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…
By Luke Mehall – Today is a monumental day in my life, my book, Climbing Out of Bed, has been published. I thought I would publish my first book years ago, but honestly I’m glad I waited until now. I’m 33 years old, not too old for this occasion, and not too young. Something I really…
The future of competitive climbing arrived last night, in the form the Psicobloc Master’s event, held up in Park City, Utah. While The Climbing Zine is not big on climbing comps, this event was an exception. With 50 foot plus falls, and 2,000 plus people cheering for the strongest boulderers and sport climbers in the…