The Cutting Edge
Episodes
Massive Climbs and Wild Adventures in Mozambique
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The enormous granite peaks of Mozambique are among Africa's most impressive rock formations, yet fewer than a dozen climbing teams have ever explored ...
Eight Women, Six New Routes in Greenland
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Last summer, the Women's Young Alpinist Team of the Swiss Alpine Club journeyed to East Greenland—without ever boarding a plane—and they climbed s...
Sasha DiGiulian on El Cap's Direct Line
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In November, Sasha DiGiulian free climbed The Direct Line (a.k.a. Platinum Wall), a 39-pitch 5.13d route on El Cap, in a 23-day push, including nine d...
Colin Haley's Cerro Torre Winter Solo
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On September 7, Colin Haley reached the summit of Cerro Torre all alone. This was the first winter solo of Patagonia's stunning granite needle—and t...
The Coveted Southeast Pillar of Ultar Sar Is Finally Climbed
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In June 2025, Ethan Berman, Sebastian Pelletti and Maarten van Haeren spent ten days climbing and descending the enormous Southeast Pillar of 7,388-me...
Finding Providence in the Alaska Range: Anna Pfaff, Andres Marin and Tad McCrea
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On their second attempt in two years, in April 2025, Anna Pfaff and Andres Marin completed a direct new route up the south face of Mt. Providence in t...
Big Walls on Baffin Island: Brandon Adams, Miles Fullman and Sam Stuckey
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Three climbers from the U.S. spent nearly two months last summer in Baffin Island's Auyuittuq National Park, and they came away with three long new ro...
First Ascent of Yashkuk Sar: Dane Steadman, with guests Kelly Cordes and Graham Zimmerman
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In September, three young American climbers—August Franzen, Dane Steadman, and Cody Winckler—completed the first ascent of Yashkuk Sar I in northw...
Babsi Zangerl Flashes El Cap
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Babsi Zangerl’s flash ascent of Free Rider on El Capitan in November—the first flash of any El Cap big-wall free route—was a highlight of the ye...
Kilian Jornet's Mind-Blowing Traverse of the Alps
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Born and raised in the heart of the Pyrenees, Kilian Jornet is the GOAT of mountain running and skimo, and he’s an accomplished climber too. This pa...
Mt. Dickey: A New Route and a Brilliant History
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alaska’s Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier has captured the attention of alpinists from around the world for generations. Mt. Dickey and the other gia...
Christian Black, Vitaliy Musiyenko and Hayden Wyatt: A First Ascent in India
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For our final episode of the 2023 season, we’re heading to Kishtwar in northern India, an area of very dramatic granite peaks, most of which have on...
Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell and Alan Rousseau: Jannu North Face
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On October 12, climbers Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell and Alan Rousseau summited 7,710-meter Jannu, or Khumbakarna, by a new route up the north face, ...
Connor Herson and Fan Yang: 5.13+ on Mt. Whitney
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In late September, Connor Herson and Fan Yang free climbed Hairline on the east face of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48. Hairline is a v...
Kazyua Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima: The Secret Line in the Hindu Kush
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is all about Tirich Mir in Pakistan’s High Hindu Kush. This past summer, two Japanese climbers completed an ascent of the secretive nor...
Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer: Fun Hogs for the 21st Century
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah McNair-Landry and Erik Boomer only started climbing a few years ago, and their technical level maxes out around 5.11. Yet their extended, multi-...
The Cowboy Direct on Trango Tower: Jordan Cannon, Jesse Huey and Matt Segal
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This summer, Matt Segal recruited his old friend Jesse Huey and an alpine newbie, Jordan Cannon, for an attempt on Trango Tower in Pakistan. And not j...
Mark Richey and Will Carey: An Enormous Rock Climb in Africa
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In July 2023, four climbers from New England—Will Carey, Taki Miyamoto, Ray Rice, and Mark Richey—completed what just might be the longest pure ro...
A Beautiful New Route on Mt. Huntington: Zac Colbran, Dane Steadman and Grant Stewart
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Often described as one of the most beautiful mountains in North America, Mt. Huntington has been drawing top alpinists to the Alaska Range ever since ...
Jackson Marvell: New Route on Mt. Dickey in Alaska
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Cutting Edge returns for season five with Jackson Marvell, a 27-year-old alpinist from Utah who just completed his second new route up the mile-hi...
A Bold Way Down Denali: Cutting-Edge Ski Alpinism with Tiphaine Duperier
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tiphaine Duperier and Boris Langenstein from France have made first ski descents in many parts of Asia. But until 2022, Tiphaine had never been to Nor...
Ethan Berman and Maarten Van Haeren: How to Climb a New Route in Nepal
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered how ordinary climbers manage to put together an expedition to the Himalaya? Our guests Ethan Berman and Maarten Van Haeren just...
