The Giri-Giri Boys (from left): Yusuke Sato, Fumitaka Ichimura, and Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama. Courtesy of Yusuke Sato.
The Giri-Giri Boys (from left): Yusuke Sato, Fumitaka Ichimura, and Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama. Courtesy of Yusuke Sato.
Alpine
Fumitaka Ichimura, Yusuke Sato, and Katsutaka Yokoyama
“The ‘Giri Giri Boys’ are badass,” says The American Alpine Journal senior editor Kelly Cordes. “They’re like full-on modern-day samurai.” Translated from Japanese, Giri Giri means roughly “last minute” or “close call,” a philosophy three Giri Giri Boys Katsutaka Yokoyama, Yusuke Sato, and Fumitaka Ichimura took to a logical extreme last May 11-18 when they enchained two high-end Denali routes.
Yokoyama, Sato, and Ichimura made their link-up alpine style: beginning May 11, they tackled the Isis Face (Alaska Grade 6: 5.8 M4 A1, 60 degrees; 7,200 feet), to the top of the South Buttress, and then descended to the Kahiltna Glacier. On May 15, they set off via the Slovak Direct (Alaska Grade 6: 5.9, 100 degrees; 9,000 feet), summited on TK DAY, and then descended on May 18. “Among serious Alaska Range climbers, I don’t think anybody had even contemplated an enchainment of that magnitude,” says Cordes. “Such things often take an outsider’s vision.”
Honorable Mentions:
Rolando Garibotti and Colin Haley, for bagging the long-attempted (since the 1980s) Torre Traverse, Patagonia linking Cerro Standhardt, Punta Heron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre from January 21-24.
Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten, for Checkmate (VI M7+ or M6 A0, 85 degrees; 6,500 feet), their April 21-24 alpine-style FA on Tengkangpoche’s North Face, in the Khumbu Valley, Nepal.