The new Petzl NAO hints at the headlamp of the future, but the cost will have to go down before most climbers will want to buy one. I was first introduced to the NAO (Retail: $175.00) at the Winter 2012 Outdoor Retailer show, and it seemed intriguing enough to field test for a review. Its “Reactive…
So you wanna start climbing trad- awesome, here are five tips to help you out along the way. 1. Hexes– Don’t get them. You may be tempted – they are cheap (like real cheap, you can get a whole used rack for the price of one new cam) – but they are not worth it. Nothing…
Last night I watched Magic Trip, a film documenting Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’ trip across the United States in a psychedelic-painted school bus. The film brought back some good memories of my hippie days, and reminded me again of the lineage that exists, starting with the beatniks, to the hippies, and into the dirtbag…
The clean smell of wet granite brings me to my senses like nothing else does. (Except maybe coffee…yeah, let’s all say it: thank god for coffee). Lately, it seems I’ve been basing my whole lifestyle around chasing that scent. I dream about it, in my nights, in my foggy mornings, in my information-choked days, during…
spray: 1. Climbing talk. 2. A climbing conversation in which the unconscious ego enters, steering the chatter towards graceless self-aggrandizement. Sometimes in writing you write something, completely forget about it, and then scramble to find the piece. This happened the other day, I remembered writing The Spray Dictionary for Climbing magazine. I didn’t have a copy of the file…
I’ve interviewed a lot of climbing families over the last couple of years, and all of them have had one thing in common – the kids learned from their parents…that is, until I interviewed the Lightners. The story of university professor Constance Lightner and her 13 year old climbing champion Kai is as different as it…
“Do you think there’s someday you’ll be content with just going for a hike?” Badger asks me in the midst of our training session yesterday. by Luke Mehall I reply that I hope so, but for now, I know I must climb rock for my satisfaction. No other form of physical activity provides “the fix”.…
In the modern world of rock climbing, we’ve invented lots of different ways to be competitive, but perhaps nothing is more enjoyable and personal than the “birthday challenge”. [story by Luke Mehall] Its beauty lies within the difficulty and personal nature: on your birthday, climb as many boulder problems or routes as your age. I…