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 Line of Control - Bouldering, Big-Walling, and International Conflict in Indian Kashmir
By Micah Dash - Photos by Jonny Copp - “Hey, Jonny, look over yonder,” I said, pointing at distant figures across the Lang Lang Meadow, our little slice of heaven in Indian Kashmir. We — Jonny Copp and I — came here in July 2007 to try a 3,500-foot unclimbed granite wall on an unclimbed peak.  I Boulderer - Yosemite Bouldering
Granite. Black-and-white-speckled, fine-grained, compact, solid stone. Confident, angular boulders sculpted by time and held firmly in place by gravity. Tall, blunt arêtes, mockingly blank. An obtuse, crackless corner. Overhanging faces carved with blocky edges.  Dumby Dave - The Dark Art of Rhapsody
At E11 7a, Rhapsody requires 5.14c climbing with 70-foot fall potential — Dave MacLeod succeeded only after two years and numerous ankle-smashing rippers. He has free-soloed 5.13d and repeated E-desperates throughout the British Isles. He also has climbed 5.14c sport in Spain and established V13.  Blank Check - A trip up the Eigernordwand
Story and photos by Jonny Copp - We roll into Grindelwald with exactly three days to spare, trundling our duffles onto the open-air platform, jumping out, and looking up. There it is: the 6,000-foot North Face of the Eiger.  The King Of Kings
In professional climbing, where talent burns hot and fast, a decade is a long time. Ankles snap. Shoulders pop from sockets. Fingers calcify. And those rare talents that don't succumb to nagging injuries often falter beneath the mental pressure.  The Full Johnny Dawes Interview
Fiercely intelligent, iconoclastic, dancing to the eternal vibrations of the rock that the rest of us just pull past -Johnny Dawes, 43, the irrepressible English climber who brought solid E8 (Gaia, an E8 6c at Black Rocks) and the world's first E9 (Indian Face, E9 6c, 150 feet of technical, 5.12c death at Clogwyn D'ur Arddu) to the world during his manic blitzkrieg in 1986.  Jacinda (JC) Hunter: The Full Interview
Dwindling daylight obscures the mini-crimps on Barbwire Beard, a V11 traverse established by Adam Osterhoff in 2003 that snakes out of a dark cave in Upper Chaos Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It's a hot, humid, breezeless Saturday - three days climbing out of four for Jacinda (JC) Hunter.  The Color of Life
The accomplished wall specialist Silvia Vidal, 36, of Barcelona, Spain, recently stuck her neck out (solo) on a new Shipton line: Life is Lilac, completed over 21 days this July (10 through 30) and clocking in at 2,900 feet, 5.10 A4+.  "We only get one shot on this dustball..."
On July 13, the climbing world lost a great one: Michael Reardon, 42, the accomplished free soloist from Oak Park, California. Reardon met with a freak accident at the headland of Dohilla, on the island of Valentia off the southwest coast of Ireland.  Klettergarden - Alpine Moderate Madness in RMNP
What comes to mind when I mention Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)? Probably the Diamond of Longs Peak, that 1,000-foot granite plaque capping an ominous east-facing cirque. Or maybe Hallet Peak and the clusters of V-hard boulderers sessioning the talus at its base.  The Complete Jim Holloway Interview
In 1975, Jim Holloway, 6' 4" and with cable for tendons, shoed up beneath Cloud Shadow Wall, above Boulder, Colorado. His project lay on the convex east end of the sandstone face. Holloway fished his right hand into a fingertip undercling, crimped the left on a layaway, and pulled on.  The Emperor of Mount Robson
Jim Logan, a youthful 60, runs an architecture firm in Boulder, but often plays hookie to climb in Eldorado and at the Boulder Rock Club. He ranks the Emperor Face as one of his three great climbs, along with the 1960s FFAs of the Diamond on Longs Peak and the punishing offwidth Crack of Fear (5.10) at Lumpy Ridge.  Black Hole - Northern Arizona Bouldering
We had five days to tour Flagstaff. We slept on dusty floors and drank way too much coffee. Nelson got food poisoning. The dog shat on the passenger seat (twice). We bought truckstop T-shirts with animals on them. We broke down and abandoned the Spray on the way back through New Mexico. We took photos. We had fun ...  The Life of Warren "Batso" Harding
Perhaps you’ve never heard of Warren Harding and his extraordinary exploits, both on and off the rock, but be assured that in the Sierra his name is hammered in the granite pantheon of climbing immortals.  The Complete Pat Ament Interview
When Climbing asked the legendary Colorado climber Pat Ament to help us with a Perspective piece, he gave us such deep, thoughtful, well-reasoned answers that we decided to post this interview with him in its entirety. Ament (patament.com) also provided us with these shots of him, past and present.  The Snows of Genyen
Two of America’s hardiest alpinists, Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff, went missing in the eastern Himalaya last December during a mission to climb untamed peaks. As the days ticked by, friends began to worry: These were not the kind of climbers just to disappear.  ANNOT LOGISTICS
Annot sits at 5,000 feet — spring and fall are best, with winter sometimes amazing, sometimes too snowy. You can climb mid-summer by sticking to the highest areas and the pocket (not sloper) problems.  Globetrotters
Welcome to the Rocklands, the internationally famous, world-class bouldering destination that most Americans have heard of, but few have visited. This could very well be the world’s best — and biggest — bouldering area. It is but a miniscule chunk of the greater Cederberg mountain range,  Earth, Wind, and Rubble
Zion has always been a land of tight spots. The main canyon constricts until it becomes a deep wound in the earth. Hand cracks have a way of widening into 5.9+ squeezes, which have a way of opening into 5.10 chimneys.  Morning Fix
It was becoming a habit. Hoping to tick some routes before facing my abusive boss, I set out for a little before-work scramble in God's own playground, the Flatirons. The rising sun slanted through the pines as I approached the East Bench of the Third Flatiron. |
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