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  • Trump signs executive order to review Bears Ears and all national monuments designated in the last 21 years

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order to review Bears Ears and all national monuments designated in the last 21 years. The order was issued with the promise of “no predetermined outcome,” but his accompanying remarks suggest that his administration expects to make changes to the monuments’ status. The Access Fund, Friends of Cedar Mesa…

  • A foray into the ‘Never-Never Land’ of Cordillera Sarmiento, Chile

    Last March Americans Whitney Clark, Jon Griffin and Tad McCrea ventured into a notoriously wet and seldom-visited coastal region of South America–Patagonia’s Cordillera Sarmiento–in hopes of climbing a peak called Alas de Angel Sur. The approach to their main objective proved too difficult to decipher in the time and weather that they had, but the…

  • Keita Kurakami sees The Votive Light (5.13d/14a R trad) in Yukawa, Japan

    Keita Kurakami endures a ground fall before succeeding on the first ascent of another new trad route in Japan. He linked a previously existing 5.13d R called Hakuhatsuki (Gray Haired Demon), which ended at a bolted anchor, to the top of the cliff, calling the new route The Votive Light (5.13d/14a R).

  • Riding the Storm on Torre Central, Patagonia

    Mayan Smith-Gobat returns to the Torres del Paine in Patagonia to attempt a complete free ascent of Riders on the Storm (VI 5.12d/5.13 A3, 1300m) on the Torre Central, which she came close to accomplishing with Ines Papert in 2016. This year the weather dashed all hopes for a complete ascent, but Smith-Gobat and Brette…

  • The redesigned Five Ten Quantum: Versatile, high performance climbing shoes

    The Five Ten Quantum rock shoes were designed to be an all-around, high performance shoe. Chris Van Leuven tested them on slabs, cracks and steeps, and on a variety of rock types: he scampered up them all, and was so pleased he awarded the redesigned Quantums five stars.

  • Jury selects two teams for Piolets d’Or awards this year for 2016 ascents

    The Piolets d’Or jury is giving awards to two climbing teams this year for the 2016 first ascents on North Buttress of Nyainqentangla South East in Tibet by Nick Bullock and Paul Ramsden of Britain, and the North Buttress of Thalay Sagar in the Indian Gangotri by Dmitry Golovchenko, Dmitry Grigoriev and Sergey Nilov of…

  • Two climbers send Switzerland’s longstanding Gondo Crack project (5.14b R) on trad gear

    Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher made the first ascents of Switzerland’s Gondo Crack (5.14b R) in early April. The 17-meter line was a 15-year project that thwarted more than one talented suitor, including British trad ace Tom Randall.

  • Good news and bad news for public land, and an in-depth look at the politics surrounding Bears Ears National Monument

    April is likely to be a pivotal time for the future of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is poised to visit the state soon and make a recommendation to President Donald Trump on whether to rescind the monument as Utah lawmakers are requesting. Meanwhile the Access Fund reports an…

  • Julbo Explorer 2.0: A worthy new member to a long, proud lineage of sunglasses

    Julbo sunglasses continue to stand the test of time and perform as well as ever with modern technology. The Explorer 2.0, which is complete with photochromic lenses that rarely fog up. Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz would have awarded them a perfect five stars if it weren’t for one shortcoming. Four stars.

  • The Emperor Jacket: so lightweight and breathable, you’ll hardly know it’s there

    Alpinist Fashion Editor Paula Rumpelshorts reviews the latest in alpine outerwear: the Emperor Jacket (so lightweight and breathable, you’ll hardly know it’s there).

  • Three Belgian climbers free 1200-meter route on Central Tower of Torres del Paine

    Belgian climbers Nico Favresse, Siebe Vanhee and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll managed to squeak out a 19-day free ascent of the 1200-meter route El Regalo de Mwono–originally VI 5.10 A4 when first climbed in 1991-’92, now 5.13b–on the Central Tower in the Torres del Paine, Patagonia. They had 15 days of rations. The climb is one…

  • The Patagonia Hybrid Sleeping Bag: unconventional and efficient

    Patagonia introduces a modern version of an old idea for an unconventional alpine sleeping bag–the Hybrid, which is intended to be used with an insulated jacket to avoid redundant layers and save precious space in your alpine kit. Ryan Wichelns awards it four stars.

