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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
General
Our Favorite “New” Climbing Websites
Check out the climbing websites we’re keeping an eye on these days.
Giving Back to Climbing
Climbing can be a pretty selfish activity, but there a number of ways to give back to the sport and community that you love.
Embracing the Grey Days of Spring
On some level, I am going to miss these grey weekends, as they afford a level of relaxation not found in the rest of the year.
The (Ice Climbing) Thrill is Gone (Or Is It?)
Ice climbing seems to have a major impact your first time around, and it certainly has its appeal. It’s a fun activity you can pursue in the winter, when most crags are sitting under a couple feet of snow, and the climbs are beautiful, like crystal castles you get to explore.
The State of the Climbing Gear
Looking back on things like the camming device, harnesses with leg loops, GriGri’s and leashless ice tools, it makes you wonder, what, if anything, is coming next that will be a true game changer?
Shelter From the Storm
Winter has shown up with a vengenace over the last week or so, and for the next couple of months it’s all about finding what refuge you can in the warmer places you can get to. But even as far south as Vegas the cold fronts are having an effect, and the conditions are pretty [...]
Transitions
Fall is a time of transitions. Recently we found ourselves at a local crag in much colder conditions than we have had in months. We were a bit under prepared, and cut things a little short to retreat to the warmth of pizza and beer at a local establishment. On the drive back I started [...]
The Science of Climbing’s Awesomeness
“Tristan, it’s all about flow! I can totally understand now why you climb!” I doubted this very much. These words were coming from my next door neighbor, who has gone climbing all of two or three times in her life. She had, however, read about something called flow theory in one of her classes, and went on to explain it to me. And I have to admit, I was pretty intrigued.
In Pursuit of the Vertical World
It all started innocently enough, with a 13 year old boy halfway up an obscure, 60′ wall of gneiss in upstate New York. Fast forward a couple years, and that same boy, now 15, could be seen 500′ up a giant slab of rock in the Chapel Pond region. It was on that climb that the boy realized this was something he loved, and so it began.
Confessions of a Tick-aholic
Tickmarks. Something so small, and yet so big, at least when it comes to the emotional response they elicit in climbers. Some folks consider them a fact of life in modern climbing, and others think they rob you of the purity of the experience, but maybe we can find some middle ground.
It’s All About the Pitches
How many pitches do you climb in an average cragging day? A book on climbing training that influenced me heavily this year says that 3 or 4 is a warm up, then hit 3 or 4 onsight or redpoint attempts, and then do 3 or 4 cool down routes. The idea is that one of [...]
Gone Climbin’
SplitterChoss is taking a break this week, to go climbing. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and we’ll see you next week with the usual whit, charm and insight you’ve come to know and love.
The Open Road
What is it about the open road that calls to us? And not just any open road, but the wide open highways of the West, where the landscape fades to the edges of the horizon, where the possibilities are as endless and big as the scenery.
The Lost Art of Nutcraft
We were sitting around the living room, racking up for a weekend of climbing on the Front Range. My friend grabbed a set of nuts, and mentioned how he was excited to get to climb on some granite where he could actually use them. Around here, you see, we don’t get the opportunity often, as we’re either clipping bolts or sinking the occasional cam, so this was going to be a nice change.
Local Beta – Friends & Family Wall
I wish I could say the new guidebook will be out any day now, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Maybe because the previous edition came together so quickly, this one is falling into the usual guidebook trap of repeatedly pushing back the deadline. The good news is that many new routes are going in [...]
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9/29/12
A Festive Fall Weekend
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7/11/2012
The 2012 International Climbers’ Festival
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