Hardwear Sessions

Josh Butson and I are heading out this afternoon for one of the greatest adventures we could ever imagine: Climbing the Barbarian! The Barbarian is a 18,949 ft. peak in the Sichuan province of western China that has yet to see an ascent. 5 teams have tried it's imposing West face, none have seen the top.

We are flying to Chengdu, then taking a 10 hour bus ride to Rilong township before beginning our 5 day approach to climb the 7000 ft. East face of the Barbarian. The face is complex and demands many different skills as well as a burly approach through the remote reaches of the Changping Goa Valley before bushwacking to the base of a 3000 ft. granite big wall capped by snow and ice.

We have no maps, they are not available. No one has ever touched the wall. We have only the attached photo, our experiences pioneering new routes in this valley last year and a backpack stocked full enough to carry us through a minimum of fifteen days of pioneering a truly unique mountain.

We will be checking back in with GPS coordinates, tales of our travel and podcasts throughout the expedition and a post expedition series of podcasts featuring video and still photos.

We look forward to sharing the experience with you and returning home safely.