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THE STONEMASTERS BY JOHN LONG

ROCKICE AND

BUILT BY CLIMBERS ISSUE 152 | JULY 2006

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B O R N P R O F E S S I O N A L LY

Keith Ladzinski

BOLT BRIAN GALLANT TEAM FORTRESS

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ROCKICE AND

FEATURES

ISSUE 152 // JULY 2006

GOLDEN DAWN 46

Zion enters the free age, in a big, big way. BY ROBERT PIZEM

DAMN, GRAHAM! 54

Dave Graham is back from Europe stronger (and more strong-minded) than ever. BY ANDREW BISHARAT

EXPOSED 62 Dream large, climb larger.

THE STONE

MASTERS They ruled the American rock scene, establishing a slew of hard, bold routes, and deﬁning a lifestyle for generations of climbers to come. The deﬁnitive story of this legendary troop. BY JOHN LONG

COVER: Dave Graham sends the FA of Over the Rainbow (V9), Zion National Park, Utah. Photo by Tim Kemple THIS PAGE: Master storyteller and founding Stonemaster, John Long. Photo by John Mireles

ROCKICE AND

DEPARTMENTS

ISSUE 152 // JULY 2006

10) 12) 20) 26) 90)

EDITOR’S NOTE LETTERS BOOK TALK SPOTLIGHT CLASSIFIEDS

70) FIELD TESTED The new shoes are here, the new shoes are here! And we’ve got the word on the good and the bad.

74) ASK GEAR GUY Flying high with your crash pad, buying budget cams, and the poop on dirty water.

78) BETTER BETA

Lisa Rands raises standards—and eyebrows—with yet another brassy gritstone send.

The best beta ever. Sorry, you have no more excuses.

16) BREAKING NEWS The hardest, boldest, baddest pitch of trad in the world explained in Dave MacLeod’s own words. The marvelous mixed routes of Canada. Why is Denali National Park harshing on climbers? Good deeds, Small Wires and much more. COMPILED BY ANDREW BISHARAT

28) ACCIDENT REPORT Tragedy strikes when a rappel anchor comes mysteriously undone.

30) KEMPLE’S CORNER The original article: Christian “I am a sensitive man” Grifﬁth. BY TIM KEMPLE

36) TNB All hail the FART queen ... or else she will beat you like a drum. BY ANDREW BISHARAT

32) SUPERGUIDE Big Tex—The bouldering in W’s hometown is downright presidential.

Use your main muscle, your brain, to achieve redpoint success.

DEAN FIDELMAN (LEFT); EMILIE LEE

80) TRAINING

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nteed. Performance Guara

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Chris Lindner on “Bea

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ASCENTIAL GEAR.

[ EDITOR’S NOTE ]

BY ALISON OSIUS

Waste Case IT WAS SPRING, and we rallied a crew to meet in Castle Valley, Utah, bringing all accessories: trad racks, bouldering pads and mountain bikes. To ask if group camping was OK, I emailed David Erley, who in 2002 spearheaded the Utah Open Lands drive to prevent development at the base of the iconic Castleton Tower. I had seen Erley a few weeks before, nailing the finishing shingles on a kiosk in the free campground there. “Go for it!” he wrote back. “I’d ask that you bring a river toilet or a few Metolius Waste Cases. Otherwise, enjoy!” From kayaking friends I borrowed a river toilet, aka “groover” (a rather personal loan, but I swore to return it spotless). In Castle Valley, I set the thing up behind some bushes, and tied surveyors’ tags to branches to lead to it. Worked great. People used it, and said thanks. A groover is made with two portals for flushing. I had intended to stop at an RV facility on the way home, but instead ended up in someone else’s vehicle, hurrying a friend to an ER for stitches (another story). Thus I found myself braced to clean the groover in my home bathroom. The upper portal unscrewed fine, but the lower one stuck. After several tries, I hefted the box up to the counter for leverage, and cranked again—and the cap popped off, a levee gone, a cascade exploding. Wow. I really wished I had not lifted it any higher. There is an easier way. At Castleton and at four kiosks in Indian Creek, zip-close bags for human waste are available. Each Wag Bag contains an odor neutralizer, decomposition gel, t.p.

