe hooks, and knee bars at your climbing gym. 

The last thing you'll want to focus on is power endurance. That might sound a bit out of place since bouldering requires only a handful of moves, but chances are you'll be throwing yourself at a boulder problem repeatedly. You'll want to be able to try moves all day until you send or collapse, so building up endurance should be in your training plan.

For a deeper dive into training, check out Power Company Climbing.

Pictographs and Problems: A Brief History

All aspects of Hueco are deeply rooted in a rich cultural history. Hueco Tanks is part of the Chihuahua desert ecoregion, the largest desert in North America. Though evidently known to climbers as an epic bouldering location, Hueco Tanks is also home to deeply important historical artifacts and a sacred site for several Indigenous cultures. The human history of Hueco spans thousands of years, possibly starting about 10,000 years ago, and the pictographs and petroglyphs there tell the story of many—they continue to be an important part of this sacred site for the Kiowa, Mescalero Apache, Comanche, and Tigua (or Ysleta del Sur Pueblo) tribes, who use the site for prayer and gatherings.

PC: Dawn Kish

The history that weaves together Hueco Tanks, making it such a unique place to climb, was a point of friction between the route establishers and the park rangers in the past. John "Vermin" Sherman arrived in the early 1980s, establishing over 400 classic boulder problems and the "V" rating system. 

"Along with great friends like Donny, Hardin, Chris Hill, and others, we got to develop the finest bouldering on the continent," says John Sherman in Hueco Tanks: The Essential Guide to America's Bouldering Mecca.

The act of bolting was illegal in the park until 1989, and since the park is mostly bouldering, this didn't prove to be a problem until Todd Skinner showed up, ready to bring challenging sport climbing to Hueco. 

Skinner spent winters climbing at Hueco Tanks, floating between campgrounds and friends' houses, and spent summers developing routes all over the world. He was known especially for the first free ascent of the Salathé Wall in Yosemite with Paul Piana in 1988. As time passed, he rented apartments or homes, becoming a hub for climbers. 

According to the article "When Legends Die, the Changing Face of Hueco Tanks," Skinner and friends would bolt routes at night, erroneously arguing that there was a loop-hole in the Park’s no-bolt rule—bolters had to be caught in the act, or such was Skinner’s interpretation. When morning rolled around, the route was legal to climb. In this way, Skinner put up Legends (5.13a) in 1987. 

PC: Michael Lim

The park rangers were not a fan of this, because Skinner and others were trespassing in order to use this supposed “loop-hole,” and clearly not acknowledging the spirit of the prohibition on bolting. After an unknown climber got caught bolting, the park banned rope climbing for three weeks in 1988. Tensions continued to rise as Hueco became a well-known destination for climbing in the 80s and 90s. But climbers were not the only user group putting pressure on this fragile environment. Between rowdy parties, destroyed vegetation, and defacement of the historic pictographs, Hueco couldn't handle the influx of visitors—hikers, tourists, locals, and climbers—and their impact on the landscape. Beginning September 1, 1998, reservations would be required to enter the park.

As climbers and the Park settled into these new ethics of engagement, Hueco climbing continued to make a name for itself as a unique destination and community. Skinner, Amy Whisler, Carol Gogas, and John Gogas purchased the land currently known as Hueco Rock Ranch in 1991. They built the Ranch to be a communal space for climbers, much like the early days of his rented apartments and houses. The kitchen and common room were made to be the center of the house. Everything was built around housing a community of climbers. 

"We soon understood that what most affected the quality of each day was not the climbs we chose but the people we chose to climb with. This led to a Utopian experiment of building a home a mile from the park to house a carefully chosen core of great people, many of whom also happened to be great climbers," reflects Todd Skinner in Hueco Tanks: The Essential Guide to America's Bouldering Mecca.

PC: Dawn Kish

In 2000, Rob Rice took over the Ranch and added a guide service to the property. After more than a decade of ownership and management, Rice relocated out of state. In May 2012, The Access Fund went under contract to purchase the Ranch and assigned the property to the American Alpine Club for long-term ownership and management.

 Skinner's vision of a home for climbers in Hueco would continue, but in a new form.

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How to Climb in Hueco: A Checklist

Feeling inspired to wrestle some sandstone pebbles in the Tanks? Here's some beta worth following–ensuring you are prepared for your trip. 

PC: Dawn Kish

• Plan your reservation. 

• The daily entrance fee into Hueco Tanks State Park is $7; the park is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. October through April. A note for check-in: The office closes a half hour before the park closes. Reservations are required to minimize our impact on the park because of the fragile desert landscape and ancient pictographs and petroglyphs. 

• Reservations go fast during the weekend but stay relatively open during the weekdays. Your safest route is to book as far in advance as you can. If you forget to reserve a pass, you can show up at the park as it opens and try to get a walk-in pass. 

• To make a reservation to climb in the self-guided area, call (512) 389-8911. North Mountain is in the self-guided area of the park. A 15-minute orientation video is required for visitors to watch if they are venturing into the self-guided area. Don't worry; once you've watched it, you are good until next year.

• A guide service is required to access the East Mountain, East Spur, and West Mountain. You can request a tour through the park by calling (915) 849-6684. Another option is going through one of the local guide services listed below:

  Blue Lizard Climbing & Yoga

  Sessions Climbing

  Wagon Wheel Co-Opt

• Pack a Skin Kit

•  Items to include but are not limited to are nail clippers, a roll of tape, a finger file, and nontoxic glue. "The bloody flapper is the official injury of Hueco Tanks," according to John Sherman.

PC: Hueco Tanks: The Essential Guide to America's Bouldering Mecca by John Sherman

• Mind the Heat & the Cacti

• Bring sunscreen. More sunscreen. Maybe even a hat. Even in the winter, the desert sun can be intense. The average temperature in January is 44 degrees Fahrenheit, with the first freeze in mid-November and the last freeze in late March. According to the Mountain Project page for Hueco Tanks, "After mid-April, it's hot as sin."  

• The plants here are no joke; most are out to maim you. See the provided excerpt from John Sheman's Hueco Guidebook. 

• Grocery stores

• The closest grocery store is The Montana Vista Market in Homestead Meadow South.

• If you're driving through El Paso to Hueco, you can stop there for grocery and gear stores.

• Brush Up on Your Outdoor Ethics

• As John Sherman said in his 1995 edition of Hueco Tanks Climbing and Bouldering, "Hueco Tanks is not an amusement park created for climbers." It's up to us to preserve and keep Hueco open to climbers. Leave No Trace includes not using social trails, brushing your tick marks, and never climbing on or near petroglyphs.

• Some bouldering areas have been closed due to their proximity to petroglyphs. Read more about how to identify petroglyphs and which rocks to respectfully steer clear of climbing—>in this article. James Lucas covers a new app that allows climbers and other recreationists to check rock formations for faint petroglyphs, and to learn about their significance and meaning!

PC:Dawn Kish

• Book Your Lodging and Meet New Climbers

• If you plan on climbing in Hueco Tanks, the Hueco Rock Ranch is the best place to stay. The Rock Ranch is a 4-mile drive to the Park and offers a range of accommodations from private rooms to campsites. Costs vary depending on lodging type and your AAC member status.

• The Ranch has three options for accommodations: A house with private or shared rooms, camping for two people to a site, and flat spots for "road-tripping machines." The barn is a communal cooking area with a lounge, games, and books. There are showers available for $1 for 4 minutes.

• Well-behaved dogs are allowed at the campground but not in the bunkhouse.

• Prices are as follows: Non Member / Member

  Private Bunk Room: $75 / $40

  Communal Bunk Room: $45 / $25

  Camping: $10 / $6 per person

• Make A Wifi Plan and other Hueco Rock Ranch Logistics

• If you are a work from home nomad and plan on answering emails or taking meetings, Wi-Fi is available, but it has a limited bandwidth, so it might be worth bringing another internet source. The water is potable, but the Ranch relies on water delivery, so please bring your own water! If you're just trying out bouldering or don't own a crash pad, they are available to rent for $15 for the first day.

