Climbers We Lost in 2024

Published January 15, 2025 09:07AM

At the start of each year, we compile this tribute to climbers who passed away the year prior. This year’s list includes 38 climbers, ranging in age from 21 to 96. Some died of natural causes, among family and friends. Others lost their lives in accidents involving free soloing, rappelling, avalanches, and falls on the world’s greatest alpine faces. One was killed fighting in Ukraine, while others were involved in accidents that could happen to anyone, climber or not.

Some were famous for their accomplishments, having established new routes in places like Leavenworth, Eldorado Canyon, El Potrero Chico, Greenland, the Georgian Caucasus, and Pakistan. They competed on the international sport climbing circuit, produced award-winning mountain films, revolutionized portaledge technology, and were young yet highly accomplished alpinists. One was an active Yosemite Search and Rescue member. Another founded the Access Fund.

Many of the climbers remembered here were fixtures in their local communities. They were guidebook authors and route developers, mountain guides and avalanche forecasters, gym owners and climbing shoe reps. They were neuropsychopharmacologists, musicians, lawyers, contractors, writers, photographers, computer programmers, inventors, digital nomads, fathers, a mother, and friends.

We want to thank everyone—friends, family, partners—who contributed obituaries this year. We also want to acknowledge that, despite our best efforts, this list is almost certainly incomplete. If there is a climber who should be added, please reach out to us at queries@climbing.com. And for anyone experiencing a loss, we recommend visiting the American Alpine Club’s Climbing Grief Fund.

Creating this list is always both somber and reflective, reminding us of the dangers inherent in our sport, our rich history, and our strong community. Please be safe out there.

Matt Richard, 27, February 2

Matthew Aaron Richard wanted to be “the dirtiest dirtbag out there,” said his friend Kenny Duong, who met Richard in El Potrero Chico four years ago. Richard, who relished in his nickname “Ronnie the Rat” (“Everywhere he went, someone else was named Matt, so he just nicknamed himself Ronnie,” his mother explained), would often arrive at the crag with random new tattoos or funky hairstyles, such as a greasy mullet, a shock of curls, or a handlebar mustache.

Richard was a keen climber who, although relatively new to the sport, progressed rapidly, and had spent the last four winters working remotely in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, so he could climb. He died there on February 2, after a rappelling accident, only a few days after sending his first 5.13 sport climb, Cyclops (5.13a). “Matt’s passing occurred as he was doing what he truly loved, surrounded by friends, at one of his favorite locations on earth, and his transcendence was swift and without suffering,” his family wrote in his obituary.

Matt Primomo, 40, March 7

Matt Primomo, affectionately known as Primo, was a father, husband, friend, snowboarder, skier, climber, and alpinist. He was a mountain guide, avalanche forecaster, snow scientist, and land surveyor. Above all, he was an exceptional human being with a heart so big it aerated everything around him with stoke.

Matt lived his life with passion and purpose. As an avalanche forecaster for the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC), he was deeply committed to his work. He didn’t just study snow, he loved it, lived it, and understood it like few others. He even designed, manufactured and sold his own lightweight snow saws, hundreds of which are now in the field. He could explain in fervent detail how avalanches impact the landscapes they travel through, from groundwater to soil health. Once, he cut into a fallen 100-year-old tree and used its rings to study a century of avalanche cycles.

Matt wasn’t just a scientist—he was a snow whisperer, a technician of the mountain craft, and, most importantly, an artist. His medium wasn’t a pen or brush but a blank canvas of untouched snow where he carved his snowboard. His Instagram was a treasure trove of stunning ridges and peaks captured from perspectives few have considered or imagined. Whether studying maps, satellite images, or telemetry data, Matt devoted time to understanding and celebrating the mountains in all their beauty. He saw promise and potential in places others had overlooked.

David Breashears, 68, March 14

Outdoor enthusiasts lost a master of adventure storytelling earlier this month, when David Breashears died at age 68 at his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Breashears was a pioneer of filmmaking in the high mountains, and his documentaries about Mount Everest and the Himalayas brought millions of viewers up close to the famed peaks. His 1998 film, Everest, was the first to capture the world’s highest peak in ultra high-definition IMAX. And his 2008 film Storm Over Everest, which was produced by Frontline, took viewers inside the deadly 1996 disaster on Mount Everest.

Breashears touched the lives of many through his work and his expeditions, and after his passing we compiled an outpouring of stories and memories from those who knew him best. Some of these tributes came from fellow mountaineers: Ed Viesturs, Sue Giller, Jimmy Chin, Ang Phula Sherpa, and others. Some came from rock climbers who watched Breashers excel on challenging routes in the seventies and eighties. Still other memories came from Breashears’ friends and family back home. Below, we have published these memories and photographs in full, to give you a sense of the man behind the many hard ascents, and the camera he hauled up high peaks.

TM Herbert, 87, March 23

Lifelong rock climber TM Herbert died on March 23, aged 87. Herbert played a key role in some of the most iconic ascents of Yosemite Valley’s “Golden Age,” notably the first ascent of El Capitan’s Muir Wall with Yvon Chouinard in 1965. This was the first route on the formation established by a two-man team, without any fixing or advance recon. Herbert also partnered with Royal Robbins for the first ascent of El Cap’s West Face in 1967.

Born in Utah but raised in Southern California, TM Herbert began climbing at Tahquitz in the late 1950s—sending 5.9 when it was the hardest grade in the sport—and, later, after moving to Berkeley, became a Yosemite Valley fixture.

