For "conquistadors of the useless," climbers sure love getting into bitter disputes about how we enjoy ourselves.

This article was originally published in Climbing No. 380 under the title "Circuit Court."

Learn to simul-climb and short-fix for faster ascents

Matt Samet describes his experience in using the MoonBoard to train for his multi-year project in Colorado.

Build long-term finger strength with structured hangboarding

Your Virgin Island itinerary is simple: send, rinse, repeat.

“Should I tie in through my hard points or through my belay loop?” she said. “Tie in through your belay loop,” a boy climber responded with conviction.

For sale: Offwidth rack, used once.

On December 5, 2011, in Pinnacles National Park, California, Lars Johnson found his legs crushed by a 2-ton boulder. His fast-acting partners saved his life.

Basic self-rescue knowledge should be a priority of any aspiring multi-pitch climber. Knowing and practicing these skills beforehand will save you lots of headache on the wall. Being self-reliant is the responsibility of each person—you are responsible for your own safety!

"Her son was still on the wall, suspended about 20 feet up. The only thing holding him up was a Grigri chained to the floor."

In the Elbe River Valley they were climbing 5.9+ by 1905 and 5.10+/5.11 by 1922. And they were doing this with knotted slings as pro.

To climb longer and stronger, it’s important to understand our hand anatomy and how pulley injuries happen, as well as how to prevent and treat them, and to restrengthen an injured digit.

Back in 1979, tower trips could be serious business. Spring-loaded cams had yet to debut. Falls were rare, but potential air was huge.

A lot of people love ice climbing. This one is for those of you that don't, but go anyway.

Climbing training is hard and boring, and often requires expensive, specialized equipment. Here's how to get more swole for less work and even less money.

For such a common ailment, the misinformation and paucity of research available is staggering.

Climbing is dangerous even when you know what you are doing. It's outright deadly when you think you know what you're doing but don't have a clue.

It seems simple in theory—throw your heel around a hold or feature to use those powerful leg muscles to pull you into the wall—but it’s much more nuanced in practice. Here's how to perfect it.

We’ve gathered experience-driven tips and tricks to create a foolproof recipe for success on pumpy layback pitches.

Ever.

You can train long or you can train hard, but not both—which is probably why so many of us train power so incorrectly.

“It only takes a few people a year to really do some damage.”

If I'd hopped off the ledge or tried to weight the sling, I would've fallen a few hundred feet to the ground. I felt sick to my stomach for a couple weeks after that one.

The route features hard slab, 5.13+ seams, and a 5.13c finger crack of such high quality that the climbers named the ropelength "As Good as It Gets."

From the archive: James Lucas finds his way (and our history) at the Virgin River Gorge.

In 2007 Cedar Wright and Renan Ozturk made an alpine-style FA of the 2,500-foot Northern Cat’s Ear Spire, the last unclimbed spire in the Great Trango Group. In the process he realized a thing or two about "style."

"Female climbers are often less confident than their male counterparts, but it’s nurture, not nature. And that’s something we can beat."

Casual cragging is anything but—the law of gravity still applies. Use this four-part checklist to beat complacency and prevent accidents.

How headpointing became a legitimate, go-to tactic on Peak District gritstone.

"In a sport that prizes youth and energy and boldness and good health, it is, I realize, anathema to confess to any sort of weakness..." But sometimes embracing your weakness can help.

Aid climbing is the one sure-fire way to accelerate the trad climbing learning curve

"How do you decide what climbs to write about? What makes a route newsworthy in the first place, and why are the fifth or tenth ascents of a route sometimes newsworthy and sometimes not?"

Most walls will stand the test of time. We as climbers will not.

Although the correct process to cut a rope is very simple, there are two things to keep in mind when you’re done.

This climber was experienced, too. Just shows that you can't be too careful when you climb.

Us 9-5ers want to climb 5.16, but we don’t have the time to get there because of our jobs. Well, let me let you in on a little secret: You can train for climbing all day every day with these simple exercises.

Though he’s stepped out of the climbing spotlight in recent years and has always been a reclusive, enigmatic figure—a soft-spoken “man of the forest”—he has something new to offer the community.

Heidi Wirtz describes how to use stretches to warm up for and recover from a climbing session.

Gyms are great and all. But you can get just as strong by consciously training during your outdoor sessions.

These are the kinds of excellent excuses we’d make if we were really being honest about our climbing performance.

At 78, climber, hall-of-fame skier, and former mountain guide Dick Dorworth had to make a difficult decision.

