FEATURES
Cover: Kate Rutherford strolls up Joshua Tree’s one and only Illusion Dweller (5.10b), the Sentinel.
Photo: Simon Carter

GALLERY
Ace lensman Simon Carter takes you on a tour of spring cragging heaven: Joshua Tree National Park, California.

LEGENDS OF THE FALL
Go behind the gritstone curtain, for a glimpse of the mindsets, methodologies, and tormented thought processes of England’s E9 and E10 headpoint pioneers.
By Kevin Thaw

THE BLACK DOG
Depression, obsession, fear, death, madness, and suicide — welcome to the dark side of the climbing equation, as revealed through five first-person essays.
By Kenneth Long, Fitz Cahall, Majka Burhardt, Matt Samet, and Chad Shepard
Illustrations by Chad Shepard

THE CONTRARIAN
“Fly’n” Brian McCray is one of our sport’s best all-arounders, over the last 20 years amassing a body of climbs unparalleled in his generation. And the thing is, he’s done it his way.
By Fitz Cahall
Photos by James Q Martin

DEPARTMENTS
CONTRIBUTORS
Chad Shepard, Fitz Cahall, James Q Martin, and Whitney Levine

EDITORIAL
Need: climbing and the dark power of obsession

LETTERS
BASECAMP
HOT FLASHES
OFF THE WALL
PLAYERS
JUST OUT
TEN THINGS
GET SCRAPPY
ROADKILL
SUSTAINED
CLASSIC CLIMBS
Razor’s Edge, Superstition Mountains, Arizona — a spooky arête in the haunted desert highlands

TECH TIP
Alpine: the Swiss Method — two simple knots for easier roped glacier travel

PERSPECTIVE
Steve McClure: routesetter, coach, writer, speaker, DIY expert, father; Sheffield, United Kingdom