• There are both trash and recycling bins at the ranch.

• The Hueco Rock Ranch season is from November 17, 2023 - March 10, 2024.

• Have A Rainy Day Plan

• Hueco is a desert, but it does occasionally rain. Hueco Tanks State Park has recently instituted a new rule that prohibits climbing until 24 hours after a rain event. Learn more at the Park’s website.

PC: Dawn Kish

• Train Creatively

• Get prepared to utilize a lot of body tension and creative foot beta. Seek out those boulders in the gym or locally that teach you a thing or two about toe hooks, bicycles, and knee scums. 

• Dream Up a Tick-List, and Then Be Ready to Abandon It

• There are hundreds of boulders; keep your mind open and be willing to try anything. You never know which boulder will kick your butt.

• Bouldering at Hueco is PHYSICAL—plan for rest days.

• Bring books or games.

• Explore El Paso (40 minutes) or White Sands National Monument (1.5 hours). 

• Visit the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Cultural Center Museum and learn about the extensive history and culture of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe, who continue to revere Hueco Tanks as a sacred site for prayer and gatherings.

• If you can line these up with rainy days, you're golden.

• Keep an eye out for the Hueco Rock Rodeo!

  • The pebble-wrestling competition of your dreams. Coming back to Hueco February 16-18th, 2024.

Grab a bouldering pad and set off on a winter climbing adventure where the sun always shines and the accommodations are the best around. Reservations are now open for the 2023-2024 Hueco season!

PC: Dawn Kish

**This article is undergoing edits thanks to community feedback.

The Line — August 2023

The Line is the monthly newsletter of the American Alpine Journal.

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Kim Chang-ho below Bakma Brakk in the Karakoram. Kim soloed the 6,200-meter peak by the line shown, one of four solo first ascents in Pakistan in the summer and fall of 2003 that had not been described in English publications. Photo by Kim Chang-ho.

Historic Summer

At the AAJ, we love uncovering little-known climbs from the past. The 2023 AAJ, which is now being mailed out to AAC members, includes several previously unpublished tales from as far back as the 1970s. But none tops our story about a singular summer in the life of Kim Chang-ho, who died in 2018, at the age of 49, at the base of Gurja Himal in Nepal.

Kim Chang-ho was perhaps the most accomplished mountaineer from Korea. He was noted for high-altitude ascents such as a south-north traverse of Nanga Parbat, a new route up the south face of Gangapurna, and the first ascents of Batura II and Himjung. He climbed all of the 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. However, less well known outside Korea was his solitary exploration of the mountains of northern Pakistan from 2000 to 2004.

Kim below Haiz Kor in the eastern Hindu Raj mountains.

In AAJ 2023, Korean climber and journalist Oh Young-hoon provides details of four solo first ascents of 6,000-meter peaks during the summer of 2003, when Kim was 33 years old. He spent more than three months that summer and fall wandering through the Little Pamir, Hindu Raj, and Karakoram ranges, climbing and exploring previously untraveled passes, alone or with inexperienced porters and hikers. Rarely has the freedom of the hills been so richly expressed. Oh based his AAJ story on Kim’s unpublished journals and on articles for Korean magazines, and we’re excited to bring it to English-speaking readers.

For more on Kim’s life and climbs, check out Oh Young-hoon’s “Local Hero” piece for Alpinist, published in the fall of 2021.

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Join the Club—United We Climb.

Get the AAJ Sent to You Annually

Partner-level members receive The American Alpine Journal book every year. Documenting mountain exploration and the year’s most significant ascents through first-person reports and photos, it’s an essential historical record and a feast of inspiration.

Rescue & Medical Expense Coverage

Climbing can be a risky pursuit, but one worth the price of admission. Partner-level members and up receive $7,500 in rescue services and $5,000 in emergency medical expense coverage. Looking for deeper coverage? Sign up for the Leader level and receive $300k in rescue services.

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The North Cascades High Route

Speaking of unfettered travel through the mountains: Last summer, climber/runners Jenny Abegg and Kaytlyn Gerbin stitched together a mega link-up in the state of Washington, traveling 127 miles, north to south, through the high country of North Cascades National Park. “It’s no secret that this style of travel has grown more popular throughout the last decade or so,” Abegg writes in AAJ 2023. Climbers want to go faster and lighter; runners want to go bigger. In Washington’s Cascades, mountaineering routes have become common ground for those looking for that engaging cocktail of endurance and skill.” The North Cascades High Route took seven days. Here’s a small gallery, generously shared by pro photographers Nick Danielson and Steven Gnam.

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See a 17-minute film of the North Cascades High Route here. We’re also happy to say that Jenny Abegg is joining the AAJ editing team and will be working on some Climbs & Expeditions reports for the 2024 edition.

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Farewell to Two Greats

This summer the climbing world lost two greats of international mountaineering: Dmitry Pavlenko and Ermanno Salvaterra.

Svetlana and Dmitry Pavlenko on the north face of Free Korea Peak in September 2022.

Pavlenko and his wife, Svetlana, and two clients disappeared during an attempt on 7,439-meter Pik Pobeda in Kyrgyzstan in late July. Dmitry Pavlenko gained fame as a key member of two large teams that climbed big-wall-style routes up the west face of Makalu and north face of Jannu. More recently, he based his guiding business and climbing attention in the Ala-Archa mountains of Kyrgyzstan, climbing the steep north face of Pik Svobodnaya Koreya (“Free Korea Peak”) many times, including several new routes. The most recent of these came last September, when the Pavlenko couple climbed Chumba and Raccoon (800m, ED+ 6b A3), a new line reported in the next AAJ.

Ermanno Salvaterra, who died in a fall in mid-August in the Brenta Dolomites, near his home in Italy, was famous for his visionary routes up the biggest and steepest walls of Cerro Torre in Patagonia—the south face and the east face—along with the first winter ascent of the tower. In 2005, Salvaterra teamed up with Alessandro Beltrami and Rolando Garibotti to climb El Arca de los Vientos, the first complete route up the north face of Cerro Torre. Salvaterra’s feature story about this climb in the 2006 edition was his final article for the AAJ.

The AAJ extends its condolences to the family and friends of these two climbers.

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Sign Up for AAC Emails

The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this online publication? Contact Billy Dixon for opportunities. Questions or suggestions? Email us: [email protected].

CLIMB: The Training Episode, with Tom Randall

On this episode of the podcast, we sat down with the infamous Tom Randall of Wide Boyz fame. Tom reflected on some of the most transformative moments in his climbing career, debunked some of the myths of climbing training, and got us hyped on the AAC’s new partnership and discount with Lattice Training. Whether it's how to train as a trad climber, or the difference that trainers see between UK athletes and US athletes, we covered a broad range of topics. If you’re curious whether you should start training for climbing, even if your goals in climbing have nothing to do with pushing grades, then dive in!

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Summit Magazine

Provided by Michael Levy

A story from the AAC Library

By: Sierra McGivney

Jean Crenshaw and Helen Kilness rode their motorcycle away from the US Coast Guard base in Georgia in 1946. They had just taught themselves how to ride the motorcycle in the bike dealership's parking lot. The two had become fast friends working as Radio Operators in the Coast Guard. With the war over, they were untethered, the future and road ahead of them. Both grew up out west, so they headed that way, the wind roaring around them.

Once in California, they worked in the publishing and editing industry, and on the weekends, they went out on trips with the Sierra Club. The two fell in love with rock climbing and playing outside. They were completely inseparable. With time they moved to Big Bear, CA, to an old Forest Service cabin. They wove their two favorite things together and started a climbing magazine, the first of its kind, in 1955.

Summit Magazine was edited, published, and produced in Crenshaw and Kilness's house. The basement contained a dark room for photo and print development.

