Scott Semple, Raphael Slawinski, and Eamonn Walsh made the first winter ascent of 11,873-foot Mount Alberta in the Canadian Rockies. The three men found snow-plastered rock on all sides of the isolated giant and so opted to follow the first-ascent line, the 1925 Japanese route (5.6 in summer). They reached the summit on Feb. 20 a little more than nine hours after leaving the hut at the base of the peak, and then slept partway down the summit ridge before descending to their skis the next morning.

Mount Alberta's Southeast Face, with red dot marking summit and yellow dot marking bivouac.Photo by Raphael Slawinski.

On the summit ridge.Photo by Raphael Slawinski.