and a hand sanitizer. The bags are marketed as single-use, but devotees say they can be used several times if you store them in a large Ziploc. The beauty, if such a word can be used, in Wag Bags is that you can chuck them into a trash can. The camping at Castle Valley and in Indian Creek is beautiful, unrestricted and free. However, in 2004 the BLM prepared an Environmental Assessment of the Indian Creek Corridor, stating a preferred “pack it out” approach for waste management. The trial period began April 1. If the volunteer program fails, the next step may be to install permanent toilets and charge for camping to pay for them. Building on the Castleton model, the American Alpine Club Conservation Committee, headed by Mike Lewis, worked with the BLM and Friends of Indian Creek. The AAC allocated $5,000 to purchase 1,000 bags and materials for the kiosk dispensers, which include pipesafes for donations. The BLM provided the onsite labor. The Friends of Indian Creek and Jason Keith, Access Fund policy director, will collect donations and resupply the bags. Solid waste is an obvious and important issue: Popular areas see a lot of climbers, year after year. We climbers also have the potential to inﬂuence hikers and other groups. As someone at an AAC board meeting said, “We can be number one in number two!” Use the Wag Bags; for heaven’s sake, leave a buck or two (bags usually cost $1.22 each); and support the organizations providing them. Bring waste systems to areas where needed. Me, I recommend bags.

Wag Bags are available at www.thepett.com. The similar Restop Wilderness Waste Containment Pouch is at www. WhenNatureCalls.com. The Metolius Waste Case is at www.metoliusclimbing.com.

10 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

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[ LETTERS] KIDS SUCK I just have to say I am not very impressed with children climbers. As a Rock and Ice subscriber, I keep seeing these articles about, “Wow! 10-yearold So-And-So sends V10,” or, “Amazing! 14-year-old So-And-So can chew up 5.14s.” Kudos to their endeavors, but they’re kids. Kids are still growing, have tons of energy, seem nearly tireless and learn very quickly. Thinking back to when I was a kid, if you had given me a month of training, I could have easily climbed all over a 5.14, or better. I was a mountainroaming, tree-climbing rocket pack. So, good job, kids, but I won’t be really impressed until you’re sending 5.14 at my age, 36, or older. IAN MCKELVEY DENVER, COLORADO

MISTAKEN IDENTITY About a week ago I started receiving phone calls from friends expressing rage to bewilderment to disgust in response to your magazine’s reference to me as “The Heab” (sic) in your April 2006 issue (#150). I found it odd, to begin with, that I was not told my name would appear in the issue, but it is beyond comprehension that you would add to my name an anti-Semitic “nickname.” You have assaulted my character and reputation through the use of a derogatory term for those of my religion in a national publication. I do not know the author of this article, nor was I consulted about the article or its content. I don’t know if the individual came up with that name himself or if he heard it somewhere else and decided to write it down without fact-checking to ensure it wasn’t insulting, but the mere fact that it would make it through the editors and proofreaders is absolutely appalling. It is interesting that your writer didn’t use nicknames for anyone else, nor did he feel the need to distinguish anyone else by their religion or ethnicity. I don’t know if this is indicative of your magazine’s biases or shoddy workmanship, but either way it is inexcusable. I should not have to ﬁeld calls every day trying to explain why your magazine felt the need to include me at all, let alone belittle my accomplishments through defamation of my name based solely on my faith. I want a formal apology from both the editorial staff and the writer, published in your next edition emphasizing the following points: (1) acknowledgment of the lack of professionalism on the part of the writer and editorial staff for using such a degrading and prejudicial term towards another human being, especially in a pub-

12 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

lic forum; (2) acknowledgment that I was not contacted for this article; and (3) recognition that the use of such a derogatory term is unacceptable in any circumstance and that “Joshua Hurst does not refer to himself in that manner and the use of that name is not acceptable.” I want this apology to be in a highly visible location in the next edition. Your refusal to comply with my reasonable request to rectify this matter will compel me to take further action. JOSHUA HURST

CHOCORUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE Editor’s Reply: It was not Rock and Ice’s intent to publish a nickname that might be interpreted as anti-Semitic. As policy, Rock and Ice does not condone ethnic or racial intolerance, and condemns such behavior. The nickname, “The Heab,” as reported to Rock and Ice, was not interpreted as an ethnic slur by the editors of this magazine. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. While it is common to publish climbers’ nicknames, we regret and apologize for the error.

