Weekend Whipper: Head-First Trad Fall on “The Burliest 5.8 in the Gunks”
“It was a little too close to the deck for comfort.”
“It was a little too close to the deck for comfort.”
Where indoor climbing was once simply a way to train during the off season, it is now a sport unto itself—many gym climbers have no interest in ever climbing outdoors. How did we get here?
"He used his status as a prominent climber to assault women in the rock-climbing community," said U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez of his decision to deliver the maximum sentence, "and when his victims began to tell, Barrett responded by lashing out publicly with threats and intimidation."
If your palms and tips aren’t happy, you probably aren’t going to send. Let’s talk skin care solutions and hear what the pros have to say.
Thundercat jammed, Diana Nyad hugged, Jimmy Chin autographed, and thousands of fans soaked up the stoke in Denver this past weekend
The Roll Up Stick Clip is a truly remarkable piece of gear. Just don’t look too closely at the price.
‘Anemology’ is one of just a handful 5.15b’s in the United States. Siegrist got the FA after seven weeks of effort.
This budding leader took a 30-footer trying to do her first 5.10.
Tsukamoto’s film is a delicate portrait of a girl and her father grappling with the possibility of greatness.
Martin Feistl, 27, was among the most talented and bold alpinists of his generation. He died after a 130-foot fall.
“I’m sure there must have been edges to make the foot placements better," says Jesse Dufton, "but because I can’t see, I didn’t find any. I’ve never known such pain in my calves.”
This eight-phase (12-month) training series will present specific workouts based on the principles of periodization. Each six-week segment will build upon the previous one.
Honnold is famous for (among other things) cramming as much climbing as he can into each day. To do so, he's developed some efficiency tricks that the rest of us can imitate.
The void swallowed him alive, his streaking form more easily imagined than described. The air froze in my chest.
There are two miracles in this week's whipper: 1) He survived. 2) He caught the fall on video.
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When one of the world’s best crack climbers was grounded by chronic fatigue syndrome, his life became an uphill struggle just to feel human again.
They figured they knew enough about climbing to wing it, but took a dangerous risk that could have cost them.
During my senior year of high school, my friends and I were bored. We decided we collectively knew enough about climbing for it to be safe. We went to the local outfitter and bought harnesses, carabiners, and belay devices, but we scoffed at the price of a rope. It was way outside our budget. Instead, we went to Home Depot and bought 100 feet of poly cord that was rated for 200 pounds. We climbed on that rope all day, just easy 5.3 climbing on toprope. I’ve included a couple photos. It wasn’t until I was lowering at the end of the day that I realized what a mistake I’d made. The 100-foot rope had stretched to about 200 feet, shrinking to the size of 8mm cord. I bought a real climbing rope the following week. Wanted to share because we are all new at some point and even with the best intentions mistakes are made. We should collectively work together to improve safety across the sport. I wish someone would have stopped us from climbing on that poly rope.
—Kyle Harris, via email
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LESSON: Modern climbing ropes include a number of climber-friendly features. They can hold thousands of pounds of force. They have durable sheaths that prevent abrasion and cutting. They have the ideal amount of stretch to catch a fall softly, and then bounce back to their original length and diameter. They’re supple and easy to tie and untie. They’re tested to meet rigorous safety standards. And they work great with modern belay devices. A random hardware store rope is not designed with any of these goals in mind, and can’t be expected to meet them. Always use proper climbing gear designed and rated for climbing.
Want more? Check out more installments in our ever-growing hall of shame:
Lucky He Didn’t Die. Lowered From a Toy Carabiner