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 Beowulf: Tobin Sorenson, older you, and me
By David Sweetland - History has a bad habit of being ignored. I write this essay in my fiftieth year, after seeing the movie, Beowulf, and rereading the great tome that was written about fifteen-hundred years ago. In my youth — 1970's — to touch stone was to fight dragons, a need only a fiend could tell. I had the skill, psych, and spirit to go the heights (and I did!). I never wanted to be great.  A Winter's Climb of Mount Chapin
By Richard F. Fleck - In the summer Mount Chapin isn't much of a climb being only over twelve thousand feet, but in the winter, it's quite another matter with winds so fierce that tree-line pines are given a screeching voice ...  The Brocken Spectre atop Longs Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - We all look up at an eclipsing moon high in the sky as we approach the dark North Face in very crisp air of three a.m. Way toward Wyoming, streaks of Northern Lights shimmer while we inch our way to the summit over icy granite.  Brocken Spectre Atop Mount Fuji
By Richard F. Fleck - At sunrise we push onward above the ninth station toward the summit as layers of cloud fill the tea-leaved valley floor while a ball of sun slowly peeks over the Pacific rim illuminating bright red Buddhist torii until we reach the very top  7-Month-old sends Flagstaff V7
October, 2007 — Infant Ella Roseborrough of Flagstaff, Arizona (age 7 months) sent the Priest Draw classic Anorexic (V7) on her 4th try. Her proud parents were there to offer moral support, Beta and to provide a spot.  Herded by Sheep off Jicarita Peak
By Richard F. Fleck - We rested at Santa Barbara Pass and proceeded up a faint little path toward the high, round summit of Jicarita Peak with haunting views into the very streets of Taos and mountains far beyond until we sensed the presence of two bighorn sheep with spiraling horns ...  Rock-holed Sky of Earthborn Spirits
By Richard F. Fleck - Circumnavigating Vedauwoo where calls of ravens echo, I look up at towering rocks with holes exposing azure sky in a strong sun yet with a tinge of autumn as quaking aspen trees tremble with each breeze that combs through fields of green sage  The Return - A poem for JC Lafaille
By Piotr Packowski - One winter's dawn, a man alone, awakens And, sees, A clearing in the morning sky And, decides To climb into the clouds. This morning everything is happening for the first time: The wind relents, the stars scintillate and disappear Into the morning mist.  Roped to the Sky
Richard F. Fleck - Massive bear-clawed columns rise into the sky peppered with roped climbers working their way ever upward some eight hundred feet above lodgepole pines laced with prayer flags fluttering in a spirit wind.  Lunar Eclipse on Mount Washburn
By Richard F. Fleck - On the flanks of Mount Washburn, high above most of Yellowstone, we watch an eclipse of the moon as it slowly darkens to brown except for one glaring rim in the chilly air of five a.m.  Lost on Mount Ida
By Richard F. Fleck - It seems to come from nowhere, or so I think, as I gain the alpine tundra high. Thrashing lightning and rolling thunder turn the sky into rockets and mortars. No longer can I enjoy the forget-me-nots and Parry primroses combed with wind.  Excerpt from the novel The Big G: The Spanish Prisoner
by Sean Toren - "Gravity—the Big G!” sang Dade, still twenty yards ahead of me on the path around Devil's Tower. He was doing a bad job with the James Brown song, but he continued anyway, “On the third planet from the sun, I’ve been trying to get the funky job done…."  The Pursuit
Will you tell me, oh climber, of ascents among the nations? Of your catharsis revolution enacted upon the soul? Will you send a sign of greatness, and hang it high upon a pole? Can you climb into your being and fill that longing with dirt and dust and chalk?  Preacher Man
By Peter de Lennoy - I lashed myself to the summit of the Needles Eye and glanced at the sky. Dark clouds swirled and spun. A mighty wall of wind and water surged toward us like a rogue wave. I pulled up the rope and shouted.  Vivre la difference!
By Andy Cloquet - The name Khyber is unique in UK climbing. It now holds an unassailable position across both sexes in mountaineering’s Who’s Who. You will remember Mark Khyber but do you know that the media-heroine, Chrissy, is also a Khyber?  Dragonfly
By Sean Toren - Bruno imagines himself an insect as he swings through the door at Mountain Hut, an insect that can hunt and gather and consume, though he's not sure if he should be a honeybee or a red ant today.  A SAAB Story - Of mice and Karma
By Majka Burhardt - The longest road trip I’ve ever taken was in a two-door 1983 blue Saab 900. It was a fussy, impractical little automobile. The sunroof leaked, and the clutch stuck between fourth and fifth gears.  Going for Broke: An (Ir)Rational Pursuit of Every Climber's Dream
By Majka Burhardt - It’s 7:30 a.m. and you’re at the parking lot of your local crag. Today you plan to finally get on the choice route on the cliff. You’ve been waiting for two months to do this climb, and the perfect finger crack is a siren beckoning to you again and again. Now you’re finally heeding her call.  La Petite Epic - Learning the ropes, French style
By Majka Burhardt - It all began with an overhanging limestone pocket at Wild Iris. Actually there were two of them, and, due to their distance apart and the lack of other features surrounding them, I was supposed to be holding onto one and heel hooking in the other.  Finding Your Better Half - The search for the perfect (rope) mate
By Majka Burhardt - You wake up to your alarm at 6:30 a.m. Your dog hears the buzzer and jumps in bed to make his wet nose your second reminder. You have a date today — this morning, in fact. At 7:45 you are meeting a new climbing partner at the local coffee shop and you don’t want to be late. |
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