"The applications received for 2010 included many strong teams with objectives in far-flung corners of the mountaineering world, from Alaska to Pakistan, and Greenland to Tibet," said Michael Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Alpinist and one of the founders of the Mugs Stump Award. "In the end, six teams with outstanding talent and objectives will receive a total of $25,000." Grants range from $1500 to $6000.

The prestigious award, sponsored by Alpinist Magazine, Black Diamond Equipment, Mountain Gear, Patagonia and W.L. Gore, was created in 1993 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America's most prolific and visionary climbers. Please visit mugsstumpaward.com for more information on the award, to apply, and for trip reports from past recipients.

2010 Mugs Stump Award Winners

Colin Haley, Mt. Foraker, Alaska; with Bjorn-Eivind Artun. A single-push first ascent on the southeast side of Alaska’s second-highest peak, one of the biggest unclimbed faces in the central Alaska Range.

Jasmin Caton, unnamed peak, Tasermiut Fjord, Greenland; with Jen Olson and Kate Rutherford. An all-free route up a beautiful pillar in this remote region.

Joe Puryear, Karjiang, Tibet; with David Gottlieb. The first ascent of this stunning pyramid, at 7221 meters among the highest unclimbed summits in the world, employing the strictest leave-no-trace ethics.

Scott Adamson, Mooses Tooth, Alaska; with Tom Adamson. A new route on the east face of this legendary Alaska peak.

Toby Grohne, Siguniang, China; with Jesse Huey. A super light and fast alpine ascent of the 1500-meter northwest face, a major mixed route on this 6250-meter peak.

Dylan Johnson, Dojitsenga, Tibet; with Josh Wharton. An all-free, alpine-style ascent of the east buttress of this stunning and seldom-visited 5662-meter peak.

An avalanche in the Alborz mountains of Iran, near Karaj, buried dozens of climbers and skiers yesterday, killing eight mountaineers including Farshad Khalili, an esteemed mountain guide. Survivors of the slide are receiving medical treatment; at least two sustained serious injuries.

Please visit tehrantimes.com and en.trend.az for more on this story.

A few days after that first climb, Homeward Bound (M6+ or Scottish VIII 8), Pete Benson accompanied Bullock on a return to the Argentiere. They established a "sporting" route they called Homage to the Homeland (M6, VII 8, 2 pitches). Soon after that Bullock dispatched Happy House (M5+, VII 7, 1 pitch), a crack variation to Homage, with Neil Brodie, and Captain Caveman (M7+, VIII 9, 3 pitches) and Bringing Home the Bacon (M6+, VII 8, 3 pitches) with Benson. Benson and Bracey teamed up to climb Highlander (M5+, VII 7, 1 pitch).

On his blog, Bullock qualifies the relatively moderate nature that the grades may suggest. All the new routes, he said, feel "a tad spicey as you have to place gear and at times run it out." He added that the wall is fairly devoid of footholds, which ups the ante when placing gear.

Usually in search of longer mountain routes, Bullock and partners focused their attention on the Rive Gauche this winter when conditions elsewhere proved less than ideal. Many of Bullock's bigger objectives have been dry of ice and covered in powder, he said, and high-pressure systems have been rare.

"There will be many that say these routes are pointless, small and insignificant lines amongst the mountains," Bullock said. "But for my mates and me these climbs were great adventurous days out... This type of climbing was a real test of nerve. Pushing on into no-mans-land with no idea what grade it would be, what protection was available and what type of climbing would come is unbelievably rewarding no matter where it is."

Sources: Nick Bullock, Pete Benson, nickbullock.blogware.com, flickr.com, ukclimbing.com

Alpinist.com first reported on the Merced River Plan in the July 19, 2008 NewsWire. Since then, three rounds of litigation have transformed the nature of the future plan. Courts have mandated that the plan must include a "user capacity program" imposing use limits within the Merced corridor (a quarter-mile on each side of the river) and protect the area while still permitting recreation. The result could take many forms. But no matter the outcome, the result is likely to impact climbers.

Major climbing areas like The Rostrum, Cookie Cliff and Middle Cathedral Rock are located within the Merced corridor itself. Even more significant climbing areas--El Capitan, Half Dome, Sentinel Rock and all the Cathedrals--are accessed via the corridor. Low-impact camping areas, like Camp 4, also could be affected depending on how the park designs the quota system.

Though the plan will not be finalized until 2012, the initial public scoping period ends this Thursday, February 4. The scoping period gives the public a preliminary voice that will influence the direction of the draft plan.

"This is a particularly important time for climbers to comment," said Jason Keith, Policy Director at The Access Fund. "Really important decisions are made during the scoping phase since public comments give land managers an understanding of who uses the park and what their priorities are."

