Sport Climbing

Critiques are tough—but so is belaying. Here’s to approaching both with caution.

He lined up for the famous move and launched with gumption, only to latch the edge’s chalky outer rim and face the music of his momentum.

"I’ve been climbing for a pretty long time, long enough that I feel like I shouldn’t still get so freaking nervous when I’m going for the send."

The climber logged nothing but air miles thanks to the cave’s steepness, and called her whip “the craziest air I’ve ever had.”

This week’s whipper is a reminder that geologic time includes now.

Deep in the Cascades, you can top out huge walls without placing gear or pulling 5.10 moves on routes like Flyboys, which climbs 1,800 fully bolted feet at an achievable 5.9. (From 2020.)

A Goldilocks catch: soft, airy, and just right.

Having spent the better part of three weeks in El Potrero Chico, I was emotionally prepared for what might have otherwise been a very disturbing discovery.

How did he get away with that?

A slow, steady, and multi-phased warmup will prepare your body to work hard and make your training safer and more efficient. (From 2015)

“He was completely fine, in a shock to us all.”

Coaches Justen Sjong and Juan Usubillaga offer tips on how to train on plastic to become better climbers both outside and in.

These historic areas are still amazing destinations today.

Just because the rock is bomber doesn’t mean the fixed gear is. 

Instead of lowering to the ground, you can often “boink” back up to your last quickdraw by pulling up on the rope, unweighting, and allowing your belayer to quickly take in slack.

One very real concern, the filmer said, was the climber’s rope cutting over the sharp ironstone edge.

With perhaps the exception of Rumney, Lone Rock may possess New England’s highest concentration of 5.13-on-up sport climbs for a wall its size.

“Woo was pretty pumped and fixated on the final hard sequence. He forgot to clip the bolt, did the moves, and then slipped off.”

Many sport pitches can be fallen from with abandon. Not this one.

Rifle Mountain Park has a history, reaching back to the canyon’s first sport climbs from the late 1980s and early 1990s, that played a critical role in the modern explosion of difficulty in American sport climbing, especially on overhanging stone.

The climber, miraculously, walks away without a scratch.

Don't know how far it is to the next rappel anchor, and/or your rope is too short to make it?

Honnold is famous for (among other things) cramming as much climbing as he can into each day. To do so, he's developed some efficiency tricks that the rest of us can imitate.

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

Most whippees are on their way up before they hurtle down. But that’s not always the case.

Studies point to stress itself as the culprit for accelerated fatigue; not how hard you grip.

“I realized there was no foothold to move across to the bolt and I took a 30-foot whip, face down, one-foot from the ground.”

Some climbs, we get up out of sheer stubbornness—or stupidity.

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

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

Improve faster and avoid injuries by climbing just below your limit—roughly 80 percent of your maximum ability—about 90 percent of the time.

Some say the most dangerous section of a sport climb is between the second and third bolts.

Punting on routes is the necessary mental chrysalis we use to achieve the next level as climbers. Everyone does it, and it's OK.

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

This isn't a guide to 2022's flashiest new kicks. These are the shoes we return to when we’re not testing shoes.

That could have been a lot worse.

"The [route] description ironically says something like 'Don't blow the mantle at the top...' "

We climbers love our labels, but figuring out just what type of climber you really are begs defining.

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

When the lactic acid builds, many climbers abandon these basic principles. 

Did anyone else feel their ankle snap just watching that? No? Just us? No matter—the climber, Maissa, is A-OK.

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

This belayer had the best of intentions. At least the only victim was himself—and his lawn chair.

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

Steep, sandy jugs—what could be better?

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.

Who said sport climbers can't take gear rippers?

The Ratstaman Vibrations project was made semi-famous by a 2012 Petzl video of Chris Sharma bolting the line and working the moves; it memorably includes a gigantic sideways dyno [insert Sharma scream] to a flat edge.

“If you knew nothing about the crag, you’d look at the line from the ground and be like ‘Wow. No. That’s totally crazy. I will never be able to do that.’ But when I knew the crag and the style and the kneebars and how to take down the rope, I was like ‘Yeah, it’s possible.’ ”

A visiting Brit arrived in this country just as sport climbing did, and witnessed the war between trad and sport.

Ask before you flail, communicate, and know when to call it quits: here's how to hangdog without wearing down your belayer.

Upside-down whippers are dangerous but almost always avoidable... so learn to avoid them.

Many climbers settle into a niche discipline in the vast expanse of the climbing universe. Some—for better or worse—get so stuck at their grade that their personalities begin to mimic the rocks and routes they choose to climb. 

When your rope is stuck, you ain’t going nowhere. Here are my hard-won tips for getting your rope unstuck and—even better—preventing it from happening in the first place.

Pro climber Heather Weidner discusses the pros and cons of two tie-in knots.

Indeed, all is well until it’s not.

Climbing is a skill sport and resting is a skill. Better learn it.

In the first installment of his “Hidden Gems” series, the French rock star does hard first ascents at Thaurac. Never heard of it? It's home to something like 1,000 limestone sport routes.

Eight tips for climbing safely in loose terrain.

⁠The end of a climbing trip can be a glorious, chain-slapping time—but there's another side to this romanticism.

This six-week program will hone you to climb the classics, whether it's a mountain, wall or long free route.

A directional is a piece of gear, be it a bolt or a cam or a nut, that places your climbing rope in the most appropriate location for zigs and zags on a climb.

When the wall kicks back past vertical, the pump clock starts ticking. It’s all about getting to the chains before that alarm goes off.

A failed clip, an inverted whip, nearly decks ... what the heck?

Climbing takes power, endurance and technique. Here's a simple step-by-step program that's concise, easy to follow and will have you climbing your best practically today.

The 3,500-foot 5.10d, Guaranteed Rugged, was a multi-year undertaking for Brent Nixon, Lisa Newhook, Sean Draper, and Kate Naus.

Nothing beats the feeling of piecing together a redpoint ascent. Here's a basic strategy for effectively working—and sending—your dream rig!

Two routes, two climbers, and a shared finish. What could go wrong?

When swinging leads on a multi-pitch route, the belay transitions are often the biggest time suck. But they don't have to be.

"A hodgepodge of slightly newer hardware dots the cliff, a marker of all the old bolts that have ripped and needed replacement over the years.”

The why, when, and how to shaking off the pump.

How do you belay “correctly” on a big free route? Well, it's complicated, but this whipper provides several solid tips.

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

This Weekend Whipper does almost everything right. Almost.

A photographer's journey reveals unimaginable climbing wealth and beauty, and barely scratches the surface of possibilities.

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.)

Climbing gyms make fantastic training and practice environments, but they also reward some bad habits that can be downright unsafe outside. Jump-start your transition to outdoor master by avoiding these five common mistakes.

Climbing your best and most efficiently isn't just about using your hands and feet.

"I went for the wrong move that I knew I couldn't land anyways. That's when the rope flew behind my leg mid fall and flipped me upside down."

Directly linked to mental composure (hence technique) under duress, physical fitness, and your ability to recover, your heart rate is the engine driving your rock climbing. No surprise, then, that training with a heart-rate monitor (HRM) can be hugely beneficial.