Ascent Annual Special Edition 2022
Published since 1967, Ascent is a compendium of climbing's best longform storytelling, imagery and vertical expression. Published once a year by Climbing magazine, Ascent is included with every membership subscription.
Stories
POSTs
Young Women Who Crush
In New York City, mentees and mentors boost one another to become climbers and leaders.
Affordable And Stunning, Brazil’s Developing Rock Will Bend Your Mind
A photographer's journey reveals unimaginable climbing wealth and beauty, and barely scratches the surface of possibilities.
Risking Everything to Become a “Real” Climber
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.
Cleaning Up Climbing History. The Truth Behind 13 Pivotal Ascents and Events
Climbing legend Jim Erickson pulls the curtain back to reveal what really happened ... or didn't happen.
She Needed Help. What Could They Have Done?
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.
He Reimagined Climbing and Rock Shoes. He Hates Hype. You Can Thank Him Later.
Heinz Mariacher has spent four decades creating rock shoes. As a cutting-edge climber of the 1970s and ‘80s, he’s used both his experience on rock and his eye as an artist to catapult footwear from clunkers to the precision tools we use today.
Sibleyville Was Boulder’s Camp 4. Only Ashes Remain.
Never again will there be anywhere like Sibleyville, outside Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, where for 50 years climbers came to crash—and when they crashed.
Humiliated by Honnold … With Help From Ourselves
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.)
Is Minus 50 Really That Cold? Two Women Aimed To Find Out.
Mount Lucania in the Yukon was seldom climbed. There were reasons why.
My Shining, Beautiful, Devastating Memories From The World Cup Circuit
The fist raised in victory; the bright lights; the roaring crowd—from the outside, competition climbing seems to be all glitz and glamour. But what is it like on the inside, from the lived experience of a onetime competitor?
Climbing In The Abstract
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.
His Father Died At His Feet. 50 Years Later The Accident Still Haunts Him.
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.