WE’RE NOT WORTHY! I quite enjoy Andrew Bisharat’s writing. Nevertheless, the last piece I read [“FIBGate,” No. 150] left me with mixed feelings. Throughout the ﬁ rst half I was wondering where was it going; later, when I found out, it left me with a bitter taste. I don’t write blogs, though I might start someday. Some of my friends do, though, and I was featured in a couple. Quite recently I was the second character of an alpine blog that reads a lot like the pattern put forward by Mr. Bisharat. And yes, that’s the ugly, or maybe not so ugly, secret:

there is a pattern. But then again, turning the pages of the climbing mags, and of the same issue, what I see is a substantial collection of blogs interspersed with ads. Take, for example Dave Graham’s factual piece [Breaking News, No. 150]. What I ﬁ nd slightly disturbing is that unless you ﬂash 5.14 or climb the Rupal Face, your experience, put in words, is a worthless piece of showing off. However, I doubt that the hotshots of the day are the guys who buy the magazines in which they feature so heavily. I am sure that the 5.9 Average Joe is the one spilling the cash— the Average Joe who holds down a job and who still manages to climb, and yes, brags about it every now and again. How come climbing 5.14 by a sponsored climber is news, and climbing a 5.11 by a weekend climber is bragging (or blogging)? COSMIN ANDRON GUANGZHOU, CHINA

FRESH STUFF [Andrew] Bisharat’s blog article [Tuesday Night Bouldering, No. 150] was fantastic. I hate to say that after many years of reading climbing mags I sometimes feel the articles are a bit predictable and ﬂat. His was funny, fresh and refreshingly irreverent. I’m sure it will piss some people off, but I thought it was great stuff. BILL FLAHERTY EVERGREEN, COLORADO

DOODLE DO Sacre merde! Rum Doodle Alpine-Style [“Retouching the Void,” No. 148] is da bomb! Thanks a lot, David Thoenen—now I’ve got to put another summit on my peakbagging list! Au revoir, dawg. CHRIS BIBBY MORDIALLOC, AUSTRALIA

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LETTERS ROCK AND PLASTIC

THINK BIGGER

Don’t let me tell you how to run your mag ... but have you ever considered changing your title to embrace a greater percentage of the climbing population? I was thinking Rock and Plastic has a nice ring to it. After all, ice climbing is scary, dangerous, really cold, and not accessible to many climbers from the warmer climates. Gym climbing, on the other hand, is safe, well regulated and usually climate-controlled, and a hell of a lot more people do it. Plus, with a name like Rock and Plastic you could rope in all kinds of new advertisers from the petroleum sector. What a relief it would be not to have to rely on the ﬁckle outdoor industry for all your funding. Anyway, just a thought. Don’t let tradition cloud your judgment. Plastic is where it’s at these days. LAURA SNIDER BOULDER, COLORADO

I applaud the depth and timeliness of “Hot Damned,” by Colin Wells, in Issue 148. We as climbers are personally affected as historic alpine routes disappear, and, as stated, global warming is becoming a greater threat to the world than terrorism. Why, then, do your suggestions for what we can do sound so anemic? Turning off electronics, ﬁlling your tires and taking a train—these are not meaningless, but action from individuals will have to amount to a whole lot more to make any difference. How about suggesting something real, like demanding that the leaders of the single largest polluting country, the U.S.A., get a clue about what being a leader means and face the largest issue of our times with real action? TED CHEESEMAN LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA

ROCKICE AND

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disclaims any responsibility for injuries or death incurred by any person engaging in these activities. Use the information contained in this magazine at your own risk, and do not depend on the information contained in this magazine for personal safety or for determining whether to attempt any climb, route or

activity described herein. The views herein are those of the writers and advertisers; they do not necessarily reflect the views of Rock & Ice’s ownership. • Manuscripts, photographs and correspondence are welcome. Unsolicited materials should be accompanied by return postage. Rock & Ice is not responsible for unsolicited materials. All manuscripts and photographs are subject to Rock and Ice’s terms, conditions and rates.• Please allow up to 10 weeks for the first issue after subscribing or a change of address (to expect continuous service). No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. © Copyright 2006 by Big Stone Publishing Ltd. Occasionally, we give subscriber names to companies offering products/services in which you may be interested. To remove your name from the list, please contact Rock & Ice Customer Service at 1-877-ROCKICE.

