6 Americans Qualify for First Olympic-Qualifying Event & Nims Purja's Speed Record Is Beaten

In an attempt to make space for the newsworthy ascents that occur with ever-increasing regularity, our weekly news roundup tries to celebrate a few outstanding climbs (or interesting events) that for one reason or another caught our attention. We hope you enjoy it. —The editors

6 Americans Qualify for First Olympic-Qualifying Event

Following the Lead and Bouldering portions of the World Championships in Bern, Switzerland, six Americans have qualified for the Combined competition beginning this coming Wednesday. In the women’s field, Brooke Raboutou, Natalia Grossman, Annie Sanders, and Kyra Condie made it through to contend for an Olympic invitation, which will be given to the top three highest placing athletes. Like last year, only two spots per country will be allocated. On the men’s side, Sean Bailey and Colin Duffy also advanced. This is the first of several Olympic qualifying events taking place in the lead up to Paris 2024.

The top two men and women from the Speed category will also earn Olympic invitations. Speed climbing will take place on Thursday.

The past week of World Championships have been an exciting mix of highs and lows. Janja Garnbret earned her seventh World Championship title; Mickael Mawem put up a stunning performance to earn his first ever gold (his best World Cup placement was fourth); and Jakob Schubert, in winning the Lead portion, proved once again that he one of the most consistent performers of the last decade—the 30-year-old now has 12 World Championship medals. More action to come with the Paraclimbing World Championships, which begin tomorrow. Stay tuned for a recap.

*

Tenjin Sherpa and Kristin Harila Break the 8,000-meter Peak Speed Record

Perhaps no event in the far-too-publicized and ethically muddy world of oxygen-assisted 8,000-meter mountaineering has garnered more media coverage in the 21st century than Nirmal Purja did in 2019 when he climbed all 14 peaks in just six months and seven days. “Project Possible,” as he marketed it, made Purja a mountaineering celebrity, especially after the release of Netflix documentary 14 Peaks. But it also created a new game—one that Kristin Harila, a former professional skier from Norway, has spent the last two years trying to beat. Last year, after climbing 12 of the 14 8,000ers, she was stymied when China refused to issue permits for her last two climbs in Tibet. This spring, however, the permits came through. She and Tenjin Sherpa climbed Shishapangma and Cho Oyu in April, and then, alongside a rotating group of other paid climbers, re-climbed the other 12, finishing in three months and one day… cutting Purja’s time in half.

Though I have some mixed feelings about the ethicality of Helicopter- and Oxygen-assisted “records” on the world’s highest mountains (I worry, among other things, that it risks turning to the 8,000-meter peaks into another commercial circus trick like the Seven Summits while failing to acknowledge the troubling fact that, as Outside’s Grayson Schaffer said of high altitude guiding industry in 2013, “no service industry in the world so frequently kills and maims its workers for the benefit of paying clients”), Harila and Tenjin’s accomplishment is inarguably (if dangerously) impressive. In addition to the logistical and financial complexities of climbing these peaks in such a short amount of time, the pair had to climb many rigorous vertical miles in dangerously subpar conditions. It’s hard not to wonder what sort of conversation we’d be having if they hadn’t pulled it off. —Steven Potter

*

Watch Jimmy Webb FA the V15 that wrecked his ankle last year

In March 2022, while pushing it on a riverside project in Brione, Switzerland, Jimmy Webb had “an unfortunate dry fire” high above the pads that “destroyed” his ankle, kept him off the rocks for three months, and forced him to think about his relationship to the idea of just going for it. “Patience is key when doing these types of lines,” Webb wrote in a long post on Instagram. “I’ve ‘forced’ it many times in my climbing, and it’s always worked out. And I think I’ve gotten quite lucky in that regard. I had that moment in my head… where I arrived at the final crux with cold glassy hands and thought ‘this isn’t right, you should let go.’ Then at that same moment another side of my head said ‘no just go, you can do it!’ Then shit hit the fan.”

*

Austin Hoyt Does Monkey Wedding (V15)

*

Noah Wheeler on Fire in Rocklands