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Base Camp Blog
Welcome to Base Camp, the blog by Climbing's editors. Inside you'll find news tidbits, personal experiences, trip reports, what's going on with the mag, and more. Photo by Andrew Burr
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 A 55-meter Roof at 55 Years Old
Stevie Haston is one of those climbers whose achievements will instantly humble your project. The 55-year-old Brit sent a 55-meter-long roof April 8 on the island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago. He calls the route King of Kings (5.13d), which might be the longest roof climb in the world. (Haston is no stranger to hard roof routes; in 2009, he made a quick ascent of the roof crack Greenspit in northern Italy. He's also climbed up to 5.14d sport routes.)  12 in 12: Train like Stevie Haston
“So let’s reiterate: first, train and rest sufficiently, be happy with whatever gains you make. If you have money, seek out an honest pro who will point out obvious faults at a cost. Lastly, don’t be intimidated. So you understand everything, except the last. If you understood the last, you wouldn’t really need my advice would you, and you would be someone called Achilles or Jesse Owens, but you’re just called Bert or Jane, and you come from somewhere flat and boring.”  David Breashears Opens Himalaya Exhibit
David Breashears’ new exhibit, Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya, has opened at the Everest Base Camp and at the MIT Museum. A collaboration between Glacier Works—which Breashears founded—and the MIT Museum, the exhibition features the photographs of world-famous mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears, and displays them alongside matched archival photographs taken over the past century by some of the world’s greatest mountain photographers. The exhibition seeks to reveal the changes that have taken place in the Himalayas over the last century. 12 in 12: Biting the Bullet
I’ve yammered on in several blog posts about “just doing it.” Thousands of words of feel-goodery are great, but they don’t really matter when compared with action. Until recently, I’ve gone out climbing every week and managed to avoid actually attempting to lead a 12. That changed two weeks ago. I was inspired by my friend Hale’s attempt on a 5.13 in Clear Creek Canyon, west of Denver. He clipped, rested, clipped up, rested again, tried some moves, clipped up again, rested, rested, rested, took a fall, and the cycle continued.  12 in 12: Scaredy Cat
Now I’m just putting it off. Spring is here (kind of), and climbing outside has ramped up considerably. Two weeks ago it was four days of blissful sandstone bouldering in Joe’s Valley, Utah. (Gotta get that power up! It’s legit cross-training.) Last weekend it was multi-pitch climbing in Boulder Canyon, Colorado, where the hardest pitch I climbed was 5.9+. (At least I’m clipping something.) And this coming weekend’s plans are to hit up Turkey Rocks in South Platte, Colorado, to get seriously schooled on some cracks.)  12 in 12: Putting it on a Pedestal
In the months since I’ve started this quest, I’ve gotten all types of training advice, both mental and physical. I’ve also heard plenty of awesome stories of other people’s successes and failures. It’s truly an inspiration, and I’ve appreciated all of it, but sometimes it confuses the mind and disrupts my thrown-together and uneducated plan. The most common advice from most climbers (all of whom are strong and have ticked dozens of 5.12s themselves) is to pick a route I’m psyched on, dial in the moves, and keep working at it until it feels like a warm-up and I send it like one of those six-beers-deep emails to my ex. 12 in 12: Anger Management
My last few days of training have been—to put it delicately—ugly. Another bout of sickness (this time a stomach-virus thing that kept me from eating for three days and sucked the life out of my already weakened body), plus work functions on the weekend, made for some hellacious plastic pulling. My body is wrecked, my mood is foul, but my will is strong.  Ken Nichols: 10,000th Ascent of 5.11
On February 26, 63-year-old Ken Nichols made his 10,000th ascent of the traditional route Dol Guldur (5.11) at Traprock in Connecticut. Nichols made the first ascent on aid in September 1975. He returned to free the route in 1979—after the first free ascent by Mike Heintz and Tony Trocchi in 1976. By 1995, he'd made 2,000 ascents of the line.  12 in 12: Climbers Only
I can’t have non-climber friends. “I never see you any more.” “I miss hanging out with you.” “Are you mad at me?” And the absolute worst one is when you call an old friend, it rings twice, then goes straight to voicemail. That stings a bit. I want to say to them, “It’s not that I don’t like you any more, but I’ve started seeing someone, and I want you to understand why I’m not returning your calls or making an effort to hang out with you. That someone is ‘climbing,’ and we have a very important and possibly life-changing relationship. 12 in 12: Don't Think, Just Do
I wish every day could be like last Friday. Having a purpose in climbing—and life, I suppose—is like living life à la Benjamin Button: You have the experiences, skill set, and muscle memory of an adult, but also the wonderful ability to see everything from a whole new perspective. I’ve been working my endurance for the past week (15 laps on mid-5.10s including easier warm-ups on Monday, a little more than an hour of treadwall on Wednesday), and Friday was supposed to be more laps on routes. 12 in 12: Quit Being a Baby
After a disappointing weekend at Shelf Road, where I flailed on an 11b/c and wheezed my way through some 10s, I decided to hit the gym hard core on Monday. OK, yeah, so I was pretty dang sick last week and am still coughing up a storm and a lung while drowning in my own mucus, but still it was frustrating. A fellow climber had to remind me quite gently, while I scowled and pouted, that, “Hey, you’ve been sick for a week and traveling the few weeks before that. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”  WI5 in Down Booties
We've seen hikers heading up Longs Peak (7.5 miles, 4,850 vertical feet, semi-technical) wearing smooth-soled, open-toed sandals. We've seen badass climbers float up 5.12 "warm-ups" at Rifle in their running shoes. But we'd never seen this before. Jovan Simic sent us photos of his friend Erik Schnack leading Carlsberg Column (WI5) in Field, British Columbia, in down booties. With no crampons. Admittedly, the climb was exceptionally fat. But still... 12 in 12: New Beginning
I'm the epitome of weekend warrior. I work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, sometimes Saturday and Sunday when my job requires it, and I climb outside on the weekends and in the gym during the week. I've never had goals in climbing. I've just done it for fun, but lately I've been finding myself a bit frustrated and unhappy with my climbing progress—or lack thereof.  Outdoor Retailer Top 10
Last week Salt Lake hosted the annual Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show, the place where manufacturers show off their hottest new gear, clothes, skis, and more. This is the gear that will be arriving on retail shelves later this year. Four Climbing and Urban Climber editors roamed the Salt Palace for three days, checking out the wares. Here, our picks for the 10 coolest new products for climbers.  Jack Roberts: A Tribute
If you don't know where to begin, an editor once told me, start with the facts. So these are the facts: Jack Roberts, 59, died in the early afternoon of Sunday, January 15, after a long fall off the Bridal Veil Falls ice climb, outside Telluride, Colorado. He was leading the second pitch, which was steeper than usual. I don't know much more about the accident, and I don't care to learn more. A great friend and climbing partner is gone. That's enough. |
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