Expedition Journal

Reportedly, somebody asked Edmund Hillary on his way back from a successful first ascent of Everest in 1953 whether he would consider climbing Ama Dablam. His reply was 'It can't be done!' A few years later, in 1961, an American team that included Barry Bishop (Brent … [Read more...]

    As we are walking down from the summit of Denali at midnight, I gain a second wind. I now lead the team down an exposed steep ridge. We are still very high at over 17,000ft. Clouds form a cotton wool blanket over the valley. Only Mounts Foraker and … [Read more...]

  Yesterday, on June 11 2016, at 8pm AKS our team has made a small contribution to mountaineering history. Oswald Freire and Joshua Jarrin, my Equadorian climbing partners, became the first South Americans to summit Denali via the Cassin ridge, the biggest single … [Read more...]

  Epic is the only word I have for the last 48 hours of climbing the Cassin ridge route on Denali. True alpine adventure with no climbing aids like belays or fixed ropes, utter remoteness, extreme exposure and bestial beauty. Wednesday, the first day of the climb … [Read more...]

After 4 days of waiting in a whiteout, last night we used a brief break in weather to move up the Death Valley to our cache. We traded the comfort of two tents, fresh food and avalanche-safe location for a small bivy tent, freeze-dried food and a campsite surrounded by … [Read more...]