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.…
“I climb my best 4,000 feet off the ground” – Alex Honnold. Luke Mehall + Alex Honnold in a dirtbag state of mind.
Words are from the traditional song “Wild Mountain Thyme.” The basis of this trip was simple: climb rocks and drink scotch. The weather, being highly Scottish, even in the so-called drier month of May, lent itself more to the latter than the former. But hey, we still managed nine days of climbing out of twenty;…
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…
I started listening to the Grateful Dead a week before Jerry Garcia died. The year was 1995 and it happened as it always happened then: a friend played me some Dead tunes, and then I made a tape recording of the ones I liked. I played Uncle John’s Band, over and over again, entranced by…
In the rich caravan of climbers whom we meet at the crags, people come and go. Some, like the flowing of mountain streams, make a daily ritual of their appearance on the stone. Others show up every weekend, while outliers make the scene only once a month, or less. Climbers who’ve shared the bonds of…
New “Send Your Face” hoodies are now available to order. Design by Mike Handzlik
When life looks like Easy Street There is danger at your door —Grateful Dead, “Uncle John’s Band” I’m sitting here writing on a cold October morning in El Potrero Chico; yesterday seemed to be summer, and today old man winter showed up. It’s the type of weather, combined with all the war and sadness in…