After a near-death climbing experience, I was inspired to dig deeper into the psychology of fear and learn about its effect on performance, how it wells up in the first place, and what we can do to deal with it. What I found will take your climbing to the next level—and could save your life.

Here are 23 tips from veteran climbers for going outside. Whether you're new to the scene or a pro, they still apply.

Check out Kevin Corrigan's author page.

Knots were also used for record keeping in ancient China, and the Chinese Book of Changes, almost 2,500 years old, associates knots with contract and agreement.

Hold on, I know what you’re thinking! Celibacy solves nothing. But here's where you're wrong.

An ice climber, a trad climber, a boulderer, and a sport climbing visit a fortune teller and learn their fates.

Kids may be lighter than adults, but that doesn't mean you can skimp on safety thinking that your rig is "strong enough."

Follow these five simple, experience-driven not-training tips and in just six weeks you will be no better of a climber than you are today—and possibly worse.

Sheffield's legendary training facility changed the history (and future) of our sport.

After climbing every bolted route below 5.9 in Boulder Canyon, Kevin Corrigan learns an essential truth about rock climbing.

Falling is as integral to climbing as climbing itself, yet it creates fear that you must address correctly—and you must learn proper falling technique in order to fall safely.

Climbing’s yesteryear has a couple great examples of big dudes who climbed harder than most of us ever will.

"Alpine climbing seems like a great way to escape the crowds, but a little intimidating. What’s a good progression?"

It's easy to fantasize about climbing road trip, but hard work to make it happen. Here are some tips to make the prep a little easier.

Warrior's Way pioneer Arno Ilgner lays out the specifics for why we often fail on a climb, and how to push past the barriers.

Climbing partners can be poor substitutes for real friends, but they don't have to be.

Jim Erickson looks back on the past half century to chronicle how the gear we rely on has changed and improved over the years.

From the first women recorded in mountaineering in the late eighteenth century, to the first 5.15 female ascent by Margo Hayes in 2017.

Terminally pumped? Follow these tips to achieve a restful stance on vertical rock, steep caves, corners, and more.

The Australian style of rappel might be fine if you are being shot at, but for climbing it's a very unnecessary risk.

Everyone’s a critic.

From the archive: In Henry Barber's 2008 interview with Mark Synnott, he discusses his philosophy of minimalism and tolerance: "Let’s make sure that we allow these people to be themselves, and not try to make them all the same. This sport has to be different for everybody—it has to be."

Webbing may cost less than climbing rope, but it doesn't stretch and belay devices aren't designed for it. It seems self apparent that you should only climb on an actual climbing rope, but not everyone has gotten the message.

A proper warm-up will target mobility and stability in both the wrists and fingers. Here's how to do it right.

Progress capture devices can be used to save energy and climb harder on big alpine routes.

Follow these simple guidelines for better climbing photography. Includes advice for getting the most out of light, how to visualize, use a zoom, and even posing down and how to learn from others' photos.

John Q Public always imagined that we climb by throwing grappling hooks up the cliff. Turns out they were right.

Bad landings, bad spotters, a fear of falling that makes you more likely to fall—don't make bouldering more dangerous than necessary.

These famous climbing accidents are equal parts gripping and inspiring. If any reader should someday find themself in such a desperate situation, we hope they too will remember how others endured, living to climb another day.

Climbers often neglect limbs that can be especially useful for climbing, like the head, shoulder, knee, and hip. These seven tips show the importance of keeping an open mind and using any body part, no matter how ignoble a figure you cut.

Sick of being the weakling and the buffoon? Forget excuses. “Discrete tension,” aka DT, can earn you credit for routes significantly harder than you actually redpoint.

Dropped, forgotten, or mysteriously vanished gear can ruin a climbing day. Worst case, it can be life-threatening. But with a little know-how, you can recover from bone-headed mistakes and keep climbing—and also impress friends with your savvy.

There's something magical about doing big routes in faraway places. But on these walls it's important to have your systems and tactics totally ironed out.

More risky behavior, as if climbing the proper way isn't dangerous enough.

Climbing is a jargon-filled sport. And sometimes the jargon isn't even a complete word—it's an abbreviation.

Racking them, placing them, threading them, stacking them, trusting them. Here's what you need to know about using nuts.

Not only was the belayer unanchored, another climber sharing the ledge wasn't roped in. If the nut had pulled ...

Climbing stinks, really stinks. Knowing this is the first step toward doing something about it.