Herbert was an indefatigable force on the wall, an explorer of big, long vertical routes when these routes weren’t just big or long, but do-or-die endeavors. They took days—sometimes weeks. Gear was homemade. Rescue? Out of the question. Herbert’s climbs were on the rim of imagination, fantastical in commitment and depth.

Neil Cannon, 63, April 1

Neil Patrick Cannon was on the cutting-edge of American rock climbing in the 1980s, tackling some of the hardest traditional routes in the US. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Cannon became a climber in his teen years, while at The Lawrenceville School, a prep academy. “He went on a school trip to Yosemite,” said his brother, John, “and the school trip came home, minus Neil.” Aged 14, Cannon had snuck off the bus and decided he would “stay and live in Yosemite.” This didn’t last—he returned to New Jersey and graduated from Lawrenceville in 1978. Shortly after graduation, at age 17, Cannon returned to Yosemite and climbed El Capitan with someone he’d met in the Camp 4 parking lot.

Cannon went on to become one of America’s strongest climbers, and was one of the first dozen or so people in the world to redpoint 5.14. But he was no mere dirtbag, either. On his mathematics SAT, Cannon netted an 800, a rare perfect score, and balanced stiff climbing with an ambitious and successful professional career. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Dartmouth College (1982, 1985), where he became close friends with portaledge pioneer John Middendorf, who also passed this year. He also co-founded and sold several successful tech companies throughout his life. At the time of his death, he was CEO of LEDdynamics in Vermont. Despite his impressive professional life, his brother said Neil never “fit in well in corporate America,” and was better characterized by his dauntless ambition in the outdoors.

Adam George, 45, April 2

American alpinist and guide Adam George died on April 2, in a helicopter crash while guiding heliski clients near Verbier, Switzerland. George was a widely respected climber and IFMGA guide, a devoted husband, and a loving father. At the time of his death, he lived in Switzerland with his 12-year-old daughter, Olivia, and wife, Caroline, with whom he ran a guiding service, Into the Mountains.

Raised in New Hampshire, George was a keen hockey player in his youth, and began climbing at age 15. He was quickly addicted to the vertical world. By 18, he’d made his first ascent of El Capitan. He attended Vermont’s Middlebury College, studying abroad in New Zealand where he further honed his craft in the country’s Southern Alps. Upon graduation with a BA in Geography, George dove into a life increasingly dedicated to climbing and guiding.

George met his future wife, professional climber Caroline George (née Ware), when she was in Colorado for the Ouray Ice Fest in January 2006. After finishing the Telluride route Ames Ice Hose (WI5 M6 R), Caroline dropped her tools down the climb. George, climbing below, saw the ice axes come spinning past him. She rappelled down. “Knowing Adam, he was probably fuming inside,” Caroline recalled. “But he was like, ‘Oh, a cute Swiss girl!’” The pair struck up a conversation. “One of his favorite musicians was Robert Earl Keen,” Caroline said. “He always loved this song (“Dreadful Selfish Crime”) that goes, I had me a French girlfriend, I loved the way she talked. I was Swiss, but he told me it had a similar effect.”

Álvaro Peiró, 32, April 2

Álvaro “Pop” Peiró died on April 2. He was 32 years old. Peiró, originally from Madrid, Spain, had been living in Mexico since 2020 and spent the last few years as a full-time climbing guide in El Potrero Chico.

Guadalajara-based climber Edgar Carrillo, who met Peiró when he first came to Mexico, said his late friend impressed him immediately. “He was fast, he was strong on the wall,” said Carrillo. Peiró was a versatile, multi-disciplined climber. When he first arrived in Mexico, he traveled around, but when he landed in Potrero, he was hooked. “Once he saw the potential there, he didn’t want to leave,” said Carrillo.

Carrillo said his friend wasn’t just “a seriously strong climber,” someone who could dust hard 5.12 and 5.13 in few attempts; he was also equally stoked for the grueling, sluggish aspects of climbing. “Some people are good climbers, but they’re lazy, they don’t want to do a long approach, carry big packs, put in the work to develop routes,” said Carrillo. “Not him, man. Álvaro was the opposite. He was disciplined, fearless, waking up early every day, always ready to go.”

Ted Wilson, 84, April 11

Climbing pioneer, wilderness advocate, and three-term Salt Lake City mayor Ted Lewis Wilson died on April 11, due to a combination of congestive heart failure and Parkinson’s disease. Wilson, who was born and raised in Salt Lake City, spent much of his life in politics, first as Salt Lake City’s mayor from 1976 to 1985 and later running for governor of Utah and the U.S. Senate. He also served as the director of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics for nearly two decades. Aged 36 when first elected, Wilson was among the youngest mayors in the United States.

Ted Wilson was also a pivotal early member of the Wasatch climbing scene and a cornerstone of the local Alpenbock Climbing Club. He was among the first to establish climbs in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. These included the first documented climb in the canyon, in 1961: Chickenhead Holiday (5.6), and Robbins’ Route and Robbins Crack (5.10), both climbed with Royal Robbins, and ice routes like the ultraclassic Great White Icicle (WI3), which Wilson climbed with Rick Reese in 1962.

Johnny Goicoechea, 40, April

In early September, the climbing community learned of the passing of Johnny Goicoechea, a.k.a. “Johnny G,” a prolific climber and boulderer who established some of Washington and Colorado’s hardest and best routes and boulder problems from the early 2000s through mid-2010s. Johnny G had become something of a living legend, an enigma; social media was flooded with comments mourning Johnny’s loss, recounting memories and impressions, and testifying to Johnny’s influence on the climbing scenes he touched.