Steve House, Matt Cornell and Rob Smith: Single Push on Denali’s Slovak Direct
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With only about a dozen ascents in nearly four decades, the Slovak Direct route on Denali's south face is one of North America's premier hard climbs. ...
Colin Haley: Winter Solo on Fitz Roy
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In mid-September, American Colin Haley, 38, added another impressive solo ascent to his long list of ground-breaking alpine climbs (both roped and unr...
Fabian Buhl and Will Sim: New Frontiers of Paragliding and Alpinism
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In July, German climber Fabian Buhl and Will Sim from the U.K. reached the summit of a 5,800-meter rock and ice tower in Pakistan. Their first ascent ...
Vince Anderson and Josh Wharton on Jirishanca
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
5.13 M7 WI6. These are the kinds of numbers that catch climbers’ attention, especially when you’re talking about climbing a 6,000-meter peak in Pe...
Pumari Chhish East Climbed at Last
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pumari Chhish East, a nearly 7,000-meter peak in the Karakoram, had been the goal of at least six expeditions over the last 15 years. In late June, th...
Changabang: A Legendary Route Repeated
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1976, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker from Great Britain climbed the west face of Changabang (6,880m) in India, the most technical climb at this alti...
Clint Helander and Andres Marin in Alaska
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In late March, Clint Helander and Andres Marin climbed the direct east face of Golgotha in Alaska's Revelation Mountains. The new route, Shaft of the ...
First Ascent of the Southeast Ridge of Annapurna III
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On November 6, three Ukrainian climbers—Nikita Balabanov, Mikhail “Misha” Fomin, and Viacheslav "Slava" Polezhaiko—summited Annapurna III by t...
Archil Badriashvili: From Georgia to the Hindu Kush
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Archil Badriashvili has completed a number of wild new routes in Nepal in recent years, and this fall, the 31-year-old from Georgia and regular partne...
Chantel Astorga: Solo on the Cassin Ridge
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This year, alpinist Chantel Astorga realized a long-held dream: a solo ascent of the classic Cassin Ridge on Denali, climbing 8,000 vertical feet from...
Vitaliy Musiyenko: The Goliath Traverse
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vitaliy Musiyenko fell in love with California's High Sierra in his early 20s. A decade later, at age 34, he is among the most prolific and accomplish...
Marek Holeček: His Greatest Challenge in Over 40 Expeditions
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest this episode is the Czech climber Marek Holeček, among the most successful alpine climbers of the past two decades. Holeček has climbed ne...
Ines Papert on Climbing, Motherhood and Mt. Huntington
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ines Papert from Germany accomplished many of her greatest climbs while raising a small child. In this special episode, Sarah Hart interviews Ines abo...
Surviving the Medusa Face of Mt. Neacola, Alaska
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In late April, on their third trip to Alaska's remote and forbidding Mt. Neacola, Ryan Driscoll, Justin Guarino, and Nick Aiello-Popeo made the first ...
Maryna Kopteva: Huge Walls with All-Women Teams
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For more than a decade, Maryna Kopteva has been one of the world’s most accomplished climbers in a demanding style: big-wall first ascents on remote...
Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll: The Moonwalk Traverse
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest in episode 38 is the globe-trotting adventurer Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, who in February pulled off a mind-blowing feat of climbing: the...
Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold in Rocky Mountain National Park
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold need no introduction. Our show with them about the speed record on the Nose of El Cap (Episode 8) was by far the most ...
Lynn Hill and the Challenges of Women's Climbing
31 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lynn Hill needs no introduction to the Cutting Edge audience: She is arguably the most ground-breaking female rock climber and big-wall free climber i...
Priti and Jeff Wright's Big Year: Cerro Torre, The Alps and K6 Central
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Priti and Jeff Wright are wrapping up the kind of year that most climbers only dream about. The young tech engineers took a sabbatical from work to ex...
Barry Blanchard, Ethan Berman and Uisdean Hawthorn on Mt. Robson
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Yuh-hai-has-kun (Mt. Robson) is one of North America's greatest peaks, despite rising to less than 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet. In early October, Etha...
Chris Weidner on the Diamond of Longs Peak
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Weidner and Bruce Miller worked four years on a new free climb up the Diamond, the northeast face of Longs Peak in Colorado. The Gambler's Falla...
Nico Favresse and the Alpine Trilogy
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nico Favresse from Belgium is well-known as a prolific explorer of new routes and long free ascents around the world: Baffin Island, China, Patagonia,...
Brandon Adams and Roger Putnam: New Mescalito Speed Record
29 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In early July, Brandon Adams and Roger Putnam set a new speed record for climbing Mescalito, the classic El Cap aid route. In fact, they smashed the p...
Jacob Cook and Bronwyn Hodgins: Going Big on Baffin Island
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Cook and Bronwyn Hodgins, partners in both climbing and marriage, joined two other Canadians last summer in Baffin Island's Weasel River Valley....
