![Marcin Tomaszewksi leads a pitch during the first ascent of Titanic (M5 5.10c A3 WI4, 1800m) on the North Face of the Eiger (3970m), which he completed with Tom Ballard on November 30 to December 6. [Photo] Tom Ballard](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/eiger-titanic-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Tom Ballard and Marcin Tomaszewksi have only climbed together three times, but all those climbs have been first ascents. They added another hard new route to the Eiger North Face in December –Titanic–and Ballard continued his legacy with the mountain that his mother, Alison Hargreaves, had climbed while she was pregnant with him.
![From Conrad Anker's The City and The Blade in Alpinist 38. Mugs Stump on the Spanish Pillar of Meru North (6450m) in 1988. [Photo] Steve Quinlan](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mugs-stump-file-photo.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The 2017 Mugs Stump recipients aim to tackle: the East Face of Golgotha (Alaska); the West Face of Xanadu (Alaska); the North Face of Rungofarka and a prominent rock buttress on the nearby Northwest Face of Peak 5780 (India); the North Face of Barnaj II (India); and the world’s second highest unclimbed peak, Mucho Chhish (Pakistan).
![Conrad Anker is the keynote speaker for the 2017 American Alpine Club Annual Benefit Dinner on February 25 in Seattle, Washington. [Photo] Jimmy Chin](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/aac-benefit-dinner-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The American Alpine Club opens registration for its Annual Benefit Dinner on February 25 in Seattle, Washington. Five people will receive awards. Conrad Anker is the keynote speaker.
![The red line marks the route and camps of Moveable Feast (ED2 M7 WI5 5c A3, 1400m) on Thalay Sagar (6904m), India. [Photo] Courtesy of Dmitry Golovchenko and Mountain.RU.](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/thalay-sagar-moveable-feast-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
The golden trio of Dmitry Golovchenko, Dmitry Grigoriev and Sergey Nilov score another Russian Golden Axe for their alpine-style first ascent of Moveable Feast (ED2 M7 WI5 5c A3, 1400m) on Thalay Sagar (6904m) last September.
On November 16, 2016, the Access Fund released a statement in response to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, “What Will the Trump Administration Mean for Climbing?” We’ve since followed up with Brady Robinson, executive director of the Access Fund and chair of the Outdoor Alliance, to learn more about his thoughts on the broader future of environmental issues and public lands–and the roles that climbers might play in helping to conserve wild places.
![This photo of the southeast face of Kyzyl Asker (5842m) shows Ines Papert and Luka Lindic's new route, Lost in China (ED WI5+ M6, 1200m), in red. [Photo] Ines Papert and Luka Lindic](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/lost-in-china-fa-1.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Ines Papert and Luka Lindic discover the best ice either of them have ever encountered so high on a mountain during the two-day ascent of their new route on Kyzyl Asker (5842m), Lost in China (ED WI5+ M6, 1200m).
![Jacopo Larcher climbs The Nipple pitch (5.13d) on Zodiac (VI 5.13d) at sunset. [Photo] Francois Lebeau and Black Diamond Equipment](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/zodiac-free-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher recently made the third free ascent of Zodiac (VI 5.13d) on El Capitan after a 13-year period in which no one succeeded since the first and second free ascents were made in 2003.
![Jim Detterline in his element on the upper section of Kiener's Route on the East Face of Longs Peak (14,259'), July 2010. [Photo] Lisa Foster](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/detterline-1.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
Jim Detterline participated in more than 1,200 rescues in his long career as a climbing ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park. He was well loved and famous for climbing Longs Peak (14,259’) a record 428 times. He died in a rope-soloing accident near his home in late October. More than 1,000 people attended the memorial service.
![Adam Ondra celebrates on Wino Tower after finishing the most difficult pitches of the El Capitan's Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d). [Photo] Heinz Zak and Black Diamond Equipment](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ondra-dawn-wall-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Adam Ondra sets a new precedent on the second free ascent of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d) by blazing up the route in fewer than eight days and leading every pitch.
![Pete Whittaker sends the Boulder Problem variation (5.13a) on El Capitan's Freerider (VI 5.12d or 5.13a). [Photo] Dustin Moore](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/whittaker-freerider-rope-solo-1-scaled.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Pete Whittaker rope solos El Capitan’s Freerider (VI 5.12d) all free in 20 hours, 6 minutes, becoming the first person to do it in a day.