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DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID CLIFFORD SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: BARRY BLANCHARD, GEOF CHILDS, MARK ELLER, JOHN LONG, DAVE PEGG, DOUG ROBINSON, LIZZY SCULLY, TYLER STABLEFORD, PETE TAKEDA, JON WATERMAN CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: CHRIS BELCZYNSKI, KATIE BROWN, TOMMY CALDWELL, ANDY DAPPEN, NIALL GRIMES, TIM NEVILLE, SONNIE TROTTER AMGA SAFETY REVIEW BOARD: MARK HOUSTON, MIKE POWERS WMI MEDICAL REVIEW BOARD: BUCK TILTON

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14 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT: JOHN HERERRA circassistant@bigstonepub.com

LETTERS

It was great to see the photos [Kemple’s Corner, No. 150] that ran with the Jason Kehl interview. Quite cool to see someone of that caliber not take themselves so seriously. Unless, of course, he was taking himself seriously. In which case, nice to see that someone so obviously deranged can be so much more than simply a functioning member of society. RAF LEHMANN SINGAPORE

CORRECTIONS

JU S

HAIL KEHL

W TA NOTHER

A LL

Hello, my name is Richard and I am a Very Serious Climber. It’s something I have come to terms with, but my girlfriend has, up until recently, had some trouble adjusting. When I ﬁrst met her I told her that rock climbing was my wife, and that she could never be more than my mistress (all in jest, of course, sort of). Don’t get me wrong: I try to be a good boyfriend, but that usually means taking her with me to whatever crag I head off to. For a few months, she had trouble coping, but then, one day during breakfast, she picked up your magazine and read Fiona Lloyd’s article [“VSC Life, Part 3,” Outlook, No. 150]. She seemed comforted knowing that she was not the only woman having to share her man with climbing, and if Fiona Lloyd could do it, so could she. Now she checks every Rock and Ice I get, always anxious to read another account of things she has already endured. Thank you, Rock and Ice. Without you, I would be a single man today. RICHARD TANNER RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA

FLOWER

VSC-ERS ANONYMOUS

T NO

In Superguide No. 150 it was reported that Slippery Down Under (5.13d) and Enrage (5.13d) on the Outrage Wall in El Potrero Chico have been redpointed. Apparently, these lines are still projects. In the same article, The Sick Dimension (5.14b) was incorrectly attributed. Rodney Blakemore, not Steve Townsend, nailed the ﬁrst ascent of this difﬁcult line at the Culo de Gato cave.

OLD-SCHOOL MANTEL

STEVE DIECKOFF

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JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 15

M a cLeod b raves th e n eth e r wo rld of E 11 o n R hap so dy.

proposed a grade of E11—the world’s first—in deference to the 50- to 70-foot lobs that routinely sent him “limping home with whiplash, sprains [and] severe rope burns.” Here, MacLeod provides firsthand perspective on what it takes to climb E11 (runout, trad 5.14c). How many days and tries did you need? At least 70 days. I also did several preparation climbs and some speciﬁ c training. My preparation climbs included repeating someone else’s E10 [Breathless (E10 7a), Lake District] to refresh my ideas about grades, keeping up my winter climbing to keep my leading head and working up to Font 8b (V12/13) bouldering [see Issue 151], as I knew this would be necessary to make the route possible. Any other training? How do you prepare for a climb you can’t even imagine yourself doing? It is really helpful to have an open mind, and [aim for] grades far above your current level. When it comes to brute strength, to

Rhapsody in the U.K. INTERVIEW BY ANDREW BISHARAT

MacLeod Puts Up World’s Hardest Trad Pitch 16 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

an you say, “Fine effort, lad?” Dave MacLeod, 27, from Glasgow, Scotland, on April 9 completed the first ascent of Rhapsody (E11 7a), likely the most difficult (in all respects) single pitch of trad climbing in the world. Rhapsody is a direct faceclimbing finish to the 115foot thin crack Requiem (E8 6b), at Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, put up by Dave Cuthbertson in 1983, and was briefly the world’s hardest at runout 5.13c. MacLeod thinks Rhapsody is 5.14c, and he has

quote a fellow Scottish boulderer, I couldn’t lace Malc Smith’s boots. So I put in hours on boring old hangboards, but even after a year of doing that nearly every day, I only sneaked my way up Font 8b’s with more nifty footwork than Michael Owen. I got really into the routine of training every day; I almost felt like a proper athlete, running in the evenings to recover, [and] dreaming of topping out over and over again. How many falls did you take and how long were they? Once I got on the lead, it

