Climbing & Hiking

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It is with great sadness that we learned of the fatal accident of Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Stein-Ivar Gravdal while attempting a new route on Kjerag in southwest Norway. As his ascent with Colin Haley on Mt. Foraker was nominated last year, we had the privilege to have Bjørn-Eivind with us in Chamonix and Courmayeur. A top alpinist, he was a very open, friendly and humble person. This year his impressive new route on Torre Egger with Ole Lied is one of the six nominated ascents. A detailed tribute will be posted on the Piolets d'Or website in a few days, and we will miss Bjørn-Eivind very much this March. In the name of the Piolets d'Or organization, Christian Trommsdorff For the twentieth edition of the Piolets d'Or, it took a month of reflection and debate for the jury, presided over by Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Michael Kennedy, to select the six routes that they have decided best illustrate exploratory alpinism at a high technical level in minimal style undertaken with consideration for the environment. Chosen from a list of eighty-eight ascents completed in 2011 on the mountains across the globe, these six routes are testament to the skill and determination of the fifteen alpinists who endured often hostile climates in these little-known mountain ranges in isolated regions. The Indian Karakoram, Xuelian Feng, Kyrgyzstan, Patagonia, Gangotri-Garhwal, Charakusa... autonomy and a strong team spirit are paramount in these rarely visited high altitude areas. The nominated alpinists will be with us in Courmayeur and Chamonix from March 21-24 to present their routes, meet the public and perhaps be awarded with a Piolet d'Or - honoring the most notable alpine style ascents of 2011. Pik Pobeda (7439m), Kyrgyzstan Pik Pobeda is the most northerly 7000-meter peak in the world. A high-altitude symbol for mountaineers on the Asian continent, its steep and exposed north face is 2500 meters high. Kazakhs Gennadiy Durov and Denis Urubko added a fourth route to the central and highest part of this face, below the summit. Dollar Rod is a committing and technical route undertaken in alpine style, a modern feat. Last November it was awarded the sixth Asian Piolets d'Or. Saser Kangri II (7518m), India Americans Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie Wilkinson's expedition to the Indian Karakoram is another example from 2011 of exploration and committed alpine style at high altitude. During a two-month expedition, the three alpinists summited the second highest, previously unclimbed mountain in the world, Saser Kangri II. The team reached the summit on August 24 via the steep, 1700m southwest face, after four days of ascent and three bivouacs. The route's technical difficulties are concentrated in the higher part of the climb. K7 West (6615m), Pakistan Young Slovenians Nejc Marcic and Luka Strazar, twenty-six and twenty-three years old respectively, reached the west summit of K7 in a three-day, alpine style ascent of the previously unclimbed northwest face via a 1600m sustained mixed route, completing the third ascent of this famous summit in the Charakusa valley. Exploration, technical difficulty, minimalist style and commitment are the characteristics of their ascent. It was their first Himalayan expedition. Xuelian North-East (6249m), China Xuelian North-East was the last remaining unclimbed 6000m peak in the Xuelian Feng, a massif in the Chinese Tien Shan. Slovenians Ales Holc, Peter Juvan and Igor Kremser climbed it in alpine style, taking the long and aesthetic northwest ridge over four days, and descending on the southeast side in a day and a half. The technical difficulty and length of this route, climbed in minimalist style, caught the attention of the jury. Meru Central (6310m), India Attempted by many expeditions since 1986, this incredible route on the east pillar of Meru Central, the Shark's Fin, was climbed in its entirety for the first time by Americans Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. This particularly aesthetic route has all the difficulties of modern alpinism: rocky terrain involving difficult free climbing and committing aid climbing, and delicate mixed terrain in the upper section. Torre Egger (2850m), Argentina The Patagonian spires have always lured the best technical climbers on the planet. A distant land ravaged by the southern winds, its granite peaks covered in the strangest of glacial formations. Rime and ice can cover the walls of these polished rocks, and sometimes coat them completely, depending on the wind direction. At the end of December the entire wall of Torre Egger's south face was covered in ice. Norwegians Bjørn-Eivind Årtun and Ole Lied climbed this vertical tower, taking the alpine community by surprise with their opportunism.

On a climbing trip that was partially planned on Facebook, Luis "Lucho" Rivera and Cedar Wright put up two new routes on the Dragon's Horns on Malaysia's Tioman Island: Tanoshi Buttress (5.10R/X, 270m) marks the first recorded ascent of the Horns' north tower, and Batu Naga (5.12R 300m) climbs "one of the proudest looking lines on the entire formation" up a prominent buttress on the south tower. Wright heard about the formation from Scotty Nelson, who did the first ascent of the south tower in 1999 and recommended it as a great adventure, Wright said. (Read more about Tioman's climbing history in the November 24, 2009 NewsWire and the June 8, 2011 NewsWire.) "Then I got online and saw the video from David Kaszlikowski's trip and started doing some more Internet research." Wright invited Rivera, an old friend from Yosemite who he describes as, "Someone who is always ready for an adventure." On their first full day in Malaysia, the pair put up their new line on the unclimbed north tower. For the first 700 hundred feet, the two climbed "classic," exposed granite and through two of rainstorms before reaching the final few hundred feet of vegetated fourth class. With the sun setting as they reached the summit, the pair decided to sleep through the night and descend in the morning, but torrential thunderstorms caused them to rethink this decision, and around 3 a.m. they began the four hours of rappelling to reach their starting point in the jungle. With one climb in the bag, Rivera and Wright turned their attention to the south tower of the Dragon's Horns. First climbed in 1999, this Horn has seen at least eight previous ascents by local and foreign climbers. On the approach, imprecise beta kept Rivera and Wright busy bushwacking and backtracking through the jungle as they struggled to reach the walls. "The jungle in Tioman Island is pretty treacherous, with heinous spiky ferns dripping spiny tendrils that manage to consistently grab your clothing and skin as you attempt to weave through unscathed!" Wright wrote in his blog. "We passed all kind of heinous creepy crawlies: ants the size of my thumbnail, angry monkeys, a black snake that we later learned was a poisonous pit-viper, bizarre frogs, and this oddness all highlighted by the constant screech of mysterious bugs (or were they birds?)." The duo finally spotted the remains of a camp at the base of the wall, possibly that of Steve Beckwith and Matt Travers from 2009. Above them stretched the 300m south face of the Malaysian tower, a face that started with "a wild corner that lead to a series of impressive roofs." Wright started leading, sometimes choosing harder sections in favor of wasp infested, but technically easier climbing. The first few pitches looked like 5.12, but were a grade easier. Rain sent Rivera and Wright back to the base after they fixed ropes. Over the next five days, the pair alternated between pushing the climb higher and waiting in their cabin for the rain to stop. In the process, they turned the four-and-a-half-hour jungle bushwack into a more reasonable hour-and-a-half trek. After four days, a final section of overhanging tufa climbing lead into easy climbing, vertical grass ledges and the summit. Happy with their stellar climbing the two enjoyed the view before descending back and preparing for a free ascent of the route the next day. Of the climb itself Wright writes, "It was hard to believe just how good the climb we had just put up was. I equate it to going to Yosemite and doing the first ascent of Astroman, or going to Squamish and doing the University Wall. " As usual the rain forestalled any plans made by the climbers. After three days of rain, Rivera and Wright returned and freed the route in five and a half hours, giving it a grade of 5.12R. The duo warn future climbers to be ready for big runouts on rock up to 5.10 and recommend a creative approach to protection, including shallow cams, weird R.P. placements and slung knobs and flakes. Sections harder than 5.11 are relatively well protected. Besides the great climbing presented by the Dragon's Horns the routes are special to Rivera and Wright for other reasons as well. Though an accomplished Yosemite climber, this was Rivera's first international climbing experience. Furthermore, the climb is/was a fundraiser for Big City Mountaineers, a non-profit that brings under-resourced urban youth into the great outdoors. Rivera found this especially important, as a teen group similar to BCM took him out on a backpacking trip that he credits with giving him his first taste of nature. Rumble in the Jungle: Part One, The Unclimbed Horn from Cedar Wright on Vimeo. Sources: Cedar Wright, LuisLuchoRivera.blogspot.com.

