And as you journey into outerspace May the angels help to lead the way May the prayers that our families made Shine up on your soul to keep you safe —Scarface, “Smile” It was a splitter summer day in Boulder, Colorado, with blue skies above and beautiful people all around. I was sitting across…
It was that familiar feeling you get when you finish a big climb—that immense wash of relief that climbers all know, when you finally touch down from that last rappel, and you are once again planted on solid ground. It’s a bittersweet transition from the transcendental vertical realm to the horizontal plane of the ordinary.…
My friends are gettin’ older, So I guess I must be too. Without their loving kindness, I don’t know what I would do. —Greg Brown, “Spring Wind” This story can only begin in one way, and that is with tears. Whether they were the tears from heartbreak, loss, or just from when John…
I was told it must’ve been awful for a person like me to spend the large majority of days locked down in a cell. Every “awful” thing is an opportunity for the spirit to rise above. Words and art by Isaac Wright, published in Volume 22, now available The truth is that nature…
The young buck who offers to take us up Time Wave Zero instead drinks twenty-eight Tecates and keeps the hot tub party going until 2am; The silent and slight European who walks slumped and duck-footed seamlessly climbs 12a and slouches away, unexpectedly the most badass climber in Virgin Canyon; The excitable new guy…
Please join us for the first “Zine Thing” of 2026. Details below. Banner photo of Felipe Garcia by Ivan Iozza, which will be the back cover of Volume 26.
I love being challenged by the nature that has been sculpting the rock faces of our planet for many centuries. Nature is the most superior routesetter, and I believe that even for contemporary routesetters in the climbing gyms, nature is the source of their primary inspiration. But just like routesetters in the gym, nature doesn’t…
I’d been driving past this rock, near Hanksville, for years. It’s just begging to be climbed but looked impossible without drilling a ladder of large holes for spikes (rebar? footing stakes?) of some kind. And what kind of fun is that? The “rock” appeared to be too soft to nail, too crumbly to bolt. There…