Culture

All the things you absolutely should not say in response to the question “What is that thing on your back?”

An outing on the Lightning Bolt Cracks attracted more than just climbers when lightning struck the summit.

She didn’t seem up for the challenge—but her friend kept pushing her to keep soloing anyway.

The pioneering American sport climber is among the best to ever tie in, and was arguably the world’s strongest rock climber for almost 20 years.

In 2019, Climbing dubbed her “America’s New Comp Superstar.” Since then, Grossman has certainly lived up to that moniker.

The climbers who fell on Tahquitz Rock in October 2003 were experienced, known for "quadruple-checking" things. Yet as they finished a multipitch route, something went terribly wrong.

Lor Sabourin, a queer climber and instructor for the Warrior’s Way, finds support and community through an affinity group.

All the things all your non-climbing friends and family have ever said to you. Enjoy!

Free soloing means climbing with no rope, a genre that verged into American consciousness in the 1970s. In 2018 it blew up, with Alex Honnold's mind-bending solo of El Capitan and the award-winning film that chronicled it. Let's take a look back.

A month at sea, with its requisite sickness and insomnia, didn’t stop Berthe from having an incredible Yosemite season. 

KG Kagambi, a member of the Full Circle Expedition and the only non-American on the team, reflects on his Everest experience.

It’s hard to see George Mallory the man through the fog of myth that’s enshrouded him since his death on Everest in 1924. But he was a man, sometimes brilliant, sometimes bumbling, whose rise to fame occurred only in the final three years of his life.

How Ben Mayforth became a world class and world cup competitor.

The respected mountain guide was on a fixed rope, approaching the top, when she slipped out of her harness. A friend remembers a pioneering climber and a loss 40 years ago this month.

"If plumbing had bouldering grades I was a V15 plumber. The Adam Ondra of pipes and turd herding."

Eder Lomba, a Basque climber and coach currently based in Sheffield, UK, recently made the second ascent of Steve McClure’s Rainman, 5.15b. We wanted to know who he is.

We've all been there: an undisciplined leader with no pride pitches a fit like a little child. Gear Guru knows what to do then.

The outdoor world drew her in. Life as a guide seemed an ideal. It wasn't as romantic as it looked.

The staunch Yosemite hardman pioneered modern free climbing ethics, and accomplished first ascents of some of America’s most iconic climbs.

The American mountaineer is among the most famous all-around climbers in the world and a prominent activist.

"Eating disorders are often symptoms of larger issues. Bearing witness develops empathy.”

Earl Wiggins was a leading free climber and soloist in the 1970s and 1980s. (He did the FA of Supercrack / Luxury Liner in Indian Creek... placing hexes.) But in the early 2000s, he took his own life.

Jackson Smith, a 33-year-old climber, has clipped the chains on his 5.11d project that he’s been telling everyone at the gym about for the past three months.

A guidebook author and Patagonia guru, Rolando Garibotti has emerged from decades of cutting-edge alpinism with some serious wisdom.

The actress, dancer, photographer, and Nazi filmmaker was a close friend of Hitler, and one of the progenitors of the mountain film industry.

"I like to find something that feels impossible and then, by working a lot and training a lot, find it possible. The challenge is the motivation."

In the winter of 1986, three highly experienced Yosemite wall climbers were trapped for days in a blizzard on Half Dome's South Face.

The female world record holder for most Everest summits gets real about her journey

The Robert and Miriam Underhill Award, given since 1983 to legends like Lynn Hill, Yvon Chouinard, Conrad Anker, and Alex Honnold, will be rebranded because of racist remarks made in the 1930s and 1940s by Robert L.H. Underhill, a major figure in the history of U.S. mountaineering

Last summer, Tiffany Thiele, a young rock climber from Reno, Nevada, took her life after posting a Facebook message saying a ski patroller had raped her. She left behind an unsolvable mystery about what really happened, along with urgent questions about whether more could have been done to heal her feelings of pain and distrust.

The American climber pushed the boundaries of free soloing and speed soloing, and was a preeminent highliner and BASE jumper.

As Mothers' Day approaches—May 8, don't forget—we asked.

Climbing head injuries can happen anywhere: from the Salathé on El Cap to your favorite little sport crag. Here are five climbers' nightmare scenarios.

The New Zealand mountaineer achieved international fame after his summit of the world’s highest peak in 1953. He also visited the North and South Pole, among other ventures.

The Slovenian is climbing’s first female Olympic medalist, the first woman to onsight 5.14b, and perhaps our sport’s strongest overall competitor

From Reinhold Messner and Catherine Destivelle to Emily Harrington and Alex Honnold, here are some of our favorite climbing and mountaineering quotes.

The 21-year-old was climbing V10 by the age of nine and was the USA’s first qualified Olympic climber.

"So with the Olympics, I was like, Yeah, it would be amazing, but I wasn’t going to be disappointed if I didn’t make it. It’s just icing on the cake that I did."