The two were some of the original dirtbags. They would make enough money and write enough content for the magazine and then run away into the mountains and play. Their first magazine cost 25 cents.

In the post-WWII climate of the United States, they went against the grain. Though not against marriage or children, Kilness and Crenshaw were committed to expanding and redefining the purview of women. Alongside the complexities of their religious commitments and their vision for climbing journalism, they were also two women who wanted to throw out the kitchen sink and replace it with summits.

Provided by Michael Levy

Kilness and Crenshaw avoided letting it be known that they were women on the masthead of Summit Magazine. Jean became Jene, and Helen became H.V.J Kilness. Because of this, some men felt free to write letters to the editor, denigrating women. In response, Kilness and Crenshaw would publish these letters and those that would follow, opposing these sexist views. The comments section of Summit Magazine was like the Mountain Project forum of the 1950-70s.

Kurt Reynolds from Denver, Colorado, wrote, "A women's very presence can mean discord and defeat, for rare indeed is the climber who can forget ingrained patterns of chivalry and demand the same grueling performance from feminine teammates that he would from another man. In their mad rush to ape men, women have invaded every field of our endeavor. Let them return to their proper realm of kitchen, children, and church–and be there when we return from the mountains."

The comments section regulated itself, and both men and women expressed their views against this comment.

Elizabeth Knowlton, a famous mountaineer, countered, "But the fact is that to some individuals, of both sexes, mountains, and mountaineering have really important meanings and values—though to many individuals they do not … People vary enormously. If Mr. Reynolds expects half the human race to conform to one single type, strictly determined by their sex, I fear he will meet with disappointment. I speak as a woman who has always been interested in climbing."

Others said in defense of women, "Mr. Kurt Reynolds rather sickened my stomach with his opinions on the female of the human species. I'm sure that no registered nurse would appreciate his statement on women being 'emotionally unstable and notably unreliable in an emergency,'" responded Dick Skultin.

Kilness and Crenshaw probably laughed whenever they received letters addressed "Dear Sir" containing sexist views of the day. Little did the men writing in know that two mountain climbing women ran Summit Magazine.

Instead of outright confronting these individuals, they proved them wrong through every magazine they produced that empowered women.

Provided by Michael Levy

The letters to the editor weren't the only place these nuanced subjects were brought up. In the fictional story "The Lassie and the Gillikin" from the June 1956 edition of the magazine, the author writes about the undertones of sexism in climbing at the time and the expectation for a woman to make herself smaller. In the story, a male climber takes Jenny climbing for the first time. She starts with beginner climbs and every weekend works to climb harder. She persists and becomes better. At one point, when Jenny succeeds on a climb, the male climber does not, and he is suddenly cold towards Jenny. This male climber has lunch with another woman when he usually eats with Jenny. He weaponizes this woman to show Jenny further how much he distastes her success.

Provided by Michael Levy

The Gilikin, a little creature that climbers blame for tangled ropes or slick holds, suggests to Jenny that he push her off a climb to make the male climber interested in her again. Jenny agrees, and after she falls off a climb, his interest in her returns, underscoring the writer's point.

Jane Collard said it best in the July 1956 comments section of Summit: "Men need to feel superior to women, especially in outdoor, rugged, manly-type activities, and a woman mountain climber is liable to give 98% of the male population an inferiority complex because there are so few men who are mountain climbers and also society says mountain climbing isn't feminine."

The richness of Summit was that it was a proving ground for these kinds of hard conversations about equity, but the editors also insisted on doing so playfully.

Flipping through old Summit Magazines, you'll find various cartoons and articles. A person skiing off El Capitan is on the cover of their March 1972 issue. The cover was made to look real with a photo of El Cap and a drawing of a small person with a red parachute skiing off of it. On the inside of the magazine, a complete description: "In a well planned and skillful maneuver, Rick Sylvester skied off the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park at approximately 50 mph, then parachuted to the valley floor." You can tell that Kilness and Crenshaw were having fun. They didn't take themselves too seriously.

Oddly enough, an ad for Vasque boots is placed on the outside cover. The ad says, "Vasque…tough books built by men who've been there…Vasque the mountain man boot."

Provided by Michael Levy

The articles in Summit had an extensive range of topics, from challenging technical climbs to backpacking and ecology. The magazine had a news section called "Scree and Talus" which always included a poem. One addition of "Scree" includes a granola recipe next to the information about an unclimbed mountain in Nepal called Gauri Shankar.

The swirly fonts, playful cartoons, and various article topics blended feminine elements into an otherwise 'masculine' sport for its time. Kilness and Crenshaw were redefining climbing to include their vision—broadening and deepening what climbing could mean and who climbing was for.

Summit was about all aspects of climbing, not just climbing difficult grades and training, which are worthwhile stories to tell but do not encompass the soul of climbing, the why of climbing. Summit Magazine was about pursuing the outdoors and having fun while doing it. Summit's depth and earnest silliness came from Kilness and Crenshaw's ability to take a step back from climbing, see their complex role in it, and in turn, climbing's role in life. That philosophical distance certainly takes the edge off the grade-chasing.

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When magazines like Rock and Ice (1986) and Climbing (1970) came onto the scene, Summit fell off. Kilness and Crenshaw themselves ascribed this to their competitors' editorial focus on sending hard and putting up new technical routes. But whether cutting-edge climbing simply sells better or it was the usual story of big media winning by sheer resources, the project was no longer sustainable. Killness and Crenshaw sold the company in 1989, the same year the American Alpine Club recognized their contribution and lifetime service to the climbing community. Under new owners, Summit continued until 1996, after which it was discontinued.

You can still be transported to 1974 and look at old photos of beautiful landscapes worldwide. The AAC library holds all issues of Summit Magazine from 1955-1996. These magazines can be an excellent resource for planning trips or a looking glass into a past era of climbing.

Provided by Michael Levy

And Summit's journey continues. Through long-form print media, Summit Journal will be produced twice a year in large format to preserve the richness of climbing storytelling. In a world of clickbait articles, Summit is daring to produce quality climbing journalism and once again encompass the soul of climbing. Hopefully, they can capture Kilness and Crenshaw's playful essence even if someone isn't skiing off El Capitan on the cover. Returning to climbing journalism's roots just might take us to new places.

The Line—July

The Line is the monthly newsletter of the American Alpine Journal.

O CANADA!

Canada is an enticing destination for U.S. climbers: an international locale that’s easy to reach and to navigate, yet with a wilder feel than many of the crowded crags and peaks back home. With the 2023 AAJ going into the mail next month, here’s a teaser from the upcoming edition: five fresh reports from five Canadian provinces and territories.

Seba Pelletti leading pitch eight of Viaje Boreal (650m, 5.11+) in Canada’s Northwest Terriorties. Photo by Pato Diaz.

Northwest Territories

Seba Pelletti, an Australian who resides in southern Chile, traveled to northern Canada last August with three Chilean friends: Pato Diaz, Michael Pedreros, and Hernan Rodriguez. The prime objective was Mt. Dracula, a hulking summit in the Vampire Peaks, about 20 kilometers to the northwest of the famed Cirque of the Unclimbables. This rainy zone rarely sees visitors, but the 2022 team was lucky, with enough good windows to put up three new routes, including a 650-meter line up a previously unclimbed face on Dracula (see photo above), possibly only the third ascent of this isolated peak. Pelletti described their adventures in his story for AAJ 2023.

Photo by Zach Clanton.

British Columbia

Near Terrace, B.C., is a striking granite pyramid known variously as the Shark’s Fin or the Saddlehorn. This peak had been climbed and even skied, but the beautiful southern prow had no known routes. Zach Clanton, Kris Pucci, and Tim Russell changed that last July, with an 11-pitch line that begs to be climbed. The first ascent went smoothly. As Zach wrote in his AAJ report, “Sometimes, very rarely, even with all of the mysteries intact, things go according to plan…. We had no brushes with death, no dicey bear encounters, and no stories of terrifying choss. And that’s just how we like it.”