“It makes the Poser's Lounge look like a warm up area.” That was Jason Nelson’s response to a recent question about a new area he and Marc Beverly developed in Ouray, Colorado, called the Hall of Justice. The cave, located near the Skylight area on Camp Bird Road, is one of North America’s hardest dry-tooling areas. The Hall of Justice currently has four 30-meter climbs completed in the M11 to M12+ range. The lack of ice in the cave has led to the use of drytooling grades, not mixed grades, because it isn’t really mixed. Jason was able to spend the previous couple of weeks with an assortment of other hardmen/women ticking off some more routes in the cave. Magneto Effect D11, Pull the Trigger D12 and the Pull the Trigger Extension D12+ were added to the previously climbed Zero to Hero D12 and Holy Girl Pile Batman D12. It would be difficult to find a concentration of harder climbs. The Cineplex along the Icefields Parkway in Alberta, Canada, comes to mind, but other than that there isn’t really anything that compares. Especially within such a short drive and easy approach from Ouray. A first hand account Nelson’s work on the routes and redpoints can be found on his website.

Stories of animal behavior changing in advance of earthquakes dates back centuries, but now scientists have some clues why that might be, at least with amphibians. Days before a big quake in Italy in 2009, the population of a breeding pond of toads went from 96 to zero. Researchers found that rocks under great stress, such as immediately before tectonic plates shift, release charged particles that can flow through soil until they make contact with air, where ions are created. Positive airborne ions cause headaches and nausea in humans and increase serotonin, a stress hormone, in animals; said the lead scientist, who speculates that the changing underground chemistry could be toxic for the toads.

“It was an unspoken thing,” says Conrad Anker, “that I would finish what he started.” Anker is speaking of his early mentor and housemate Mugs Stump, who died in a crevasse fall on Denali in May 1992, and for whom Anker and Jon Turk climbed The Mugs Stump Memorial Route (V 5.1 0+) on Baffin Island the next month. It was Anker's first, though unfortunately not last, great loss in the mountains. Stump had aspired to climb the Shark’s Fin of Meru Central, in the Garhwal Himalaya, and over the years Anker tried that 6310-meter peak three different times. The first effort was in 2003 with Bruce Miller and Doug Chabot, and stalled due to unconsolidated snow and insufficient gear. Three years ago a huge snowstorm shut down Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk only 100 meters shy of the top. A video clip of Chin on the wall shows him saying, “I’m not coming back.”

On November 4, 2011, in Seoul, Korea, Denis Urubko and his partner Gennady Durov won the Piolets d'Or Asia for their route Dollar Rod (6b) on Pik Pobeda (7439m), which they established in August. This is Urubko's third Piolet d'Or Asia; his 2006 climb with Sergey Samoilov on the northeast face of Manaslu (8163m) won the first presentation of the award, and Urubko's 2009 ascent of the southeast face Cho Oyu (8201m) with Boris Dedeshko was honored with the prize as well. Additionally, Urubko and Dedeshko's Cho Oyu ascent garnered the traditional Piolet d'Or in 2010. The Piolet d'Or Asia began in 2006 with a partnership between Montagnes Magazine and Group de Haute Montagne (the two organizations which sponsor the original Piolets d'Or) and the Korean Magazine Men and Mountain. Its goals are similar to those of the traditional Piolet d'Or: to celebrate "ethical alpinism," ascents with integrity and innovative routes. The Piolet d'Or Asia searches for ascents by Asian climbers that fulfill these values. This year's jury included members from various backgrounds. Lim Sung-Muk and Her Jung Sik, editors of the Korean magazine Men and Mountain, Yu Feng of China, Korean climber Yun dea Pyo and Kim Byun Jun, representative from the Korean Alpine Federation, joined under this year's Chief of Jury Hiroshi Hagawara from Japan's Rock and Snow magazine. In addition to Urubko and Durov, Japanese climber Yamanoi Yasushi was honored with a lifetime achievement award--the second of such that the Piolets d'Or Asia has conferred. In 1998, Yasushi was the first climber to solo K2 (8611m) without oxygen. Yasushi's climbing resume is full of first solo ascents: first solo of the southwest pillar of Fitzroy in 1990, first solo ascent of the southwest face of Cho Oyu in 1994, and the first solo ascent of K2 without oxygen in 200. He lost five fingers and all of the toes on his right foot to frostbite in an accident on Gyachung Kang (7985m) in 2002. There were two other nominees for this year's Piolet d'Or Asia. The Giri-Giri Boys from Japan (Fumitaka Ichimura, Ryo Masumoto and Takaaki Nagato) received nomination for their July 2011 expedition which established a new route on the East Face of Daddonmain (638om) in China. For more on their ascent, see here. Also in the running for the award was a Korean team, led by Suk-moon Chio, for the first Korean ascent of Mount Hunter's Moonflower Buttress. Chio, along with team members Hee-yong Park and Jong-il Park climbed the difficult route over three days.

On September 30, 2011, Italian climbers Marco and Herve Barmasse, a father and son from Northern Italy, established a new route on the southeast face of Signalkuppe (4554m), a peak in the Monte Rosa massif. The 800-m route (ED) signifies the end of Herve Barmasse's "Exploring the Alps" project, in which he put up new routes on three of the range's most prominent peaks--the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc and finally Monte Rosa. Signalkuppe is rarely visited. The first ascent of this peak was completed in 1906 by Guglielmo Guglielminetti, Alessandro Orio and Fabio de Zinis via a direct route to the summit (D). In 1987 Italian mountain guide Silvio Mondinelli, along with Fabio Loss and Paolo della Valentina, put up route Africa Nostra (TD+), a route on unstable rock that has likely never witnessed a second ascent. The Barmasses's route is on the unexplored face to the left of Africa Nostra, ascending the face on rock and ice before joining with the southwest ridge just fifteen meters before the summit. Herve Barmasse chose to climb on the south face of Signalkuppe largely because it can be admired from the Duomo in Milan, yet the face is largely vacant of routes. The route on Signalkuppe is mostly climbing in the 5.9/5.10 range, but with frequent rockfall and sparse protection opportunities, Herve warns future climbers not to underestimate it. This climb constitutes a fitting end to the Exploring the Alps project. Herve's motivation for the undertaking was to "rediscover the mountains where alpinism originated and endeavor to keep the spirit of adventure alive as much as possible" by climbing new routes in alpine style on three very popular peaks. To Herve, it is the search for what is "new and remote" that makes authentic alpinism--and new and remote places have diminished greatly in the Alps, with the proliferation of ski lifts and staffed huts. Herve's project served to remind people that true adventure and unexplored lines do exist in the popular mountain range, but "to find this authentic spirit [of alpinism]...you have to trust your imagination." The first installment of the Exploring the Alps project came in April when Barmasse ascended the south face of the Matterhorn solo via a new route. The second climb of Barmasse's trilogy occurred in August when Barmasse and brothers Iker and Eneko Pou established new route "La Classica Moderna" on the Left Pillar of the Brouillard on Mont Blanc. Barmasse says that of the three climbs that comprised his project, the route up Signalkuppe held special importance because he climbed it with his father. His father, a renowned mountain guide who put up many routes on the Matterhorn, taught Herve much of what he knows about the mountains. Though the two climb together infrequently, Herve says that his father taught him that alpinism is more than just physical an technical prowess. "A good alpinist should not only have good technical and physical capabilities, but also respect, passion and love for the mountain," Herve says his father taught him. "Mountains are climbed with muscles and breath but they need to be loved with your heart as you love a woman."