In New York City, mentees and mentors boost one another to become climbers and leaders.

What does it mean to become a “real climber”—and do you need to risk your life in the process? Seeking an answer, the author revisits the folly of his youthful climbs in the White Mountains, New Hampshire.

Climbing legend Jim Erickson pulls the curtain back to reveal what really happened ... or didn't happen.

Climbers venture into the desert to test ourselves, but beneath or even among the heights we seek, migrants may risk their lives looking for safe passage. High on the flanks of Baboquivari Peak, near a militarized border, the author finds two clashing realities.

Never again will there be anywhere like Sibleyville, outside Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, where for 50 years climbers came to crash—and when they crashed.

What do you get when you give two inept teenagers two huge boxes of Snickers bars, drench them in protestant work ethic, and plop them down in a sport climbing crucible like Rifle, Colorado? (Hint: it’s a less successful formula than it sounds.)

Mount Lucania in the Yukon was seldom climbed. There were reasons why.

The UK-based artist Ali Mulroy became a climber literally by accident—she stumbled into a rock gym, sparking a passion now at the core of her art.

After being diagnosed with Hodgkinds Lymphoma, and one helluva battle, Favia Dubyk uses climbing to get back her strength.

The author lost his father in an accident at the crag nearly 50 years ago. He’s taken that long to be able to write about it.

The German mountaineer is chasing a seemingly impossible record, and a lofty dream, on the world’s most famous peak.

In this excerpt from "Valley of Giants," a new anthology of writing by some Yosemite's most iconic women climbers, Beth Rodden describes how her six-month journey on Meltdown (5.14c) brought an end to one period of her life and introduced another.

Emilie Hernandez and Texas Lady Crushers are bringing diversity to climbing, one women-led clinic at a time.

Kurt Albert defined free climbing and took it to the remote mountains of the world. Behind the stories of wild adventures and great deeds, there was something exemplary in the life cut short.

Yuji Hiramaya was the first person to onsight 5.14b. He had the best onsight effort on The Salathé on El Cap for over 20 years. He also won World Cups in 1998 and 2000, did 5.15 first ascents, and now owns Base Camp Gym in Hidaka, Japan.

By the time of his and Sir Edmund Hillary's successful Everest climb, Norgay had been to the mountain six times and was a prolific high-altitude climber, earning numerous prestigious awards.

Check out Craig DeMartino's author page.

His was a remarkable rise from small-town life to Olympic immortality.

Alison Hargreaves and her son Tom Ballard were two of the finest alpinists of their eras. “The Last Mountain” skillfully exposes the void formed in their wakes, though it diminishes Ballard’s climbing partner in the process.

Krakauer’s nonfiction works, such as Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, are among the world’s most widely-read pieces of outdoor literature.

He established 5.9 in the early 1900s at a time when that was likely the highest grade worldwide, and went on to pioneer what would become the Northeast Ridge route on Everest.

Rich Romano established some 80 routes, many of them R rated, at the steep and remote Millbrook, the Shawangunks, New York.

While it certainly helps to climb 5.15, you don’t actually have to.

Each January we post a farewell tribute to those members of our community lost in the year just past. Some of the people you may have heard of, some not. All are part of our community and contributed to climbing.

Cody Brown nearly lost his life to a rare blood disorder. Climbing helped bring him back, both physically and mentally.

Sometimes taking a step back is the right beta

The nine-fingered Dawn Wall climber was one of climbing’s first celebrities and a pioneer of big wall Yosemite free ascents.

The unique way women inspire each other to climb.

We asked 12 pros: What's the best piece of climbing advice you've received? Some of their answers are obvious, others are enlightening. But all are worthy considerations when out on the rock, plastic, or ice.

Molly Mitchell learns to how to get back on the sharp end.

The Czech wunderkind is both a top-end sport climber and boulderer, and the only person in history to have sent a proposed 5.15d climb.

Katie Lamb has racked up one of the most impressive bouldering ticklists of all time. But who is she?

The 32-year-old American has over 30 V15 sends and several V16 first ascents.

Each January we post a farewell tribute to those members of our community lost in the year just past. Some of the people you may have heard of, some not. All are part of our community and contributed to climbing.

Check out Delaney Miller's author page.

Sandbag: (noun) A route of substantially elevated difficulty in comparison to others of the same grade. (verb) To suggest a route of such character to a friend.

Seventy years ago, a woman climber-writer created a gritty, gifted, slum-born character.

Athletes need a space to train. Kimanda Jarzebiak provides that, plus, everything else.

Just a few of the partner-wanted ads you'll likely see at your local gym.

Just who climbs a route first is nuanced, and with big money at stake the lines between success and failure have gotten fuzzier.

Until Gill came along bouldering was regarded as a leisure activity. He brought it front and center, legitimizing what is today perhaps climbing's most popular discipline.