![Whitney Clark explores unknown terrain on a peak above Sphinx Lake in Kings Canyon, California. [Photo] Tad McCrea](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sterling-fusion-nano-ix-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The American Alpine Club recently announced that Whitney Clark, Ryan Johnson, Kurt Ross and Alan Rousseau will receive Cutting Edge Grants this year, totaling $20,000. The grants will support expeditions to Alaska, India and Pakistan.
![Kyle Dempster soloed up to 6000 meters on Vigne peak to gain a better look around at the huge peaks surrounding him on the Baltoro Glacier in 2014. He'd traveled there to attempt Gasherbrum IV's Shining Wall with Urban Novak, but they called off their expedition after learning that some Slovenian friends of Novak's were missing, and Novak felt the need to return home to be with the surviving friends and family. Dempster commended Novak's decision, recalling the loss of his own cousin in a rappelling accident on Baffin Island in 2005. [Photo] Kyle Dempster](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/lemonade-5.jpg?resize=540%2C354&ssl=1)
Today marks the official opening of the application period for the inaugural Kyle Dempster Solo Adventure Award. Applications are due by March 15 for trips taking place between April 1, 2018-March 31, 2019. The winner(s) will be announced on March 27, Kyle’s birthday.
![The red line shows the route taken by Marc-Andre Leclerc and Tom Livingstone on January 3 for the first winter ascent of the Navigator Wall on Canada's Mt. Slesse. They estimated the difficulties to be M7+ R or Scottish VIII or IV, according to Livingstone. [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/navigator-wall-winter-ascent-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The first few days of January provided good conditions for Marc-Andre Leclerc and Tom Livingstone to make the first winter ascent of Mt. Slesse’s Navigator Wall, a goal that Leclerc has had in mind for a while. Meanwhile, Brette Harrington and Kieran Brownie did a link-up of two satellite peaks nearby, completing some likely first winter ascents as well.
![Hauling the pig with the Sterling WorkPro static rope on Prodigal Sun, Zion National Park. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/sterling-workpro-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz recently used the Sterling WorkPro static line to haul a 100-pound bag on his first solo big wall. The WorkPro was supple, strong and durable–everything you’d want from a static rope. Five stars.
![Lockhart Basin is one of the areas no longer included in the two smaller national monuments that replaced the former Bears Ears Monument. [Photo] Tim Peterson, courtesy of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/monument-feature-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz documents the 11-month saga over Bears Ears National Monument, which was recently reduced by 85 percent of its original size by President Donald Trump, along with Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument, which was reduced by half of its 1.9 million acres. A series of lawsuits that are expected to reach the US Supreme Court and voracious action by groups including the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, Utah Dine Bikeyah, Access Fund, Friends of Cedar Mesa and many others provides a glimmer of hope for those who would prefer to see the monuments remain intact.
![The author enjoys the comfort of the Mountain Equipment Xeros 800-fill, Russian Goose Down sleeping bag inside his bivy sack on the second morning of his solo ascent of Prodigal Sun (V 5.7 C2, 900') in Zion National Park, October 22. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mountain-equipment-xeros-sleeping-bag-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz used the Mountain Equipment Xeros 800-fill, Russian Goose Down bag in warm, sweaty conditions as well as cold, wet ones, and the bag kept him remarkably dry and comfortably warm. “I have never experienced a more efficient sleeping bag,” he reports. Five stars.
![Barbara Zangerl on Pitch 22, Magic Mushroom (5.14a). [Photo] Francois Lebeau](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/zangerl-magic-mushroom.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
It’s been another productive season for climbers on El Capitan: Jacopo Larcher and Barbara Zangerl made a rare free ascent of Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a, 2,900′) on El Capitan, topping out on December 10 after an 11-day push from the ground. Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds set a new speed record on the Nose on October 21, and Keita Kurakami redpointed all individual pitches on the Nose (5.14a) on November 15 but plans to return and climb it in better style.
![Jacob's Chair and Long Canyon are no longer included in the two smaller national monuments that replaced the former Bears Ears Monument. [Photo] Tim Peterson, courtesy of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bears-ears-tribal-coalition-photo-10.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On December 4, President Donald Trump signed two proclamations to shrink Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by more than half of their current acreage. Changes to other monuments are expected to come, and a handful of lawsuits have been filed in response to Trump’s action since December 4.
![Looking east from the summit of North Six Shooter in Indian Creek, Utah, provides a glimpse of the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. South Six Shooter is in the foreground and Bridger Jack Butte and pinnacles are in the middle ground. The Abajo Mountains are in the background to the right and the La Sal Mountains are just out of view to the left. Canyonlands National Park lies behind the photographer, just a few miles to the west. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bears-ears-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, Dec. 4, and he is expected to announce plans to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is organizing rallies at the Utah capitol on Saturday, Dec. 2, and Monday, Dec. 4, to oppose the reductions.
![The south face of Nuptse with the new route marked by the thin red line. [Photo] Courtesy of Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/nuptse-south-face-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On October 14-21, Helias Millerioux, Benjamin Guigonnet, Frederic Degoulet completed a risky new route on Nuptse’s south face in mostly alpine style, fixing only two short sections. The overall technical difficulty of their as-yet-unnamed route weighs in at M5+ WI6, 65° snow, 2342 meters. For Millerioux and Guigonnet, this was their second attempt on this route after trying it in 2015.
