Jeff Jackson

You always choose what you risk. But sometimes, with all the odds stacked against you, it’s difficult to act appropriately.

On Thursday, February 12, Wes Walker and Jason Grubb loaded up and drove 11 hours to Cody, Wyoming, for the annual South Fork Ice Festival. The two climbers, from Florida and Texas respectively, were enjoying their first season of ice climbing while living and working in the mountain town of Carbondale, Colorado.

He just wanted to get on the sweet Maui stone, then someone jacked his truck—that's when the trouble started.

Being alive is mortally dangerous. As climbers we regularly put ourselves at risk. Rocks fall, but miss. We run it out, but make it to the anchor. The avalanche sweeps camp right after we pack up. And hazards are not always occasioned by putting ourselves in harm’s way.

It’s easy to train but it’s also easy to over-train. No matter how much you climb, you just can’t seem to get better. Or you have a nagging injury. Or you can’t concentrate and flub beta. Or you’re just plain scared. If this is you, then you need to change what you’re doing.

An encounter with the undead would have turned back most people. But a big free wall awaited, and well ...

Censorship, Mandates and Social Justice

In 1987, Climbing’s Editor at Large, Jeff Jackson, worked as a night janitor at Sequoia National Park, California. There, he traded climbing lessons with fellow employees for belays on Moro Rock, a 1,000-foot dome. Trusting his life to some of the weirdest characters he ever met, he learned more than he taught.

David Roberts, who died on August 20, began his lifelong cost/benefit analysis of alpinism in his first book—written in nine days—the all-time classic The Mountain of My Fear.

First ascentionists just want affirmation, for you to pat them on the back and tell them that their pile of a route is "great." Here's how to get that love.

Don’t believe that this resting exercise will improve your climbing and change your life in only 5 minutes a day? Try it for one month and get back to me.

Unencumbered by any gear—not even clothes—this guy was obviously having a great time recreating in the sunshine on a splitter day.

Brooke Raboutou didn't medal, but she gave an OIympic performance, and is worthy of being on a podium by herself.

The Olympic Games elevated the author to try harder, hold on a bit longer and succeed in the face of failure.

The new video of Daniel Woods sending what might be the world's hardest boulder problem might also be the best metaphor yet for life in 21st century America.

What’s a mentor? The author’s quest for self examination puts a disciple in harm’s way, not that it's his fault, it's the way he was brought up.

He was going to go climbing, but disaster got in the way.

Project climbing is difficult, painful and at times has no reward in sight. Maybe the secret to success and happiness is lowering your goals by only climbing the easy stuff.

Acclaimed author Jeff Jackson gets called to duty on a search-and-rescue mission deep in the rugged uplands of Maui. What he finds reveals true nature in all its forms.

The route they said, was easy, but then they said it was impossible, deadly even in these conditions. So which was it?

So far this year we’ve seen an insurrection, an inauguration and an impeachment. A climber’s report from America’s last, and most reluctant, state.

Wherein the author finds some good bouldering, is cursed by the gods and experiences an epiphany in Africa’s legendary Mountains of the Moon.

When Hawaii sent out a ballistic missile alert the author re-evaluated everything including climbing. This feature was included in "Best American Sports Writing," 2019.