I'd just completed the hardest climb of my life, one of the longest in the history of the range. Laid out at our feet, the spires and seracs emerged in stark shapes of light and dark. I sat down, and the view below disappeared. Glaciers, ridges, cracks and even summits— none of them were what I traveled to Patagonia to find. I came here to begin to lead my life intentionally, not to drift anymore, but to choose my own path. Now, I was starting to see the way. — Cheyne Lemp, Alpinist 39
The wild Choss Monkeys of Montana revisit Pine Creek's Succubus (M7+). Originally established by Tom Kalakay and Chuck Swenson, Pete Tapley was the first to free the line in 1998, sandbagging the grade along the way. Since then, the route has morphed seasonally, with a few of the bolts ending up in the talus below, while the grade steadily increases. It remains a local test piece.
Aaron Mulkey was feeling the summer heat, and lack of ice. Luckily, this ice climber wasn't going to let the high temps or lack of ice get him down. We believe this is the first ever video of Deep Water Dry Tooling (Wet Tooling)!
Two years ago Eliseu Frechou, Marcio Bruno and Fernando Leal climbed a new route on Mt. Roraima. The video below details their experience above the jungle. For a written account of their climb check out Alpinist 33.
When asked about the creation of this film Cheyne told Alpinist, "I wanted to do the video because I was getting sick of doing the whole, 'Here's some climbing I went to do in Patagonia, or whatever.' This video is a breath of fresh air to me. It's something different that I've never done before, and I didn't have very much time so I edited the video on the fly and I was going with what I felt looked good. My first instinct of which clip should go where just flowed together and it just ended up working out."
In 2011 David Burdick, John Frieh and Zac West climbed a new route on the Burkett Needle (~8,500 ft.), a tower on the Stikine Icecap of Southeast Alaska. The route, Repeat Offender (IV 5.9 AI3 M5), was done in three days, Seattle to Seattle. Below, Burdick describes the style of "Smash and Grab" climbing and the preparation that makes such climbs possible.
The second ascent of Barmasse's project was a new route on Mont Blanc, established with Basque brothers Iker and Eneko Pou, with which Barmasse wanted to "point out the great value of a roped party and the pleasure of sharing mountaineering with friends."
On March 8, 2011, Herve Barmasse began the first installment of his project—a new, solo route up the south face of Picco Muzio, a subpeak on the Furggen Ridge of the Matterhorn. His chosen line, a 700-meter overhanging pillar, had never been explored before, though many other routes cover the face. After two days of poor weather and lots of rockfall, Barmasse abandoned his attempt. For one month he continued to think about the potential on the Matterhorn, and on April 6 he tried again. Four days and three bivvies later, Barmasse reached the summit. His father was waiting for him there, and the two descended the Matterhorn together.
