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Breaking Terry Bolts -
Access Fund Announces 2025 Climbing Advocate AwardeesThese awards are our chance—as a climbing advocacy movement—to honor some of the individuals and organizations who stand out for their exceptional commitment to building communities, stewarding climbing areas, and fighting for sustainable and equal access for all.
Access Fund Announces 2025 Climbing Advocate Awardees — Access Fund
These awards are our chance—as a climbing advocacy movement—to honor some of the individuals and organizations who stand out for their exceptional commitment to building communities, stewarding climbing areas, and fighting for sustainable and equal access for all.
Access Fund (www.accessfund.org)
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All about friction hitches - Part 2Let's take a deep dive into the hitch cord, something that should probably always be on your harness. If you DIY, how long a cord and what diameter? If factory made, what are the options? What about spliced instead of sewn? Are eye to eye hitch cords helpful for climbers? The answers are all here.
Premium Article available
All about friction hitches - Part 2 — Alpinesavvy
Let's take a deep dive into the hitch cord, something that should probably always be on your harness. If you DIY, how long a cord and what diameter? If factory made, what are the options? What about spliced instead of sewn? Are eye to eye hitch cords helpful for climbers? The answers are all here.
Alpinesavvy (www.alpinesavvy.com)
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Olympic Gold Medallist Climbs His Hardest Route EverAlberto Ginés López has climbed Chris Sharma's El Bon Combat 5.15- in Cova de Ocell, Spain
The post Olympic Gold Medallist Climbs His Hardest Route Ever appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Olympic Gold Medallist Climbs His Hardest Route Ever - Gripped Magazine
Alberto Ginés López has climbed Chris Sharma's El Bon Combat 5.15- in Cova de Ocell, Spain
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
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The Huayhuash Is Still OpenThe mountain’s scale, as seen through my own eyes, terrified me. Film and photographs, a 60-year-old trip report, and even the topo sketches I had stared at for hours before arriving—none of them captured the size, or the exposure, or the weight of it. Lying in its eastern valley, listening to the static hiss of rain against nylon, I couldn’t sleep. I had been catfished by my own dreams. Any confidence I had built up in the Cordillera Blanca now felt suspect. Bootpacks and snow anchors set in place by mountain guides, lively refugios and high camps, and broader terrain that was mostly walkable; these were all crutches that fed into my delusion, now taken away by just one close glimpse at Jirishanca.
On June 2, 2025, after a few hours of tossing and turning in my sleeping bag, I set off with my partner Eric Kanopkin to climb Jirishanca Chico, a 5,400-meter peak in the Cordillera Huayhuash range of Peru. The grassy hills that rolled up to Niñacocha, the meltwater of the Rondoy Glacier, were flooded with rainwater and cow manure. Our double boots squished loudly as we went up the valley, waking and startling cattle as we passed. We were indiscreet spies under the cover of midnight’s darkness, clambering across no-man’s-land toward what we assumed was our acclimatization objective.
The first time I had seen the Huayhuash was back in 2024, from the popular hilltop sport climbing crag of Hatun Machay. I was there with Maxwell Hodges, a friend who helped introduce me to the climbing life—as well as to the Cordillera Blanca. That day, we were sunning ourselves on rock, a happy respite from slogging up the Blanca’s sloping glaciers. “Why don’t we head there?” I had asked him, pointing toward the jagged, snowcapped massif of the Huayhuash.
All we knew then of that place was the famous climbing accident recounted in Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void. While descending a 6,000-meter peak called Siula Grande in 1985, Simpson broke his leg and fell into a crevasse, which ultimately resulted in one of the most epic survival stories in mountaineering. Max just laughed. We weren’t ready. He was right; we could barely lead the bolted 5.10s at Hatun without our legs shaking.
Throughout a season of climbing the high peaks of the Cordillera Blanca and another year of climbing in Colorado, I could not stop thinking about the Huayhuash. Max and I climbed tourist peaks like Chopicalqui, Tocllaraju, and Pisco, and since we were always surrounded by other climbers and guides from all over the world, it was easy enough to mimic the common patterns of ascension even on our dirtbag budget. We followed the well-worn paths made by pack mules and beater taxis. Throughout our adventures, I kept my head up to admire the condors, untethered by the ground’s limits, as we were.
