“If this climb doesn’t blow you away, nothing will,” James ventured as he hit the brakes. “I still can’t believe that Earl and I did it.” We hopped out of the Youth Challenge Bus and ambled over to the abrupt rim of a dark abyss at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. Never in…
Note: this piece is an excerpt from Volume 26, now available Banner photo of Felipe Garcia climbing Viento de Primavera by Ivan Iozza As my mid-forties approached, I became obsessed with getting stronger, while my appetite for risk and discomfort diminished. In Potrero Chico, I also found myself constantly meeting new people, getting to know…
Note: This piece is published in Volume 26, now available Banner photo of the author from his collection. The question of what defines a professional climber is more than an intellectual exercise. I truly believe that question, and its answer, holds the future of climbing. To remain sustainable, our sport has several challenges ahead, many…
In the late 1300s, experts point to drought and other environmental stressors impacting the Puebloan people in the Southwest leading toward societal collapse. My people, the Diné, the Athabaskan-speaking migrants from the north, also began to place pressures on these societies. Resources like food and water became increasingly scarce, and preventing theft or raids by…
Note: this poem is published in Volume 26, the current issue of The Zine. Photo by Matthew Tangeman we measure our lives in some odd ways in paces in heartbeats in hands by the punching of pills through blistered packaging the lengths of rope stretched end to end to trace a cliff the distance between…
For our friend John Duran John Duran was bigger than life long before I ever met him, so much so that for a brief time we weren’t even sure he existed. We came of age bouldering in the area now known as the Dalla Mountain Park or, more colloquially, Sailing Hawks, near Durango, Colorado. Back…
I. Trapped Kaiser Santa Clara Hospital, June 2018 The haul bag sits, a stuffed pig in the trunk. Cams, nuts, and two foil-wrapped burritos vibrate with expectant energy. But the car is parked in the red haze of the emergency room parking lot sign, and it won’t be going anywhere tonight. Inside the hospital, her…
Erik Murdock, the Deputy Director, Programs, Policy & Government Affairs of the Access Fund, returns to the podcast. We discuss all things climbing advocacy: no climbing area too big, no area too small. Access Fund site: https://www.accessfund.org/ Shop Climbing Zine: Subscribe to The Climbing Zine: https://shop.climbingzine.com/ Our sponsors for this episode: Patagonia: Check out the…