Derek Franz

Clint Helander and Jess Roskelley stepped off the plane on Alaska’s Tokositna Glacier April 18 and immediately committed to Mt. Huntington’s South Ridge, which had never been climbed in its entirety until they summited April 23. The ridge is long and extremely committing because of hazards that make retreat a dangerous option. A storm pinned the climbers on the summit without food until April 25, when they were able to descend the West Face Couloir.

Tickets are now available for the American Alpine Club’s second annual Excellence in Climbing Awards celebration in Denver on June 3. The event will honor several climbers for their contributions to social and environmental causes around the world. In addition, a Cutting Edge Award will recognize an ascent performed in upstanding style. Scott Bennett and Graham Zimmerman are receiving the Cutting Edge Award while David Morton and Melissa Arnot Reid, Sean and Timmy O’Neill, Doug Walker and Sean Patrick are being inducted into Hall of Mountaineering Excellence.

Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck was found dead on April 30 near Camp 2 on Mt. Everest (8848m) after he apparently fell while climbing 7861-meter Nuptse to acclimatize for a linkup of Everest’s Hornbein Route with Lohtse (8516m).

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 and Utah Dine Bikeyah respond to the threat with statements in support of established monuments.

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).

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 Russia. Honorable mentions go to the Korean team of Cho Seok-mun, Kim Chang-ho, and Park Joung-yong, and Americans Colin Haley and Alex Honnold. Jeff Lowe is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.

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.

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 uptick in political participation that seems to be having an effect on leaders in Washington. Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz considers the context in which the monument was created.

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 of the hardest big wall free climbs in the Great Ranges.

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 Robbins, and in turn he shaped climbing.