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 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.  2006 - Loss of a Legend
On October 23, the climbing world lost a legend — Todd Skinner, originally of Pinedale, Wyoming, 47 at the time of his death and a leading big-wall free climber. Skinner died in an unrestrained 500-foot fall from the Leaning Tower in Yosemite National Park.  Adventure Climbing in Corsica
Corsica is the Brigadoon of the climbing world: Most have heard of it, few know where it is, and nobody, apparently, has climbed there. Flipping through old magazines, I saw an article by Arnaud Petit: “Corsica: a mountain in the sea” [Climbing No. 152]. I had nurtured a mild obsession with the island ever since.  Fear is Ruling Here
November 2005: I huddled in the darkness of my tent high on the Southwest Ridge of Ama Dablam (22,494 feet), a fairy-tale peak just south of Mount Everest. With temperatures dropping, I was grateful that Kami Chirring, a world-class climbing sherpa I’d met lower on the mountain, had agreed to join me.  Resurrection of the Dammed
The forgotten and flooded Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is poised in the spotlight of a century-old environmental battle, while a small group of climbers continue to push lines above the water. Sean Jones was working another project in the Fjord, which as usual for Sean meant juggling. His little family in El Portal, the center of his life.  THE SEARCH - Adventure Boudering in Bolivia
We lash packs to our backs and crashpads to our shoulders. I’ve been in La Paz, Bolivia, and on the nearby volcanoes for three weeks, and now, with the arrival of three friends from France, the French Team has become four: Ziza, Tony, Steph, and me, the Dod. No more ice axe and crampons — now it’s boulders, not summits, that I seek. Where we will find them in this vast, deserted country, I am not sure.  Moroccan Gold - Climbing in Africa's gateway
Morocco is located in the northwest corner of Africa, nineteen kilometers across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. Trade and immigrants from all over Africa flow northward through Morocco into Europe, reminiscent of the porous-border relationship that Mexico has with the United States. The names of many Moroccan cities are both exotic and familiar: Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, Fes, and Timbuktu. Foreign artists have been attracted to Morocco for generations. Some, including Henri Matisse, were drawn by the stark landscape and indigenous art forms. Others, like William S. Burroughs, found muses of a different sort in its lawless international port cities.  Backyard Backcountry
A flash of lightning illuminates towering fangs of rock as thunder pierces the darkening sky. The afternoon grows cold; thunderheads pool; and, suddenly, big midsummer drops splash from the heavens. This is Utah's Wasatch Front Range, arguably the country's wildest "suburban" mountain chain, boasting some of the States' best alpine moderates. As far back as the 1940s, the likes of Harold Goodro and Fred Beckey played on Wasatch stone.  The Source
By Luke Laeser - Photos by Tim Kemple - The prickly brown stone crests over me like a tidal wave about to crash. It’s 1995, my first full-fledged trip to Hueco Tanks, and I’m not sure what’s more intimidating — topping out above my thin homemade pad consisting of a sleeping pad wrapped in carpet and duct tape, or the testosterone filtering through this cluster of boulders.  After The Gold Rush - high country cragging in western Colorado
I crank the wheel hard as another sheer drop fills my windshield. My back wheels skate out, spraying grave as I overcorrect. My knuckles are white and my eyes are fixated on the guard rail. Instinctually, I hit the gas on my aging Subaru, gaining some speed but also control. As my heart rate slowly regulates, my gaze wanders from the road toward the majestic San Juan Mountains near Telluride — and again I nearly miss a turn, 1000 feet above the valley floor. I’ve driven this pass countless times, yet the exposure and panoramic views always get me. It’s only early autumn, but already the peaks are dusted in snow and the aspen trees are turning gold.  The Russian Way
Alexander Ruchkin groggily poked his head out of the sleeping bag and switched on his headlamp. Tiny crystals of ice and fog glittered in the confined space he shared with Dmitry Pavlenko. The icy portaledge fly flapped in Ruchkin’s face, making it hard to ignore the giant patch where a falling rock had recently ripped through the fabric. It was 3 a.m. on May 24, 2004, and at 7400 meters on the two-mile-high north face of Jannu in Nepal, it was pushing minus forty centigrade.  2005 Golden Piton Awards
This year Climbing is rolling the invitation out to you — our loyal readers — to select the 2005 “Climber of the year” Golden Piton award. Look for the winners in issue #247 on newsstands 3/21/06.  Bewitched
I looked directly left toward the belay. The rope made a long, sad droop before it hit a piece of protection. “I think you’re at the first R part,” said, Kennan. Off to the right, I could see what looked like a crack, but it was another seven or eight feet out. The rock in between appeared blank. The holds under my hands and feet were classic Sandia granite, rounded and gritty, and I sensed that I had limited time before nerves and gravity got to me.  Going Greek on the Island of Kalymnos
The street is dark and quiet except for the laughter of a group of climbers stumbling back from a bar and the far-off whine of a scooter. I hear the surf on the gravel beach of the Greek island of Kalymnos, a small, rocky outcropping in the Dodecanese near the coast of Turkey, and my thoughts are of steep moves on climbs whose names end in “-os.” Omiros, Kerveros, Eros — the routes are tipped-back concoctions of pockets and tufas and stalactites, and my forearms remember them as a butt remembers a spanking. |
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