2018 | The Highs and the Lows - A Chronological Review

19th Jan, 2018
Cancer patient Ian Toothill from UK, who summited Everest via North Col in 2017, died at 48.

20th Jan, 2018
Spanish mountaineer Alex Txikon and Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali with Nuri and Temba Sherpa reached the summit of Pumori (7161m) at 11:29 without supplemental oxygen.

24th Jan, 2018
American ski and snowboarding filmmaker Warren Miller died at 93.

26th Jan, 2018
American journalist and chronicler of Himalayan expeditions Elizabeth Hawley died at 94.
Read More

28th Jan, 2018
Polish climber Tomasz (Tomek) Mackiewicz lost and Frenchwomen Elisabeth Revol rescued from Nanga Parbat by four-member Polish rescue team (Adam Bielecki, Denis Urubko, Piotr Tomala and Jaroslaw Botor).
Read More

11th Feb, 2018
Italian alpinists Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger reached the summit of Pobeda (Pik Pobeda), the highest mountain (3003m) of the Cerskij Range, in Siberia, at the Polar Artic Circle in extreme cold temperature at 3:37pm local time.
Read More

16th Feb, 2018
American rock climber and mountaineer Jim Bridwell died at 73.

28th Feb, 2018
Spanish mountaineer Alex Txikon abandoned his winter expedition on Everest without supplemental oxygen with Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara.
Read More

Feb, 2018
Swiss alpinist Daniel Arnold opened a new ice-climbing route in the Helmcken Falls in British Columbia, Canada.

5th Mar, 2018
The Polish team called off their winter K2 expedition mainly because of harsh weather and safety issues of the climbers.
Read More

6th Mar, 2018
Marc-Andre Leclerc and Ryan Johnson went missing, after not being able to return from his first ascent attempt in Alaska's Mendenhall Towers.

10th Mar, 2018
American rock climber Alex Honnold climbed Epinephrine (Red Rock Canyon, Nevada) in 39 minutes 50 seconds. According to him, it is the most recent speed record.

19th Apr, 2018
Spanish mountaineer Mari Ábrego died at 73.

22nd Apr, 2018
Red Bull Der Lange Weg 2018: Ski traverse on the Alps, ends in 36 days.
Read More

29th Apr, 2018
Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov, who was climbing solo on Shishapangma without supplemental oxygen, went missing.
Read More

30th Apr, 2018
Italian climber Simone La Terra died on Dhaulagiri at 36.
Read More

3rd May, 2018
A Chinese female climber Xiaodan Gao with three sherpas, Nima Gyalzen Sherpa, Jit Bahadur Sherpa and Ang Dawa Sherpa summited Makalu without using supplemental oxygen.
Read More

6th May, 2018
British Speed climber Adrian Ballinger, with his team summited Cho Oyu.

13th May, 2018
Korean climber Kim Hong-Bin reached the summit of Annapurna at 11:30am (Nepal time).
Read More

13th May, 2018
Bulgarian mountaineer, Atanas Skatov summited Cho Oyu without supplemental oxygen or Sherpa help at 16:20pm (Chinese time).
Read More

14th May, 2018
Chinese double-amputee climber Xia Boyu summited Everest from South Col and became the first ever double-amputee climber to summit Everest from South Col.

16th May, 2018
Nepali Sherpa, Kami Rita Sherpa has made history by climbing Everest 22 times and the woman climber from Nepal, Lhakpa Sherpa became the first woman in the world to summit Everest 9 times. British climber Kenton Cool summited Everest 13 times - most summit of Everest by any British climber.
Read More

17th May, 2018
A 16-years-old Indian woman, Shivangi Pathak, became the youngest Indian woman to scale Everest from Nepal side.
Read More

21st May, 2018
British Speed climber Adrian Ballinger summited Everest from North side in just 28 hours via a round trip Advanced Base Camp to Advanced Base Camp.
Read More

21st May, 2018
Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki was found dead at Camp-2 of Everest at 35.
Read More

23rd May, 2018
Nepali woman climber Nima Jangmu Sherpa summited 3 eight-thousander peaks in a single season.
Lhotse - 29th April
Everest - 14th May
Kangchenjunga - 23rd May
Read More

25th May, 2018
Italian mountaineer Cala Cimenti along with Swiss Matthias Koenig and Julian Dänzer summited Laila Peak (6096m) in the Karakoram range and then Cala and Matthias skied down the North-West Face from the summit.
Read More

30th May, 2018
American climbers Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold climbed up 'The Nose' of El Capitan in Yosemite in record 2 hours 10 minutes and 15 seconds. 
Read More

May, 2018
Aussie mountaineer Steve Plain became the fastest mountaineer to reach 'Seven Summits' in just 117 days after summiting Everest.