  • On Belay: A Thousand Days of Lapis Lazuli

    After ten years as a boulderer, Keita Kurakami attempts what some other local climbers called impossible: a new free route on the daunting 110-meter Moai Face of Mt. Mizugaki. When he succeeded in July of last year, it turned out to be the hardest multipitch trad climb in Japan at 5.14a R/X.

  • Wired: Rethinking Mountain Gloom

    Dawn L. Hollis challenges the belief in academia that people did not care for mountains until they began climbing them at the end of the eighteenth century. Further, she studies why an institution such as the British Alpine Club would react so strongly against the premise that the love people have for mountains is nothing…

  • 1935-2017: Big-wall pioneer and world explorer Royal Robbins remembered

    Royal Robbins (1935-2017) is remembered as a courageous visionary, from climbing the walls of Yosemite and the Alps, to kayaking raging rivers, and navigating his business, he embodied many lives in the span of his time on Earth and inspired generations, as evidenced by the numerous stories shared by his friends and admirers. Climbing shaped…

  • TOOL USERS: The Headlamp

    In this Tool Users story from Alpinist 57, Paula Wright shines a light on the evolution of the headlamp. Since some climbers were still carrying flashlights in their mouths as late as the early 1970s, it seems that we have only recently emerged into a more illuminated age.

  • The Literature of Ascent

    “Literary mountain writing may now be giving way to the selfie,” Stephen Slemon writes in this essay. “But this shift towards the visual media may be opening new ground for the genre of mountaineering literature to change.” Slemon explores climbing’s ties to the written word and how the form of climbing narratives is evolving.

  • Four organizations team up to enhance standards for climbing ed, public policy

    The American Alpine Club recently announced that it is collaborating with the Colorado Mountain Club, the Mazamas and The Mountaineers “to promote improvements in climbing safety, coordinate stewardship and advocate for climbing areas in the United States.”

  • An Innovative Balance of Strength to Weight: Petzl Irvis Hybrid Crampons

    Part steel, part aluminum, and with Dyneema cord in place of a metal bar to connect the two halves, Mike Lewis finds that the Petzl Irvis Hybrid Crampons hit a nice balance between durability and lightweight packability. He would have awarded them five stars if not for one shortcoming.

  • Full Value: Degringolade

    In this Full Value story from Alpinist 56 Sibylle Hechtel recounts a pivotal moment in her climbing career–her first first-ascent, in Canada’s Bugaboos, 1973. She went on to become famous for the first all-female ascent of El Capitan with Beverly Johnson later that year, but her experience in the Bugs taught her “how to get…

  • On Belay: Unattached

    In this On Belay article from Alpinist 57, Anna Pfaff describes her adventures as she becomes “unattached” from maps, expectations and conventions and learns to find her own way into some of the unknown realms beyond.

  • Off Belay: Beyond Conquest

    In this excerpt from Alpinist 57 Mailee Hung explores artwork by Richard T. Walker that “casts unease on traditional aspirations” and helps us consider “how to describe the aesthetic experience of climbing beyond this inherited legacy” of alpinists as conquerors.

  • Three Italians complete an unfinished route on Cerro Murallon’s east face

    Three Italians completed a route up the middle of Cerro Murallon’s east face in early February that was first attempted in 1999. They named their route after a book written by an Argentinian Air Force captain–El Valor del Miedo (M6 A2 90+ degrees, 1000m), which translates as “The Value of Fear.” The 2017 Patagonia summer…

  • Alpine Luddites White Light/White Heat backpack: custom-made to contentment

    Alpinist Associate Editor Paula Wright puts the Alpine Luddites White Light/White Heat backpack to the test, awarding it four stars. The company takes an a la carte approach to the gear it sells so that minimalists will have only the accessories they want, such as the foam layer that comes in a customizable thickness and…