“Look, Mommy, this is re-credible!” my six year old son exclaimed as he hit the ice with his ice hammer as if slaying dragons. The concepts of precision and balance, using the tool as a point under which to center his feet, were uninteresting to him. What was interesting was the fantasy-land of ice. Slaying […]
My climbing partner sniffed out the seldom-formed ice pillar like a hounddog on a scent. It was a 100-foot, WI 5+, slender column of loosely associated icicles, aptly called The Bone. The trick to climbing sustained ice pillars is to avoid panic. Take the time to find balance, to climb efficiently. I could tell the […]
Get stoked for winter with a new Mammut Barryvox S Transceiver. Pop Quiz Should you face your transceiver towards your body, or away from your body? Why should you wear your avalanche transceiver under at least one layer of clothing? How far away from your transceiver should you carry any metals or electronics? (i.e cell […]
It takes 20 hours, not 10,000 hours to learn a skill. Last week I stood on the beach in Kauai and jealously watched kids catch small waves on their surfboards. Even as they fell off their boards they laughed. But, I hesitated. Why start now?” I asked. Surfing has a slow learning curve and requires […]
What is support? Arno Ilgner, of The Warriors Way – Mental Training, once told me, “Don’t belay as you would have others belay you. Rather, ask your partner how they like to be belayed.” I thought about this recently as I watched a young woman struggle to lead an off-fingers crack. Slowly, but surely, […]
Oh my Zim’s! I knew I would pay the price but I kept working the dynamic deadpoint anyway. And, sure enough, when I awoke the next morning my right-side oblique muscles were very sore. I had several options: take vitamin I(buprofin), apply cold or reach for my Zim’s Max Freeze. I chose Zim’s. Why? According […]
My climbing partner, Pete, and my son, Grady, and I are competitors. The first one to redpoint a route on lead gets to win. Though I’m younger, Pete is stronger and a foot taller. Pete and I have been climbing for decades. Grady has only been excited about climbing for a year—but he’s 23 and […]
It was the hardest sport route I had ever attempted to redpoint. I couldn’t rub the sweat out of my eyes, nor could I see clearly, as I reached for and held a tiny cobble in order to set up for the crux deadpoint. My stomach grumbled. “Now or never!” I said to myself. Then […]
“Do the Elvis!” Two young men, whom I barely knew but had eagerly suggested we go sport climbing together, yelled up at me. “What?” I yelled back, trying to maintain composure. What the hell were they talking about? I was struggling at the crux of a moderate sport route and when I looked down both […]
Many years ago I climbed Denali’s Cassin Ridge. I decided to climb the Cassin even though I had never climbed in Alaska before. And, although my partner had some Alaskan experience—he had climbed Denali’s West Rib— we were generally equal in climbing experience and ability. Undertaking the Cassin was daunting. Yet, I knew that if I didn’t challenge […]