Climbing
Archive
It sounded like a good idea at the time: Journey to the sopping epicenter of the wettest place on earth, bag the peak, and get back in time for supper. But that was before the clouds clamped down on Mount Waialeale. Before the jungle closed in and the map became irrelevant. Before the machete-wielding, pig-hunting swamp guide said, "Would be so easy to get lost
br NAME: LISA RANDS AGE: 26 GIG: BOULDERING SPECIALTY: TECHNICAL OUTDOOR CLIMBS HOMETOWN: BISHOP, CALIFORNIA HEIGHT: 5′ 4″ WEIGHT: 115 POUNDS SEEN NEXT: September 14 and 15 in Rovereto,…
#1 You must merge with the living energy of the mountain. #2 That nagging headache may be the result of an avalanche that has just crushed your tent. #3 In order to endure the most dire physical suffering at 25,000 feet, you must inhabit other dimensions free from pain. (Note: Pain returns upon reentry into the body.) #4 You will be compelled to ascend the most harrowing face in the Himalayas, alone. #5 Go home, break both of your legs, and start all over again.
WILL GADD is a world-class adventurer who wants his exploits to pay off. He tackles breakthrough climbs all over the planet (sounds good), makes so-so money doing it (less good), and could easily get killed every time he goes to work (sounds bad). Is this any way to make a living?
Calling all climbers: beckoning walls in Italy’s mighty Dolomites Q: I’m planning a trip to the Dolomites and am after suggestions of must-see places since there is so much to see and not enough days to see it all in. Is it worth bringing climbing gear for…
On the other side of the world are other worldly sights-Tasmanian Devils, spirit houses, and the greatest reef of them all.
Want some sound business advice? Go climb a mountain. Hey, it's what all the savvy capitalists are doing these days.
Forget the Yosemite circus. Head north to Bugaboo Provincial Park, a fortress of world-class granite in a quiet corner of British Columbia.
“There is a reasonable chance somebody could die,” says a Dallas-based doctor and Hardrocker. “I’ve fallen, and almost been swept away by a waterfall.”
Beyond the top ropes and chalk stains, Joshua Tree's famous granite reveals its more mysterious faces.
His life’s grand pursuit has killed his closest companions. His bride-to-be is his best friend’s widow. His exploding fame owes as much to happenstance (stumbling upon Mallory’s body on Everest) and luck (escaping an avalanche in Tibet) as it does to his great skill as a mountaineer. An intimate look at the serendipitous, tumultuous, and nearly unbearable success of Conrad Anker.
An oral history of Everest's endearingly dysfunctional village
Alex Honnold talks with Sender Films about the history of Yosemite's climbing culture and gives his take on what free soloing is all about. …
Exploring the most enchantingly rugged places on earth is easy. Just follow our guide to the world's ten classic treks, put one foot in front of the other—and don't forget to take it slow.
An ice-climbing trip to Scotland—land of rain, sleet, and mad outdoorsmen—brings new respect for the sport's big-hearted pioneers
Going core with Yvon Chouinard—leery capitalist, walking contradiction
A new wave of adventurers makes the case that the world has much left to offer
LAST FALL, 20-year-old human fly Chris Sharma clawed up the first 80 feet of limestone on Biographie Extensiona 70-move, 140-foot climbing route in Ceuse, south of Grenoble, France, that has yet to see its first full ascent and that is believed by many to be the hardest sport climb in…
One climber broke his back. One wandered in a daze. One tried, and failed, to save a friend. They all left behind a moment and a place that would haunt a dead mountaineer's daughter for decades. A pilgrimage in search of a lost father.
A cold mountain, a mismatched pair, and a meditation on the strange chemistry of partnership
If you want to get high, there's still a price to be paid for invading the towering ranges—despite some newfangled shortcuts
You could call it a youthful passion, but why mince words? What seized the author at age 19 was a fateful obsession with El Capitan.
Using cutting-edge techniques, three young mavericks set out to tackle one of the hardest routes in the Himalayas
Meet the toughest wall rats ever. Some of them are still redpointing routes (fused ankles and broken backs notwithstanding). Or running their own companies. Or passing the torch to young acolytes. A portrait gallery of American climbing's greatest generation.
Warning: Research at your own risk. Welcome to the new frontier, where scientists use extreme adventure skills in the wild pursuit of knowledge.
The treacherous history of the Matterhorn can be read in books and snowy graveyards, but to write it you've got to survive it
The peaks of the Italian Alps may look daunting, but climbing them is la dolce vita.
A crash course in old-growth tree climbing (it's tree hugging's rambunctious younger sibling). Wanna come out and have some deep fun?
A partner drops out, one thing leads to another, and suddenly our hero finds that peer pressure has him fighting for his life
A corps of rock rats in a hurry is putting the pedal to the mettle in big-wall climbing
The rules (there are only three of them) remain the same for a lifetime, and they come from the mouths of babes
To save the day when the crevasse hits the fan; to be chased by AK-47-wielding bandits; to be the one guy who's gotta say, "Time to turn around, everybody"—this is what it means to be a professional guide. (Still interested?)
In an exclusive excerpt from the book by the men who led the quest to solve the mystery of George Mallory's disappearance, the authors for the first time reveal the evidence they uncovered—and offer their chilling re-creation of Mallory and Irvine's last hours.
Alaskan eccentric Trigger Twigg attempts the first winter ascent of the world's tallest face
As a young climber, David Roberts believed in the greatness of risk. Then death came suddenly, too easily. And it came again and again.