took 10 redpoint attempts. Eight of those were last October. I had a particularly bad fall and injured myself. Then, once I was able to go back on the route, I pulled off a crucial hold at the crux and had to start working the section again from scratch. The redpoint days began with climbing Requiem to place the gear and then downclimbing it for my warm up. If I fell off low in the crux sequence [of the linkup], I’d drop about 50 feet and would be OK to have another go that day. But on four attempts, I fell at the last move, and hobbled away. I had to allow my injuries (usually feet, ankles and back, among others) to recover before climbing again. The fall from the last move was 60 feet, and probably more than 70 when, one time, the RP cable snapped. The length of the fall wasn’t really the problem. A 60foot fall into space is no big deal. It was the swing in that was the issue. If I hit the wall perfectly with all four limbs ready, I would just get swollen feet and sprained ankles. I only flipped over once, when the rope wrapped around my leg, but thankfully it was from lower down, so I escaped with just badly bruising my back. I don’t think I will recover completely from the ankle injuries. What were the runouts like? This climb was totally different than any other headpoint I’ve done. All of the others were in relative control. I knew from the outset that the chances of not taking the fall were very slim. It is hard to give total commitment when you know there is a 90 percent chance you will be taking a horrible fall. But without total commitment, as if redpointing a sport route, you have no chance at all!

DAVE BROWN

[ BREAKING NEWS]

The Rapture

The view is endless. The moment, ďŹ&#x201A;eeting.

Kevin Thaw of The North Face team tries to stay clear of the dangerous hanging seracs, ice towers, and avalanches that distinguish the west face of Cholatse. Variable conditions like these demand the high performance of Summit SeriesTM gear. Discover the full line of apparel and equipment at www.thenorthface.com/summitseries. Photos: Kristoffer Erickson.

BREAKING NEWS S h awn H uis m a n at a loss fo r wo rd s o n R ha mnu sia ( WI 6 M 8 ) .

Rocking the Rockies BY WILL GADD

An Incredible Season of Dangerous Ice Coats Canada; Climbers Rejoice

18 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

stablishing routes in the Canadian Rockies often involves more than just facing severe avalanche hazard, cold temperatures and bad rock. The hundreds of already existing routes, and a long, bitter season (early October through midApril) can sap a climber’s will to venture onto new terrain. Given all variables, 2005/06 was an amazing season—more than 30 new routes went in, with more going up at press time. The ever-proliﬁc “Professor,” Raphael Slawinski, added two good routes on The Wedge (Kananaskis county) in November. With Robert Rogoz, He climbed the 650-foot Klatu Verata (WI 3 M6), and, a week later, The Maul, a 980-foot “WIthin” M7, with Will Gadd. Both “alpine-style” routes use natural gear, are relatively close to the car and high quality. In December, Rich Marshall and Jon Walsh climbed the Blaeberry Express (WI 6 M6), a 720-foot rig on the “warm side” of the Rockies, near Golden, B.C. By the end of January, Blaeberry Express had seen a half-dozen ascents.

Also in B.C., the Elk Lakes region saw much activity. In December, Slawinski and Eamonn Walsh added Nightmare Before Christmas (WI 6), 500 feet. On another occasion, Janez Alex and Donald Otten put in Elk Horn (WI 5). There’s still a fair amount of potential at Elk Lakes, so don’t tell anyone. Prior to this season, the Stanley Headwall contained a maze of lines connecting various ice features—routes come and go depending on the year’s frost patterns, and this year, conditions exceeded expectations. Major new lines include Dawn of the Dead (WI 6 M8+), begun by Dave Thompson and Sean Isaac in 1998. Thompson came out of retirement to fi nish the line with Isaac after hearing a rumor that other locals were about to have at it. Chris Brazeau, Jon Simms and Jon Walsh added the 560foot Drama Queen (WI 6 M7). Simms and Walsh had done the first four pitches on natural gear, but decided the dagger hanging from the top of the wall needed a direct fi nish, which they completed after installing bolts. The last new big route for the season