For Johnny’s close friends, the emotions around Johnny’s passing were complicated. Johnny had actually died in April—some five months prior—and we hadn’t even known. Many of us had fallen out of touch with him and, for a few years, had only passing glimpses into his life. A text around the holidays, a quick call once a year. Something had changed, but those brief messages had allowed us to believe that Johnny was essentially the same, sending positive wishes and sharing psyche, wanting to talk about anything but himself. Now… dead? Johnny? Really??

Rob Coppolillo, 54, April 18

Rob Coppolillo died while backcountry ski guiding in British Columbia on April 18, 2024. While this cold fact punctuates his life, Rob befriended, mentored, and inspired so many souls throughout his brief, successful 54 years.

Rob was a husband to Rebecca and a father to Dominic and Luca. He was an IFMGA-certified guide and the owner of Vetta Mountain Guides. He loved language, be it writing essays and guidebooks like the indispensable Mountain Guide Manual (which he co-authored with Marc Chauvin) or speaking at length to clients or his cadre of close companions. He was a keen listener and lifelong student who passionately curated and conveyed knowledge. Rob was also very funny, with a sense of humor as twisted as the mountain paths he would endlessly wind whether on bike, skis, or foot. The sum of his parts made us greater.

Robbi Mecus, 52, April 25

Robbi Mecus was a fixture in the Adirondacks, where she worked as a forest ranger for 25 years. Along with being a respected and prolific rescuer of stranded hikers and climbers, described by her colleagues as one of the best rangers in the state, she was also a well-known advocate for greater inclusion in the outdoors.

“She was an incredible climber,” says Katie Ives, the former editor of Alpinist magazine. Ives edited Mecus at the magazine and also climbed with her several times in the Adirondacks and the Gunks. “She was also really encouraging—she’d take people climbing of all ability levels, she was very encouraging of other women, and it was very much about making people feel comfortable in vertical wild places.”

Mecus came out as trans at 44 years old. A couple of years later, she described her reception, as a climber who was now also an out trans woman, in a 2019 Alpinist story called “Perspective.”

Lhakpa Tenji Sherpa, 54, May 7

Lhakpa Tenji Sherpa, 54, passed away on May 7 while descending from the world’s fifth highest peak, Makalu (8,463m), which he had summited the previous day.

Lhakpa Tenji was on Makalu working as a guide for the Nepalese expedition outfitter Seven Summit Treks, the country’s largest commercial mountaineering guiding service. He began feeling unwell after accompanying Jordanian client Ahmad Mohammad Mousa Bani-Hani to the summit, and he died at Camp III (24,442ft) on the Makalu Col, while his fellow guides were attempting to help him off the mountain.

One of six brothers, Lhakpa Tenji was born in the village of Gudel in Nepal’s Solukhumbu district. He began climbing at a young age, following in the footsteps of one of his older brothers, Lhakpa Dorje Sherpa, an eight-time Everest summiter. Lhakpa Tenji summited his first 8,000er, Makalu—the same mountain he died on—in 2004, when he was 34 years old. The following year, he climbed Cho Oyu (8,188 m) without bottled oxygen, and later summited Cho Oyu a second time, as well as Kanchenjunga (8,586m), in addition to guiding and supporting clients on a number of other peaks. By the time of his death, Lhakpa Tenji had also summited Mount Everest (8,848m) on three separate occasions.

Burton “Burt” Angrist, 87, May 17

Shawanagunks climbing pioneer Burton “Burt” Angrist died on May 17 at the age of 87. Angrist climbed across North America, from the sandstone of the American Southwest to the granite of the Bugaboos, but is best known as the author of now classic hardman routes in the Gunks in the 1960s, and as a counterculture fixture in the New York climbing scene for the better part of a century. Angrist and his wife, Anka, owned a cabin in the Gunks from the 1970s, which was a popular hub for visiting climbers. Angrist was an avid activist, supporting the Mohonk Preserve and other regional wilderness areas throughout his life. (Anka, still living, is a member of the Friends of the Shawangunks Board of Directors.)

Angrist was a core member of “The Vulgarians,” a loose collective of young climbers who banded together in the early 1960s in response to the stuffy, insular elitism they perceived from the Appalachian Mountain Club and other prominent Ivy League climbing groups at the time. The Vulgarians, whose ramparts were manned by Gunks luminaries like Dick Williams, Dave Craft, Roman Sadowy, and Art Gran, were routinely fueled by drugs and alcohol, and—in addition to their prowess on the wall—were perhaps best known for climbing naked. Vulgarian chronicler Claude Suhl, who welcomed Angrist into the group in the early 1960s, had an endless slew of “legends, wild times, and near death experiences on and off the rock” with his late friend.

Suhl recalled the gang’s idea—dreamt up one “weed-plethoric inebriatorical night” in the Gunks—to create a “triple front lever.” This stunt involved one climber (Jim McCarthy) getting into a front lever position on the edge of an open trap door in the attic, above a staircase. Another (Richard Goldstone) performed his own front lever while hanging off of McCarthy’s shoulders, and then a third, Angrist, launched a lever from Goldstone’s shoulders.

“No one had calculated that the top leverist would be supporting approximately 450 pounds with his grip on the attic door edge,” Suhl recalled. “For a brief moment all was static—what a sight—a triple front lever!” Then McCarthy’s grip failed. Angrist, on the bottom of the three-man stack, fell onto the edge of the staircase below, landing directly on his spine, and was instantly pancaked by the 300+ pounds of McCarthy and Goldstone. “Exuberance, coupled with inebriatory numbness and weed mellowness, was such that Burt did not seem to audibly register much pain,” remarked Suhl.

