Jim Pope has made the third ascent of the E9 Dynamics of Change in the U.K. The post Runout Trad Route With Crazy Heel Hook Climbed Again appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/runout-trad-route-with-crazy-heel-hook-climbed-again/

It was an exciting few days of competition in Edmonton as veteran climbers from around the world took to the wall The post U.S.A. Wins North American Ice Climbing Championships in Canada appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/u-s-a-wins-north-american-ice-climbing-championships-in-canada/

Jim Pope has made the third ascent of Pete Whittaker's Dynamics of Change (E9 7a). https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=779288

The Scottish Wildlife Trust has bought the Inverbroom Estate, following an anonymous donation of 17.5 Million. The nature charity aims to convert the 7,618-hectare estate into a model for rewilding in Northwest Scotland - one of the biggest su... https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=779269

Retreat (aka bail) anchors or not something you hopefully do very often. But when you need to, there are some specific requirements. See examples of strong and simple rigging here. Premium Article available https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/alpine-retreat-anchors-part-2

For the safety of you and your climbing partners, join a rock rescue course in 2025 to improve your technical rope skills The post Climb on a Rope? Take a Rock Rescue Course appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/profiles/climb-on-a-rope-take-a-rock-rescue-course/

Originally published in Guidebook XIII Dear AAC Members, Thank you for taking the time to dive into this second edition of the AAC’s quarterly Guidebook. A lot of things are changing at the AAC, and we are energized by the new opportunities that these changes afford. We are re-envisioning our measurable impact and excited to further support our members in a way only the AAC can. This Guidebook is just that—your guide to the work that you make possible through your membership. When you read these stories— from celebrating volunteers like Maurice Chen, who is bringing our much-beloved Accidents in North American Climbing to international audiences (which you can read about in “Found in Translation”), or the shattering finding of member Eric Gilbertson that Rainier’s summit is shrinking ( in “The Height of Mountains”), to all the world-class climbing you can find at our cozy lodging facility at the New River Gorge, as well as the profound impact our grants program has on our members (as seen in “Sea to Summit” and “Life: An Objective Hazard”)—you’re seeing the AAC’s mission at work: the advancement of knowledge, inspiration, and advocacy. While we’re excited to share these stories with you, there is also a lot going on behind the scenes that hasn’t made it into a full-fledged story yet. Many of these happenings you can find highlighted in our “AAC Updates” section that follows. As we kick off this new year, we are also excited about ongoing projects that will shape the future of the AAC, like developing a new website, which will make it easier for our members to take advantage of their benefits. Finally, I want to take a moment to celebrate the impressive advocacy success that the AAC helped make possible at the end of 2024. The unanimous passage of the EXPLORE Act is a historic moment for recreationists, and as law, it will significantly expand access to our nation’s public lands and protect climbing in our beloved Wilderness areas. In December, the National Park Service also announced that they are discontinuing their proposed fixed anchor guidance; the AAC thanks the NPS for sensing the need to reevaluate the proposed regulations and looks forward to collaborating with them in the future on fixed anchor guidance. Looking forward, we are equipped to adapt our tactics to future challenges in order to advocate for the needs of our members, and all climbers. At the AAC, we’re pulled together by our passion for climbing, and that passion is woven throughout these pages. Our expansive grants, affordable lodging, significant research findings, impactful advocacy work, and more are only possible because of your membership, donations, and commitment to climbing. Nina Williams AAC Board President Operations and Governance Lodging Advocacy Education https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/10/ewld060rs1z9w881oz4awfrbwbiqmj