on the Stanley Headwall went up in April when Isaac and Shawn Huisman fi nished Rhamnusia, (WI 6 M8) which follows the corner system left of Nemesis. The opening three pitches offer excellent gear on good rock, bolted belays and a fi nal adventure up a big icicle. In January, Gadd and friends added Steel Koan (M13+) to the mess of hard routes in the Cineplex. Steel Koan is likely the hardest mixed route in Canada, and, like every new hard, mixed route put up last season, was done bareback, i.e. no trickery (heel spurs, etc.). Two of the season’s best new routes are clearly visible from every house in Canmore—Ben Firth, Eammon Walsh and Slawinski’s Great White Fright (WI 4 M6) basically follows 10 pitches of the classic summer rock climb, Guide’s Route, on the East End of Rundle (EEOR), before busting left into five more pitches of technical mixed climbing, all done on natural gear. Balzout Direct (M8+), also on EEOR, offers over 1,600 feet of excellent climbing, using a mix of bolts and natural gear. Isaac and Huisman added the necessary bolts, and Danny Rudy and Eammon Walsh nabbed the fi rst ascent, but it took Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted to do the fi rst free ascent. The highlight of the spring season came on April Fool’s, when Jon Walsh and Caroline Ware installed The Shadow (WI 6+ M6 R), a big new line left of Riptide. The 700-foot route is committing, dangerous and requires good snow conditions to avoid death on the avalancheprone approach. Ware and Walsh had an incredible tour of the Rockies, and may have also done the first free ascent of a wild pillar that never forms called Jacob’s Ladder (WI 6+). Ware’s new routing and full-on attack on many difficult lines made for perhaps the most successful trip ever by a woman in the Canadian Rockies.

ANDREW QUERNER

G rit and G ravel

Real Send H a ri B erger cru sh es glacial ice on Se nda R e al ( WI 7+) .

Not So Chile Austrian Ice Masters Crank Figure-fours At Altitude

resh off the World Cup circuit, Austrian ice climbers Harald Berger and Albert Leichtfried (with photographer Hermann Erber) traded their competition booties for mountain boots. In March, following rumors of year-round, untouched ice, the duo visited the high-altitude regions of central Chile, establishing a new ice line on the waterfall-ridden walls of Cerro Marmolejo (20,039 feet), the world’s southernmost 6,000-meter peak. Named after a brand of tequila, Senda Real (WI 7+) follows ﬁve pitches of vertical columns and overhanging glacial ice on Marmolejo’s south-facing buttress. With two pitches of WI 7, the line weighs in as one of the world’s hardest ice climbs, especially at its altitude of over 13,000 feet.

Berger and Leichtfried sent the bulk of the route, including the pumpy, WI 7overhang of the 80-foot third pitch, onsight. On the crux fourth pitch, which sports a 20-foot roof through glacial ice, the climbers unlocked a challenging sequence of consecutive ﬁ gure-fours. After pre-placing screws for protection, Berger and Leichtfried sent both crux pitches on lead. They alternated leads on the other pitches. Having originally planned to climb a mixed route on Marmolejo’s southwest face, the Austrians turned to the shady, direct south face after watching huge icicles crash down their intended line. Berger and Leichtfried’s second route on the peak is a three-pitch WI 5 called Triple Direct.

20 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

HERMANN ERBER

BY SARAH GARLICK

BREAKING NEWS

“Denial” National Park

Special Use Fee Targets Climbers

n an aggressive attempt to recover annual operating costs, Denali National Park is considering increasing the Special Use Fee for Denali from the current $200 to as much as $1,000.

According to Maureen McLaughlin, Park spokesperson, “Fee increase is one of many ideas that park management is tossing around to try and achieve a sustainable budget in future years. Nothing has been announced as of yet.” Local climbers close to the issue, however, say that behind closed doors the idea is more than just being tossed around. “In 1994 the Special Use Fee was created for climbing Denali and Foraker,” explains Colby Coombs, Alaska Mountaineering School owner and author of two popular Alaska Range guidebooks. “It’s much easier to raise an existing fee versus trying to create a new one. It’s not a question of ‘if’ or ‘when.’ The Park Service is already speaking in terms of ‘how much.’ I’m all for trying to protect the park. But why aren’t they looking at solutions that include all park users?” Park ofﬁcals claim that the South Side ranger district, where the majority of the park’s climbing terrain lies, is disproportionately expensive to operate, and that climbers are to blame. Opponents argue that climbers—who make up less than 10 percent of the 25,000 to 27,000 backcountry hikers and tourists using the Talkeetna ranger station on the South Side—are the only user group required to pay an additional fee, despite the fact that climbing is considered a normal use of public lands. Also, opponents claim that it is specious for the Park to try