Martin Feistl, 27, May 18

Martin Feistl was a climber from a young age, who began to garner media attention when, as a member of the German Mountaineering Club’s Youth Expedition Team from 2016 to 2018, he made an impressive ascent of the West Ridge of Shivling (21,467ft) in the Indian Garhwal, and returned to Europe to devour climbs throughout the Alps. “Martin’s talent and awareness of nature immediately caught my eye,” his friend Simon Gietl said. “He was an alpinist through and through, who loved (and lived) to feel his limits.”

One of his most prominent ascents came two years later, in 2020, when he and David Bruder made the first repeat and first free ascent of the 2,600-foot Sagzahn Verschneidung in Austria. The line was established at M6/A2 by the late David Lama and Peter Mühlberger, and with better conditions Bruder and Feistl freed it at M6 and WI 4. “Fortunately we encountered neither the brittle rock nor any [of the] wild techno climbing that Lama had had to deal with,” Feistl told Planet Mountain at the time.

Bruder and Feistl went on to tackle a number of hard objectives together that season, most notably Stalingrad (WI 7 M8 A1; 3,300ft) just a month later. The effort was shortlisted for a Piolet d’Or. “I shared with Martin some of the most intense and impressive climbs of my late career,” Bruder told Climbing. “We were the young gun and the old-school man. I appreciated his commitment and technical and mental skills… I guess he liked my experience and flexibility.”

Feistl died on Saturday, May 18, following a 130-foot fall while free soloing on the 1,000-foot South Face of the Scharnitzspitze (8,097ft).

Lee Hansche, 46, May 21

Lee Hansche grew up in southern New Hampshire and started climbing with his father at a young age. Neither of the Hansches had any formal training, and the sneaker-clad duo embarked on many ambitious scrambles in New Hampshire’s Rock Rimmon Park. Shortly after, Lee’s father began taking climbing classes so he could set up top ropes for young Lee.

As Hansche’s skills developed, he’d join his dad and brother on adventures to Rumney, bushwhacking and swinging around on ropes draped from the upper reaches of the crag’s steep, overhanging walls. At the time, Rumney was a relatively new climbing area with little publicly accessible information, making the outings true adventures. According to Torie Kidd, Hansche’s wife, this is where his love for technical rock climbing was born.

Through the years, Hansche frequented various climbing areas throughout New England, but he maintained a special love for Rumney. One of his climbing goals was to send every route at Rumney that was 5.12 or easier, and at the time of his passing, he only had one to go: Catch the Wave (5.12c), a steep, overlooked route on the Waimea Cliff.

Hansche died in an accident while route setting at the Vertical Dreams climbing gym in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 21. While the cause of the accident is unclear, Hansche, who had managed the gym for over two decades, was using the appropriate safety gear and was extremely comfortable with the rope systems involved with indoor route setting.

Daniel Frandson, 24, May 31

Daniel Victor Frandson was born in McCall, Idaho but spent most of his upbringing and adult life in and around Boise. An extremely talented student, he studied in honors programs throughout primary school, and in high school earned a gold medal on the prestigious National Latin Exam, among other accolades. After briefly attending the Franciscan University of Steubenville to pursue engineering, Frandson, at 19, took a role at Asana Climbing Gym and quickly became a much-loved member of the Asana family. He drowned while bridge jumping with a friend on Idaho’s Payette River on May 31. He was 24 years old.

With climbing, Frandson “took a hobby and turned it into his way of life,” his family wrote in his obituary. First as a routestripper, and later as a setter, Frandson was a tireless worker, and soon served as Asana’s jack-of-all-trades. “Daniel was passionate, meticulous, and detail-oriented,” fellow routesetter and close friend Brannon Frank told Climbing.

Though Frandson climbed V10, Frank said that what he’ll remember most about his late friend wasn’t how strong of a boulderer he was, but his deep-seated belief in the importance of the little things, even seemingly minor and inconsequential details. “He always wanted everything to be perfect—not only the movement [of the climb], but the angle of our start tags, the look of the down-climbing jugs, the design details of our foothold carts,” Frank recalled. The gym valued Frandson’s dogged work ethic so much that they humorously created a “Daniel Multiplier (3x), that we applied to the budget of any project that he was working on.”

Stewart M. Green, 71, June 4

Stewart M. Green, the “Fred Beckey of adventure guides,” embarked on his final adventure on June 4. He was 71.

Green provided legions of climbers with routes to climb, but his books and photos will be his enduring legacy. Green penned and photographed some 45 to 70 books (the precise count is unknown). You may have gotten his beta in Rock Climbing Colorado with its 1,800+ routes, or Rock Climb New England, Best Climbs Moab, or Rock Climbing Europe, to cite just a few of his works. You may not be familiar with his Best Easy Day Hikes Phoenix, Best Lake Hikes Colorado, Scenic Driving Arizona or Scenic Driving California’s Pacific Coast—Green wrote and photographed outside the climbing world perhaps even more than he did within it.

A freelance writer and photographer since 1977, Green was steeped in an old-school work ethic and stayed the course. He did much of the research for his books himself, often climbing most of the routes in his guides, especially the ones covering his home turf around Colorado Springs. For his book on the Pacific Coast he drove the route four times and took 20,000 photos. For Scenic Driving Arizona he logged 10,000 miles. His last book, Best Easy Day Hikes Phoenix, was published in September.