Originally published in Guidebook XIII Jessica Anaruk and Micah Tedeschi spent the short summer season of Alaska on separate drift boats for sockeye salmon. Their days were long and filled with hours of manual labor, setting the net on the ocean and picking fish. It was not uncommon for Anaruk to work 16 hours and get around three to four hours of sleep most nights—her captain was an aggressive fisher. But at the end of their season, they were trading in their XTRATUF boots for climbing shoes and, powered by the AAC’s Catalyst Grant, heading to the big walls of the Mendenhall Towers, seven granite towers that rise high above the surrounding Mendenhall Glacier in southeast Alaska. Anaruk and Tedeschi met while living in Durango, Colorado. A 24-hour car ride to El Potrero Chico, Mexico, with mutual friends solidified their friendship. After a week and a half of climbing on limestone in the desert, the origins of this expedition were born. Tedeschi was intrigued by Anaruk’s experience of commercial fishing in Alaska. Their conversations poured like concrete, solidifying when spoken. They would spend the upcoming summer fishing and then go on a climbing trip afterward. A unique pairing of sea and land. “My goal throughout my life is to get to know different parts of Alaska, and [in] this season in my life, the mountains of Southeast Alaska are drawing me in. I intend to create a relationship with this part of Alaska that I admire deeply,” wrote Jessica Anaruk in her grant application. A few summers ago, Anaruk was interning in southeast Alaska. She spent a lot of time on the water gazing at the surrounding mountains, dreaming of climbing on the tall peaks. Her passion for Alaska’s fierce oceans and grand mountains is a deep fire that runs through her. “I think it’s fun to go to all these different places and to see the vast difference of the mountains ... and just to get to know it more and connect to the land,” said Anaruk. They embarked on a training trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in May of 2024. Since they would encounter unfamiliar terrain in Alaska, they chose The Scenic Cruise (1,700’, 13 pitches, 5.10d), a route that was longer and more challenging than the routes they planned to climb on the Mendenhall Towers. After that, their summer at sea began, and there was no climbing in sight. Growing up in Akiachak and Anchorage, Alaska, as well as in Oregon, Jessica Anaruk was always on the water. Jessica is Yup’ik from the Akiachak community. Every summer, she and her family returned to their fish camp on a slough of the Kuskokwim River to subsistence fish for salmon, fishing for personal, family, and community consumption. “Returning to commercial fish[ing] is a way I’m able to express this part of myself while also making an income. I learn something new about the land, the work itself, as well as myself every time I return,” said Anaruk. In contrast, sometimes climbing feels like being alone at sea. “Being an Indigenous woman in climbing is definitely not something I see very often,” reflected Anaruk. They fished almost every tide, twice a day. Bristol Bay is home to six major pristine water systems and 31 federally recognized tribes, including the Central Yup’ik, Alutiiq/ Sugpiaq, and Dena’ina. The bay is divided into five management districts; each opens and closes to fishing for periods of time. This allows salmon to lay eggs upriver, repopulat- ing and continuing to thrive so fishing remains sustainable. The district Tedeschi was fishing in would open for 12 hours and then close for another 12 hours, allowing more time to rest and relax. In contrast, Anaruk’s captain and district allowed for more aggressive fishing. It wasn’t uncommon for Anaruk to work 16-hour days picking and setting the net. Despite the exhausting labor, the early-morning sunrises, the two-hour-long sunsets, and seeing bears roaming the beach keep Anaruk coming back. “What sustains me is how it continually connects me to my culture, the land, salmon, and people,” said Anaruk. Physically, commercial fishing doesn’t translate much into climbing beyond picking fish out of the net, which requires hand strength. But the mental aspect prepares you for long, arduou... https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/4/guidebook-xiiigrant-spotlight