On September 22, Alex Honnold kicked off his day by free soloing Cosmic Debris (5.13b) for what is thought to be the hardest free solo ever completed in Yosemite Valley. Still feeling strong, Honnold then celebrated with a ropeless flash of Heaven (5.12d). After belaying Mason Earle on the climb, Honnold fired Heaven first go, sans rope, capping off a historic day of climbing. Honnold commented about Cosmic Debris on his 8a.nu scorecard, "Solo. Felt super locker. But pretty freaking cool to do." Of Heaven he wrote, also on 8a.nu, "Solo!! Thanks to Mason for working out the perfect beta. What an adventure! And such an amazing position." Cosmic Debris is located on the Chapel Wall in Yosemite Valley and was first free climbed in 1980 by Bill Price. The climb was featured in the film Dosage V with Beth Rodden making a free ascent. Heaven is a 40-foot overhanging crack located on Glacier Point in Yosemite Valley. It was first climbed by Ron Kauk, a leading Yosemite climber and part of the Stonemaster crew, in the mid 1990s. The route was first free soloed by Dean Potter in 2006. For a photo of Honnold soloing Cosmic Debris taken by Mikey Schaefer, check out the upcoming Rock and Ice issue, 199.

Sisters Pat Deavoll and Christine Byrch of New Zealand have established a new route on northern Afghanistan's Koh-e-Baba-Tangi (6515m), making the second ascent of the mountain since the original 1963 Italian ascent. Inaccessible to climbers for decades, the Wakhan Corridor region has seen increasing climber traffic since Carlo Alberto Pinelli's expedition to Noshaq (7492m) in 2003 --- including an attempted second ascent of Koh-e-Baba-Tangi by another Italian team in 2008. Deavoll and Byrch made their ascent via the unclimbed northwest Ridge over five days starting on August 4. After a 500-meter ice face, a narrow gully brought the climbers to a rock buttress; skirting the buttress to the north yielded a fragile traverse above a bergschrund to better steep ice. The pair then followed a ridge to the summit plateau and made a final 600-meter push to the summit. Their two-day descent followed the route of the original Italian ascent along the west Ridge, bringing the climbers back to base camp on August 11. After a travel delay in exiting China, Deavoll wrote in her blog account of the experience: "Hopefully there's nothing in our passports that will stop us returning to what must be one of the wildest and most unexplored mountain areas on earth." Source: Pat Deavoll

For its efforts addressing climate change Protect Our Winters (POW) is this year's recipient of Backcountry Magazine's first annual Keep The Deep Subscriber Grant. Last winter, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and other pro snow athletes teamed up with Protect Our Winters' Hot Planet/Cool Athletes program to educate high school students about climate change. "POW's Hot Planet/Cool Athletes program is really unique," says Backcountry Editorial Director Adam Howard. "A lot of us here at Backcountry have kids, so conveying realities of climate change to them is super important." POW will receive $3000 for their innovative program through the Keep The Deep Subscriber Grant. Hot Planet/Cool Athletes presents athletes with the unique opportunity to use the fame won on snow to make a difference off of it in local mountain communities. By coupling personal stories with climate science basics the athletes help to promote new awareness and activism inspired by the notion "protect where you play". "Backcountry readers are helping POW reach more students in more schools and communities, while supporting POW's mission to make sure that the next generation is better equipped to address climate change," says Savannah Cowley, representative and Athlete Liaison for POW. "The Hot Planet/Cool Athletes program is important to me because it is a unique opportunity to spread a positive message about conservation to the youth," says Sage. The takeaway message Sage extends to all his audiences: "Don't cut yourself short—you guys have a lot of power and the ability to make a difference." With a plan to reach 10,000 students by the end of 2011, POW is working for the day when the younger generation is united together by the very enthusiasm that Sage witnessed while visiting his first school: "I was psyched to see the passion and interest [the students] had," he says. "But most important was their eagerness to do things that can make a difference." Learn more at backcountrymagazine.com/keepthedeep and protectourwinters.org

On August 15 Denis Urubko and Gennadiy Durov climbed a new route on the north face of Peak Pobeda (7439m). Their route Dollar Rod (6b) climbs to the right of the 1982 Smirnov route, Dollar Route (6b) and to the left of Verblud (6b, 65 degrees, Gorelik-Sokolov, 2009), a climb for which Gleb Sokolov and Vitaly Gorelik were nominated for the 2009 Piolet d'Or. Urubko and Durov climbed Dollar Rod between August 10 and August 15 through inclement weather. On their second day the pair became mired in sixty to seventy centimeters of fresh snow. The threat of avalanches prevented the pair's descent back to their base camp and instead the team sought refuge higher up on a formation known as the "Pedestal". The next day brought better weather and Durov and Urubko were able to continue their climb. After two more days of simulclimbing through "scary" conditions the pair topped out on the summit in poor weather. This climb wrapped up an expedition to Kyrgyzstan that Urubko described on his blog as "dizzying." Pik Pobeda, as it is known in Russian, or Jengish Chokusu in the local Kyrgyz is the northernmost peak above 7,000m in the world and the tallest mountain in the Tien Shan range. Urubko had been eyeing the face for nineteen years and according to Anna Piunova (of Mountain.ru) the new Dollar Rod route replaces the 1982 Dollar Route as the hardest and most dangerous route on the face. Dollar Rod is not Urubko's first new route of the season in July he and Boris Dedeshko established a new route on Peak Przewalksi (6240m) For readers unfamiliar with the Russian Grade of 6B the Grade Comparison Chart lists it as "6A and 6B: Multi-day routes with considerable VI or harder climbing." - Sources:Anna Piunova, Urubko.blogspot.com