Matteo Della Bordella: Free Climbing in India
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Italian climber Matteo Della Bordella returns to the Cutting Edge to talk about the first ascent of the west face of Bhagirathi IV. This is a very ste...
Tim Emmett and the Wild Ice Climbs of Helmcken Falls
29 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The ice climbs of Helmcken Falls in central British Columbia are like no other climbs on Earth. Since 2010, our guest Tim Emmett has been developing "...
Leo Houlding on the Lost World of Roraima
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest for this episode is Leo Houlding, one of the great expedition leaders of our time. Leo's goal for this year was a new free route on Roraima,...
A Proud Failure: Quentin Roberts on Tengkangpoche
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Nik Berry, Eric Bissell and Conrad Anker: The Russian Tower
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Tom Livingstone: Koyo Zom and the Great Game
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 e...
Exploring the High Sierra with Vitaliy Musiyenko
03 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Link Sar with Steve Swenson and Graham Zimmerman
04 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Babsi Zangerl's Big-Wall Dreams
22 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 earl...
Karl Egloff and the New Denali Speed Record
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Luka Lindič and Ines Papert in Canada
28 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ea...
Jerome Sullivan on Cerro San Lorenzo
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In October, Jerome Sullivan and two friends succeeded on the south pillar of Cerro San Lorenzo, perhaps the most difficult unclimbed summit in Patagon...
Patagonia Debrief, with Rolando Garibotti and Kelly Cordes (Ep. 17)
31 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Scott Coldiron's Amazing Discovery (Ep. 16)
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Coldiron is that rare and lucky climber who gets to discover and develop an entirely new area: the massive ice and mixed climbs of the Cabinet M...
Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman (Ep. 15)
28 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In mid-November, Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman spent three days on a new route up Mt. Macdonald, high over Rogers Pass in British Columbia. Just g...
Hilaree Nelson: Skiing Lhotse (Ep. 14)
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In late September, Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison completed the first ski descent of Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world. Their route wa...
Hansjörg Auer's Amazing Solos (Ep. 13)
26 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Austrian climber Hansjörg Auer pulled off a rare feat in July: a solo new route on a 7,000-meter peak in the Karakoram. In this episode, Hansjörg ta...
Brette Harrington and the Devil's Paw (Ep. 12)
29 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After Brette Harrington's partner, Marc-André Leclerc, disappeared during a climb on Mendenhall Tower in Alaska in March, along with Ryan Johnson, Br...
Latok I: The Second Ascent (Ep. 11)
27 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On August 9, four decades years after the first ascent of Latok I in Pakistan, Aleš Česen and Luka Stražar from Slovenia, along with Tom Livingston...
Colin Haley Speed Solos the Cassin Ridge (Ep. 10)
22 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In early June, Colin Haley set a new speed record for the Cassin Ridge on North America's highest peak, soloing the 8,000-foot route in a little over ...
Anne Gilbert Chase on Denali's Slovak Direct
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Gilbert Chase and Chantel Astorga made the first all-female ascent of one of Denali's hardest climbs, the Slovak Direct, in June. In this episode...
Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell on the Nose (Ep. 8)
26 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In early June, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell not only smashed the speed record for climbing the Nose of El Capitan, they also broke the four-minute ...
Kayak to Climb: "Fair Means" in Wild Patagonia (Ep. 7)
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In February, Matteo Della Bordella from Italy and Silvan Schüpbach from Switzerland did the first ascent of a very remote peak in Patagonia. But what...
An Interview with Marc-André Leclerc (Ep. 6)
26 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Marc-André Leclerc died tragically in a climbing accident in Alaska in March, along with Ryan Johnson. Eighteen months earlier, AAJ associate editor ...
Jim Donini in Patagonia (Ep. 5)
15 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jim Donini first climbed in Patagonia way back in 1974, and in 1976 he made the first ascent of Torre Egger. Now nearly 75 years old, he's still at it...
Conrad Anker in Antarctica (Ep. 4)
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In December, Conrad Anker led a team of North Face athletes to Queen Maud Land, an area of Antarctica filled with spectacular granite spires. In this ...
Stephan Siegrist: Mister Kishtwar (Ep. 3)
15 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Swiss climber Stephan Siegrist has visited the Kishtwar area of India five times in the past seven years, making numerous first ascents. In late 2017,...
Alan Rousseau: The First Ascent of Rungofarka (Ep. 2)
15 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Until 2010, the spectacular mountains of India's Zanskar Range had been off-limits to climbers for generations. This fall, American climbing guides Al...
Will Stanhope: All the Howser Towers in a Day (Ep. 1)
20 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In late August, Will Stanhope and Leo Houlding linked the three biggest faces on the Howser Towers in British Columbia's Bugaboos, climbing them all f...