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…
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…
My father taught me how to climb, just as he taught me how to play guitar and ski—badly, I could say. But that isn’t quite right. Perhaps impatiently or unevenly. As a teacher, he managed to combine a sense of high expectations with a stunning lack of actual instruction. I would follow his skin track…
Luke has a conversation with Fallon Rowe, author of the new memoir Pay No Mind: a memoir of climbing, abuse, and survival. Fallon also contributed to The Climbing Zine, Volume 20. Our sponsors for this episode: Patagonia: Check out the new Big Wall Kit http://www.patagonia.com/ Kilter: https://settercloset.com/ Use code “zine” at checkout for a discount…