First Peak Ascent, Peak 5,965 meters, Shaluli Shan Mountains, Kham, Tibet

Peter Inglis and I have made the first ascent of Peak  5,965 meters near Mt. Genyen, in the Shaluli Shan Mountians of the Tibetan region of Kham.  We made the ascent alpine style over 4 days, summiting on October 22, 2007.  For a complete account of our climb, check out my Climb China blog at www.climbchina.blogspot.com.

Peak 5965 from the south:


Peter in the initial couloir:


Joe on the summit:

First Peak Ascent - Lara Shan - Qionglai Mountains, China

Backed by the American Alpine Club’s McNeill/Nott Award, Chad Kellogg and I were to make our second attempt on Mt.Siguniang (6,250 meters) this spring, the centerpiece of climbing in the Qionglai Shan. A family emergency kept us from attaining our ultimate goal. Chad’s wife Lara died tragically in the during our expedition. Chad immediately departed, hence our trip came to an untimely end.  However, we were able to make the first peak ascent of an unclimbed 5,700-meter peak that we called Lara Shan.  Jay Janousek joined us for the ascent, which we made alpine style over 5 days, summiting on April 18, 2007.

For a complete account of our climb, please visit my Climb China blog at www.climbchina.blogspot.com.

Lara Shan (left) and Mt. Siguniang (right):


Our route on the headwall portion of Lara Shan:

Joe on the summit:

2007 McNeill-Nott Award

I am very excited to learn that I received the first ever McNeill-Nott Award from the American Alpine Club. The intended route was a new line on 20,505-foot Mt. Siguniang in Sichuan, China. Check out the trip report here. Also, for more information on the McNeill-Nott Award, check out the American Alpine Club website.