Pat Goodman, Matt McCormick and Will Meinen recently finished a month of weather watching in Pakistan. For the second year in a row McCormick traveled to Pakistan in the hopes of climbing the southwest pillar of K7, and for the second year in a row the weather did not cooperate. Instead the trio settled on a new route on a previously unclimbed pillar, Fida Brakk (ca. 5350m), which they named for Fida Hussein, their expedition cook. The 1050-meter Jenga Spur (V+, 5.11R, A0), proved somewhat harder in practice than it had seemed from below. McCormick told Alpinist that they had foreseen being able to "rip it, in a long day, maybe twenty hours." Instead of easy simul-climbing, they were immediately confronted with sustained 5.10, intermixed with difficulties that reached the upper limits of 5.11. Given their assumptions about the route, they had each brought only a handful of bars and energy gels. But Meinen, luckily, decided to pack a bivy-sack and sleeping bag. Meinen's last-minute decision was justified when the trio's slow progress resulted in spending a night mid-route. Nearly forty-eight hours after departing on a "one-day warm-up" the three successful climbers returned to camp. When asked how they felt about not even attempting the K7 pillar, McCormick replied, "I wouldn't say I'm too fussed about it this year. It helps that we were able to do a new route. But you have to go with the expectation that there might be other factors that prevent you from doing what you want to do. I feel pretty successful about this trip." Goodman offered this advice to others planning similar expeditions, "Always set goals as big as your dreams, understand your abilities and limits enough to stay safe, but you gotta try or you won't know." This expedition was made possible with grants from the GORE-TEX Shipton-Tilman Grant and Copp-Dash Inspire Award. Currently, another trio consisting of Kelly Cordes, Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy is on their way to Pakistan to attempt the K7 Pillar. Both Goodman and McCormick went out of their way to thank the friendly and welcoming people of Pakistan. Goodman noted on his blog, "Will Meinen, being a Canadian, had to drive across the CN/US border to meet Matt and me, for our flight out of Boston. He said the customs officer at the gate was so harsh with disdain, in regards to his Pakistan Visa and travel plans, that it made his mother cry. What we found from the people of Pakistan was nothing but hospitality!" Below is a video from Goodman of a warm-up climb he and McCormick did on the British Route of Naysser/Naissa Brakk. Nayser Brakk - Charakusa Valley, Pakistan - 2011 from Pat Goodman on Vimeo. Sources: Matt McCormick, Pat Goodman.

According to Fred Beckey in Cascade Alpine Guide, "Mount Stuart has been pronounced the single greatest mass of exposed granite in the United States and dominates the Central Washington Cascades." Jens Holsten recently added a direct variation to Gorillas in the Mist (5.11) up Stuart Peak. Holsten along with partners Mark Westman and Sol Wertkin added five pitches to the original Gorillas in the Mist route that he established last year with Wertkin and Blake Herrington. Gorillas in the Mist, on the West Face Wall of Mount Stuart, is named for the wet, misty conditions that left the team climbing amongst the clouds on the day of the first ascent. The crux first pitch is followed by exciting 5.10 climbing on excellent granite. Holsten has kept busy in the Stuart range recently. Exploring the Dragontail northeast face at the end of July, Holsten discovered that "Chasin Tail" was not the same quality rock that he has come to expect in the Stuarts; however, another route on the NE face of the Dragontail, Dragons of Eden (V, 5.11+) offers some of the best, "proudest" climbing in the area. "The Stuart Range in Central Washington is quickly becoming a Yosemite like playground with alpine flair. Perfect in my book!" Colchuck Balanced Rock and the West Face Wall of Mt. Stuart have seen the most development over the past two years. Holsten says the route establishment in this region is relatively new. Holsten, Herrington and Wertkin found a few bolts marked 1993 on their first ascent of GITM, but no other record of an ascent. They knew that the headwall above the first three pitches would offer more of the same great climbing all the way to the top. After climbing the first few pitches of the original line, the team headed left into a stemming pitch instead of following the original route to the right. The pitch breakdown is as follows: Pitch four starts the direct with 5.10a stemming followed by 5.10b jamming up a beautiful dihedral, then 5.10d stemming leading to 5.9 face climbing, a 5.10b traversing finger crack, a pitch of 5.10b varied cracks and 5.7 cracks leading to the top. Jens Holsten predicts more incredible lines on the West Face Wall of Stuart Peak. "A true blessing is when you establish a classic for the ages. GITM Direct is surely one of those lines." Sources: Jens Holsten, Cascade Alpine Guide: Climbing and High Routes, Vol. 1, Columbia River to Stevens Pass, Third Edition, The Mountaineers, 2000.

After spending eight days looking for signs of two Polish climbers who went missing last year, Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko climbed a new route on Prjevalsky (possibly spelled Przewalski) Peak (6240m) in Kyrgyzstan in the Tien Shan mountains of central Asia on July 25. The two Polish climbers, Piotr Zwolinski, 45, and Michal Kacperski, 30, were on their way to Khan Tengri (7010m). A Kazakh agency provided the climbers with a map that was mis-marked likely leading them astray. Urubko believes, "[they] made a wrong turn to the edges of the Bayankol Gorge where they lost their way." However after the pair spent over a week searching, there is still no sign of the two missing mountaineers. The Tien Shan range is nestled amongst the borders of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A body recovery search for the lost team of Polish climbers saw "no success after searching the slopes up to 5000m, down to base camp and back up to over 6000m," commented Urubko on his blog. Four days after the search was called off, on July 25, Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko took advantage of an opportune weather window and summitted Prjevalsky. The new route consists of thirty-six sixty meter pitches with difficulties of 6a and M4 and and a snow ridge. Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko are no strangers to the success of new lines. To read more about the pair click here. Sources: LostInKazakhstan.blogspot.com, urubko.blogspot.com

In 2003 Nevada's Clark County Commission enacted a zoning ordinance for land near Red Rock Canyon. (For more information on the climbing history of Red Rock Canyon check out the Mountain Profile in Alpinist 28.) The new zoning law was mirrored by the state and would have limited the density of development in the area to one house every two acres. This change came in the wake of a proposed 5,500 unit development project on Blue Diamond Hill by developer Jim Rhodes. Rhodes sued the county and the state alleging that the local governments had "violated equal protection, procedural and substantive due process and constituted a taking of ... property without the payment of just compensation." After a Federal Judge struck down the state law, the Clark County Commission and Rhodes negotiated a settlement whereby the county ordinance would stand, but Rhodes would be given the right to submit "Major Project Applications" for projects at least seven hundred acres in size. Rhodes has exercised that right and submitted a major project application to develop 7,000 housing units as well as light industry, businesses and a college on the abandoned mine at Blue Diamond Hill. It's estimated that some 22,000 people would be housed in the completed project. The current population of Blue Diamond is 250. Rhodes' project manager Don Purdue told Las Vegas City Life "Look at this ... think about walking out into your courtyard in the morning, you know, with your coffee, and seeing this... It has to be [developed]. It just does...." While Purdue describes the amazing view from Blue Diamond Hill, locals and users of Red Rock Canyon are very concerned about what an additional 7,000 multi family homes, industry and associated infrastructure would do to the view from Red Rock Canyon. The GRCP did complete a viewshed analysis of their plan, but do not seem to account for the plans impact on people climbing or hiking on the RRCNCA's formations, instead their analysis appears to have focused on the impact on motorists driving through the area. Their, (the GRCP) filing states, "The purpose of the viewshed analysis is to identify lands within the study area that are visible from various locations along SR 159 and along the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop within the RRCNCA [Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area]." Meanwhile, the Access Fund notes, "The proposed location, Blue Diamond Hill, is clearly visible from all major formations at Red Rock Canyon." Phil Broscovak, who wrote about the first ascent of Resolution Arete in Alpinist 28's Red Rock profile, described the proposed development as, "a mess." Broscovak also questioned the need to develop the area. As of January, 2011, one out of every nine houses in Las Vegas faced foreclosure, and in 2010 a seventh of Nevada's total housing stood empty. Broscovak also theorized about the potential impact on the RRCNCA, saying the development could, "turn the park into a gated community." He fears that increased development will lead to "draconian measures" from RRCNCA staff, as they try to maintain the wilderness experience. Albert Newman described the impact of the proposed development to Alpinist more vividly saying, "It would turn Red Rock into an outdoor climbing gym." The Clark County Commission meets on August 17th at 9:00 am to vote on the development plan and the Access Fund is encouraging climbers to make their voices heard. "The most important things climbers can do are submit comments opposing the plan and attend the meeting on August 17th at the Clark County Government Center, Commission Chambers, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89155 (702-455-4431). Let the commissioners know how important it is to preserve the rural nature of Red Rock Canyon." For more information visit SaveRedRock.com

