Note from the editor of the Valley of Giants book, Lauren DeLaunay Miller: A book about the women of Yosemite would not be complete without Beth Rodden. From teen comp phenom to freeing El Cap, Beth’s name was synonymous with hard climbing for over a decade. In many ways, her first ascent of Meltdown, one…
I remember arguing with my partner about wearing his helmet before starting a climb for the day. “It’s only 5.9,” he said. “I’ll be fine.” I insisted that wearing a helmet on a multipitch trad climb shouldn’t be up for discussion. After a few more tries at explaining my discomfort, he started up the climb.…
Erosion [i roh zhun] The process by which the surface of the Earth is gradually worn away by the action of water, glaciers, wind, waves, etc. The gradual destruction or diminution of something. This sport we call climbing is built upon layers of paradox: Creation on the brink of destruction. Pleasure through pain. Finding life…
“Yucca sandals,” I say to myself. “How’d they do this move in yucca sandals?” The sheer sandstone wall below me plunges five hundred feet to the canyon bottom. To my right, I see a Moki step pecked in the rock eight or nine hundred years before. But the move to get a toe on that…
The fog rolled in surreptitiously, encroaching every visible surface. It wasn’t just there one day when I woke up, the way it happens sometimes. At every moment, this fog quietly magnified like some cunning creature, sneaking its way into my being. The moment I realized it had made itself a home inside my mind, it…
The expenditure of energy on a trip of this sort is massive and one only has so much of this energy. Energy that is accumulated as a person becomes stronger physically, that is called endurance. But the energy that is of such great importance to me is called magic energy. Everyone has this magic in…
“There were no girls when I started climbing [in England],” Alan said, in a tone more serious than joking. I’d just met Alan Carne only twenty-four hours before, on a warm September day seeking refuge in the shade of the 4×4 Wall at Indian Creek, and we instantly became friends, that kind of instant friendship…
The second conversation from our series of interviews in Lander, Wyoming. Steve Bechtel is a local legend in Lander, and runs two successful businesses: Climb Strong and Elemental Fitness. We have a really fun conversation ranging from old climbing stories of his with Todd Skinner, to the modern world of work, business, publishing, and climbing.…