Cover: The Path (5.14 R), Back of the Lake, Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, as strolled by Sonnie Trotter. Photo: Cory Richards

FEATURES

GALLERY
Adios, autumn: Tim Kemple nails East Coast foliage in a special Gallery, from the steeps of Rumney, to the rustic Adirondacks, to the dream boulders of Pawtuckaway.

VERTICAL ETHIOPIA
Ingredients: four women climbers, one photographer, one guide, and the infinite (but crumbling) sandstone spires of northern Ethiopia. Bake at 100 F under the African sun for two weeks and serve well-roasted.
By Majka Burhardt
Photos by Gabe Rogel

THE LINE OF CONTROL
Kashmir is known for its conflict, sure . . . between India and Pakistan. But when two Americans going alpine style on the Shafat Fortress butt heads with 11 Italians poised for a siege, international tensions really begin to rise.
By Micah Dash
Photos by Jonny Copp

WYOMING WIND
Wild, remote, and lost to history, the monster granite of Wyoming’s Wind River Range offers an alpine-rock paradise unparalleled in the Lower 48. Join Cedar Wright, Renan Ozturk, and friends on an epic first-ascent voyage to Ambush Peak.
By Cedar Wright
Photos by Andrew McGarry

NECESSARY EVOLUTION
Clean climbing is back, stronger than ever, and it’s high time we think before we drill, says Sonnie Trotter.
By Sonnie Trotter
Postscript by Doug Robinson

DEPARTMENTS

CONTRIBUTORS
Gabe Rogel, Sonnie Trotter, Molly Loomis, and Micah Dash — unedited and uncut

EDITORIAL
Walkabout: an editor’s riff on the transformative power of travel

LETTERS
BASECAMP
HOT FLASHES
OFF THE WALL
JUST OUT
TEN THINGS
WHIPPED
ROADKILL
SUSTAINED

CLASSIC CLIMBS
Sea of Holes (II 5.10- R), Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, Texas — two juggy but sparsely protected pitches to ratchet your head down tight

TECH TIPS
Alpine: Seven tips for safe passage through a total whiteout
Trad: A guide’s technique for keeping a close eye on novice seconds

PERSPECTIVE
Herb and Jan Conn: explorers, spelunkers, trailblazers, climbers; Custer, South Dakota