Three weeks ago my wife and I visited the City of Rocks, Idaho, and my son Kai completed his first climb: Lookout Ridge (5.5). He’d just turned four, was on his first road trip, camping and rock scrambling and hanging out with his best friend Hen J. They rallied around the base of the routes with toy trucks, conversing at volume 10, sometimes erupting into hoots and screams until I forcefully explained that screaming is the one vocalization you can not make at a climbing area. I felt bad about subjecting our fellow City of Rocks climbers to Kai, in particular. He projects his voice like an opera star and his lamentations can break eardrums. The boys tried climbing for the first time about halfway through the trip. We taught them the commands and we talked about how important it is to play quietly so that climbers can hear those commands. Then we talked about using your “climber’s voice,” the one that precludes ape calls and screeches. After that, the boys learned how to tie a figure 8 and I explained the concept of lowering. Both boys looked stunned so I tried again.“When you’re at the top, just lean back, keep your feet high and walk down." Kai stepped away from the base and surveyed the anchor, a nest of cams plugged into two cracks about 50 feet up a granite runnel. “For real?” he asked. “Yes.” “In real life?” “Yes."

The women’s lead qualifying round has just finished, July 20, at the Arco World Championships. The 26 top competitors are moving on to the semifinals, which will take place on July 22, with finals later the same day. Sasha DiGiulian will be the sole American in women's semifinals. This morning, 78 female athletes were separated into two fields, group A and group B, by seeding so that the best-ranked climbers were split equally. The competitors had to climb two routes and the top 13 from each group moved onto the semifinals. The qualifiers used a flash-format where the athletes were able to watch each other climb. At the end of the event, the top athletes from group A were Johanna Ernst (AUT), Jain Kim (KOR) and Magdalena Rock (AUT). All three topped out on both of the routes. In group B, the top athletes were Angela Eiter (AUT), Yana Chereshneva (RUS) and Caroline Ciavaldini (FRA). Eiter was the only athlete in group B to complete both routes. DiGiulian placed sixth in her group in today’s qualifying round. DiGiulian has been climbing hard in Arco, having reached the finals of the bouldering event to place a superb second there. The other qualifier results were Dana Riddle placing 39, Emily Harrington in 43, Delaney Miller in 46, Alex Johnson in 51, and Michaela Kiersch in 53. Ernst won the lead climbing World Cup in 2009, and in 2010, the year she turned 18, she placed second at the European Championship in Austria. Her teammate Eiter won the Arco Rock Master in 2007 and placed third in the 2010 World Cup. With both of these athletes at the top of their groups, an inter-team rivalry will be a focus at the final on Friday. The 2010 overall champion in World Cup lead climbing was Jain Kim (KOR), with Mina Markovic (SLO) in second. Kim qualified for the semifinals at the top of her group while Markovic qualified in 10th in group B. The men’s lead qualifying round will take place tomorrow, July 21. The U.S. men who will be competing are: Carlo Traversi, Matty Hong, Alex Johnson, Shane Puccio, Owen Graham, Josh Levin and Ben Spannuth. A live video stream will appear on http://ifsc.tv/

For the first time, paraclimbers competed in both speed and lead climbing events in their own World Championship, alongside the elite of the sport in Arco, Italy. The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) worked alongside the medical commission of FASI, an Italian climbing federation, to create definitive rules and criteria for the paraclimbers. Six different categories were defined based on level of blindness, a distinction between leg and arm-amputees, and non-amputee physical disabilities. In a press release from the IFSC, Francesco Coscia was quoted as saying, “Medical examinations for classifying the disability of athletes have been introduced for the first time in this competition and levels of disability were specifically defined according to the basic climbing moves.” There have been grand-scale paraclimbing events in the past, like the 2008 Paraclimbing Cup in Moscow, and 2009 and 2010 international cup events across Russia, Japan and Italy. Now, in 2011 though, paraclimbing has a World Championship with athletes coming from Russia, Spain, France, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Belarus, China and Italy. Both the speed and lead climbing events finished up on July 19. Results: Female Speed Paraclimbing: Paula De La Calle Pizarro (ESP), Amputee Arm Pd:1 Silvia Parente (ITA), Visual Impairment B1:1 Tatiana Panova (RUS) Visual Impairment B2:1 Male Speed Paraclimbing Mikhail Saparov (RUS), Amputee Arm PD:1 Boyu Xia (CHN), Amputee Both Leg Pd: 1 Urko Carmona Barandiaran (ESP), Amputee Leg Pd:1 Female Lead Paraclimbing: Paula De La Calle Pizarro (ESP), Amputee Arm Pd:1 Rakhmanknlova Dilyara (RUS) Visual Impairment B1:1 Silvia Parente (ITA), Visual Impairment B1:1 Male Lead Paraclimbing: Mikhail Saparov (RUS), Amputee Arm Pd:1 Boyu Xia (CHN), Amputee Both Leg Pd:1 Mineo Ono (JPN), Amputee Leg Pd:1 Check out a video of the speed paraclimbing event here.

As you read this, Ammon McNeely and Kait Barber have just completed the second ascent of Wings of Steel on El Cap, an early 1980s era line by Mark Smith and Richard Jensen. Besides being El Cap’s longest-standing unrepeated big-wall aid route, Wings of Steel may prove to be its technically hardest, but when it was first climbed it wasn’t lauded as being difficult or bold, rather it was derided as a contrived line riddled with bolts up an endless slab. In the 29 years since it was put up, Wings of Steel—and Smith and Jensen—have been the butt of jokes and the subject of slander and threats, a slagging rivaled only by the scorn heaped on another bolted line, the 1980 route Hall of Mirrors, a Grade VI free climb on Yosemite’s Glacier Point Apron, established by Bruce Morris, Chris Cantwell, Dave Austin and Scott Burke. Unless you were around in the early 1980s, it may be difficult for you to comprehend the utter and total mocking of Hall of Mirrors, although you very likely can understand why it was loathed: It’s a slab, and as Jim Bridwell once noted, “Climb on Glacier Point Apron too much and you’ll grow breasts.”

