It’s the beginning of August, 2018. Two months earlier, I’d been fortunate enough to be working for a prestigious think tank in DC that offered what normal humans consider to be generous benefits and paid vacation time, but being an adult wasn’t much fun, and receiving a salary was spoiling me, so I left my…
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…
And so castles made of sand Fall into the sea eventually —Jimi Hendrix, “Castles Made of Sand” “Did you hear the Crooked Arrow Spire fell down?” my buddy, Ben Kiessel, asked me. Another one bites the dust, I thought. I used to be surprised when I heard a climb or a major section of a…
A preseason conversation with our digital editor and producer Chad Reich. Plus a poem from our upcoming Microdose Mixtape. Support our podcast on Patreon KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE + Subscribe Score 15% off anything in our online store
“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…
Living on the road feels like traveling through space in a spaceship. You are in your car spaceship, flying in your little capsule alongside your fellow space travelers, zooming along the interstates and through infinite emptiness in a martian land. Banner art and story by Marina Hansen, published in Volume 20, now available …
The reflection targets my disfigurement. If only the borders of this mirror could protect the rest of the world from my hideousness. My life’s insignificance rampages through my thoughts like an atrociously loud party that never ends. Nothing I do is good enough. I want to expunge my existence on a daily basis. Not even…
One persons project is another’s warmup. As climbing grows to be more competitive, I think we should all keep that in mind. In other words, I don’t really care that much about your project, and you shouldn’t care that much about mine. However if we can use the story of our hardest climbs to inspire…