Six French climbers make the first traverse of the Seven Sisters in the Sierra du Fief, Wiencke Island, Antarctica over three days in late November 2014, encountering committing terrain and steep, technical snow and ice hard above the Southern Ocean.
After seven years work and 19 days spent on the side of El Cap, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson have freed El Cap’s Dawn Wall (5.14d) in Yosemite Valley.
In late December, Ian Parnell and Pete Harrison completed the new route graded X, 9, Wide Asleep, onsight in North Wales. Over two pitches, the team ascended poorly protected, insecure terrain–protected solely by cams and nuts–pulling off “by far the hardest thing I’ve been on,” said Parnell.
From El Chalten, Alpinist correspondent Rolo Garibotti relays what he calls, “one of the most harrowing ascents in Patagonian climbing history.”