The lead-climbing arm of the 2011 World Championships, held in Arco, Italy, begins tomorrow, to be streamed live. Women's qualifications are Wednesday, men's on Thursday, with women's semis and finals on Friday and men's to follow on Saturday. The multi-event World Championships, currently well underway, meld two of the most prestigious events in climbing, the former Arco Invitational with the World Championships, which only occur every other year. The town of Arco beat out mega-metropolis areas like Paris and Moscow for the IFSC World Championship bid. Arco is a grand stage for competitive rock climbing, its prestige arising naturally from the huge limestone cliffs that border the city on one side. Climbing has been a significant aspect of the area since the 1930s when Bruno Detassis made multiple first ascents of difficult routes, like Brenta Alta and Sass Maor in the Trento area. In the 1960s and '70s big names like Messner, Holzner and Martini frequented the area, solidifying Arco’s reputation for quality. Then in 1987, Arco would become the home for the influential Rock Masters climbing event, where the world's top climbers were invited to see how high they could climb. Arco capitalized on the tourism climbing provided, built a climbing “stadium,” and became a top destination for competitive climbing. Emily Harrington, U.S. team athlete and competitor in this years World Championship lead event says in her blog, “It is a climbing town, THE climbing town. Arco is the most celebrated and nostalgic place in modern sport climbing’s history and rightfully so. Competition climbing has its roots here.” Among those in Arco currently to compete in lead are Sasha DiGiulian, Carlo Traversi, and Emily Harrington. The Bouldering event finished up this past weekend, July 17, with DiGiulian taking second place overall. Sean McColl of Canada is known as another athlete able to do well in both disciplines. The qualifying rounds for the lead event start July 20 and the magnitude of the event is on the minds of the athletes. Carlo Traversi says in his blog, “It is by far the largest and most difficult climbing competition that I have ever attended. Because it only occurs once every two years, the event is taken much more seriously.” See http://ifsc.tv/ The registered Americans competing in the lead event are: Female: Sasha DiGiulian Alex Johnson Dana Riddle Emily Harrington Delaney Miller Michaela Kiersch Male: Carlo Traversi Matty Hong Shane Puccio Alex Johnson Owen Graham Josh Levin Ben Spannuth

Only month remains to apply for the American Alpine Club's Cornerstone Grant. The American Alpine Club's Cornerstone Conservation Grant funds essential infrastructure at climbing areas. Individuals or communities that see a need for local infrastructure can propose projects that will improve, conserve and protect their climbing resources for years to come. This year, $25,000 in grants will go toward local projects. Previously, the Club has funded projects like: fixed anchor improvement, new trails, human waste management solutions, parking and signage. Grants range from $1,000 to $15,000, depending on the size and scope of project. The AAC Cornerstone Conservation Grant does not fund expedition travel, project overhead, salaries, land purchase, general maintenance or research. The Cornerstone Conservation Grant has grown out of a decade of American Alpine Club underwriting and volunteerism. Past AAC projects include new trails and human-waste management policies at Utah's Castleton Tower and Indian Creek climbing areas, a new human-waste management system in Grand Teton National Park, new trails and waste-management systems in Rocky Mountain National Park's Lumpy Ridge climbing area, and the Clean Mountain Can program on Denali. Read more information on the Cornerstone Grant in this PDF. Sources: American Alpine Club

On July 11 Juneau locals Ryan Johnson and Gabe Hayden made the first free ascent of the South Buttress Direct on the Main Tower of the Mendenhall Towers outside Juneau, Alaska. The climb is graded 5.11a, ascends over 2000 feet. The South Buttress Direct was first climbed in 1973 by John Svenson and Mike Clark; this recent climb was likely the second ascent of the line. After speaking with Svenson about the line, Johnson went up to the towers in March with friend Jason Nelson climbing a nearby pillar in order to scope out the line and "just looking at those crack systems bumped it to the top of the list." Johnson and Hayden found three old 1/4 SMC bolts on the route placed by the first ascentionists. Johnson says he hadn't had climbing shoes on since January, but they seized the opportunity of a brief weather window that was likely to only last for the one climb. Leaving camp at five in the morning, they started up the rock at six. "Right from the start we were blown away by both the aesthetic nature of the line and immaculate quality of the granite." Beginning with two pitches of moderate slabs, the climb steepened and they "entered a series of amazing cracks that took us some 800ft to the moderate summit pitches." An hour before nightfall, they made it back to camp after descending the Mountaineers route. They returned home the following day. Source: Ryan Johnson

Early last month, British climbers Dan Fitzgerald, James Wake and Matt Balmer climbed a new route on what they identify as Huarancayo Sur (circa 5,200m), a mountain in the Cordillera Oriental range of Peru. Their route, Boy Don't Cry (Scottish V,4), stretches 350 meters up a gully on the mountain's south flank. According to Balmer, this peak has only been climbed once before in 2006, making their route the second recorded line to the summit. After a night bivouacking below a cirque on Huarancayo Sur's south face, the trio began up the gully. "We were unsure of the conditions we would find, the true angle of the gully or it's length," said Balmer. Despite their uncertainties, Balmer said he was delighted with the climbing. "For 350 meters we climbed some of the finest icy-gully climbing any of us have ever done any where in the world," he said. That night, after a day pushing through foul weather, the three excavated a small snow cave just 50 meters from the summit. The following day, they trekked five and a half hours back to their bivy site below the cirque. The week after, the trio attempted Huaguruncho Chico's (circa 5,400m) unclimbed south face, though were forced back by dangerous conditions just 150 meters below the summit. Soureces: UKClimbing.com

With the release of Issue 35, Alpinist Magazine announced the first recipient of the new Alpinist Subscriber Grant. This year the Access Fund's Land Conservation Campaign will receive ten percent of every Alpinist subscription sold--somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000. "Today, magazine's circulation efforts are focused giving away a t-shirt or a hat or whatever in order to gain a subscriber." explained Alpinist Publisher Jon Howard. " But that model does not fit our brand, our reader nor is sustainable over the long term." Howard also noted that the Subscriber Grant is not so different from a partnership already in place between Alpinist and the American Alpine Club. The Access Fund's Land Conservation Campaign is a sustainable fund that makes low interest loans available for local climbing organizations. As the loans are repaid the funds are cycled back into the program, ensuring a permanent support structure for local climbing. The fund's projects began with a $10,000 loan to the Washington Climbers Coalition, to secure a purchase option for the right to buy the Index Lower Town Wall, and have included other work in Alabama, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Kentucky, California, West Virginia and, recently, Vermont. Today the Acces Fund announced an $8,000 loan to CRAG- VT to repair a flooded access road. CRAG-VT Board Member David Crothers said, "CRAG-VT owns its crags, so ultimately we have to pay taxes on them. The road repair, after the heavy flooding, would have nearly drained our funds so approaching the Access Fund was logical. They have helped other organizations in the past with similar dilemmas, it was a big help."

On Saturday July 2, 2011 a rock climber died at Rumbling Bald near Lake Lure in Western North Carolina. Joshua Earl Haddock, 29, fell thirty to forty feet in an accident while rappelling. A Western Carolina University graduate, Haddock was working on a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Cincinnati at the time of the accident. Rutherford Sheriff's Detective Billy Scoggins said "Haddock was rappelling down a cliff when his rope came loose from a climbing pin." One end of his rope was not touching the ground when he rappelled the route and the uneven end pulled through the anchor causing the fall. At ten in morning Saturday nearby climbers and friends heard Haddock fall and rushed to help, finding him without any signs of life. While awaiting emergency services fellow climbers were able to preform CPR and get Haddock breathing again; however, doctors found that Joshua had a broken neck and were unable to fully revive him. Joshua Haddock was a nature lover who took up rock climbing while at school at WCU. After graduating he moved west to Fort Collins, Colorado where he received his masters degree. He had planned on returning to Fort Collins after his dissertation in Cincinnati. According to his mother, Joshua was a careful climber well aware of the risks of climbing; "he very much accepted the fact that life itself is a risk, and he just decided he was going to do those things that he wanted to do." Doctors were able to save Haddock's heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys for five different donors. Upon hearing that four men and one woman had received Joshua's organs, his mother, Pamela Haddock, found some comfort in that her son's death was able to give life to five others. Sources: Citizen-times.com, Billy Scoggins

News Flash: The following news flash is a preliminary report posted as a service to our readers. Alpinist has not confirmed the veracity of its contents but will post a story in detail when more information becomes available.--Ed. In January 2011, Colorado alpinist Bean Bowers was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Through the following months he struggled to stay alive, enduring four rounds of chemotherapy. On Sunday afternoon, Bean passed away in the company of his family. Source: beanfever.com.