Alberta

Sam Wall’s family used to run one of the backcountry lodges at Amethyst Lake in the Tonquin Valley of Jasper National Park, below the incredible quartzite walls of the Ramparts. (Those lodges were closed recently in an effort to protect a small herd of caribou in the valley.) During his years of staring at the walls, Sam picked out a possible new route up the northeast face of Oubliette Mountain. In August, he and Shep Howatt rowed across the lake to access the face and succeeded with a 900-meter new route (5.10-) to the summit. After a bivy on the ridge, they traversed along the Ramparts to climb the north ridge of Bennington Peak, also a first ascent. Read Sam’s report here.

High on the northeast face of Mt. Oubliette during the first ascent, with Amethyst Lake below. Photo by Sam Wall.

Newfoundland

Silas Rossi on Delirium, one of the new routes at the Bear’s Den near Parsons Pond in western Newfoundland. Photo by Ryan Stefiuk.

New Englanders have been making the trek to western Newfoundland for decades to explore the East’s biggest ice climbs. (See Alden Pellett’s Recon story in AAJ 2021 for the climbing history of this area.) In 2022 and 2023, a rotating crew of Northeastern U.S. climbers has focused on Parsons Pond, a remote area accessed by snowmobile. Ryan Stefiuk reveals the goods in AAJ 2023.

Nunavut

From Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory comes our final AAJ teaser: a short video about a new route up the northeast face of Mt. Turnweather by Neil Chelton, Owen Lee, and Maria Parkes. This fun look at expedition life was edited by Chelton, creator of the VDiff instructional website. Rainy Day Dream Away, the 20-pitch route they climbed, takes a direct line to the east ridge of Turnweather, a route first climbed in 1977 by former AAC vice president Clark Gerhardt and Craig McKibben. The full story of last summer’s ascent will appear soon in the 2023 AAJ and at our website.

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THE 2023 COVER: A FAMILY AFFAIR

As the AAJ is being prepared for mailing, here’s a preview of the 2023 cover, showing a precarious stance on Shield of Dreams (5.13b), one of several hard new routes climbed last year on Trapezoid Peak in the High Sierra. The climber is Chase Leary, who, as Andy Puhvel writes in his AAJ report, is “a local granite master whose wizardry on the rock has earned him the nickname ‘Swami.’ Chase’s family goes back three generations in the Eastern Sierra, and his father, Kevin Leary, was one of the first climbers to establish the 5.12 grade in Tuolumne and the Eastside.”

Puhvel also has multi-generational family ties to the Sierra: He and Lisa Coleman ran the Yo! Basecamp Rock Climbing Camp in these mountains for more than 20 years, and they still operate the Nor Cal Youth Climbing League, the longest running competition series in North America. And their son, Cashus, shot this year’s spectacular cover photo!

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Join the Club—United We Climb.

Get the AAJ Sent to You Annually

Partner-level members receive The American Alpine Journal book every year. Documenting mountain exploration and the year’s most significant ascents through first-person reports and photos, it’s an essential historical record and a feast of inspiration.

Rescue & Medical Expense Coverage

Climbing can be a risky pursuit, but one worth the price of admission. Partner-level members and up receive $7,500 in rescue services and $5,000 in emergency medical expense coverage. Looking for deeper coverage? Sign up for the Leader level and receive $300k in rescue services.

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THE HUNTINGTON SPECIAL

The Technicolor Super Dream on Mt. Huntington. Photo by Zac Colbran.

The latest Cutting Edge podcast highlights three young climbers from the U.S. and Canada—Zac Colbran, Dane Steadman, and Grant Stewart—who found a beautiful and challenging new route up the west face of Mt. Huntington, one of North America’s most iconic peaks. Listen here.

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Sign Up for AAC Emails

The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this online publication? Contact Billy Dixon for opportunities. Questions or suggestions? Email us: [email protected].

CLIMB: Behind the Scenes of the USA Climbing Training Center

In this episode of the podcast, we’re featuring a conversation between guest host and AAC board member Cody Kaemmerlen, and USA Climbing’s Head Coach, Josh Larson. Cody and Josh hang out at the USA Training Center to record this conversation, and talk team culture, behind the scenes of comp training, and even a bit about how the Olympics is shaping competitive climbing. This isn’t your typical training podcast. We’re taking a deep dive into the inner workings of an ever evolving and cutting edge part of our sport. Listen in to get some insights on the philosophy powering the USA Climbing Team, from the coach who trains some of the best climbers in America. 

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Learn More:

Cody Kaemmerlen

USA Head Coach Josh Larson

Team USA Climbing

National Team Rankings

The Line — June 2023

The Line is the monthly newsletter of the American Alpine Journal.

Vitaliy Musiyenko following pitch six (5.11), one of the cruxes of Against the Grain on Charlotte Dome. Photo by Brian Prince.

THE BEST 5.11 IN THE HIGH SIERRA?

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve been working on a route which, in my honest opinion, has the potential to become known as one of the five best 5.11s in the High Sierra.” That’s the start of Vitaliy Musiyenko’s report for AAJ 2023 on Against the Grain, a new route up Charlotte Dome in California’s Kings Canyon National Park. Musiyenko, co-author of the new High Sierra Climbing guidebooks, and Brian Prince completed the 1,800-foot 5.11c route in late July of 2022.

“I had just developed COVID symptoms on the day we hiked into camp at Charlotte Lake,” Prince wrote in an email, recalling the first ascent. “The next day, when we climbed the route, I was really pretty wrecked. I think the only way I was able to keep climbing was that the route was so good. I put on a mask at the belays to try and protect Vitaliy, but he ended up testing positive a few days later anyway. It says a lot about Vitaliy that he didn't hate me for giving him COVID when he avoided it after working through the height of the pandemic in an emergency room.”

Against the Grain has about 1,800 feet of climbing on the southeast face of Charlotte Dome. The “Fifty Classics” South Face route ascends the corrugated face to the left. Photo by Vitaliy Musiyenko.

Prince added, “I just felt grateful that Vitaliy asked me to join him to climb the route after he put so much work into it. It felt like a kind of peak in our partnership because he would be moving out of California [to Utah] soon after.”

Against the Grain takes a direct line up the southeast face of Charlotte Dome, well to the right of the classic South Face route (Beckey-Jones-Rowell, 1970), and also to the right of Dance of Dragons, a route that Musiyenko established in 2017 with Jeremy Ross. Curious about the claim that the new route might be among the best 5.11s in the High Sierra, we asked Musiyenko and Prince—two of the Sierra’s most active first ascensionists—to fill out their top five. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they agreed on most of the climbs. Here’s their list in alphabetical order:

Against the Grain (Charlotte Dome) • Friends (Spring Lake Wall) • Positive Vibrations (The Hulk) • Tradewinds (The Hulk) • Valkyrie (Angel Wings)

Prince also mentioned Sky Pilot on Mt. Goode and Sword in the Stone on Mt. Chamberlin, but added that he hadn’t done the latter. He said the new route on Charlotte Dome might be the best of them all: “Not just the top five…. It is vertical face climbing on a backcountry granite dome for pitch after pitch. There's just nothing else like it.“

Do you have a favorite long 5.11 in the High Sierra that ought to be on this list? Name it in the comments below.

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The south side of Cerro Iorana at sunset. Photo by Andrew Opila.

THE WILDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO

In a “Recon” article for AAJ 2020, geographer and exploratory climber Camilo Rada described the history and climbing possibilities in the remote Cordillera Darwin of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. Inspired in part by this article, Spanish climbers Eñaut Izagirre and Ibai Rico organized an expedition to the Cordillera Darwin in 2022 to attempt unclimbed peaks and study the snow and glacier dynamics in the range. With a base camp aboard the yacht Kotik, the seven-person expedition found great success, making the first ascents of the central summit of Monte Roncagli and Cerro Sara, as well as a new variation on Monte Francis. The team also collected snow samples from extremely remote sites and recovered thermometers and recording devices placed by Izagirre during a previous expedition in 2018. Among the early findings: The Roncagli (Alemania) Glacier has retreated at the alarming rate of more than a kilometer in just four years.

