“You’re on belay, Mom.” “What does that mean?” she replied. “You’re safe, Mom. Climb when ready.” Over the last five-plus years of her life, before she passed away from complications caused by dementia, we’d often say, “You’re safe, Mom,” in an effort to calm a growing sense of restlessness and panic. Story by D Scott…
Is climbing as innate as sharing, copulating, greed, or even walking? Many evolutionary biologists would offer that the essence of climbing can be found in our DNA. It is hardwired into us, this desire to be in the vertical world. And beyond that desire, our bodies are built for the physical challenges of climbing. by…
Editor’s note: Longtime Climbing Zine contributor D Scott Borden wrote this piece for Volume 7, and sadly as the Zine was going to press Rasta passed away. Our thoughts are with you and your family at this time Scott. Thanks for such an inspiring piece! -LM We have all seen some cray-cray stuff when it…
My one-year-old and I are in Rocklands, South Africa, when I let a stinky one slip inside a bouldering cave, causing all the other climbers to turn and stare at me in disgust. I point to my unattended toddler, who has been screaming and running underneath them for the past hour, endangering everyone and causing…
“Ummm…honey, you know that nice hiking weekend we have coming up together? Well, ahhh…Dale just asked me if I…ummm…could climb tomorrow, and I’ll be back before we leave. Sooo…would that be ok?” Sweating after an awkwardly tense eternity of silence—but in reality it was only a few seconds—you blurt out in pure, unadulterated desperation, “But…
I’m sweating in the Colombian sun as I reach for a big flat hold on inverted sandstone. I clip a bolt and move onto a lower angle section. The shenanigans from the previous evening are dripping out of me and onto the red rock below. In a sudden moment of terror and confusion I feel…
Luke sits down with Scott Borden, a friend and climbing partner of 20 years. Scott is a prolific contributor to The Climbing Zine, and his writing first appeared way back in Volume 2. This conversation was recorded at Western Colorado University, where they both graduated from, and where Borden currently is the director of the…
Squish Squash, Squish Squash, Squish, the English mud through my toes feels soothing as I perch 30 feet above a poor cam in rotten rock on this small ledge listening to intimidating ocean waves smash the cliffs below. During WWII, Nazi bombs exploded over this Island landscape spurring Winston Churchill to urge his citizens to…