June 30, the body of Juergen Kanzian, was found at about 15,300 feet in Denali's (20,320') Oriental Express couloir. Kanzian, a 41-year-old mountaineering guide from Koetschach-Mauthen, Austria, had originally planned to ski the West Buttress route. When he failed to return to high camp June 28, NPS rangers were notified and a search began the next morning. The following evening, rangers stationed at 14,200 feet located Kanzian's body with a spotting scope. The park's A-Star B3 helicopter then swept the area and discovered his skis and backpack stashed at a rock band in the Football Field, more than 4,000 feet above his body. Kanzian, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Austrian Armed Forces, served as the personal mountain guide to Austrian President Dr. Heinz Fischer and was an experienced climber. Denali would have been his fourth peak of the Seven Summits, after Mt. Elbrus (5,642m), Kilimanjaro (5,895m) and Aconcagua (6,962m). Sources: NPS.gov, Alaskadispatch.com, BergRettung.at

Below is a press release courtesy of Mike Christiansen -Ed Xavier Murillo, 55, from France (a member of the Paragliding World Cup Association and a respected pilot) has been reported missing since July 1. Xavier has not reported or been seen after he took off with a white paraglider in the area of Caraz, Peru. The comunity of pilots and mountaineers are very worried, and launched a call for funds to finance a local search by aircrafts in the area. Missing since July 1, 2011 He was in the Cordillera Blanca area and took off from Caraz in the direction of Huaraz. With other pilots, Xavier was participating in an event preparing for a future competition. Having been flying more than twenty-five years, he is an experienced pilot and was equiped with a cell phone and a radio. He has been unreachable since. The area is very wide with high alpine terrain and strong aerologic conditions. To his family and friends: the Paragliding World Cup staff and the French Embassy in Peru are actively involved in the organization of the research. Already five days and five nights alone in the mountains The alert was given Saturday by the other pilots who were flying in the area; a search and rescue team have been looking for him since. Local and experienced pilots are also on site to coordinate the search. On July 4, after the weather cleared up, a first aerial search of ninety minutes was done without any sign. On July 5, another aerial search of two hours was done, but was stopped by bad conditions; again, without any sign of Xavier. After five days and five nights on his own, it's now more and more urgent to launch a massive search today, July 6, in the hope of finding him. Funds are needed to help finance the search and rescue operations Xavier's instantly available 10,000 euros of insurance coverage has been allready spent. Immediatly available money is needed to finance aircraft. Midday on July 5, the paragliding world cup association has opened an account on Paypal to accept financial help. A single flight costs more that 15,000 euros. For donations and the freshest news on the research, go to: ParaglidingWorldCup.org There is still hope When not travelling the world's paragliding spots, Xavier resides in Saint Hilaire du Touvet where he actively participates in the Coupe Icare. All his friends from the village are on the deck to spread the information and find the necessary financial resources to conduct the maximum effort of searching today. Organizing the search in the high mountains of Peru is not easy and all help is welcome. A Facebook page is also created to track all information that is published on the search. Avis de recherche a diffuser en local au Perou Xavier Murillo a disparu le vendredi 1er Juillet 2011 au cours d'un vol en parapente entre Caraz et Huaraz dans la region de la Cordillera Blanca - (Perou). Merci a toute personne ayant apercu une aile blanche en vol dans cette region de le signaler a Mike Christiansen surlaplage@me.com Mobile: +569 7569 4883 Se Busca en local Peru Xavier Murillo desaparecio el viernes 1ero de julio 2011 mientras volaba en parapente entre Caraz y Huaraz en la Cordillera Blanca (Peru). Toda persona que puede haber visto un parapente blanco volando en la region puede colaborar en este busqueda comunicandose con Mike Christiansen surlaplage@me.com Mobile: +569 7569 4883 Search warning for local area in Peru Xavier Murillo is reported missing since friday 1st July while flying a paraglider between Caraz and Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca - Peru. Asking any person who would have seen a white wing in that area to report to Mike Christiansen surlaplage@me.com Mobile: +569 7569 4883 For donations and updated information, the most important link to forward or publish is ParaglidingWorldCup.org Contacts a Saint-Hilaire: Laurent Lafouche - tel : 06 63 79 59 99 - email: lafouche@wanadoo.fr Frederique Assael - tel : 06 10 26 43 16 - email: conseil@frederiqueassael.com

June 25, a team led by Alexander Odintsov climbed a new route on the west face of Latok III (6949m). Odintsov and team members Alexey Lonchinskiy, Ivan Dozhdev and Eugeniy Dmitrenko began this expedition on June 10, establishing nine camps in their fifteen-day climb. Two days after reaching the summit, the team returned to base camp. This climb caps an eleven year bid for the west face of Latok III. Prior to Odintsov's success, Latok III had only one route to its summit. This line ran up the peak's southwest ridgeline (ED+: VI 5.10 A2, 1800m) and was established by a Japanese team of three in 1979. Odintsov first attempted Latok III in 2000 with Alexander Ruchkin, Yuri Koshelenko and Sergei Efimov, but retreated when rock fall broke Koshelenko's hands and an avalanche swept Efimov 400 meters down the mountain. When they found him, his legs were broken. "The wall surpassed our expectation," Odintsov said about the route in Alpinist 30. A year later, he returned with a new party, only to face tragedy. Three quarters of the way up, Igor Barikhin's rope was severed and he fell to his death. Latok III's west face marks Odintsov's ninth climb in his project "Russian Way -- Big Walls of the World." This project began in 1995 with Peak 4810 (4810m), and has since included Ak-Su (5217m), the Troll Wall (1742m), Bhagirathi III (6454m), Great Trango Tower (6225m), Great Sail Peak (1617m), Jannu (7710m), Kyzyl Asker (5842m) and now Latok III. Odintsov has not yet identified the tenth climb of the project. Click here for an interview with Odintsov about his experience in the Latok area. Sources: Mountain.RU, RussianClimb.com, Anna Piunova

On June 26, a British hiker discovered the bodies of six mountaineers in the French alps. The identities of the climbers, three men and three women, have not been released yet, but they are thought to be French. An investigation of the cause of the fall is underway, but the victims were found roped together in two teams of three. Their bodies have been flown to the nearby village of Villar-d'Arene for examination. They are thought to have fallen about two hundred meters into a steep ravine, near the summit of Neige Cordier, on June 25. In the initial reports the mayor of Villar-d'Arene hypothesized that the accident could have been caused by an avalanche or failing debris, but the town magistrate has subsequently suggested that after an initial investigation it seems human error may have been a possible cause as well. The magistrate, Remy Avon, told reporters that it appeared the first group had reached the top of the couloir before the accident, and may have fallen into the second party, or that both groups may have fallen at the same time. The British hiker found the bodies at an elevation of 2700m on the Massif des Ecrins while following the same route the victims used a day earlier. One of the bodies was identified as that of a sixteen-year-old boy. The other five members of the party were thought to be between the ages of forty-two and sixty-four.