6th June, 2018
British mountaineers Malcolm Bass, Paul Figg and Guy Buckingham have made the first ascent of Janhukot (6805m).
Read More

June, 2018
Slovenian mountaineer Andrej Štremfelj conferred with The Piolet d'Or 2018 Lifetime Achievement award.
Read More

June, 2018
South Tyrolean mountaineer Simon Gietl has made the first solo ascent of Cima Scotoni in the Dolomites. He named the line as "Can you hear me?".

7th July, 2018
A Canadian climber, Serge Dessureault died while attempting to climb K2 at 53.
Read More

7th July, 2018
Austrian alpinist Hansjörg Auer summited Lupghar Sar West (7157m), taking two days to reach the top, in a solo alpine style climb.
Read More

9th July, 2018
Niels Jespers from Belgium reached the summit of Nanga Parbat at 8:23am (Pakistan time) without supplemental oxygen.

9th July, 2018
British climber Rick Allen, who made his solo attempt on Broad Peak via a new route, feared missing and presumed dead on 9th July. On 10th July, Bartek Bargiel, the brother of Andrzej Bargiel, launched a high-altitude DJI Mavic Pro drone to record Andrzej's ski descent from K2, spotted moving on Broad Peak. David Roeske and Fredrik Sträng, who were at Camp-3, went there to investigate the matter. Finally, they managed to find Rick, and with the help of Tenji Sherpa (who joined them afterwards) from Summit Climb, they rescued the British climber.

13th July, 2018
Pemba Sherpa went missing after falling down into a crevasse on Saser Kangri.
Read More

13th July, 2018
Slovak climber Ivan Fiala died at 76.

14th July, 2018
Italian climber Simone Moro, Spaniard Alex Txikon and Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali were awarded with title of "5th Karl Unterkircher" for the first winter ascent on Nanga Parbat.
Read More

16th July, 2018
Swedish climber Fredrik Sträng with his climber partner David Roeske from America, summited Broad Peak at 10:30am (local time) without supplemental oxygen.

16th July, 2018
Polish climbers Adam Bielecki with German climber Felix Berg, summited Gasherbrum II via West Face at about 5pm (local time) without supplemental oxygen and Sherpa support.

16th July, 2018
Spanish climber Sergi Mingote reached the summit of Broad Peak without supplemental oxygen.

22nd July, 2018
Polish mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel, had become the first ever individual adventurer to Ski down K2.
Read More

22nd July, 2018
Japanese climber Kojiro Watanabe fell to death from approximately 8300m during the descent from the summit of K2. He summited at 13:10pm local time with 5 other members.

23rd July, 2018
Spanish climber Sergi Mingote reached the summit of K2 without supplemental oxygen.

27th July, 2018
Swiss alpinist Daniel Arnold set a new speed record on the North Face of Grandes Jorasses. He climbed the Pointe Walker (4208m) in the Mont Blanc massif via Walker Spur (Cassin route) in 2h 4min.
Read More

31st July, 2018
Russian climber Alexander Gukov, who was stranded at 6200m on the North Ridge of the Latok I (7145m) in the Karakoram range, was rescued after six days by brave pilots of two B3 helicopters operated by the Pakistani 5th Army Aviation High Altitude Squadron.
Read More

9th Aug, 2018
Slovenian climbers Aleš Cesen, Luka Stražar and British climber Tom Livingstone summited the North Face of Latok I (7145m) in the Karakoram. They have made the second ever ascent on the mountain after 1979. They have done it via a new route. Moreover, it also happens to be the first ascent from the North Face.
Read More

20th Aug, 2018
British mountaineer, explorer, adventurer and high-altitude expert Ian 'Ted' Atkins died in a fall while descending from Monte Civetta (3220m) in the Dolomites, Italy at 60. South Tyrolean mountain guide Philipp Angelo died in a mountain accident on the French side of the Mont Blanc massif at 36.
Read More

24th Aug, 2018
American rock climber Tom Frost died at 82. American alpinist Jeff Lowe died at 67.