If a significant number of climbers provide detailed comments during the public scoping period, Keith said, land managers will be more likely to understand climbing dynamics in the Valley and potentially lend support for climbing to be considered a recreational activity of outstanding remarkable value (ORV), an important designation that could lead to protection of climbing in the corridor.

"The bottom line is that we're advocating to preserve existing opportunities, not create new amenities," Keith said. "We want to illustrate that access to camping and climbing is an important part of Yosemite. And at the same time, as climbers, adjust our activity in ways that will be healthy for the corridor in the long run."

The Access Fund is asking all climbers to send letters to the Park by February 4 that support the preservation of climbing access in Yosemite Valley. The organization has established an easy letter-writing form letter for this project through their online Action Center. More information can be found on the Park's website: nps.gov.

"This plan is going to be around for a while," Keith added. "There will be lots of public meetings and workshops that people can be a part of. The Access Fund will make sure to get the word out about all the various steps in the process. But now--before the scoping period ends--is a good time to get after it."

Sources: Jason Keith, nps.gov, accessfund.org

Photographer Jonathan Griffith said that Steck climbed the route for fun, not speed. Prior to the ascent, Steck had neither alpine climbed for two months nor fully acclimatized. Griffith added that Steck's speed is particularly notable when considering that "the route was pretty inundated with powder, which made progress pretty slow for him at times."

"There was no track and the route had not seen an ascent yet this year," Griffith wrote on his blog. "Once up on the headwall Ueli picked up speed again and cruised through the difficulties. Thin ice on the final pitch of the headwall forced him to take the harder mixed variation which 1000m off the deck is a serious proposition. As we sat barely 100m away in a helicopter filming even Pascal Brun, the legendary heli pilot from Chamonix who must have seen everything there is to see in the Alps, commented about how amazingly agile and at home he looked on even this hard section."

Christophe Profit, the French alpinist famous for his difficult solo climbs and enchainments, previously held the fastest recorded ascent of the Ginat route with a time of 2:30.

Last year Steck summited two 8000-meter peaks, Gasherbrum II and Makalu, and nearly onsighted El Capitan's Golden Gate (5.13b). Before that he climbed the Eigernordwand's hardest free route, Paciencia (8a [5.13b], 23 pitches, 900m), and set speed records on that face in both 2007 and 2008. His biggest accomplishment may still be his solo enchainment of Cholatse's north face (a 1500-meter first ascent) and Tawoche's east face in 2004; and some would consider his most amazing feat not a climb, but a fall: he survived a 1,000-foot plunge off Annapurna's south face in 2007.

Quite a streak. Despite his accomplishments and recent speed solo of Ginat, Steck said he intends to crank back his Himalayan aspirations temporarily. "My goal is to develop my climbing performance and my endurance," Steck wrote on his website in December. "I do not plan any great expedition for [2010]. So I can focus on my workout seriously and I will also have more time for my sponsors. I will concentrate on my projects in the Alps and a trip to the Yosemite is also planned. For 2011 I will focus again on projects in the Himalaya."

Sources: Jonathan Griffith, uelisteck.ch, alpineexposures.com

But last week Gadd, along with partner Tim Emmett, found the impossible to be true. After rappelling into the amphitheater behind Helmcken Falls, they discovered the very back of the cave, the bottom fifth or so, was coated in strange globules of frozen spray. On his blog, Gadd said they were "the most insane ice formations I've ever seen."

However, huge, fragile ice daggers guarded access to the lower wall. To clear the hazards, Gadd and Emmett tossed balls of ice at the multi-ton chandeliers, sending them crashing to the ground. When they reached the back of the cave, they discovered unusual, unstable ice. Not only would the steep hoarfrost not take ice screws, but to climb it would require impeccable tool placement and careful weighting.

Unprotectable otherwise, Gadd decided to bolt the line. That first day he installed four bolts, aiding off his tools. The next day he and Emmett returned and put in another eight bolts up to an alcove that marked the end of the spray ice. The result was a route 90 feet long with anchors only 40 feet off the ground. Now equipped, Gadd led what he called "the coolest ice I've ever seen or climbed, anywhere in the world."

But also some of the most tenuous. "Just mental," Gadd said of the route. "You had to be really careful to swing accurately in the blobs of ice, and test the placement each time. This is incredibly strenuous when hanging locked-off on a 45-degree wall. Poor placements would rip, which was funny if you were belaying but not so funny on the lead."

Gadd most recently made headlines last month when he climbed about 25,000 vertical feet in 24 hours at the Ouray Ice Festival (read the January 13, 2010 Feature). Though very fit in terms of endurance, Gadd said that his power was nearly not enough.