Joelle Brupbacher of Switzerland died at Camp 3 (7400m) on Makalu (8481m) in the night of May 22 following a successful summit. A report from Explorersweb.com states that on the morning of May 22, "she became unable to move in camp 3." Martin Ramos, who shared a permit with Brupbacher, reports on his blog that by 3pm they radioed for help seeking someone to bring oxygen to the camp at 7400m. Ramos writes "Dawa Sherpa offers to come up with oxygen to C3, but the head of Jagged Globe, a man named Robert [Anderson] denied permission." [Translated from Spanish via Google Translate.] Instead a cook from Ramos' expedition attempted to bring oxygen to C3 but was turned back above C2. Brupbacher died at 11:30 pm that night. Climbers Steve House and Marko Prezelj attempted to carry oxygen up an hour later, but turned back when they met climbers descending who informed them that it was too late. Brupbacher started sport climbing but soon turned to larger mountains. Before her death she had climbed several other 8000m peaks including Dhaulagiri (8167m) in 2007. She was 33. Alpinist.com contacted Jagged Globe for comment regarding the statements on Ramos' blog and Explorersweb.com. Jagged Globe's Director Tom Briggs told Alpinist.com "The rumors online are just not true. Dawa Shepa was sick at the time which is unusual for him. Also Robert was in communication with their doctor and C3. It would have taken 2 days for a climber to bring oxygen, or 12 hours for a sherpa, and it was determined that either way they would not be able to offer any useful assistance. She had already been out for over twenty-four hours without oxygen."

On May 14, American guide Michael Horst climbed Everest (8848m) and Lhotse (8516m) in under 21 hours. We believe this establishes him as the first to climb two 8,000-meter peaks in a single day. Horst, a guide for Alpine Ascents International, signed on for climbing both peaks with client Rob Hart and two Sherpas as part of AAI's Everest Lhotse combination program. Once the team summitted Everest at 9:30 a.m., they returned to Camp IV at the South Col (7906 meters). Following an afternoon rest, Horst traversed the South Col and began climbing Lhotse without Hart, who was content just summitting Everest. Horst reached the summit at 5:50 a.m., 21 hours after he summitted Everest. Throughout the two climbs and during his recuperation in the South Col camp, Horst used supplementary oxygen. During his climb from Lhotse's High Camp (7800 meters) to the summit, he also ascended fixed lines established by the Sherpas. Horst is still in the field and was unavailable for comment on his climb.

We are very sorry to report that Phil Powers was hurt in a long fall Tuesday, May 17, in Clear Creek Canyon, Colorado. Powers is a longtime climber and community leader who has served as Executive Director of the American Alpine Club for six years. Powers, 50, was being lowered from a climb when an error occurred and he fell 50 or 60 feet to the ground. He was evacuated by helicopter to St. Anthony’s Central Hospital in Denver, and sustained multiple injuries including a broken arm, fractured ribs and vertebrae, a punctured diaphragm, a collapsed lung and internal bruising. The latest statement (May 20) from the AAC reads: "Last night, doctors successfully performed surgery to fuse Phil Powers’ T-12, L-1 and L-2 vertebrae. Powers has maintained feeling in and motion of his hands and feet throughout his recovery and it is confirmed that no spinal cord damage occurred." An update yesterday (May 19) read: "Powers successfully underwent surgery Wednesday evening to repair his broken arm, which followed a Tuesday evening surgery to repair his punctured diaphragm. He is resting comfortably and doing quite well. As is common when multiple injuries are sustained, doctors are presently monitoring Powers’ condition closely and acting conservatively when making decisions regarding future procedures." Phil's wife, Sarah, is with him. Powers had been climbing with a group in Clear Creek Canyon’s Highwire area outside of Golden, CO, where the AAC headquarters are located. An earlier AAC statement read: "The area where the group was climbing is directly above the highway and river. The rock formation at the site of the accident is overhanging making direct sight contact difficult. Due to communication difficulties, there was confusion amongst the party over Powers’ method of descent which resulted in Powers falling approximately 50 feet to the ground." He landed on dirt on his leg and torso on the left side, and was briefly unconscious. His group assessed him and began rescue preparation, with a quick response from the Golden Fire Department. According to the AAC's first statement: "After being stabilized at the accident site, Powers was lowered on a litter by the Golden Fire Department to the riverbed, hauled up to a waiting ambulance, then driven one mile down the canyon where he was transferred to a Flight for Life helicopter. He was flown to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver where he immediately underwent a successful surgery." Powers is a confident and congenial person, immensely competent and widely respected. In recent months he has headed up a wide-ranging restructuring plan to decentralize the AAC, shifting more resources and attention to regional and chapter activity. When he was hired by the AAC after a six-month search, Rock and Ice ran a “Parting Shot” portrait of him, with this anecdote from his final interview with 20 AAC officers and board members: “Jim Mc Carthy, a former trial attorney, prefaced his question to one applicant, Phil Powers, with a smile and the words, ‘I'm Jim Mc Carthy, past president, and I pretty much do whatever I want.’ ‘Yeah, and that's about to change, Jim,’ Powers shot back, cracking up the room—especially Mc Carthy.” Powers is the former volunteer president of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), co-owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, and, before taking on the AAC position, was vice president for institutional advancement at Naropa Institute in Boulder. He has climbed K2 (Abruzzi Ridge, 1993) among other high peaks, and is a strong and solid rock climber, able to climb 5.11 on any day, and having redpointed up to 5.13. He was previously the development director at the National Outdoor Leadership School, in charge of public-policy relationships with groups like Leave No Trace. Before that he was the school’s chief mountaineering instructor. He is a certified AMGA guide, with guiding experience stretching from Rocky Mountain National Park to Ecuador, Argentina and Alaska. He graduated from Hobart College in 1983. Powers has climbed Gasherbrum II and, with Greg Collins, put up a Grade V 5.11 A3 on Lukpilla Brakk, the Karakoram. He made the first ascent of the Washburn Face, on Denali (in 39 hours), in 1988; and the first winter ascent of the Cathedral Traverse in the Tetons, 1992. Powers has presented rescue demos in venues as varied as the International Climbers Festival in Lander, Wyoming, and, in partnership with Rock and Ice, at the Climbing Zone at the Outdoor Retailer. He has participated in many real rescues, including five on just one trip to Aconcagua. The American Alpine Club asks that friends and well-wishers send their messages to the AAC either via email at getwellphill@americanalpineclub.org or via mail to American Alpine Club 710 10th St, Golden, CO 80305. For more information and updates, see http://www.americanalpineclub.org/p/status

Rock and Ice has added a video course to its fifth annual Photo Camp, held June 22, 23, 24, in Rifle, Colorado. If you are an aspiring photographer who wants to get ahead of the curve, now is your chance to learn both still photography and video from two of the best in the business, David Clifford and Keith Ladzinski. Sponsored by Omega Pacific, Five Ten and Sterling Ropes, the Rock and Ice Photo Camp is the only hands-on course dedicated to learning the tricks and trade of climbing photography—now with video. Enrollment is limited to 10 students, and the class is filling quickly. Sign up now or wait until 2012! For more information, email: draleigh@bigstonepub.com