to legitimize the fee increase by citing rescue costs. Use of the specialized Llama helicopter, and its associated rescue costs, have both historically been funded by a National Park Service Search and Rescue account and speciﬁc congressional appropriations. “There is a huge bias for what’s considered a general park service and what’s considered a special use,” says Lloyd Athearn, deputy director of the American Alpine Club, pointing to the Park’s distribution of free bear canisters as one example. Melis Coady, a local climber and guide, says that the fee increase will effectively prevent people in a lower economic bracket from climbing Denali. “Lower fees allow a wider variety of people to participate in climbing. Increasing fees is going to narrow the ﬁeld even more,” says Coady. Athearn is fearful of Denali’s future. “Look at what happened on Everest,” he says. “The face of climbers changed from serious climbers to people on big, guided, expensive expeditions.” Coombs urges climbers to contact Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and the Park Service via e-mail, letters and phone. “Climbers do not make up a large political force and they do not complain like other user groups,” he says. “I encourage people to write and object to this unfair treatment of climbers. ” CONTACT

The Honorable Ted Stevens U . S . S e n a t e 522 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Telephone: (202) 224-3004 www.stevens.senate.gov/contact.cfm

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 21

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BY MOLLY LOOMIS

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BREAKING NEWS

The Guiding Light Brede Arkless 1939-2006

n 1990, Brede Arkless, a 51-year-old mother of eight, having completed a successful all-women’s ascent of Gasherbrum II the year before, moved across the world with four of her children to New Zealand. At 66, the super mom and devout catholic who became, in 1971, the world’s ﬁrst certiied female guide, died of cancer, on March 18, 2006.

Brede Boyle was born on August 10, 1939, in Manchester, England. She returned to her parents’ home in Dublin, three weeks before the onset of war. Brede, who only spoke Gaelic until age nine, was written up in the Irish Times as the youngest evacuee from England.

At 14, she left school to work, but also spent time wandering around the Wicklow Mountains, where she ﬁrst saw rock climbers at the cliffs of Glendalough. She began climbing at Dalkey Quarry, and by 1957, when she was working as a London stockbroker, was hitchhiking to Snowdonia or the Lake District to climb. She moved to Wales in the 1960s and became an instructor for the Mountaineering Association. There she met her husband, Geoff Arkless, and took the Guides’ exams with him. Her kindness, wisdom and great competence garnered her an impressive reputation. She could always keep up with the boys, especially in arm-wrestling competitions. During an interview in

Rob Pizem on the First Free Ascent of The Dunn Route (5.13) in Zion, UT. Photo: Keith Ladzinski

2004, she recalled accidentally breaking one fellow’s arm: “Oooh, it was terribly sad. We were arm wrestling in the back of a van and his arm came away,” she said. Unbeknownst to her client, Arkless once guided Mount Blanc (15,900 feet) while she was six months pregnant with one of her four daughters, Denise. Arkless and her husband took turns going to the Himalaya so that one parent was always with their children. In 1979, she was a member of an allwoman expedition to Bakhor Das. She called her successful 1989 expedition to Gasherbrum II with a women’s group, which included Wanda Rutkiewicz, her most signiﬁcant expedition.

JADE_women’s

QUARTZ_rock

One of the more impressive and little-known details about Arkless was the fact that she badly broke her ankle at 23—and for more than 40 years, walked, climbed and cycled hundreds of miles without an Achilles tendon. She went on a total of 14 expeditions, including a bicycle ride across Cambodia, and climbing trips to the Garwhal, Bolivia, Borneo and to Mount Everest in 2000. Throughout her ﬁ fties, Arkless guided 22 successful ascents of Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak. Arkless will be remembered as a pioneer who found her path as a woman guide, but still managed to strike a balance between family and career.

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QUARTZ CR_rock and ice

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22 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

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BREAKING NEWS

SMALL WIRES CRACK-AHOLICS Sonnie Trotter, of Canada, has nabbed second ascents of Indian Creek’s two hardest ticks: Learning to Fly and From Switzerland With Love, both 5.13+. Both climbs were established last year by Swiss crack ace Didier Berthod, who is reportedly out of commission this season after breaking a bone in his hand from jamming too hard on The Crack House (V9). Trotter conﬁrmed the grades of the two lines. Then, Ryan Nelson, of Durango, Colorado, made the third ascent of From Switzerland With Love on April 29. He also ticked three of the Creek’s 5.13’s: Ruby’s Café, Death of a Cowboy and Less Than Zero.

