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Best Rock and Ice photos of 2016—from the big walls of Acopan Tepui, Venezuela to the mossy boulders of western Washington. These photos were all published in Rock and Ice between issue number 231 (January 2016) and issue number 238 (November 2016).
Longs Peak, the Diamond and the lights of Denver. Midnight rules at Chasm View. Invisible by day, distant cities light the horizon like false dawns. You know it’s summer by the cigarette glow of forest fires. Photo: Jeff Long. A nice mistake—Alden Pellett on a particularly blustery accidental first ascent of Between Wind and Water (NEI 5+) in 2015, Newfoundland, Canada. Pellett had been blocked from his true objective by a deep chasm in the approach. He and Ryan Stefiuk then redirected to this line, which they later learned was about the only ice on the wall that Joe Terravecchia and Casey Shaw hadn’t climbed. Beta for Newfoundland ice remains thin—it is not unusual for a team to complete an ascent thinking they have done a new route only to learn that Terravecchia had climbed it years ago. Photo: Christopher Beauchamp. Alyse Dietel confronts the sloper crux of Return to Sender (5.12a), in Rifle, Colorado, a once-obscure route from the 1990s that is now a popular warm-up thanks to the addition of perma-draws, chalk and cleaning. Photo: Christopher Beauchamp. Mayan Smith-Gobat and Rednekk Justus (5.10+), Cabin Wall, Escalante Canyon, Colorado. Photo: Dan Holz. Carlo Traversi dispatches Meadowlark Lemon (V14), Calico Basin, Red Rock, Nevada. Photo: Tim Kemple. There be tigers! Oahu climber Matt Lutney checks out the deep water soloing near La Perouse Bay, south of the resort town of Wailea, Maui. La Perouse marks the beginning of the King’s Highway, an ancient trail that circumnavigates the island. The DWS here is pretty much endless (as are the tiger sharks). Photo: Anthony Wrightsman. Grass roots climber Luis Cisneros atop pitch nine during the first ascent of Gravity Inversion (5.12d, 2,000 feet) on Acopan Tepui, Venezuela. Photo: Blake McCord. El Corazon (8B/V13). The photographer happened upon Patrik Aufdenblatten in the Sassies of Rocklands, South Africa. The Swiss climber quickly dispatched nine 8a’s, including flashes of Pendragon and, shown here, El Corazon. Aufdenblatten, however, is better known for his sends on slightly larger rocks. He holds the speed record (7 hours 14 minutes) for the Bonatti Direct on the North Face of the Matterhorn, and, at 19, was the youngest person to free climb Free Rider on El Cap. In 2013, with Ines Papert and Lisi Steurer, Aufdenblatten opened Azazar (8a/5.13b, 1,400 feet) in the Taghia Gorge, Morocco. Photo: Jacques van Zyl. Jan Hojer on Bleeding Brothers (V12), Hueco Tanks, Texas. This photo appeared on the cover of Rock and Ice issue 236 (August 2016). Photo: Alex Manelis. Chris Schulte on Warhorse (V7), Morpheus Boulders, Washington. A dramatic line with a top out guarded by an airy—and consequential—15-foot fall onto a slab and into the waterfall. Photo: Truc Nguyen Allen.