John Middendorf, 64, June 21

In the winter of 1986, John Middendorf, Steve Bosque, and the late Mike Corbett shivered, nearly hypothermic, on the South Face of Half Dome. It was the 25-year-old Middendorf’s 40th big Yosemite route. On their fourth day on the wall, light rain prompted the team to don their portaledge flies. Their radio promised clearing weather, but, as the day progressed, the rain and wind instead intensified. The tall, lanky Middendorf hucked the radio off the wall in frustration. By the next morning, they were being smashed against the wall by 50+ mph winds, and their portaledges had fallen apart. Their frozen ropes and the traversing nature of the route made retreat impossible.

John William Middendorf IV, who passed in his sleep on June 21 while visiting his family in Rhode Island, was born in New York City on November 18, 1959, the son of John William Middendorf II, former Secretary of the Navy, and Isabelle Paine Middendorf. He grew up with his three older sisters, Fran, Martha, and Amy, and his younger brother, Roxy Paine, in Connecticut, the Netherlands, and Virginia.

Middendorf began climbing in Colorado, when, at age 14, his mother sent him to the summer camp at the Skyline Ranch Mountaineering School in Telluride Colorado. It was a decision that changed his life.

Keita Kurakami, 38, June 26

Japanese rock climber Keita Kurakami passed away on June 26, following a heart attack on Mount Fuji (12,388ft). Kurakami was 38 years old. He is survived by a wife, older brother, mother, and father.

Kurakami was a steel-nerved climber at home in Japan, pioneering necky trad routes like The Votive Light (5.13d/14a R) and Pass It On (5.14+ R). He also sent hard sport, notably The V (5.14d/15a), Isono Namihei (5.14+), and Mare (5.14c). The latter, which he rope-soloed in 2019, is likely the world’s hardest lead rope-solo free ascent. Kurakami also pioneered a spread of sketchy highball boulders, usually ground-up (and, in trademark style, seldom graded).

Outside of the Japanese climbing scene Kurakami was best known for free climbing The Nose (5.14a) in 2017. At the time, climbing media lauded Kurakami as the fifth person to free the route, but he disputed the idea, as he and partner Yusuke Sato did not send ground up, in a continuous push, and instead redpointed each pitch individually, some out of order. “[Some people say] my ascent can be accepted free ascent, even so, if I have doubts myself, I can’t agree with it,” he wrote at the time. “I will come back again to climb it in better style.”

Kazuya Hiraide, 45, July 27

At the time of his death, in July 2024, Kazuya Hiraide was perhaps the most lauded and respected figure in Japanese alpinism. Over the last 25 years, he led a diverse and prolific career in the world’s Greater Ranges, both as a ski mountaineer and a pioneering alpinist. He and his climbing partner Kenro Nakajima died in a fall while attempting the steep West Face of K2 (8,611m).

Though he kept a low public profile and had few sponsors, Hiraide’s climbing resume is staggering. Nearly every year for the last 25 years he embarked on serious expeditions to the Karakoram or Himalaya. His early efforts included Cho Oyu and other 8,000-meter mainstays—he also summited Everest three times, though he rarely mentioned those ascents in conversation—but as he honed his skills, Hiraide’s passion quickly became exploratory routes on remote, highly technical peaks, far from crowds and guidebook information.

Takero Nakajima, 39, July 27

Takero “Kenro” Nakajima was one of Japan’s most-respected alpinists. He died with longtime rope companion Kazuya Hiraide, during an attempt of the West Face of K2 (8,611m).

Kenro Nakajima was interested in the mountains from a young age. His father was a mountaineer and would often take baby Nakajima into the hills around their home in Nara Prefecture. His father died of cancer when Nakajima was only 5 years old, though, so he had scant time to pass his skills and mountain philosophy on to his son.

“To be honest, I don’t really remember much about that time myself,” Nakajima admitted in an interview with Iwatani-Primus. “I only have vague memories of his face, and I can’t even remember what his voice sounds like. But the mountain behind our house that my father led me [up] was the origin of my climbing, and it was what made me fall in love with nature and start mountain climbing.”

Javier Botella de Maglia, 67, August 3

Javier Botella de Maglia died on August 2, during an attempt on Kazakhstan’s highest mountain, Khan Tengri (22,999ft). Botella, a 67-year-old doctor, had retired from a career at La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital two years prior to focus full-time on his lifelong passion of mountaineering.

A memorial penned for Botella by the Societat Excursionista de València (Valencia Hiking Society), of which Botella was a prominent member, said that he became interested in mountains at the age of 11, after reading Maurice Herzog’s Annapurna. “Books awakened in me the desire to be a mountaineer,” Botella once said.

After early years rambling and climbing in Valencia’s Serra Calderona, Botella spent the next five decades in Earth’s highest mountain ranges, all the while balancing a demanding medical career as an intensive care specialist. Among other exploits, Botella participated in the first Valencian expedition to Everest (8,848m), in 1991, and assisted in a number of attempts on Gasherbrum II (8,035m) and Cho Oyu (8,188m), summiting the latter in 1995.

Archil Badriashvili, 34, August 10

One of Georgia’s most prolific alpine climbers died in his native Caucasus on Saturday, August 10. Archil Badriashvili was descending from Shkhelda (14,396ft) with three companions—Beshken Pilpan, and the brothers Avto and Nariman Japaridze—when a storm hit the peak. It remains unclear whether he was hit by lighting or struck by rockfall, but the outcome was that Badriashvili fell from the ridge at an elevation near 12,500 feet and perished. Due to the hostile weather conditions, his three companions were also unable to descend and were later evacuated by helicopter.

The 34-year-old Badriashvili, who worked as a physician and mountain guide, was much-loved in the international alpine community. He was known for his great pride in his native Georgia and his efforts to promote Georgian mountaineering.