Aug, 2018
Four Sherpa siblings of Nepal equaled the Guinness World Record after they touched the record of most siblings to have climbed Everest.

15th Sept, 2018
Austrian mountaineer Fritz Wintersteller died at 90.

28th Sept, 2018
Polish female climber Aldona Drabik summited Mt. Manaslu without supplemental oxygen.

30th Sept, 2018
American climbers James White Morrison and Hilaree Nelson became the first to Ski-descent the 7000ft "Dream Line" of Lhotse.

Sept, 2018
Japanese climbers Genki Narumi, Yusuke Sato and Hiroki Yamamoto climbed a new route on the NE Face of Cerro Kishtwar (6173m) in India. They named the route as "All Izz Well".

Sept, 2018
German alpinist Fabian Buhl and Alexander Huber climbed a new route on Choktoi Ri (6166m) in the Karakoram range. They called the route as "The Big Easy".

Sept, 2018
2018 Banff Mountain Book Competition Awards

5th Oct, 2018
Austrian alpinist Hansjörg Auer, Max Berger, Much Mayr and Guido Unterwurzacher have made an alpine style ascent of a previously unclimbed and unknown peak (6050m) in the Indian Himalaya in three days via SE Face.

7th Oct, 2018
Climber from New Zealand, Ben Dare, has made the first ever solo ascent of a 'The Promise', a new route on the SW Face of Mt Percy Smith (2465m).

31st Oct, 2018
Vitus Auer, Sebastian Fuchs, Stefan Larcher climbed a new route via West Ridge of Mt. Himjung (7092m) in Nepal.

31st Oct, 2018
British mountaineer Tony Streather died at 92.

Oct, 2018
Martín Elías, Jérome Sullivan and François Poncet made the first ascent of the South pillar of Cerro San Lorenzo, Patagonia.

Oct, 2018
Austrian climber David Lama has made the first ascent of Lunag Ri (6907m) which is also credited to be a solo summit.
Read More

Oct, 2018
The Alpine Club honored Polish climbers Adam Bielecki, Denis Urubko, Piotr Tomala and Jaroslaw Botor with a Spirit of Mountaineering Commendation for their rescue operation of Frenchwomen Elisabeth Revol on Nanga Parbat in January 2018.

Oct, 2018
French mountaineers Aurélien Vaissière, Antonin Cecchini, Laurent Thévenot and Symon Welfringer climbed a new route on Lobuche East (6120m). They named the new route as "Le Quatuor à cordes".

3rd Nov, 2018
Swiss alpinist Roger Schaeli has made the first ascent of "Airplane Mode" on the North Face of the Eiger.

19th Nov, 2018
Japanese climber Keita Kurakami became the fifth person to free the Nose on El Capitan which he did it without any partner; rope-soloing the entire route.

19th Nov, 2018
15-year-old American, Connor Herson became the sixth person to free the Nose on El Capitan. He also became the youngest to free ascent the line.

Nov, 2018
Simon Gietl and Vittorio Messini made the first ascent of Sintflut, Deluge, a new mixed climb on the North Face of Mt. Prijakt in Austria.

Nov, 2018
6-year-old Irish, Joshua Davison scaled Mount Toubkal (4167m) in Morocco.

Nov, 2018
Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman made the first ascent of a mixed route on the North Face of Mt. MacDonald. They named the route as "The Indirect American".

Nov, 2018
Italian mountaineer Anna Torretta, Spanish Cecilia Buil and Mexican Ixchel Foord, made the first ascent of Couloir SW, a new route on Mugu Peak (5467m) in Nepal.

19th Dec, 2018
Italian climber Tomas Franchini made the first ever solo ascent of Spallone dei Massodì (3004m), Brenta Dolomites.