"I got so damn pumped my forearms are still hurting," he wrote, "but a combination of desperate tricks (hooking an elbow on my ice tools) and a really wild stemming rest at the mid-point got me to the anchor, and then Tim had a nice battle but pulled it off."

Though Gadd and Emmett had difficulty grading the unconventional route, they have suggested the almost unimaginable grade of WI10. They named it Spray On.

Less than a month ago, two Austrians climbed Centercourt (read the January 22, 2010 NewsWire), a 300-meter route given the world's hardest water-ice grade at the time: WI7+. Only a couple other routes have been labeled WI7+, including Gadd's own Second Choice in Norway. But Spray On's three-grade jump to WI10 suggests that the short, bolt-protected ice climb is in a new category of its own.

"It is a whole hell of a lot harder than anything I've ever climbed on ice," Gadd said. "The only thing I could compare it to is M10 or harder drytooling, but you have to swing for placements instead of just hook. WI10 is the lowest grade I can give it with a straight face; many people who can drytool M10 will find the ice climbing a lot harder I think, it's real, honest, cuts-on-your face ice climbing."

Sources: Will Gadd, gravsports.blogspot.com, gravsports-ice.com

Though the climbers faced cruxy stretches of loose rock, perhaps more challenging was their fight against dehydration. Unacclimatized, in part due to illness, Richards and Ozturk headed for their main objective and set up base camp in early January. They began climbing on the 13th with a stove but little water, expecting to encounter snow. But their first day of climbing was dry--all rock and nothing to melt. Already dehydrated at their first bivy site, Ozturk and Richards decided that descending would be just as painful as continuing to the snow above. The next day, fighting dehydration cramps, they reached snow ca. 400 meters below the summit and promptly set up another bivy. After drinking for the first time in 36 hours, the team spent a restless night and woke up to tackle the remaining difficulties. A final rock band gave way to the last leads through snice and Tawoche's summit. They began rappelling that afternoon and reached base camp safely the next day, January 16. They graded South Central Buttress ED VI 5.10 M4/5.

The ascent comes on the heels of Direct North Face (VI AI5 R, 1500m), another new line on Tawoche established by Fumitaka Ichimura and Genki Narumi in late November.

Success on South Central Buttress may be particularly meaningful for Ozturk, who attempted a direct finish to Tawoche's Southeast Pillar (Knapp-Schlonvogt, 1990) with Seth Hobby in 2007. Difficult rock and poor weather turned them back. For details on that climb and a short history of Tawoche, read the June 22, 2007 NewsWire.

Ozturk and Richards are still in the region, working at the Khumbu Climbing School, which teaches technical skills and high-altitude safety to local Sherpas. The climbers also released video updates about their climb via satellite from base camp and Namche Bazaar. Five dispatches are available at verticalcarnival.blogspot.com.

Sources: climbing.com, verticalcarnival.blogspot.com, American Alpine Journal

In the summer of 2009, climbers in Portugal began developing routes on a series of beautiful seacliff crags. Casal Pianos, which has already been called Portugal's "little Indian Creek," is a short (7-25 meters) but significant swath of black and gold basalt on the Atlantic Ocean, 30 kilometers northwest of Lisbon. The country's first notable trad crag that requires crack technique, Casal Pianos currently features about 60 routes up to 7b (5.12b) in difficulty, with current projects ranging up to about 7c+ (5.13a).

Rui Rosado first discovered the spot six years ago, but it wasn't until last summer that the crag began to see real development. "Only a couple of routes were set up there" before 2009, said Portuguese climber Ricardo Alves, "because not many climbers know how to jam cracks and the rock was really dirty and lose."

But when Fernando Pereira cleaned and climbed 10 new cracks last summer, a number of other climbers--in particular, Rosado, Nuno Pinheiro and Filipe Costa--followed suit. An organization called the Sociedade de Equipadores Anonimos (SEA), or Anonymous Bolters Society, have been maintaining and promoting the crag, from cleaning to drawing topos. Popularity spread enough in a few months that a sponsored festival was held there in mid-November. Beyond climbing classics and trying remaining projects, festival-goers gathered for tape-glove lessons and a party with award ceremonies.

Casal Pianos' routes are predominantly vertical cracks and technical slabs. The quality of the climbing, though certainly less extensive, has been compared to the Peak District in the UK.

Potential in China's Keketuohai

Across Eurasia, in China's Keketuohai region, is another new area, as yet untouched by climbers and much larger in scope. The only problem: it may be impossible to visit.

Lindsay Griffin reported that a climber named Dennis Gray confirmed the existence of dozens of new granite peaks and spires in Keketuohai, also known as Koktokay, in China's Xinjiang Province, in the southern part of the Altai Range.