A keen and colorful chronicler, Badriashvili contributed 17 reports to the American Alpine Journal in the last eight years, documenting his (and other climbers’) adventures in the Caucasus. He was particularly proud of an exhaustive 2022 report on the history of Ushba (15,453ft). Last year, Badriashvili put up a new route on the south face of Tetnuldi (15,938ft) and the “Express Traverse” of Shkhara (17,070ft), the highest peak in Georgia, with close friend Temo Qurdiani. He also made the first winter ascent of the peak’s south face in 2018—a heinous, 13-day sufferfest.

Sergey Nilov, 47, August 17

Sergey Nilov, one of the world’s most accomplished high-altitude climbers and a two-time Piolet d’Or recipient, died on August 18, 2024, at age 47, in an avalanche on Gasherbrum IV (7,925m) in Pakistan. He was attempting to recover the body of his longtime climbing partner and dear friend Dmitry Golovchenko, who had perished on the same mountain exactly one year prior.

Nilov discovered mountaineering in an unexpected encounter while on a canoe trip in the early 2000s, where he met some climbers and was immediately fascinated by the steep walls and snow capped peaks around. This chance meeting led him to join Moscow’s CSKA Demchenko climbing club, where he met Golovchenko in 2002. Their first climb together in the Caucasus mountains near Elbrus marked the beginning of one of alpinism’s most formidable partnerships.

Dave Rearick, 92, August 21

David “Dave” Rearick climbed across the western United States, but there was no mountain that captured his imagination more than Longs Peak (14,255ft) in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rearick, who was born in Illinois and raised in the flatlands of Florida, didn’t taste the mountains until he was a teenager, when he attended summer camp at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. “Dave used to tell this story, about how he and a friend snuck out of the camp, and hiked to the summit of Longs via the Cables Route,” recalled longtime friend Bill Briggs. The two boys found their way back in the wee hours of the morning, after the whole camp had mobilized to search for them. But whatever punishment he received, Rearick clearly thought it was worth it. Later that summer, he snuck out again with a buddy and climbed the 1,000-foot Alexander’s Chimney (5.5), with “just a few pitons, fifty feet of rope, and a hatchet,” said Briggs.

Tony Sartin, 57, September 4

Antony “Tony” Sartin, a kindergarten teacher at Hazeltine Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles, was a prolific, widely-respected Southern California climber and route developer. In addition to his full-time role as an educator, he worked on weekends and during the summer as a climbing guide for climbing school Vertical Adventures.

Bob Gaines, the owner of Vertical Adventures, was one of Sartin’s close friends. Gaines said that Sartin—who had worked at VA for over two decades—stood out as one of the most talented guides he’d ever worked with in his 40-year career, someone who was perhaps even more stoked about the sheer art of guiding than even their own personal climbing.

“Some guides, they work at it, but you don’t really see that love for teaching,” Gaines said. “Tony had that love. The kids loved him, the adults loved him. He was the consummate teacher. He had a joy for life, and for climbing, that was infectious, and it made him one of the most respected instructors in Southern California.” Compared to his kindergarten students (which Sartin jokingly dubbed “ragers”), he found it a pleasure to work with even the most frustrating guided climbing clients, Gaines said, simply because he enjoyed the sport so much.

Chris Jones, 84, September 17

Christopher Alan Giesen Jones, one of the most accomplished alpinists of the 1960s and 1970s, died on September 17, 2024, at age 84. He is best known for establishing some of the most difficult and intimidating alpine routes in the world, such as on the North Face of North Twin, Alberta, which has still never been repeated, and for authoring the history book Climbing in North America. His climbing partners included Warren Harding, Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, and George Lowe, among many others.

Chris was born in Dorking, Surrey, on November 24, 1939. He studied at Marlborough College and earned a degree in engineering from King’s College London. Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, Chris climbed extensively in England, Wales, and the Alps, where he spent five seasons progressing through routes such as the Walker Spur (ED1 6a/5.10-) on the Grandes Jorasses, in Chamonix. He also made an ascent of the Bonatti Pillar (5a/5.7 A1) on Les Drus, which was one of the most famous routes in the Alps until a 2005 rockfall destroyed it. Chris partnered with Americans for some of these alpine missions, including John Harlin and Royal Robbins, and he became inspired by their descriptions of unclimbed walls in the US.

Stewart Porter, 21, September 22

Stewart was known as one of the most psyched climbers in the Minnesota and Wisconsin climbing community, especially among trad and adventure climbers. He was a familiar and friendly face at Willow River State Park, Robinson Park in Sandstone, Barn Bluff on He Mni Can land, and Palisade Head on the North Shore of Lake Superior. He made it his goal to make friends with everyone he encountered at the crag, and made a positive impact on everyone, no matter how deep the relationship was.

After getting into rock climbing near his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Stewart quickly became enthralled. In his college freshman year, rumors circulated around the University of Minnesota Climbing Team that the new kid “didn’t believe in rest days.” The team captains got wind and tried to explain the importance of so called “rest and recovery,” but Stewart was too psyched to listen. He quickly progressed through the grades and expanded his skillset into various types of climbing. His latest obsession was crack climbing, which he also picked up with ease.

Francesco Favilli, 44, September 3

Italian climbers Francesco Favilli and Filippo Zanin were killed in a fall on the South Face of Marmolada (10,968ft/3,342m), in the Italian Dolomites, on September 3. They were much-loved members of the greater Italian climbing community, popular faces at the crags and peaks around their home of Treviso.

