What a crazy time. For several weeks, I couldn’t even think about writing about climbing. In fact, the first week of lockdown I had a good laugh at all these at-home workouts that were flooding the internet and was like, whoa people, let’s just take a step back and chill, this isn’t going away any […]
I made a quick trip down to the Winter OR + Snow show in Denver for its last day. I hadn’t been to the Winter Show in a couple of years, and one thing became immediately apparent: there are very few climbing brands attending this show anymore. It always used to be more focused on […]
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, as we took this trip in August, but better late than never! How do I even begin to describe this trip? So many unknowns came together in the most beautiful way possible to create a trip I will always remember with a heart full of gratitude. […]
This summer’s trip to the Outdoor Retailer show was a quick one, but I was able to check out some fun new gear, including several shoes that I’m excited to try out. Also of note is that companies like Adidas and Edelrid are pushing hard in the environmental sustainability department, acknowledging that we all need […]
One thing I’ve found to be true in both climbing and in life is that confidence is everything. In the Rock Warrior’s Way, Arno Ilgner talks about how a big difference between the novice and the expert is that the expert expects to find a way, knowing that the climb is possible, while the novice […]
I love the thrill of finding new areas, and of creating new lines. There’s already a lot of places to climb on the Western Slope, but there are even more cool places out there waiting to be opened up, and there’s something magical about seeing a crag come together. Approach trails get dialed in, warm-ups […]
On a day in late November, I took the draws down from my fall project. I’d had three great one-hang goes, but the route doesn’t get much sun and was pretty much out of season until the spring. It was fun to have a bigger project for the first time in a while, and I […]
We recently took our first trip to Ten Sleep Canyon, in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Even though it’s within a reasonable driving distance, I’d not made it a priority to climb there because I’d heard it was very crimpy and technical, which is not my preferred style. In my head I was imagining climbing […]
Everybody is training these days. Pros, recreational climbers, even folks who’ve only been at it for a couple months think they need to train. And there’s no lack of information out there, in fact, maybe the hardest part of finding a training plan is sorting through all the noise to figure out what actually works. […]
An Italian Climbing Paradise On our final day in Siurana last spring, we met some Italians at the crag and ended up climbing next to them until the sun dipped behind the Spanish foothills. As we were walking out together, I started asking them about places to climb in Italy, as I assumed there were […]
Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been over a month since the Winter Outdoor Retailer Show. This is always my busiest time of year, and finding time to sit down and go through my notes was easier said then done. But better late than never, and in that spirit, here are some highlights of the […]
I had driven by the sign a hundred times, but never gone down the road. Someone in the group suggested we drive out to the Needles Overlook, since we had all come together to talk about Bears Ears National Monument, and this would give us a great vantage point of the northern part of it. […]
The last time I saw you, you were so excited to start this new chapter of your life in Bozeman with your girlfriend, Inge. You were recovering from shoulder surgery, but that didn’t get you down. You spoke with enthusiasm about living in a new place, going to EMT school this winter. It was the […]
What is it about this place that gets under my skin, that so thoroughly permeates my being like nowhere else I’ve ever been? The buzzing, anxious energy on the descent, the grandeur of being surrounded by these walls, the improbability of the routes that climb out of them. The first couple pitches always seem to […]
As climbers, we can be a pretty picky bunch. Maybe it’s just the company I keep, but we have our ideas about what makes for good conditions, acceptable approaches, manageable crowd sizes and so on. Anything that falls outside these norms can throw us off our game and elicit comments that tend to belittle the […]
Hayden Carpenter and Tom Bohanon recently repeated an obscure ice climb on the south side of Mt Sopris. Given a brief mention in Jack Robert’s ice guide, Bulldog Creek Walk is described as being 100 meters of WI 4. What they found was seven pitches of ice in a remote setting that makes for one […]
Recent Comments