Originally published in Guidebook XIII Across the Pacific, on the small island of Taiwan, climber Maurice Chen received an email from Dougald MacDonald, the Executive Editor of the American Alpine Club. It was July 2024, and the summer air hung as heavy as mist. Attached to the email was a large document: the full version of the 2024 Accidents in North American Climbing (ANAC). Chen called his two colleagues at the Taiwan Outdoor Climbers’ Coalition (TOCC), Matt Robertson and Ta Chi Wang. Together, they began their meticulous work—marking pages, circling terms, and discussing any accident relevant to Taiwanese climbing in obsessive detail. The task ahead would be long and tedious. Taiwan is an island shaped like a yam, floating between the South and East China Seas. It sits in the shadow of two superpowers, one threatening to occupy it and another half-heartedly protecting it. A young island by geological standards, it was formed by the collision of two tectonic plates. The island is 89 miles wide and 250 miles long, with its eastern half stitched to its western half by a spine of mountain ranges. Among these ranges are 151 peaks taller than 10,000 feet, with the tallest, Jade Mountain, standing just shy of 13,000 feet. Taiwan is a land of sea and sky. The island’s diverse climate shifts from coastal tide pools to alpine tundra and back to tide pools in less than a hundred miles. Thanks to these rich natural landscapes, the Taiwanese have always embraced outdoor activities such as hiking, mountaineering, diving, biking, surfing, and climbing. The first mountaineering clubs of Taiwan were formed as early as 1905. Chen and Robertson belonged to Taiwan’s third generation of climbers, Wang to the second. The first generation of Taiwanese climbers were born during the Japanese occupation, and were early-century mountaineers, tackling the many tall peaks with traditional expedition and siege-style strategies. Mountaineering and hiking gained mainstream attention when a list of a hundred notable mountains was published in 1972, aptly named “Taiwan’s Hundred Mountains.” The serious Taiwanese mountaineer aspired to climb all hundred. By the late 1970s, mountaineering boots were the go-to climbing shoe, but tales of the Stonemasters had floated across the Pacific. Wang remembers reading an issue of Climbing Magazine that his friends and brought back from the States, but without the internet, information passed slowly. The climbing scene lagged behind the Americans and Europeans by about half a decade. Gradually, Taiwanese climbers began distinguishing rock climbing from mountaineering. When Chen began climbing in the 1990s, free climbing—primarily trad climbing—was already widespread. By the time Robertson arrived in Taiwan in 2002, sport climbing had just begun to gain traction. In the mid-2010s, the indoor climbing scene boomed, and the number of gyms tripled. Due to the limited real estate in the maze-like Taiwanese cities, most of these facilities were bouldering gyms, which gave rise to the fourth generation of Taiwanese climbers, predominantly boulderers. Published annually since 1948, Accidents in North American Climbing documents the year’s most significant and teachable climbing accidents. Get it annually as an AAC member. Each membership is critical to the AAC’s work: advocating for climbing access and natural landscapes, offering essential knowledge to the climbing community, and supporting our members with our rescue benefit, discounts, grants and more.  Chen and Robertson met at Long Dong (meaning “Dragon’s Cave”), a seacliff climbing area on the northern end of the island. Climbers have compared Long Dong with the Shawangunks in New York or Clear Creek Canyon in Colorado, but Wang waves away those comparisons—it cannot be compared because the serenity of home is an incomparable experience. Seacliffs rise out of the Pacific and waves crash behind the belayer, requiring not only knowledge of the rocks but knowledge of the tides. The lines are short and stout, punchy, getting the grade in less than 50 feet in most places. This was before the first climbing gym in Taiwan had opened, and the pair collaborated to pu... https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/4/guidebook-xiiivolunteer-spotlight

Mount Doom is a proposed V17 from Austrian climber Nicolai Užnik The post Another New V17, This Time in Austria appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/another-new-v17-this-time-in-austria/

Drew Ruana's Bookkeeping V16 climbs more like a short route than a boulder The post Austin Purdy Repeats a 25-Move V16 appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/austin-purdy-repeats-a-25-move-v16/