Francesco Favilli worked as a brand manager for Italian outdoor footwear brand Scarpa and was a highly experienced climber, having established Mixte Feeling (M6+ WI 5; 1,840ft) on the Northeast Face of Monte Civetta (10,564ft) with Christian Casanova and Mathieu Maynadier in January. A year prior, he and Maynadier traveled to Quebec, Canada, and linked up the WI 5+ ice classics La Loutre and La Pomme d’Or for 2,000 feet of steep climbing. Favilli had also previously climbed one of Marmolada’s hardest rock routes, the 1,300-foot Invisibilis (5.13a) with Grasso.

Filippo Zanin, 36, September 3

Italian climbers Filippo Zanin and Francesco Favilli were killed in a fall on the South Face of Marmolada (10,968ft/3,342m), in the Italian Dolomites, on September 3. They were much-loved members of the greater Italian climbing community, popular faces at the crags and peaks around their home of Treviso.

Zanin met his wife, Giulia Parise, at a house party eight years ago. They fell in love quickly, and less than a year later had quit their jobs and began traveling the world. They first landed in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, where Zanin climbed a number of high peaks including Urus (17,792ft), Nevado Pisco (18,871ft), and Tocllaraju (19,797ft). Parise told Climbing that Zanin was particularly proud of his ascent of the 3,000-foot North Face of Ranrapalca (20,217ft). Parise and Zanin temporarily settled in Melbourne, Australia, where they worked in an ice cream shop together for nearly a year. “I was selling the ice cream, he was making it,” she recalled, smiling. “Besides the birth of our daughter, these are some of the greatest memories I have with him.”

Bob Williams, 96, September 3

Robert Fones Williams, better known to his friends as Bob, was a celebrated mathematician, skilled dancer, and early American rock climber. Williams was a member of the University of Chicago Mountaineering Club in the 1960s, and a rock pioneer at destinations like Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin, the Tetons, and the Black Hills, with fellow mathematicians Richard Goldstone, Mike Freedman, John Gill, and Georges de Rham, among others.

Born in Bessemer, Alabama, and raised in Austin, Texas, Williams wrote in his autobiography that “The Great Depression, World War II, and rigid Jim Crow defined the young lives of my two brothers and me.” Neither of his parents had attended high school, but Williams and his two brothers managed not only to do that, but to attend university, as well. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1948 with a degree in mathematics, and entered a graduate program at the University of Virginia.

Michael Gardner, 32, October 7

The word “legend” gets thrown around too much in our alpine-climbing circles. But if Mike Gardner didn’t earn it, then no one has. His style was all his own: a bushy mustache capping a wiry frame, usually clad in blue jeans and a pearl-snap shirt (often sleeveless), driving a beater truck and riding his skateboard everywhere from Ridgway, CO, to Nepal. Stories of Mike are the canon of barely believable (but nonetheless true) mythology: After just a one-hour introductory seminar, Mike nearly broke the U.S. breath-hold record, clocking roughly eight and half minutes; and made the Arc’teryx athlete team’s radar when, as a safety guide for one of their ski photo shoots, he offered to help, donning the athlete’s jacket and hucking a backflip for the camera to everyone’s astonishment.

Mike was a reluctant climbing “professional,” who, prior to signing with Arc’teryx, didn’t have an Instagram page nor a knack for self-marketing. “He wanted a guarantee that he could maintain his authenticity while pursuing climbing as a career,” Athlete Team Manager Justin Sweeny said. “I reassured him he could. And we started to build what was the most unique athlete relationship I have ever been a part of. … Mike’s legacy lives on through all the people he touched and his soul rests easy in the land of the giants.”

He died in a fall on Jannu East (7,468m), in Nepal’s Kangchenjunga region, on October 7, while attempting a new route with longtime friend and climbing partner Sam Hennessey up the imposing North Face—one of the great unclimbed faces of the world.

James Christopher Gay, 39, October 15

To many members of the local community, the traveling dirtbags and the weekend warriors, Chris was a fixture of Yosemite’s warmer seasons. His easily recognized white and yellow van was a comforting sight, providing reassurance that he was around.

On the afternoon of October 15, Chris told his friends at the Tuolumne Meadows Search and Rescue site that he was going out to free solo Hobbit Book, a 5.7 that he had soloed many times before. The following morning Chris’s body was found at the base of the slabs below the route.

“We lost a true brother, friend, mentor, inspiration, philosopher, super athlete, and goofball, one of the most wonderful, loving, and lovable people,” says Roddy McCalley, Chris’s longtime friend and climbing partner. “Filled with wonder for this world, Chris questioned everything and held himself to the highest standard. He could be serious, stoic, hard on himself at times, and at other times he could be the funniest, most playful, goofiest friend you could ever want to frolic in the mountains with.”

Maksym Petrenko, 46, October 15

Ukrainian rock climber Maksym Petrenko, 46, died on October 15. He was serving with the Ukrainian Armed Forces to repel Russia’s invasion of his home country, when he was struck by mortar fire amid the ongoing battle for Toretsk.

Born in Luhansk in 1978, Petrenko was among the strongest climbers to come out of Eastern Europe in the early days of competition climbing. He was a fixture on the international competition circuit throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, competing in 41 IFSC World Cups and seven World Championships. Petrenko won gold at Youth World Championships in 1997, and podiumed five times on the Open circuit. He redpointed 5.14c outdoors when 5.15a was the world’s hardest grade, and remains the only Ukrainian to win a Lead World Championship medal (1999).

