Though I’ve been dangling off the cliffs of Yosemite for twenty-plus years now, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with intimidation at the base of the roof crack known as Separate Reality. Taylor and I had just rappelled in, and it was his lead, which was just fine with me. Taylor is a relatively…
Jimmie Dunn is perhaps the first person who envisioned single-pitch climbing in Indian Creek. In the mid-1970s, he walked up to an unclimbed Supercrack and thought, This place is going to be great for training someday. I was first introduced to Jimmie by Stewart Green, who is seen in this photo bouldering in the Fringe…
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.…
If I close my eyes and never awaken A thousand adventures I hope to have taken Some with family and some with friends All of them undoubtedly cherished in the end So don’t sit inside and cry, “boohoo” Feelin’ sorry for me and feelin’ like poo Instead get yourself where there are no crowds Look…
In my body, I’m a climber; in my imagination, I’m a rapper. The poets of my generation are MCs—embodiments of the modern American Dream—and the music of hip-hop is so ubiquitous with our culture that it’s hard to imagine life without them. I don’t just listen to hip-hop; it bleeds into my soul. All music…
Joshua Tree National Park is a refuge. I don’t know if I’d decided this by then, sitting folded into the crook of Cyclops Rock, but I felt it. The stone bench was smooth, from water and wind and hands and feet and seats, narrow enough to let our legs dangle over the edge, leaning back…
“There’s someone on that off-width you wanted to do.” I pause—midstride—and look up to see someone hanging out halfway up the climb I was hoping to get on. I push my scratched Dollar Store sunglasses up over my head and use my hand to shield my eyes instead. The day is already hot, and…
Let me die on the rock Doesn’t matter which one Something sunny and remote Away from the dummies and remotes by Luke Mehall, publisher of The Climbing Zine. Photo by Jake Burchmore, published in Volume 22 Not that I’m not a dummy too I’m just a different kind of fool The artist living…