Originally published in Guidebook XIII Eric Gilbertson was on the summit of Rainier. Or was he? With the differential GPS set up in front of him, he hopped from foot to foot—it was cold up there, but he was also anxious to confirm his suspicions by applying a more rigorous measuring process to the changes he could see with the naked eye. Funded by the AAC Research Grant, he had used an Abney level to measure the relative heights of Columbia Crest, the traditional icecap summit of Rainier where he stood now, as compared to the actual highest point in the summit area—the southwest edge of the crater rim, which was a rock outcrop. Based on the Abney level, Columbia Crest was distinctly shorter than the southwest rim. With calculations spinning in his head, he noticed the unmistakably dirtier, more trampled quality of Columbia Crest, the way dirt and rocks seemed to muddle the pure snow dome, bringing a wilted quality to the landscape, especially compared to what he could remember seeing in old photographs of Rainier’s summit. He would have to wait to process the data from the differential GPS to be sure exactly by how much the summit had changed. Yet more than the relief of seeing his hypothesis likely confirmed, a bigger question loomed: Were mountains, which so many consider the stalwart indicator of the unmoving, the unchanging, the steady, actually shrinking? And what would it mean if they were? Eric Gilbertson is a man of many lists and projects. Each of his projects coalesces around peakbagging, and now surveying. The idea to research the current heights of the five remaining icecap peaks in the Lower 48, which includes Rainier, started when Mt. St. Helens eroded off the top 100 highest peaks of Washington list. Gilbertson had discovered that St. Helens had been steadily eroding by four inches each year since 1989, and because of that, St. Helens had technically fallen off the top 100 list around 2021. As an exacting, rigorous person who prizes accuracy above all in his life’s work, Gilbertson was intrigued—were there more discrepancy in the heights of the other top 100 Washington mountains? If his goal was to do all the hundred highest, and be the first to do them all in winter no less, he wanted to do it right. Before fact-checking the hundred highest list, before measuring the status of the five historical icecap peaks of the Lower 48, Eric and his brother Matthew had been pursuing what they called “The Country High Points Project.” Though the brothers are each respected alpinists in their own right, with several technical first ascents and inclusions in the American Alpine Journal to Eric’s name, they are peakbaggers at heart. Which is why they conceived of the project to get to the highest point of every country in the world, as defined by UN members and observer states, plus Antarctica. Thus, there are 196 highpoints on their list. So far, Eric has gotten to the highest point of 144 countries and Matthew has ticked 97. Eric says he sees the project as a framework for creating opportunities for really interesting adventures. “[It] kind of requires every kind of skill set you can imagine. It definitely requires high-altitude mountaineering, like K2 is on there and Everest, but it also requires jungle bushwhacking in the Caribbean or hiking through the desert in Chad. There is so much red tape you have to get through—like in West Africa there are so many police checkpoints so you have to navigate those—so many languages you have to speak, logistics to make it interesting, and the other interesting aspect is [sometimes we don’t know which] is the highest mountain, so in comes the survey equipment.” When, in 2018, the brothers determined the highest point in Saudi Arabia had actually been misunderstood all along, Eric became particularly interested in exactness and discovery, and how these elements added an interesting complexity to getting to the great heights of the world. A lot more was unknown than one might first imagine, given our information-overload culture. Not knowing if the mountain you were climbing was even the highest point in the country added a challenge that seemed to surpass even first ascenting. Yet Eric is not always flitting across to the farthest reaches of the world. As an associate teaching professor at Seattle University, he is rooted a good portion of the year, so he is constantly finding ways to feed his passion for discovery and peakbaggi... https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/10/guidebook-xiii-researchgrant

The UK’s top university climbers gathered at The University of Warwick last weekend for the National Universities Lead and Speed Climbing Championships (NULSCC) 2025. https://www.climber.co.uk/news/national-universities-lead-and-speed-climbing-championships/

Angels and Demons is a two-pitch M6+ WI5+ on the Outbreak Wall near Nipigon The post New Multi-Pitch Rock and Ice Route in Ontario appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/profiles/new-multi-pitch-rock-and-ice-route-in-ontario/

