The Cutting Edge

The north pillar of 6,487-meter Tengkangpoche in Nepal is one of the great unclimbed prizes of the Himalaya. In October, Quentin Roberts from Canada and Juho Knuuttila from Finland spent six days on the wall, reaching a new high point. A blank slab and the climbers' chosen style (no bolts, no portaledge) ended their attempt just a few pitches from easier ground. In this episode, Whitney Clark interviews Quentin Roberts about the climb, the style, and what he plans to do differently when he returns to Tengkangpoche in 2020. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In this episode we travel to the Pamir Alai mountains of Kyrgyzstan for a special two-part show. The first part features a conversation with Nik Berry and Eric Bissell, who went to Kyrgyzstan in August with Dave Allfrey and Brent Barghahn to attempt the first free ascent of a huge wall in the Ak-Su valley: the northwest face of Pik Slesova. Their route eventually went free at 5.13a, with eight pitches of 5.12 or harder. The line the Americans chose was partly along an old Russian climb (the Moroz Route), which previously had been followed in part by another American team, Conrad Anker and Alex Lowe, way back in 1995. In the second part of this episode, we chat with Anker about his climb, and how he feels about modernizing older routes for free climbing. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Koyo Zom in northern Pakistan is nearly 7,000 meters tall, and its stunning north face looks like a massive medieval fortress. No one had climbed or even attempted Koyo Zom for more than 40 years. In September, Tom Livingstone and four British friends set out to change that. Dividing into two teams, they attempted two lines on Koyo Zom. Tom and his climbing partner, Ally Swinton, succeeded on a very difficult route they called the Great Game (1,500m, ED+). After descending most of the mountain, on the way back to base camp, they had a serious accident, which ended with a helicopter rescue. In Episode 24 of the Cutting Edge, Tom Livingstone talks with the AAJ’s Chris Kalman about the climb, the rescue, and how the “asterisk” on the climb affects his feelings about it. The Cutting Edge is sponsored by Hilleberg the Tentmaker (hilleberg.com). This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Vitaliy Musiyenko is the most prolific climber of long new routes in the Sierra in modern history. This summer was no exception, including one line that recently was called "The Rostrum of Sequoia." In this interview with AAJ contributing editor Whitney Clark, Vitaliy describes how he transformed from an overweight and apathetic high schooler to the master of modern Sierra climbing, plus the joys of 18-mile approaches, his planned guidebook to the Range of Light, and how every age of climbing can be a "golden age." The Cutting Edge is sponsored by Hilleberg the Tentmaker. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

At sunset on August 5, 2019, Steve Swenson, Graham Zimmerman, Chris Wright, and Mark Richey stood on top of Link Sar, a 7,041-meter peak in Pakistan that had resisted numerous attempts dating back to 1979. The successful climb of the southeast face was the culmination of two months of effort by a powerful team of American climbers: two veterans in their 60s, and two of the leading alpinists of today’s younger generation. Our guests for this episode are Steve Swenson, author of the recent book “Karakoram,” about 40 years of climbing in Pakistan, and Graham Zimmerman, the youngest member of the expedition. The two describe this very complex mountain, where just identifying a reasonable line took multiple years of attempts, and their nine-day round trip from base camp, which drew on the deepest reservoirs of every member's strengths. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Thirty-one-year old Barbara "Babsi" Zangerl is one of the world's most accomplished all-around rock climbers. She started climbing at age 14, and early on she focused on bouldering. After herniating a disk in her back in 2009, she switched to roped climbing and rapidly expanded her horizons. She was the first woman to complete the so-called Alpine Trilogy of long, often run-out 5.14 testpieces in Europe. And in June she completed her fourth El Cap free climb. Only Hazel Findlay from Great Britain has done as many. Babsi has done the first female free ascents of Zodiac and El Niño, both 5.13+, and in December 2017 she and her partner Jacopo Larcher did the second ever ascent of Magic Mushroom, said to be El Cap’s second most difficult free route. In June this year, she free climbed PreMuir with Jacopo. This wasn’t Babsi’s most difficult El Cap free route, but it exemplified the style she prefers: ground-up ascents of extremely difficult big walls. Chris Kalman caught up with Babsi at her home in Austria, shortly after she returned from a climbing trip to South Africa. They debriefed the PreMuir climb, including the many double dynos the 5-foot-3-inch climber required to free the route, and spoke about her future ambitions on the world's great walls. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In this episode we’re venturing into the world of FKTs: the Fastest Known Times for mountain ascents, alpine traverses, and similar feats. Our guest is Karl Egloff, a mountain guide who was virtually unknown outside his home in Ecuador until 2014, when he set the fastest known time for running up and down Kilimanjaro in Africa. The previous record was held by some guy named Kilian Jornet. Since then Egloff has broken two more records set by the famed Spanish mountain runner, first on Aconcagua and then, just last month, on Denali. This was Egloff’s second attempt on Denali, and he did it in just an eight-day visit to the mountain. On June 20, supported by his friend Nicolás Miranda, he raced up the West Buttress Route from Kahiltna base to the summit in 7 hours and 40 minutes, more than two hours faster than Jornet. Then he turned around and ran back, beating Jornet’s round trip by a few minutes, even though the Spaniard skied most of the way down. In this very specialized side of mountaineering, Karl Egloff is on another level. The AAJ’s Chris Kalman caught up with him at his home in Quito. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In early April 2019, Luka Lindič and Ines Papert teamed up with Brette Harrington to climb a major new route in the Canadian Rockies: the complete east face of Mt. Fay. Chris Kalman spoke with them about this wild new line, along with the paradoxical allure of these complex and dangerous mountains. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker, with additional support for this episode from Black Diamond Equipment. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

In October, Jerome Sullivan and two friends succeeded on the south pillar of Cerro San Lorenzo, perhaps the most difficult unclimbed summit in Patagonia. It was a "terrible" climb, but a truly grand adventure, Jerome says. In episode 18 of the Cutting Edge, Jerome and Chris Kalman tell us all about it. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

The Patagonia season has just come to a close, and so we asked the experts, Rolando Garibotti and Kelly Cordes, to go beyond the headlines and talk in depth about a wild new route, a ground-breaking, no-rope solo climb of Fitz Roy, and a series of very bad accidents and rescues. What's it all mean? Find out in this episode's deep dive into all things Patagonia. The Cutting Edge is presented by Hilleberg the Tentmaker. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club. Photo courtesy of Rolando Garibotti.