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The following report describes an accident in the Canadian Rockies that will be published in the upcoming 2024 Accidents in North American Climbing . While reviewing last year’s accidents, a particularly improbable incident stood out. Almost exactly a year ago, a climber fell, unroped, from the fou
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
This year, the featured winner of the Rocky Talkie Search and Rescue Award is the Black Canyon Search and Rescue team, who performed an incredibly technical rescue in 2023 in the Black Canyon, after a climber took a bad fall that left them unconscious, needing medical attention almost 2,000 ft down into the canyon. In this episode, we sit down to chat with Sean Hart, one of the SAR team members at the scene that day, who walks us through the unique challenges of climbing and rescuing in The Black, the harrowing rescue by Blackhawk helicopter, how critical communication is in rescues, and how to always have a plan B.
Learn more about the Rocky Talkie Search and Rescue Award, watch the film about this incredible rescue, and get the chance to give back to your local search and rescue team AND win some incredible gear by going to rockytalkie.com/pages/sar-award
Announcing the 2024 Rocky Talkie Search & Rescue Award Winners
We’re thrilled to partner with Rocky Talkie to announce the winners of the 2024 Search & Rescue Award. Through this grant, Rocky Talkie is donating $75,000 to six underfunded SAR teams across the nation. Read their stories and watch a film by Jon Glassberg about the Featured Rescue of the Year on Rocky Talkie’s website.
You can also enter to win $5,000 for your local Search and Rescue team plus a safety prize package for yourself through Rocky Talkie’s SAR Award giveaway when you visit their website.
This year, the featured winner of the Rocky Talkie Search and Rescue Award is the Black Canyon Search and Rescue team, who performed an incredibly technical rescue in 2023 in the Black Canyon, after a climber took a bad fall that left them unconscious, needing medical attention almost 2,000 ft down
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
Michael Gardner
1991-2024
We are deeply saddened by the death of Michael Gardner: a great alpinist and a vibrant life.
Michael was on an expedition funded by the AAC’s Cutting Edge Grant, attempting the unclimbed north face of Jannu East in Nepal with his long time climbing partner Sam Hennessey, when he fell to his death on October 7th, 2024. We are grateful that Hennessey is safe after the incident.
There have been so many tributes to Mike in the last few days that attest to his incredible empathy, enthusiasm, dedication to the craft of climbing, pure motivations and lack of ego. Indeed, his quiet pursuit of the mountains on his own terms means his legacy is not flashy, but found in traces and in the background—he was climbing and skiing for the sake of the craft, not for recognition. Yet he was repeatedly the preferred partner for Cutting Edge Grant recipients like Hennessey, and his name appeared again and again in the American Alpine Journal over the last few years, for his new routes, fast ascents of iconic faces, and creative ski alpinism.
Rather than listing his great ascents here, and reducing him to a list of accomplishments, we encourage all who knew him, all who were inspired by him, to dive into the AAJ stories that feature him—as a way to walk, for a brief moment, alongside him in the memories of some of his greatest life experiences in the mountains. The mountains called him back again and again, whether it was to put up a new rock route on Mt. Owens, Renny Take the Wheel (1,500’, 8 pitches, IV 5.11), or envision the first ascent of Hot Cars and Fast Women (850m, M6+) with Hennessey on Denali’s Ridge of No Return. Mike and Sam were also simply fast. Their second ascent of Light Traveler (M7) on the southwest face of Denali in 2018 was not only the fastest for this route at the time, but for any of the four routes generally considered to be most difficult on Denali’s south and southwest faces: the Denali Diamond, McCartney-Roberts, Light Traveler, and Slovak Direct. In 2022, they upped the ante when they joined up with Rob Smith to climb the Slovak Direct in 17 hours and 10 min. In next year’s 2025 AAJ, his more recent mountain adventures will live on, testifying to the kind of life he shaped for himself, including a new route on Mt. Hunter, a massive ski link-up in the Tetons, and a new route on the Grand Teton.
Reading through these stories, you can see the creativity and quiet passion he brought to his climbing, and to his life.
Describing his conflicted relationship to the mountains in an article for Alpinist in 2022, Mike writes how, when he climbs: “An indescribable awareness of place and peace takes hold. On the other hand, there are consequences to devoting yourself to the mountains. I know them intimately, and yet year after year, death after death, I continue to climb.”
We can’t know if Mike would have thought it was all worth it. All we can do is honor the incredible void his death has left behind.
Our thoughts are with Michael’s family and climbing partners.
Michael Gardner 1991-2024 We are deeply saddened by the death of Michael Gardner: a great alpinist and a vibrant life. Michael was on an expedition funded by the AAC’s Cutting Edge Grant, attempting the unclimbed north face of Jannu East in Nepal with his long time climbing p
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
On this edition of the Undercover Crusher series, we have Rab athlete Nathan Hadley on the pod. We talk about what counts as “undercover,” and the reality of straddling the world of full-time work while being “pro.” We discuss the pressure to be obsessed with Yosemite, and maybe figuring out that performing in Yosemite is not the only place to make a name for yourself…as well as bolting and development ethics in Washington, sending the Canadian Trilogy, and the downsides and upsides of being a route setter.
Jump into this episode to hear all this and more from crusher Nathan Hadley!
Learn More About Nathan Hadley
Other Undercover Crusher Episodes
On this edition of the Undercover Crusher series, we have Rab athlete Nathan Hadley on the pod. We talk about what counts as “undercover,” and the reality of straddling the world of full-time work while being “pro.” We discuss the pressure to be obsessed with Yosemite, and maybe figuring out that pe
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