The Huayhuash represented something different to me. Unlike the Blanca, it hosts no regular climbing activity; it’s harder to reach and has a higher concentration of more technical peaks. The number of climbers coming into the range each year can be counted on one hand. A significant reason for that lies in its history. The Huayhuash was closed off to climbing in the late 1980s into the ‘90s, as a result of the violent hegemony of a Maoist terrorist group called El Sendero Luminoso. Foreign climbers were turned away from the remote area for years, and the Huayhuash faded off of ticklists. Even after its reopening, the Huayhuash brought in limited climbing activity, while the Blanca, just hours to its north, expanded in popularity.
After leaving Peru in 2024, I was still drawn to the Huayhuash, but not just for the austere beauty of its mushroom-capped ridges and dramatic summit pinnacles. The mystique that shrouded the range, the lingering stigma among climbers, was what really captivated me. It was simply bizarre to me that two ranges, the Huayhuash and the Blanca, so close and similar in geography, could be perceived so differently by climbers. Stoked, ambitious, and just out of college, I was determined to go find out for myself.
Once the sun rose, warm colors illuminated a world of winter above us. Eric and I were finally on the Rondoy Glacier, heading toward Chico’s northeast face. To climber’s right, Jirishanca’s north ridge was a sweeping ramp of snow and ice into the golden and pink heavens. That was the ultimate route that we were preparing for on Chico, a goal that ironically seemed farther out of reach the closer we got to it. I was worried that I was already in over my head, but my fear was dissipating from the restless night before. Dwarfed by the apu, the Quechua’s mountain gods, I was moment...
The Huayhuash Is Still Open — American Alpine Club
A Rare Ascent of Jirishanca Chico—A Story from the Mountaineering Fellowship Fund Grant By Luca Raso Originally published in Guidebook XVII The mountain’s scale, as seen through my own eyes, terrified me. Film and photographs, a 60-year-old trip report, and even the topo sketches I had st
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
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Climber Rescued After 700-Foot Fall on California PeakSearch-and-rescue technicians reached the seriously injured climber the morning after he spent a night on Mount Shasta
The post Climber Rescued After 700-Foot Fall on California Peak appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Climber Rescued After 700-Foot Fall on California Peak - Gripped Magazine
Search-and-rescue technicians reached the seriously injured climber the morning after he spent a night on Mount Shasta
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
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Iran war forces World Climbing (IFSC) to cancel in-person general assembly in Saudi ArabiaThe conflict has prompted competition climbing’s premier governing body to shift to an online meeting.
The post Iran war forces World Climbing (IFSC) to cancel in-person general assembly in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Iran war forces World Climbing (IFSC) to cancel in-person general assembly in Saudi Arabia - Gripped Magazine
The conflict has prompted competition climbing’s premier governing body to shift to an online meeting.
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
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Will a sling taped to rock hold? -
Squamish Access Society legend and climbing trail-builder Brian Moorhead retiresA master trail builder and longtime climber, Moorhead was responsible for creating climbers’ trails used by thousands every year.
The post Squamish Access Society legend and climbing trail-builder Brian Moorhead retires appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Squamish Access Society legend and climbing trail-builder Brian Moorhead retires - Gripped Magazine
A master trail builder and longtime climber, Moorhead served for over two decades and was responsible for creating climbers’ trails used by thousands every year.
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
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Jonathan Siegrist Sends 5.15a in ArcoOriginally bolted by David Lama, Trofeo dell'Adriatico has become a popular line in the Italian climbing hotspot
The post Jonathan Siegrist Sends 5.15a in Arco appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Jonathan Siegrist Sends 5.15a in Arco - Gripped Magazine
Originally bolted by David Lama, Trofeo dell'Adriatico has become a popular line in the Italian climbing hotspot
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