Izagirre and Rico’s article about the expedition will appear in AAJ 2023, which will be mailed to AAC members at the end of this summer. In the meantime, here’s a gallery of the team’s photos from the wild and beautiful Cordillera Darwin.

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Photographer and climber Andrew Opila has produced a 30-minute film about the expedition, Into The Ice, which premiered in Bilbao, Spain, and was shown at the Wasatch Film Festival in April. More festival dates are pending. See the trailer here.

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THE CUTTING EDGE IS BACK!

Season five of the AAJ’s Cutting Edge podcast kicks off with an interview featuring Jackson Marvell, the 27-year-old alpinist from Utah who just climbed his second new route up the mile-high east face of Mt. Dickey in Alaska. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Cutting Edge · Jackson Marvell: New Route on Mt. Dickey in Alaska

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The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this online publication? Contact Billy Dixon for opportunities. Questions or suggestions? Email us: [email protected].

How to Dream up the Next Cutting-Edge Thing

PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

By: Sierra McGivney

First ascents and new lines on faraway mountains fill the American Alpine Journal every year. American Alpine Club members and climbers in the community browse the AAJ annually, reading stories about cutting-edge ascents. Some might even wonder to themselves, how do you dream up the next cutting-edge thing?

Beyond producing the AAJ, the American Alpine Club has a legacy of encouraging and inspiring climbers to push their limits and dream big through our grants. In 2022, Jeff and Priti Wright won our Cutting Edge Grant, sponsored by Black Diamond, to attempt K7 Central. This year, Lindsey Hamm won the Cutting Edge Grant and also our McNiell-Nott Grant, sponsored by Mountain Hardwear. They are each cutting-edge alpinists who are in pursuit of world-class climbing and mountaineering objectives. And they have answers to the questions you've been wondering about. 

Step One: Light the Fire

Priti and Jeff Wright are a wife and husband duo based in Seattle who have been featured in the AAJ three times and on The Cutting Edge podcast. Their blog Alpine Vagabonds details their first ascents, alpine endeavors, and how-tos. Some of their most notable accomplishments are the first ascent of K6 Central (7,155m), the third ascent of K6 West (7,140m), all four peaks of Patagonia's Torre Range, and "The Six Classic North Faces of the Alps." But how did two-weekend warriors become cutting-edge alpinists? 

Jeff and Priti on K6. PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

In 2017, The Mountaineers, a nonprofit climbing club based in the Pacific Northwest, held a talk featuring Graham Zimmerman, professional alpinist and AAC president, at their local gear shop in Seattle. It inspired the Wrights, so they approached him after the talk. Over drinks with Zimmerman, they talked about planning trips and their goals. They were excited about doing something new. The Greater Ranges in the Himalayas had caught their attention. 

They asked Zimmerman about K6 Central, which he had attempted. They were interested in climbing it themselves. Zimmerman said something along the lines of, "Go send that sh*t." The two were stoked that Zimmerman had been so encouraging and kind.

"In the climbing community, almost everyone you reach out to is friendly and nice because they were in your position at one point," said Priti. 

So for their first trip, they rode Zimmerman's coattails. According to Jeff, this is fairly common in the climbing community—failed expeditions can be a great opportunity for someone looking to make a first ascent. But you don't want to scoop someone's line, so contact the person first and see if they will make a second attempt at it. If they aren't planning to, they might even help you out and give you some extra beta. 

Step Two: Plan An Expensive Glorified Camping Trip

On this first trip to Pakistan to climb K6 Central, Priti and Jeff learned a lot. Big expeditions are like glorified camping trips with lots of extra stuff, according to the Wrights. 

PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

Logistics to be considered when planning a big expedition are: 

• Visas 

• Permits 

• Tour operators

• Satellite devices

• Weather

• Power sources 

• Budget

• Food 

• Shower

• Washing clothes

They use spreadsheets and checklists to stay organized. Once you've figured out logistics, you can focus more on the climbing or technical aspect of your trip. The two got a lot of advice from Steven Swenson and Colin Haley on what food to bring and what airlines have the best baggage deals. Knowing someone who has gone on an expedition before can be a huge asset. 

If you're wondering how to budget and get your trip funded, look into mountaineering grants. The AAC has quite a few for all different types of trips. Mountaineering or skiing/splitboarding based? We got you. Research or breaking barriers based? We got you. Have a climbing dream of any kind? You guessed it—we have a grant for you.

Step Three: Leave No Trace? Leave the Right Trace.

This is Lindsey Hamm’s second trip to the Churakusa Valley. This year, she's backed by the Cutting Edge Grant and the McNeill-Nott Grant. 

"I'm thankful and grateful to have another opportunity," said Hamm.

Last year she, Dakota Walz, and Lane Mathis established a first ascent on a formation between Spanster Brakk and Naisa Brakk (which they named Ishaqu Brakk): Pull Down the Sky (15 pitches, 5.11 R). 

Hamm is always excited about seeing the porters, cooks, and guides she's worked with again and continuing to build a relationship with the community in the valley. There is beauty in being around people who have a different life than hers. She becomes a student again. 

This year, Hamm's group is bringing over school supplies and paying teachers their salaries for the year. For Hamm, climbing is about community, not just the climbing community.

Jeff and Priti have the same attitude. They advocate for climbing responsibly and contributing to the community where they are climbing. Alongside Steve Swenson, they work with Iraq Fund, an organization that helps girls go to school. 

"It's not just about 'how you can help the climbing community' but the greater community as well," said Priti.

Step Four: Listen Closely for Unclimbed Peaks

K7 Expedition. PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

For the Wright's 2022 K7 Central trip, expectations were low. The idea was original and supported by the Cutting-Edge Grant. The inspiration for this trip was found at another mountaineer's talk. This time it was Steven Swenson who presented. He mentioned that K7 Central was unclimbed. They noted this and added it to their list of climbing ideas. There was a limited amount of information out there once they started looking into it. But that didn't deter them in the slightest. 

"It's so difficult to try to come up with your own original idea in the Greater Ranges," said Jeff. 

Half of the work is finding an objective that has yet to be done. Many of the Greater Ranges' mountains have little information on them, so it takes a decent amount of work just to look up a mountain and see what's been done. 

The Wrights have spent hundreds of hours looking through documents in the AAC Library and the AAJ, searching for information on cutting-edge ascents. The AAC library uniquely holds so much history and resources for planning expeditions.  

With a lack of information, the expedition became exploratory. They were unsuccessful in 2022 but are going to go back this summer to try K7 Central again. 

Step Five: Devour Audio and Video Inspiration

"Getting inspired by listening to podcasts like The Cutting Edge and following people on Instagram, reading things that people have written, makes it seem a little more possible, and it gets those gears turning of, well, what might I be able to do?" said Priti. 

Jeff and Priti's go-to podcasts to feed the stoke:

• The Cutting Edge podcast

• The Run-Out

• Climbing Gold

• The Enormocast

• Alpinist

• The Firn Line

• Uphill Athlete

• Evoke Endurance

• Training for Climbing

Books:

• The American Alpine Journal

• Seriously, the AAJ contains trip reports for areas relevant to your expedition—Lindsay, Priti, and Jeff each swear by it.

• Anything relevant in the AAC Library

• Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete

• Training for the Uphill Athlete

Step Six: You've Figured Out Where You Want to Go—Time to Train

For the last six years, Jeff and Priti have been in the Uphill Athlete Program, a training program with daily workouts made for different uphill pursuits. You might have seen or read the book Training for the Uphill Athlete; essentially, this is an extension of the book. They have been focusing on the endurance aspect of training and bringing it into the mountains. The biggest thing for them when putting together a plan is to focus on their goal. 

