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A view of Cerro Trono from the east side of the Cordillera Sarmiento. [Photo] Whitney Clark

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 team still managed to climb another peak by a route they dubbed Estoy Verde (M6 200m). Clark recounts their rain-soaked adventure.

Brette Harrington leads an offwidth choked with ice and sugar snow in the vicinity of Pitch 9 on Riders on the Storm (VI 5.12d/5.13 A3, 1300m), Torre Central, Torres del Paine, Patagonia. She used a variety of tricks to make progress, including aid moves off her ice axes. [Photo] Drew Smith

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 Harrington summoned all their reserves and went up the icy wall anyway. Here Smith-Gobat relates their journey inward, upward and downward.

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

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 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.

Nathan Martinez and Steve Dilk sit atop North Six Shooter in Indian Creek, Utah, in 2013. The area is now included in Bears Ears National Monument. Canyonlands National Park is in the background. [Photo] Derek Franz

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 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.

El Regalo de Mwono on the Central Tower, Torres del Paine, Patagonia (VI 5.13b, 1200m) was first climbed in the early 1990s by Paul Pritchard, Sean Smith, Noel Craine and Simon Yates and rated VI 5.10 A4. [Photo] Courtesy of Nico Favresse, Siebe Vanhee and Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll

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