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Disaster on K2
8/04/08 - A large number of climbers are dead or missing on K2 after an ice avalanche hit the upper mountain during a big summit push on August 1. 7/31/08 - Scotland’s Dave MacLeod has led the Echo Wall on Ben Nevis, calling it “harder than Rhapsody (or anything else I’ve been on).” 7/29/08 - The teenage Czech climber Adam Ondra has done the first redpoint ascent of WoGü (5.14), a super-sustained mini–big wall of limestone in the mountains of Switzerland. 7/28/08 - Nicolas Favresse, who made the second ascent of Cobra Crack (5.14) at Squamish on July 18, said it was “definitely the hardest trad I have ever done.” 7/24/08 - Nine days after the death of Karl Unterkircher in a crevasse fall on Nanga Parbat, Unterkircher’s climbing partners, Simon Kehrer and Walter Nones, have been rescued from the mountain by helicopter. 7/21/08 - Two of North America’s hardest traditional rock climbs—both Sonnie Trotter routes in Canada—have been repeated in the past few days. 7/21/08 - The Basque climber Patxi Usobiaga has onsighted Home Sweet Home (5.14b/c) at Pierrot Beach, France, his second onsight harder than 5.14b. 7/17/08 - Karl Unterkircher, one of the leading lights of Himalayan climbing in recent years, has been killed in a crevasse fall while attempting a new route on Nanga Parbat. 7/16/08 - Lisa Rands sent Nutsa (V12) despite rainy weather at the sandstone mecca of Rocklands, South Africa. 7/16/08 - The 2008 U.S. Youth Climbing Team for lead and speed climbing was finalized July 13 at the Youth National Championships in Sunnyvale, California. 7/15/08 - Minnewaska State Park, which hosts numerous 50 foot crags on 200 foot quartzite cliffs – part of the greater Shawangunk Ridge (the Gunks) – is revising its Master Plan and potentially significantly expanding climbing opportunities in the Shawangunk region. 7/10/08 - The French ice climber François Damilano has named a newly climbed peak in Nepal after Elizabeth Hawley, the longtime chronicler of mountaineering in the Himalaya. 7/08/08 - Rob Pizem has added a second 5.13 route to the P Wall, located at around 12,000 feet near Mt. Evans in the Colorado Front Range. 7/07/08 - A climber collapsed and died on the summit of Mt. McKinley on the evening of July 4, 2008. 7/02/08 - Yuji Hirayama and Hans Florine have broken the speed record for climbing the Nose of El Capitan. 7/01/08 - Pamela Pack Varco has onsighted Lucille (5.12+) at Vedauwoo, Wyoming, making the first female ascent and likely fifth or sixth overall ascent of the legendary offwidth and squeeze chimney. 6/30/08 - Last fall, when Alexander and Thomas Huber broke the record for speed-climbing the Nose of El Capitan, Hans Florine vowed to retake the record that he had set in 2002 with Yuji Hirayama. 6/24/08 - A five-man German expedition led by well-known climbers Stefan Glowacz and Robert Jasper has completed an arduous expedition along the coast of northeastern Baffin Island, including the first ascent of a 2,300-foot big-wall route. 6/20/08 - John Grunsfeld, a life-long member of the AAC and lead astronaut on the Hubble Telescope mission will blast off this fall, 2008. 6/19/08 - The English climber Steve McClure nabbed the third ascent of Dave MacLeod’s Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, testpiece, Rhapsody (E11 7a; 5.14c R/X) on June 15, just six days after Sonnie Trotter redpointed the route, for its second ascent. 6/16/08 - On June 7, Jason Nelson, Jack Jeffries, and Cody Sims, put up Pent Up, (5.12c 700 feet), a new seven-pitch Black Canyon line. 6/12/08 - Zack Smith and Josh Wharton have climbed a new ice and mixed route to the summit of Kichatna Spire in Alaska. 6/11/08 - A four-man Norwegian team has made the probable second complete ascent of the Norwegian Buttress (VII 5.10+ A4) on Great Trango Tower in Pakistan. (New Photos Added - 6/16/08) 6/11/08 - 20 hours and 2 minutes — that’s how long it took Tommy Caldwell to free-climb Magic Mushroom (VI 5.14a), a strong contender for the world’s hardest big wall, in a single push, leading every pitch. 6/10/08 - Canadian Sonnie Trotter has repeated Rhapsody on Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, the first route in Great Britain given the E11 grade. |
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