"You have to break it down to, what are you training for? What are the exact specs of the thing you want to do?" said Priti. 

PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

If your goal involves a lot of steep inclines, get your cardio high. At altitude, that's what you'll start losing first. If your goal involves a lot of technical climbing, you'll want to focus on strength training. At a certain point, you’ll have enough technical skills to accomplish your objective, and you can focus more on your muscular endurance and aerobic capacity. 

The Wrights have big long objectives, so they focus on endurance-type training. Training is a huge part of alpinism or any big objective. It can help mitigate some risks. When you're at altitude and stressed out, having a reserve of energy can be huge.

"This weekend, all of our friends are going out rock climbing, and I'll be carrying a heavy pack up a steep muddy trail; just very monotonous and antisocial," said Jeff. "But it's nice to have a big objective that you're working towards."

Priti keeps a photo of her climbing goals or objectives on the background of her phone and on her credit card. It's a reminder of what she's working towards and saving up for. 

Step Seven: Build Partnerships and Positivity 

The Wrights have the benefit of being married to their climbing partner. They live together so they can feed off of each other's excitement. They know each other extremely well and know their communication style. Their situation is unique. The majority of partnerships don't have this dynamic—but one piece of advice that can be applied to every partnership? Don't share negative thoughts. 

PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

"You can always put a positive spin on something," said Priti.

If you're not stoked about something, ask yourself, is this really worth sharing? Expeditions can be miserable but well worth it. Keeping both your energy and the energy of others high can be a huge factor in completing your goals. 

There is also a balance between sharing safety or logistical concerns and being negative. If you are concerned for your or your group's safety, definitely speak up. Take your time with safety skills when training, too. They are necessary out in the mountains. To keep up their skills, Jeff and Pritit teach classes on climbing safety skills through BOEALPS. What's that old saying? The best way to learn is to teach. 

If you enjoy learning, try and find a local group or guiding company that teaches mountaineer or alpine skills. At one point, Jeff and Priti were in a program run by Steve Swenson designed to instruct and mentor up-and-coming alpinists. Listening to Swenson's stories inspired the two. Knowing someone who had climbed in the alpine a lot made it feel more possible. 

Step Eight: No Really, Partnership is Crucial

"I'm in four different relationships, and that is with all of my climbing partners," said Hamm. 

She likens these relationships to romantic partners. She speaks with each of them on a daily basis to build trust and learn how each communicates. Expedition partners add another layer of friction, good and bad. They need to be able to adapt, work and think as a group. After the trip, Hamm's goal is to return together as a healthy family. 

"I'm hype-girl Hamm," said Hamm. 

She's also building a relationship with the mountains, getting to know the valley and Pakistan. She's trying to understand what friction exists there, whether that is the political climate or the actual climate. 

Step Nine: Seek the Friction

In climbing, friction is all around us. It's created by partners, belay devices, knots, and the climbing rubber on our shoes. 

"I think the fact that I have created a little bit more friction for myself …[allows me to seek] a different level of climbing that I've never experienced," said Hamm. "I have taken a lot of time to learn on a smaller scale to be able to go bigger."

Photo provided by Lindsey Hamm.

For Hamm, this isn't her first pitch. This is a culmination of ten years of guiding, learning, and understanding the disciplines: big wall climbing, skiing, ice climbing, mixed climbing, trad climbing, and glacial travel. Big expeditions take her out of her comfort zone and create a new layer of friction: the unknown. 

"I really like the unknown," said Hamm with a smile.

She's on her way to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to train for her upcoming trip. Her focus for this trip will be to work on her breathing, moving slowly and more meticulously. The Black Canyon is a lot like Pakistan—very adventurous, and strengthens the fingers. 

"You can feel how the pioneers did it," said Hamm.

She'll head to Washington after The Black for altitude training, a different type of friction. Donning a heavy pack, she'll spend days going up and then down, acclimatizing to higher altitudes. The friction here is not seen but felt in the lack of air and the final push of training.

The environment, the people, and the climbing excite her. She looks over old photos and her grant proposal to stay motivated, but in general, she is a highly motivated, goal-oriented person, in part because of her ADHD. This trip is her lead, her idea.  

"I'm living my dream," said Hamm. 

Livin’ the Dream

PC: Jeff & Priti Wright

For Priti, Jeff, Lindsey, and many others, these expeditions are their dreams. They all started out learning and honing their skills: the tuned eye it takes to notice a first ascent opportunity; or leveraging and learning from the friction as they pushed harder and harder. They explored what motivated them and what made them excited. 

Seek out what excites you the most. Go to talks, read books, and listen to podcasts that inspire you. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. Soon those stunning lines on faraway mountains won't seem so far away anymore. 

The Line — May 2023

The Line is the monthly newsletter of the American Alpine Journal.

Bivouac on the southwest face of Ingolfsfjeld during the ’75 expedition. Photo by Jim Davenport.

GREENLAND’S GIANT MYSTERY WALL

The huge southwest face of Ingolfsfjeld, with 63 pitches of climbing, after a snowstorm. Photo by Steve Chadwick.

In the early to mid-1970s, one of the great challenges of arctic climbing was the southwest face of Ingolfsfjeld, an enormous wall 120 kilometers northeast of Tasiilaq on Greenland’s east coast. Visible from the sea, the peak was first climbed by its northeast ridge in 1971, by a Croatian duo, but the biggest face—rising at least 1,200 meters—remained unclimbed despite several attempts.

In 1975, a six-person British expedition finally succeeded, with three of the climbers making the final push to the summit. The resulting route had around 2,000 meters of climbing and was graded ED+ UIAA VI+ (5.10) A3, an extremely difficult wilderness wall for the era. Yet the climb has been largely forgotten, and until this year, no account had been published in the AAJ. 

Expedition member Steve Chadwick has described this remarkable expedition at length in a previously unpublished article, now available at the AAJ website, along with photos, a topo, and a pitch by pitch summary of the 63-pitch climb, which likely has never been repeated. (The last known attempt on any route up the mountain was in 1986!) An overview of the 1975 climb, written by senior editor Lindsay Griffin, will appear in AAJ 2023, which will be mailed in late summer.

Introduction to Keith Myhill’s pitch-by-pitch description of the route, which totaled 6,640 feet of climbing. A link to the full description is in Steve Chadwick’s article at our website.

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MINI-EPIC(S)

Mark Allen starts the team’s ascent of Chimaphila (470m, IV AI4) on Black Spire in the North Cascades. Photo by Jesse Charles.

Winter climbing is hard on climbers—and on their approach vehicles. Last winter, Mark Allen, Jesse Charles, and Seth Keena snowmobiled about 25 miles along closed Highway 20 in the North Cascades to make the first ascent of the east face of Black Spire by a varied ice line. Late in the day, they skied back to the unplowed road and mounted their sleds for the ride back to the car. Soon, the troubles began.

Keena opens his report for the upcoming AAJ 2023 with a description of his body slamming into the handlebars of his 1999 Yamaha Phazer. “I had acquired my snow machine for a bargain price, with the caveat that it had an ‘intermittent electrical issue, but not that big of a deal.’” he wrote. “Now, while cruising at 55 mph, the engine and lights had cut off, bringing sudden darkness and deceleration.”

Keena restarted the sled and followed his partners toward the plowed road. “Eventually we all made it back to Mark’s truck at the end of the plowed highway,” he wrote. “But, once again, we quietly faced the power of winter when we discovered the truck’s battery was dead.”

At least their phones still worked. A pleading call summoned help. Said Keena: “A friend is someone who, at 11:30 p.m., leaves their warm bed and drives to the end of the highway to jump-start your dead battery: Thank you, Patrick Murphy, you are a true friend.”