"There are reported to be 108 granite peaks here, with rock faces reaching an estimated height of ca. 1,000'," Griffin said. "Gray feels that out of all the valleys he has seen in his world travels, Keketuohai compares closest to Yosemite."

See a photo of Keketuohai and read more about the area's climbing potential--and potential barriers to entry--at thebmc.co.uk.

Sources: Ricardo Alves, planetmountain.com, equipadores.blogspot.com, thebmc.co.uk

Leichtfried, who has climbed about 50 ice routes with grades of WI6 or WI7, described Centercourt as "much harder... I can't imagine that there's another route which demands as much climbing ability as Centercourt."

Purner led Pitch 1, which immediately offered challenging WI6+ climbing and required creative Specter, Pecker and small-cam placements for protection. Leichtfried then climbed through a belay of C3s to the steep, 40-meter crux pitch. From below, it appeared to sport slivers of ice, barely attached, and only a couple bomber gear opportunities. The reality was far worse.

As Leichtfried worked up the overhanging verglas, he found the pitch dire. Relying on three pieces of deplorable protection in the 40 feet before entering the crux, he decided a bolt was necessary. Barely hanging on his ax, Leichtfried spent fifteen minutes hand-drilling. He clipped the new bolt and forged upward through the steepest section of ice. In those hardest 50 feet above, he placed only one piece--a half-set 6cm stubby.

"Psychologically it almost felt like I was soloing it," he told planetmountain.com. "A fall from the difficult and extremely thin crux would have serious consequences and must be avoided at all costs."

In an email to Alpinist, he added: "What makes me a bit sad is that I could feel the close border between a very hard climb and a suicide mission."

A solid screw above the crux stretch led a frazzled Leichtfried to the belay. The pair climbed three more pitches of easier ice--WI6, WI5, WI3--to the top of the wall without issue.

Gamsstubenfall, the nearby WI7 climbed just a few days before by Hauser, Holleis and Huber, also sported a deadly run out through the crux: a potential 120' fall onto an 8cm ice screw. The trio climbed the massive line, over 2,600' in height and considered one of Austria's last great icefalls, in an 11-hour push to make its first integral ascent.

As if that danger weren't harrowing enough, Hauser returned to the area on January 12 and free soloed Supervisor, a 270-meter WI6 that has long been an area testpiece. The sensational triumph took Hauser 100 minutes.

Sources: Albert Leichtfried, planetmountain.com

On January 14, Steve House and Matt McCormick added the last 100' of a partially complete M6 recently established by Matt Horner. The purest and most prized line at the crag, however, still lay a few feet to the left. So McCormick teamed up with Bayard Russell to try the line during the 14th annual Adirondack International Mountainfest. (Read about Russell's recent ascent of Painted Wall Icicle in the January 17, 2010 NewsWire.)

"It was the route du jour over there the past few weeks," Russell said, citing the recent activity at High Falls Crag. "If Matt and I had just walked up to the cliff and started climbing without knowing any of the climb's recent history, we probably wouldn't have done the line we did. It was the cumulative effort. We were just the last guys on the pile."

Bossman (M9, 3 pitches) follows a single, continuous crack for 230 feet. The first pitch climbs technical, steep terrain on turf shots and thin pick torques. Pitch 2 contains the crux, an extremely reachy move with chickenscratch for feet. The last, short pitch corkscrews behind a minor icicle then "worms out" onto the ice, McCormick said.

McCormick tried the dynamic crux repeatedly on lead with no luck. Eventually he lowered to the belay and handed the sharp end to Russell, who pinkpointed through the move on his first try.

House had attempted the crux move a few days prior, "trying to free on the lead some really desperate climbing on the second pitch," Russell said. "He took the whip, blew a nut, the next one caught him, but all the other gear below zippered out--then he went back up and fell three more times."

"It was awesome to see someone going for it so confidently on really hard climbing, above small gear and in such great style," McCormick said of House.

Russell continued: "When Matt and I were up there we lowered the style bar a bit, did some aiding, found all the micro hooks and a really good high piece, a small but bomber nut." He and McCormick made the first ascent on Monday, January 18.

Bossman is now one of the hardest gear-protected mixed lines in the Northeast. In the Adirondacks, its difficulty is second only to Fecalator (M10).

McCormick added that it was a treat to establish a route on Mountain Fest weekend. "Jeff Lowe and Alex Lowe used to come in and climb new lines that same weekend every year," he said. "So it was meaningful to me to do such an amazing route during the festival."

Sources: Bayard Russell, Matt McCormick, cathedralstyle.blogspot.com