Originally published in Guidebook XIII If you haven’t logged some ascents on West Virginia stone, that’s a gap in your climbing resume that you should rectify immediately. You won’t regret making the trek to climb on the New’s tiered roofs and bouldery, sequency walls. The New River Gorge (NRG) is one of the few truly world-class destinations in the U.S., and a trip to visit in 2025 would be an easy way to ensure your climbing year is filled with unbelievable climbing— the kind that has you yelling, “WOW I LOVE ROCK CLIMBING” halfway up the wall. The NRG boasts miles of challenging climbing on ironclad Nuttall sandstone cliffs. Many routes overlook the stunning New River Gorge, or you can travel deep into the vibrant West Virginia forest and find hidden cliffs with stellar routes. The rock is composed of 98% quartz—some even claim it’s harder than Yosemite granite. With over 3,000 established routes, the NRG has almost every type of climbing: run-out and well-bolted, slab, overhangs, cracks, techy vertical faces, corners, arêtes, trad and sport climbing, and bouldering. Technical small holds, long reaches, big moves, and old-school bolting leave many shaking in their climbing shoes. You’ll never get bored if you love finding a sequence of moves that unlocks a climb. And you’ll never feel better than when you push through the mental challenge and pull off the move. “It’s a humbling place to climb, so you have to be willing to be humbled a lot,” said Jane Kilgour, the Community & Guest Services Manager at the AAC New River Gorge Campground. The caliber of climbs makes every fall and try-hard scream worthwhile. “[The New River Gorge] is the kind of place where people come for a week, and they end up staying for three months and then moving around their plans for the year so they can return again next season,” said Kilgour. The best advice for visiting the New: chase stars, not grades. The quality of lines and routes is why climbers can’t get enough of the NRG. As an AAC member, enjoy discounts at AAC lodging facilities and dozens of other locations in the AAC lodging network. Each membership is critical to the AAC’s work: advocating for climbing access and natural landscapes, offering essential knowledge to the climbing community through our accident analysis and documentation of cutting edge climbing, and supporting our members with our rescue benefit, discounts, grants and more.  The New River Gorge National Park is on the land of the Cherokee and Shawnee, among other tribes. We acknowledge their past, present, and future connection to the land. To learn more, visit the Sandstone Visitor Center on your trip. In the 1970s, West Virginia locals began developing the New River Gorge, focusing on what would become the Bridge Area before the NRG Bridge was completed in 1977. Classics like Chockstone (5.9), Jaws (5.9), and Tree Route (5.10) were climbed in the Bridge Buttress area and graded initially as 5.7. Locals continued to put up more routes, moving on to the Junkyard Wall. Whispers of amazing climbing at the New River Gorge spread, and the 1980s brought a new wave of climbers who pushed grades and technical difficulties in the area. Rapscallion’s Blues (5.10c), Leave It to Jesus (5.11c), and Incredarete (5.12c) were put up, and with every season, more climbing areas were discovered. In the late ‘80s, sport climbing and Lynn Hill came to the New. Eric Horst put up the first 5.13 in the New, Diamond Life, and Lynn clinched the first ascent of the Greatest Show on Earth (5.13a), setting a new standard for women in the New River Gorge. Hard sport climbing ruled the early 1990s. The late Brian McCray put up difficult lines on overhanging walls, including the first 5.14a, Proper Soul. Development plateaued in the late ‘90s, as the NPS acquired most of the climbing cliffs, and a power drill ban was enacted in 1998. Currently, the NPS accepts permit applications for new routes. In the 2010s, many 5.14s were bolted and sent, including Trebuchet (5.14b), Coal Train (5.14a), and Mono... https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/10/guidebook-xiii-nrg

In Summer 2024, a party of four received a grant from the Yukon 125 prize, supported by the Government of Yukon, for an expedition into the Boundary Ranges of Southern Yukon. They aimed to attempt a first ascent on one of the most striking features of the Radelet Peak Massif (aka the 'Crystal Towers'), one of the most cove... https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=779212

Tyler Thompson has completed his second 5.15a with another first repeat The post Kai Lightner’s 5.15a Gets a Second Ascent appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/kai-lightners-5-15a-gets-a-second-ascent/

This month she's ticked one 5.14d, three 5.14c's, one 5.14b, and five 5.14a's The post Sendy February for Eva Hammelmüller appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/sendy-february-for-eva-hammelmuller/

See the list of 100 iconic mountains in New Zealand below, of which Nathan Longhurst has climbed in less than a year The post U.S. Climber Does 100 New Zealand Mountains in a Year appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/u-s-climber-does-100-new-zealand-mountains-in-a-year/

Retreat (aka bail) anchors need to be strong enough for a rappel, use a minimum of gear and cordage, and be simple to rig so you can do it under potential stress. Learn the principles here. Premium Article available https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/alpine-retreat-anchors-part-1