Without apparent irony, they called the new route Chimaphila (“winter lover”). Read Keena’s full AAJ report here.

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DENALI’S EAST BUTTRESS:
A 60-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE

Some years ago, Peter Lev, one member of the team that made the first ascent of Denali’s east buttress, published a photo-filled retrospective of the expedition. Lev summited on May 25, 1963, along with Rod Newcomb and Al Read. The other teammates were Warren Bleser, Jed Williamson, and Fred Wright. Here, we bring Lev’s images to light with a gallery of the marvelous photos from his piece. (Click on the images for captions.) You can download the complete retrospective in PDF form by following a link at the end of Read’s feature article in the 1964 AAJ.

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The Line is the newsletter of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), emailed to more than 80,000 climbers each month. Find the archive of past editions here. Interested in supporting this online publication? Contact Billy Dixon for opportunities. Suggestions? Email us: [email protected].

The Power of Beginning Again: Reflections from the USA Ice Climbing Team

Chelsea Kyffin and Jessica Perez jogging to warm up near the World Cup competition structure in Champagny-en-Vanoise, France. PC: Ryan McCauley

By Ryan McCauley (she/her)

“I mean this in the nicest way possible,” my teammate Marian Prather said, hesitating to finish their sentence. “But this experience kind of reminds me of helping my Mom with social media.” I erupted with laughter as I glared at my iPhone screen in the middle of a South Korean coffee shop, mouth agape, processing the newly learned fact that it was impossible to edit a posted Instagram story (that I had just spent 45 minutes carefully crafting with a lot of hand-holding from Marian and another friend on the USA Women’s Ice Climbing Team). I wrinkled my nose and jokingly prodded back, “Your Mom sounds cool. Is she also 35?”

This was Ryan's third and final speed run in women's finals in the World Cup in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. PC: UIAA Livestream

It was honestly the first time that weekend that I had truly relaxed, given myself permission to sit with the ridiculousness of the moment, and allowed joy to creep in. I had been too busy focusing on the pressure of my performance expectations at the first UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup of the ‘22-’23 season. Sadly, this anxiety was quickly replaced by disappointment as the results started rolling in. Nothing like training for months and flying across the world, only to fall off one swing into the speed climbing competition or slip off a lead move I had done numerous times at the training gym back home, to make me question my efforts. Although it was only my second season competing, my hopes had exceeded reality. Beginner or not, I should have done better.

If I was being honest with myself, the desire to make my Instagram story perfect by zooming in on every detail was representative of more than just my mindset at the South Korean World Cup. As a woman who has been drawn to sports historically dominated by athletes identifying as male, I have often leveraged perfectionism as a way to prove that I am good enough to belong in a given space. Asking for help is something I’ve learned to avoid at all costs. I have a tendency to approach other women with a slight hesitation or skepticism—as I try to assess how others might compare my performance to hers. Vulnerability is something I don’t share easily.

Ryan climbing in Women's speed climbing finals in the World Cup in Champagny-en-Vanoise, France. PC: Nils Paillard

So, it was intentional that my first-time dry tooling (the nuanced, competition-version of ice climbing) was at a Ladies’ Night at the Ice Coop dry-tooling gym in Boulder, which was the only facility of its kind in the U.S. at the time. I did not want to be a total novice in front of men. Beyond being male-dominated, it was also a sport nobody had ever heard of.

I joked that I was going to the hardware store when trying to explain the concept to others. Even presenting it as “indoor mixed climbing” seemed to fall flat for many. Traversing climbing routes by hooking ice tools on plastic or metal rock climbing holds was hard to comprehend. Kicking into plywood walls with specialized crampons to simulate ice climbing was confusing to visualize. And doing it all in a bouldering format at the Ice Coop without ropes seemed downright dangerous. But there was something about the challenge that hooked me. The promise of what was possible was too enthralling to ignore as I watched old YouTube videos of experienced athletes hanging upside down from swinging boxes during the 2019 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in Denver. However, even with this excitement, I swindled a coworker to go with me that first night so I didn’t have to risk looking like a fool in front of a group of strangers. Beginner or not, I was not going to embarrass myself.

Ryan McCauley climbing Catwoman (D10) at a dry-tooling crag in Quintal, France. PC: Justin (Jay) Jacobs

Despite my initial insecurities, that first evening dry-tooling injected an energy into me that I didn’t know existed. As a sport climber who was used to navigating routes that demanded either a lot of power or a plethora of precision, I loved how dry tooling required both. Moments that forced me to intentionally slow down my breathing and trust my exhausted arms to connect the pick of my tool with a tiny pocket on the side of a hold sent waves of enthusiasm through my entire body. I was stronger than I knew.

For the next year, I dove headfirst into every opportunity to grow and improve. I signed up for a gym membership, joined the local team, entered competitions, invested in new gear, and started attending a summer training group. Things were going well and I was excited. However, I had been so consumed with competition outcomes or team rankings to prove my “enoughness” in the sport that I hadn’t paused to reflect on the bigger picture or express gratitude for the larger value I was deriving from this space. Beginner or not, I would not allow myself to make excuses or fail.

Climbing to Not Fall

France Competition structure. PC: Ryan McCauley

If you had told me in the summer of 2021 that I would be representing the U.S. in the Ice Climbing World Cup a mere year later, I would have laughed uncontrollably. I would have rolled my eyes at the thought of re-activating my Facebook profile so I could communicate with people just over half my age to schedule team practice for a sport that had hardly any training facilities. But I also didn’t anticipate the power of the community I felt that Friday at Ladies' Night. The possibility posed by the non-judgmental, inclusive space allowed people of all ages and backgrounds to show up as total beginners and be genuinely embraced for who they were. Trust, support, and advocacy were offered to each individual who showed up and tried, no matter how guarded or hesitant they were. While resources and funding for dry tooling are more limited in the U.S. compared to some other countries, countless people are volunteering their time to expand the sport and welcome new members with open arms.

And here I was, sitting in Cheongsong, getting discouraged and fixating on my mistakes a little over a year into the sport. I couldn’t help but ruminate on how it might have played out if I could only go back in time and edit my personal story—what if I had swung the tool slightly differently; had shifted my weight at a different angle; had trained harder; had found the sport at a younger age? It still felt so hard to disconnect from the scoreboard. Beginner or not, those results defined my success.

Keenan Griscom climbing in Men's Lead Semi Finals at the France World Cup in Champagny-en-Vanoise. PC: Nils Paillard

That evening, while riding the bus back to our hotel from the competition venue, I sat next to Keenan Griscom, the top-ranked athlete on the USA Men’s Ice Climbing Team. He was just shy of his 19th Birthday and had been competing in a variety of climbing disciplines since middle school. As we debriefed the day, I was struck by the way he balanced both seriousness and lightheartedness when talking about his own performance expectations. As someone who had made finals and was slated to compete again the following day, I anticipated him to feel much more pressure than he did. Intrigued, I pummeled him with questions about his journey as an athlete, how his training had evolved, and even concerning his personal definition of success. Keeping a humble tone, Keenan noted times when a higher ranking he received didn’t elicit pride because he knew deep down that he had failed to fulfill his own potential. Similarly, he confidently recounted times when a lower score ended up being a cause for celebration because he knew within himself that he gave the competition his all. 

I had noticed this same open-mindedness and curiosity earlier when someone had asked for advice on filing their picks and he had encouraged them to trust themself, experiment with an approach, and see how it went. The feisty millennial in me wanted to say something to the effect of, “It makes sense you don’t feel pressure to get it right this time, you have so many competitions ahead of you before your knees fall apart!” and it suddenly hit me. I was getting in my own way. I was the only one telling myself I had to show up perfectly now; believing that there was indeed an expiration date on this opportunity. 

