I’m here writing this morning because it’s my birthday. For many years, starting in my late 20s, I used to write every morning when I wasn’t out climbing. That practice came out of the general writing advice that if you want to be a writer, you should write every day. But climbers, well, we’re different.…
Story/poetry list for our new Zine, Volume 25, which is now printed. Big congratulations to all the writers. Due to the high volume of material we are sent for consideration only 1-2% of the pieces we are submitted are eventually published in The Climbing Zine! You can order/subscribe here. Dirtbag by Sam MacIlwaine Words for…
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…
Score both Zine Books + Volumes 14 – 23 on sale for $129.99. That’s 1400 pages of reading material. Shop: https://shop.climbingzine.com/products/new
No place soaks up sun like the Johnny Cat enclave at the Cat Wall, Indian Creek. The maroon cliffs are striped with perfect cleaved fissures, like vertical gateways into a hidden world. The desert heat can be oppressive, but in late autumn, the low golden rays cast long shadows over the walls. by Luke Mehall…
I started this painting over a year ago after seeing a beautiful sunrise over the North Six-Shooter. It was a quiet morning at camp as folks roused from tents and vehicles, sand lodged in their eyes and deep under their fingernails. I started hot water for coffee, let Izzy, my dog, out of the van,…
The black-and-white photograph is small and square, half a century old, showing my grandmother posing in front of the dark, mysterious walls of the Black Canyon. As I study the image, I quickly realize that she is witnessing a time period in 1961 when there is not a single documented rock climb of any significance…
This month, Peter W Gilroy announced that he will no longer be making his classic hats, and we realized we’ve got a small stash of his classic “dirtbag state of mind” beanies. Score one at the link below! Hats