Dutch climber Jorg Verhoeven met Petrenko while training in Innsbruck in the early 2000s, and competed with him on the the close-knit comp circuit of the time. Verhoeven described a fiendishly strong climber who, unlike Western European climbers like himself, had little to no financial and logistical support and scant training infrastructure at home in Ukraine, but managed to bootstrap his way through competitions.

The competitive rock scene at the time was far more intimate than today’s far-reaching World Cup circuit. “He was kind of an outsider,” Verhoeven said. “There was a small group of Ukrainians and Russians who might attend these comps, but it was always just a couple of people. As a Dutch climber, I was kind of by myself, too, so we became friends.” Verhoeven said Petrenko was something of an introvert, “but when you broke through that barrier you could see a caring person, and an incredibly psyched climber. He always found his joy in life through climbing.”

Armando Menocal, 83, October 20

Armando Menocal, a Cuban-American civil rights lawyer and passionate climber who played a pivotal role in securing and preserving climbing access across the United States and Latin America, passed away on October 20, 2024, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 83.

A tireless advocate for climbers, he dedicated decades of his life to ensuring the sport remained accessible and minimally regulated. He is survived by his wife, Laura Rodriguez; his three sons, Matt, Diego, and Luis Manuel; his grandchildren, Alejandro, Ariel, Sierra, Wyatt, and Amelia; and his beloved dog, Wasabi. His son Marshall predeceased him in 2023.

Born in Miami, Florida, on March 31, 1941, Menocal was a third-generation Cuban-American whose great-great-grandfather immigrated to the US to escape the Cuban War for Independence. After graduating from the University of Florida and the George Washington Law School, Menocal moved to San Francisco and became deeply involved in the social and political movements of the 1960s, including the anti-war movement and poverty law. For 25 years, he worked as a civil rights lawyer, championing the rights of marginalized communities.

Ondrej Húserka, 34, October 31

Over the last decade, Ondrej Húserka completed ambitious, difficult climbs around the world, becoming a leading alpine force in his native Slovakia, and a much-lauded member of the Slovak Mountaineering Union JAMES (SHS). Húserka, 34, died on October 31, after making the first ascent of the 2,220-meter East Face of remote peak Langtang Lirung (7,234m), in Nepal. He was climbing with Marek Holeček, via a route that Holeček later christened Ondrova Hvězda (Ondra’s Star) in his late partner’s honor. Húserka perished after a rappel anchor broke on descent, and he fell into a crevasse.

Húserka spent most of his life in his native Ľuborča, a small town in the White Carpathian mountains of northwestern Slovakia. Born into a mountain-loving family, he was on the wall from age 15, first at the sport crag Skalka, near the town of Trenčín. Húserka took to rock quickly, and redpointed 5.12d after climbing for barely a year. He graduated university with a degree in mechanical engineering, but climbing soon became his main focus, and when he wasn’t on the wall he made a living as a high-angle ropes specialist to make ends meet and fund his climbs. “His natural talent was evident in his fluid, fearless movement,” said his sister, Katarína. “His greatest strength, however, lay in his psychological resilience, a quality he demonstrated repeatedly—notably during his onsight ascent of the Via Attraverso il Pesce (5.12b/c; 900m) on Marmolada, where he led all the pitches.”

Mark Chapman, 70, November 25

Mark “Chappy” Chapman passed away on November 25, after a hard-fought battle with an aggressive brain tumor (glioblastoma). Chapman was a key figure in the Stonemaster era of Yosemite rock climbing, and a close friend of pioneers like Ron Kauk and John Long. He participated in several dozen high-quality rock first ascents in the 1970s and 1980s, and perhaps most famously, the first ascent of ice line The Widow’s Tears (WI5) with Kevin Worrall in 1975. The 1,000-foot line rarely forms, but is the longest continuous ice route in the Lower 48, and took Worrall and Chapman three days. He called it “the best adventure I ever had in the Valley.”

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Chapman first arrived in Yosemite Valley in the summer of 1971, aged 16. “My mom took me to the grocery store, bought me a bunch of peanut butter and other staples and put me on the bus to the valley,” he wrote on SuperTopo, recalling his first days in Yosemite. “I remember arriving at Yosemite Lodge being somewhat overwhelmed and lost but making my way to Camp 4.” Chapman learned the ropes under visionaries like Jim Bridwell, Mark Klemens, and Jim Donini, and quickly became a part of the Camp 4 cadre on the cutting-edge of big wall free climbing.

Kurt Blair, 56, December 1

One common thread, from everyone I’ve talked to, is that Kurt was a collector, and a man of lists. Early on, he collected stamps and coins—a seed that was planted by his grandfather, Robert Blair Sr., who was also a climber and first ascensionist. He also collected books, magazines, and expedition postcards; he had every single copy of Climbing magazine, Rock and Ice, Alpinist, and The Climbing Zine. He was obsessive about getting the books signed, and would travel extensive distances to go to presentations and slideshows, where he would bring multiple copies of books to be signed by the authors. His collection, which I just got to see for the first time during the weekend before his memorial, is the most impressive personal collection I’ve ever seen.

Kurt chased lists in his climbing as well, but never boasted about it. In fact, I truly had little idea of how prolific a climber and adventurer he was before he died. He had climbed most of the “50 Classic Climbs” from Steve Roper and Allen Steck’s famous book that guided a generation.

He climbed to the high points of all 50 states, which ranged from the epic to the obscure. He climbed all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, the 100 highest peaks in Colorado, and many 13,000-foot peaks in Colorado. He climbed five of the seven highest summits of the world, and would have likely climbed Mt. Everest in 2015. But when he was at basecamp, a devastating earthquake struck and the mountain was closed for safety reasons.