Derek Franz
![Masha Gordon of the UK is the founder of The Grit & Rock First Ascent Expedition Award [Photo] Masha Gordon collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/new-climbing-grant-for-female-first-ascents-1-1.jpg?resize=742%2C620&ssl=1)
![Topo of Nick Bullock and Paul Ramsden's North Buttress route (ED+ 1600m) on Nyainqentangla South East. Their descent on the east ridge is marked in green. [Photo] Nick Bullock](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/british-alpinists-1-1.jpg?resize=768%2C620&ssl=1)
![Marc-Andre Leclerc leads one of the pitches of the unrepeated six-pitch ice runnel in the bottom half of Titanic (7b M5 WI4 950m) on Torre Egger (2850m) during his all-free two-day ascent. [Photo] Austin Siadak](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-ice-runnel.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
![Antoine Moineville and Christian Laddy Ledergerber paddle in the North Atlantic Ocean. [Photo] Silvan Schuepbach](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1-kayaks-with-iceberg.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Metrophobia: A Thirst for Adventure
Doing a first ascent on a remote big wall was not enough for a team of three Swiss and two French men, who opted to sea kayak 170 kilometers with all their provisions just to reach the climb.
![Swiss climber Dani Arnold free solos the Via Carlesso (7a+ or 5.12a 650m) on Torre Trieste (2458m) in Italy's Dolomite spires. [Photo] Dani Arnold collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/dani-arnold-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
![Kim Schmitz at the high camp on the first ascent of Gaurishankar (7181m), Nepal, 1979. [Photo] John Roskelley](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/kim-schmitz-remembered-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
![Marc-Andre Leclerc hauls a pack up a pitch on The Winter Link-Up route during his solo ascent of Torre Egger [Photo] Marc-Andre Leclerc](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/leclerc-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
![Left: Scott Adamson at the base of pitch 3 during the first ascent of The One Who Knocks WI6 M5 R/X, Reid's Peak, Uintas, Utah. Right: Kyle Dempster at the Superbowl Sunday BBQ at the top of Pitch 2 on the Great White Icicle, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. [Photos] Nathan Smith](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/scott-adamson-kyle-dempster.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Adamson, Dempster Remembered for Love, Tenacity
Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson were at home in wild and remote mountains. But their sense of passion and commitment spread beyond the bold routes they climbed to the people with whom they shared their lives. On Alpinist.com, Derek Franz writes about the disappearance of the two men on the north face of the Ogre II. Friends of the two climbers remember their tenacity and love.
Speed, age barriers broken on Tetons’ Grand Traverse
On August 16, Nick Elson set a new speed record for the Grand Traverse in Wyoming’s Teton Range: 6 hours, 30 minutes, 49 seconds. Earlier this month, Lee Sheftel may have become the oldest to complete the traverse.