Keenan Griscom climbing in Men's Lead Finals at the South Korean World Cup in Cheongsong. PC: Rhea Kang

Sure, I wasn’t getting younger. And I might still never get to the same level as some of my teammates who had already been competing for nearly a decade and were 15 years my junior. But, hyperfocusing on my scores was damaging my confidence and blinding me to the massive privilege of the opportunity in front of me. Just as with the stupid Instagram story, things were already live and I couldn’t go back and update the countdown hashtags (or so I’m told— please reach out if you know otherwise) or go back in time and swing my tool into the ice tower further to the right when speed climbing. All I could do was laugh about it, remember to tag people before hitting “upload” next time, and be present with the amazing community around me at that moment.

What if I shifted the story from “What place did I get?” or “How did I compare?” to instead be about “What did I learn today to get 1% better?” “What progress can I celebrate?” or “Who did I connect with?” So much of my current narrative was driven by fear and the pressure wasn’t getting me on the podium. What if I reframed success to be about the experience rather than whether or not I fell?

Climbing to Play in the Present Moment

Ryan McCauley reaching the top of the speed wall during Women's Speed Climbing Finals in the Saas-Fee, Switzerland World Cup. PC: Robert Hendriksen

As naive as it felt, I pushed myself to focus more energy during the France World Cup on things like laughing with teammates about our “Nascar pit stop” sharing of speed crampons or joking about the record time it took my Nalgene to freeze. By the third and final competition in Switzerland, I found myself fully dancing to the music at the base of the ice tower while waiting for my turn to climb. It was the longest and steepest speed structure we had encountered so far and people were falling fairly consistently. If anything, the pressure was higher—but I had slowly started to feel gratitude for it all. “Once in a lifetime opportunity” had shifted from meaning I only had this one competition to demonstrate my entire worth to instead serving as a reminder to soak it all in. I chatted with international athletes and made silly faces at the live-stream cameras. I was going to make the most of this moment. 

Suddenly, everything clicked. My tools hooked the ice smoothly one after the other and my feet glided up the wall in a delicate, nearly effortless dance. I shrieked as I turned around to look at the timer: 20.52—nearly 9 seconds off my last run and a time that would put me in 4th place overall. I guess this approach wasn’t so silly after all. I’d be lying if I said it was easy to sustain this mentality in a high-pressure competition, that it looked the same for every athlete, or that it didn’t take the same kind of practice as showing up to training each week. But, wow, it made the effort so much more worthwhile and fun. Beginner or not, letting go of my fixation on the outcome could result in a more lasting definition of success.

Reflecting on the Season

USA athletes cheering on teammates in lead finals during the South Korean World Cup in Cheongsong. From left to right - Jessica Perez, Noah Bergman, Sam Serra, Marian Prather, Dominic Gonzalez-Padron. PC: Rhea Kang

Overall, as a Team, the U.S. walked away with one of the most successful seasons we have had in the past few years. There were a lot of milestones to celebrate, such as Cat Shirley setting a record for the first-ever American woman to qualify for UIAA World Cup lead finals or Keenan Griscom earning 4th and 5th place, respectively, for lead climbing in two of the World Cups! (*see box below for more specifics).

Perhaps even more exciting to see was how much closer our community became through the shared experiences of relentless months of training, hectic or jet-lagged travel, competition stressors or mistakes, celebrations of personal or team growth, and unexpected memories made. Early morning group warm-up runs, aggressive games of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza back at the Airbnb, and hugs from other athletes after emotional moments of doubt are the things that will stick with me for years to come. 

There is still so much work that needs to be done in the United States to help strengthen our reputation as a competitive team and develop the sport of dry-tooling. There were moments where we jokingly noted how dry tooling was a “real sport” in other countries as we came across a multitude of gyms in Seoul where we could train and found celebrity-style posters of dry-tooling athletes in the local tourist office. It could have been tempting to be frustrated by how far behind the U.S. is concerning this, but many teammates also commented on how incredible it was to be at the frontier of this sport in our country, helping to build a stronger foundation alongside organizations like the American Alpine Club and Rab.

Justin (Jay) Jacobs warming up on the dry-tooling warm-up wall at the World Cup in Champagny-en-Vanoise, France. PC: Sam Montgomery

We may not be able to successfully revolutionize the future of dry tooling in the U.S. overnight. However, this season taught me so much about the power of giving ourselves permission to embrace the imperfections and be patient with growth. The acceptance and vulnerability that comes with this approach allows us to clearly see our own strengths and empathetically show up for others. We get to choose to contribute to success that is bigger than ourselves and accelerate our growth with each mistake. Beginner or not, letting go can actually magnify the power of our team.

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Some of the specific USA women’s achievements worth noting include:

Cat Shirley (right) congratulating Roz Reynolds (left) on qualifying for Women's Lead Semi Finals at the South Korean World Cup in Cheongsong. Sam Serra is standing in between the women and Noah Bergman is off to the right. PC: Rhea Kang

South Korea:

• Jessica Perez & Roz Reynolds competed in their first-ever World Cup competition!

• Cat Shirley & Roz Reynolds reached the top of the lead climbing qualification routes and continued on to compete in the semi-finals, placing 8th and 16th respectively, out of a field of 31 female athletes. Cat is the first US woman to ever qualify for the UIAA World Cup lead finals!

• Cat Shirley, Marian Prather, & Roz Reynolds progressed to speed climbing semi-finals, ultimately placing 3rd, 8th, and 11th respectively, out of a field of 25 female athletes. Cat walked away with a bronze medal for this performance!

Champagny-en-Vanoise:

• Chelsea Kyffin competed in her first-ever World Cup competition!

• Jessica Perez, Chelsea Kyffin, & Ryan McCauley climbed in temperatures of 8 degrees Fahrenheit each day during women’s lead qualifications and still made gains between their first and second routes averaging about three quickdraws higher!

• Ryan McCauley & Chelsea Kyffin competed in women’s speed finals and shaved off a combined 10 seconds on their runs as they placed 7th and 14th respectively, out of a field of 16 women.

Saas-Fee:

• Gabrielle (Phoebe) Tourtellotte competed in her first-ever World Cup competition!

• Ryan McCauley & Lauren Shartell earned spots in women’s speed finals and placed 4th and 8th, out of a field of 21 women. With scores in all three competitions, this put Ryan in a tie for 6th place in overall women’s 2023 World Cup speed standings!

Some of the specific USA men’s achievements worth noting include:

Keenan Griscom working out the sequence for Men's Lead finals at the South Korean World Cup in Cheongsong. PC: Rhea Kang

South Korea:

• Sam Serra, Ian Wedow, Daniel Koepke, Noah Bergman & Dominic Gonzalez-Padron competed in their first-ever World Cup competition!

• Keenan Griscom & Tyler Kempney progressed to lead climbing semi-finals with Tyler successfully reaching the top of one lead qualification route and Keenan topping both. Keenan further advanced to lead climbing finals and the two athletes ultimately placed 4th and 10th, respectively, out of a field of 37 male athletes.

• Sam Serra progressed to speed climbing semi-finals, ultimately placing 14th out of a field of 26 male athletes. 

Champagny-en-Vanoise:

• Noah Rowley & Justin (Jay) Jacobs competed in their first-ever World Cup competition!

• Keenan Griscom progressed to lead climbing semi-finals, ultimately placing 11th out of a field of 56 male athletes.

• Noah Rowley progressed to speed-climbing semi-finals, ultimately placing 14th out of a field of 37 male athletes.

Saas-Fee:

• Erik Gomez competed in his first-ever World Cup competition!

• Sam Serra, Noah Bergman, & Keenan Griscom all successfully reached the top of one of the two lead climbing qualification routes.

• Noah Bergman & Keenan Griscom progressed to lead climbing semi-finals, with Keenan advancing to lead climbing finals. The two athletes ultimately placed 13th and 5th respectively, out of a field of 49 male athletes.

• Sam Serra progressed to speed climbing finals, ultimately placing 12th out of a field of 35 male athletes.

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