COVER
The unpredictable waves of California’s Humboldt County are not to be taken lightly — Joe Kinder barely escapes from being swept out to sea on an unnamed, ungraded oceanside boulder problem.
Photo by Tim Kemple

“This problem was totally terrifying. The surf below, crashing into the boulder I’m climbing on, was one of the most intense feelings I’ve ever had. I got to the top and had cottonmouth. My girlfriend wasn’t psyched, but everyone else was yelling, ’That’s messed up, dawg!’”

FEATURES

BIGFOOT COUNTRY
Pounding surf, drenching rains, primordial forests, monster fog, stonker limestone, and V-gradeless boulder problems where the landings shift as much as six feet per day — welcome to Humboldt County, a climbers’ eden in far Northern California.
Photos by Tim Kemple

GETTING WHAT YOU CAME FOR: ADVENTURE CLIMBING IN CORSICA
Mediterranean seas, warm sands, and … desperate, runout granite?! Mon dieu! One of the Med’s smallest and loveliest islands dishes out adventure
in spades, even by American standards.
By Majka Burhardt • Photos by Gabe Rogel

THE WOMEN OF 5.14b
Some 19 years after 5.14b became an overhanging reality, an elite group of 11 women worldwide has ticked this holy grade. Besides talent, training, and determination, how did these grand dames of sport climbing get there?
By Jamie Lynn Miller

DEPARTMENTS

EDITORIAL
POSITIVELY NEGATIVE
A road trip full of epics isn’t necessarily a bad thing. …

LETTERS
Readers are loving Climbing’s move to recycled paper! Plus: Joe’s vs. Hueco — the debate continues.

HOT FLASHES
Dave Graham’s back in action overseas; Jon Walsh and Chris Brazeau free Canada’s Mount Alberta; sleeper Nicolas “Nico” Favresse, teamed with Ivo Ninov, does El Cap ground-up FFA, via Lost in Transletion, plus, makes a gear-only ascent of Father’s Day (5.14a) at Donner Summit; Cody Roth goes off in Europe; Markus Bock, Christian Core hard first ascents — and Maurizio “Manolo” Zanolla establishes 5.14+ multi-pitch at age 48!

OFF THE WALL
If Gollum and the Yeti had a lovechild, he’d probably be a “moulineer” … ; climbers rally to help John Bachar; RMNP: Hot and Not?; Bobbi Bensman, Then and Now; Daniel Woods loses face; more

CLASSIC CLIMBS
Layback jug flakes, airy hand traverses, a bombay chimney … definitely a classic iConn. A So Dak local leads you up the
Black Hills’ multi-pitch Conn Diagonal (5.7).
By Dan Dewell • Photos by Andrew Burr

WHIPPED
The Great Divide: How, exactly, do you split the rack in a climber divorce?
By MAJKA BURHARDT

GALLERY
Prepare your eyeballs for nine pages of dreamy Euro sport cliffs, frigid Colorado ice, and classic trad cragging in Cali and Washington.

TECH TIPS
Sport: No date? No problem. Here’s how to rig a safe solo outing, on toprope.
Training: Protein, protein, and more protein … what does it all mean?

EQUIPMENT
Ultimate Clips: seven of the world’s lightest quickdraws tested tough, plus three workhorse draws

JUST OUT
Just in time for the holidays: Petzl’s new E+LITE, the OR Extravert glove, Mammut Ambler jacket, Red Chili Sausalito, Julbo eXplorer shades, NUUN Active Hydration tablets, and Michael Reardon’s new John Bachar documentary

GEAR YOU NEED
So, you’re going bouldering in the land of freedom fries, berets, and stinky cheese — here’s what you need for Fontainebleau.

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT …
Eigernordwand, the Swiss monster death wall that’s the most storied alpine face on the planet