FEATURES

GALLERY
Towering Inferno: ninja photographer Jim Thornburg takes you on an arresting tour of Devils Tower, Wyoming.

INDEX CLUB
Join two Washington-state locals as they divulge the rich, complex, and sometimes-tragic history of the brilliant Index Town Walls, where retreating hardmen have quietly authored free granite testpieces over the past four decades.
By Angele Sjong
Photos by Ben Gilkison

DER KLETTERGARTEN
In Washington state’s Wenatchee Mountains, the sublime blocs of Leavenworth and Gold Bar have fueled a Northwest bouldering renaissance — just don’t forget your alpenstock, dirndl, and lederhosen.
By Jackie Hueftle and Kelly Sheridan
Photos by Max Hasson

INTO THE WILD
Four women and one photographer head into the blue-ice paradise of the remote Icefall Brook, British Columbia, finding first ascents aplenty and a futuristic cave that might house the world’s stoutest mixed route.
By Caroline George
Photos by Jon Walsh

THE ZICICLE
Ice climbing in Zion National Park? Surely, you jest. . . .
Story and Photos by Andrew Burr

“BE KIND, BE STRONG, BE HAPPY, AND TRY HARD.”
On August 9, Craig Luebben, the guide, author, photographer, talented all-arounder, and Climbing Senior Contributing Editor, lost his life climbing in the Cascades. Here, a friend remembers Luebben and his untold gifts to our community.
By Cameron Cross

DEPARTMENTS

CONTRIBUTORS
Ben Gilkison, Caroline George, Leah Miller, Angele Sjong

EDITORIAL
Climbing mourns the passing of Senior Contributing Editor Craig Luebben.

LETTERS

JUST OUT
6 hot items to warm autumn’s chill

HOT FLASHES
Radical new lines on the Stikine Icecap and Mendenhall Towers, Alaska; and Hukkataival’s V15 Rocklands coup

OFF THE WALL
Meet Richard Jones, the Treadwall mileage master; Overheard (super-funny . . . )

PLAYERS
Zhenja Kazbekova: the world’s youngest female (only 12) to redpoint 5.13d/5.14a

TEN THINGS . . .
Castleton Tower

ROADKILL
An overworked guide faces a life-or-death decision on Aconcagua’s teeming slopes.

SPORTING LIFE
What not to say to your significant climbing other, a love quiz for couples

SUSTAINED
It’s high time we cared about approach trails.

CLASSIC CLIMBS
Kor-Ingalls (III 5.9), Castleton Tower, Utah: a venerable trade route up the desert’s most popular spire

TECH TIPS
Technique: climb smart . . . like an amputee.
Training: vanquish tendonitis by working your opposition muscles and stretching.

MILEAGE
Oman: desert-limestone and deep-water mania on the Arabian peninsula

REVIEWS
Bookfest: new full-color guides to Boulder Canyon, the Flatirons, and Zion; Colorado Fourteener disasters; and how to get expedition funding

ANCHORED
Tod Anderson, the Front Range anti-slacker

PERSPECTIVE
Huntley Ingalls: desert pioneer, tower master, cave explorer, geophysicist, mathematician; Boulder, Colorado