![The This Land is Our Land March for Public Lands congregated in front of the Utah capitol in Salt Lake City on July 27 in conjunction with the last Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show to be hosted by the city. OR recently agreed to move the trade show to Denver starting next year in response to Utah lawmakers' continued efforts to rescind Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments. [Photo] Emma Murray](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/outdoor-retailer-trade-show-feature-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Sara Aranda and Emma Murray attended Salt Lake City’s last Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Trade Show to journal the demonstrations and conversations about public lands as well as race and gender equality in the outdoor industry. Here is what they saw and heard.
![[Photo] Francois Lebeau/Red Bull Content Pool](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mora-mora-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Sasha DiGiulian and Edu Marin recently made the second free ascent of Mora Mora (8c or 5.14b, 700m) in Madagascar, which was first freed by Adam Ondra in 2010. DiGiulian said this route represents a recovery from a bad back injury that happened to her about a year ago and that this is the hardest big wall she has done so far.
![Alpinist Associate Editor and Podcast Host Paula Wright record in the sound booth. [Photo] Alpinist staff](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/alpinist-podcast-sound-booth.jpg?resize=602%2C620&ssl=1)
In collaboration with Dispatch Radio, Height of Land Publications is pleased to announce the Alpinist podcast, a series of episodes that take the stories Alpinist readers love to a new medium. Each season, the Alpinist podcast delivers fresh interviews and untold stories, humorous adventure tales and discussions of important issues in the climbing world today. Each episode is hosted by Associate Editor Paula Wright.
![Gasherbrum I (8080m): Satisfaction (ED+ M7 WI5+ 70°, 3000m) is the second line from the left. [Image] Marek Holecek](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/gasherbrum-satisfaction-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Marek Holecek has returned to the southwest face of Gasherbrum I (8080) five times since 2009 in a bid to complete a route up the middle of the face through two rockbands. After enduring multiple epics–including the death of his longtime climbing partner in 2013, and a bad case of frostbite in 2016, in addition to other close calls and harrowing descents–Holecek, 43, finished the climb to the top of the mountain with fellow Czech climber Zdenek Hak, 37, at the end of July. From July 25 to August 1, they spent six days climbing and two on the descent. They named the route Satisfaction (ED+ M7 WI5+ 70°, 3000m).
![[Image] Armando Montero](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mirchi-praqpa-ri-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Three Chilean climbers–Andres Bosch, 29, Armando Montero, 36, and Alejandro “Jimmy” Mora, 39–set out for the Karakoram Range in mid-June to explore some unclimbed peaks directly across the Godwin-Austen Glacier from Broad Peak. On their first trip to Pakistan, over a nine-day period, they made the first ascent of a 6270-meter peak, which they dubbed Mirchi (D+, IV, 45-70°, 1000m), after the Urdu word for “chili,” and Bosh and Mora then made the first ascent (TD+ M3, 50-90°, 1500m) of Praqpa Ri South (7046m).
![Ki Gompa (monastery) in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. In Buddhist Monasteries of Himachal, historian O.C. Handa speculates that construction on the monastery began in the fourteenth century. [Photo] Abhijeet Singh](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/a59-ob-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
In this On Belay feature for Alpinist 59, Indian Alpinist Karn Kowshik describes a journey of self-discovery during his time in the mountains of Spiti Valley, India, where he first dreamed of becoming a climber. After gaining experience in other ranges, he then returns to Spiti in search of unclimbed waterfall ice.
![J.P. Belanger and Charles Roberge on La Fourchetter Sternal Droite (WI5, 160m). This route was first attempted by Quebec local Patrice Beaudet in 1999. A polar vortex ended his attempt. [Photo] Pete Takeda](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/takeda-acp-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On August 7-13, 2016, filmmaker, author and longtime Alpinist contributor Pete Takeda shared some images and stories with the #alpinistcommunityproject about ice climbing in Quebec, which you can now see here. He wrote an article about the trip for Alpinist 55 titled “The Country of Winter,” and also produced a short documentary called “Northern Soul.”
![Hazel Findlay leads Tainted Love, aka Northern Soul (5.13d R), in Squamish, British Columbia [Photo] Jonny Baker](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/findlay-tainted-love-fa-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Hazel Findlay recently made the first ascent of the hard trad route Tainted Love, aka Northern Soul (5.13d R)–a thin and powerful stem-corner that is accessed from the top of the Chief in Squamish, British Columbia.
![Mandi Franz explores the high country with Soleil the dog during an overnight trip on Independence Pass, Colorado. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/good-to-go-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz generally avoids the packaged, freeze-dried or dehydrated meals when he goes camping, but he sampled several Good To-Go meal varieties in the backcountry with his wife, and they agreed the recipes were the best they’d ever tried for this type of food. The meals were flavorful and nutritious, replenishing tired bodies after long days of playing in the mountains, but still had the usual drawbacks of dehydrated ingredients, such as texture and digestion. Five stars.
![[Photo] John Climaco collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/john-climaco-acp-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
On October 2 through October 8, John Climaco of Park City, Utah, shared some photos and stories about his time traveling and climbing abroad with the #alpinistcommunityproject. The 47-year-old has been climbing for 37 years all over the world and now considers himself lucky to be taking his kids to the mountains. You can now see his photos consolidated into a single feature at Alpinist.com.