SIGHT-UNSEEN As 5.14a onsights become more common for elite male climbers, Josune Bereziartu continues to prove that she can hang with the world’s best with her sight-unseen ascent of Hidrofobia (5.14a), Montsant, Spain. In 1999, Katie Brown ﬂashed the line.

SALLIE DEAN SHATZ

ARCH BISHOP Daniel Woods, 16, of Colorado has repeated several Bishop, California test pieces. At the Buttermilks, Woods sent The Swarm and The Mandalion (both V14), and The Buttermilker and Direction (both V13). Also at the Buttermilks, Ethan Pringle made an ascent of Jason Kehl’s 60-foot V12/13 highball, Evilution.

Danika Gilbert reads to girls in the Baddera school, Neelum Valley, Pakistan.

Helping Hands Climbers Assist Relief Efforts in Pakistan After the October 8 earthquake killed 80,000 people and left millions homeless, the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) sent out a plea to the 83 international climbing clubs. Ten responded. Receiving an overwhelming response from

members and the climbing community, the American Alpine Club shipped 28 tons of warm winter clothing, tents and sleeping bags. Money collected by the American Alpine Club purchased children’s shoes, socks, sweaters and

women’s shawls. Money is still being collected for the building of schools (a m e ric a n a lpin e cl u b . org). Sallie Shatz and Danika Gilbert assisted the ACP with distributions. Other images from the Pakistan trip are on www.salliedeanshatz.com.

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 23

Brian Kim eases his way up the Grand Dihedral 11d, on Moonlight Butress. Photo: Klaus Fengler

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[ BOOK TALK]

BY JOE FERGUSON

The Villain: A PORTRAIT OF DON WHILLANS

BY JIM PERRIN $16.95 WWW.MOUNTAINEERSBOOKS.ORG

DON WHILLANS, the consummate British hard man, established rock and alpine routes as difficult and unforgiving as his persona. He reveled in his bad-boy image and died of a heart attack at 52. Joe Brown, one of Whillans’ climbing partners, calls him “an absolute bastard ... a mixture of heman and saint.” Perrin’s biography of Whillans (19331985), joint winner of the BoardmanTasker prize in the United Kingdom and the Mountaineering History award in Banff, is now available Stateside. In addition to desperate gritstone crack routes in his native Britain, Whillans’ fi rst ascents include the twomile South Face of Annapurna with Dougal Haston, which Perrin calls “the most momentous ascent to date in the history of mountaineering,” and the Central Pillar of Freney on Mont Blanc with Christian Bonington. Famed also for sour grapes, Whillans labeled Bonington “Christ Jesus Bonington” after Bonington made the fi rst British ascent of the Eiger without him. Whillans was as renowned for such biting wit as for his climbing prowess, yet his pronouncements could also be self-deprecating and curiously clearsighted regarding his own character. “I never fought anybody my own size,” he claimed, “working on the principle that they were too little to hit.” It is dichotomy that defi nes Whillans—a man who would refuse to carry his weight on an expedition, or even brew tea at a bivouac, yet would risk life, limb and personal success to rescue a distressed climber. Perrin nails this “villain’s” life story with a sure-footed, unsentimental approach, reassembling his enigmatic subject fact by fact, while stripping the legend, myth by myth, down to reality. Perrin has rendered an empathetic yet pragmatic portrayal of a man respected by friend and foe alike.

24 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

(Jim Perrin lives in North Wales.)

THERE SEEM TO BE PARALLELS BETWEEN WHILLANS, YOU AND THE U.S. VULGARIANS. WAS THERE ANY REAL CONNECTION? We were all on visiting terms. By the 1970s, with the Counterculture in full swing, the exchange visits were commonplace. I remember Robbins, Wunsch, Bridwell, Acomazzo, Donini, Barber and plenty of others coming over to the North Wales ghetto, partying, enjoying the routes when it didn’t rain. The presiding spirit was Al Harris (1944-1981), who was a true Vulgarian, entirely committed to subversive excess. I climbed with plenty of you Yankees over here. You often came across as a bit serious at the outset, but you soon seemed to tune in. AT TIMES YOU SEEM TO PSYCHOANALYZE WHILLANS. DO YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN PSYCHOLOGY? I’m his biographer—you have to try to sympathize, understand, celebrate and explain. And only by giving your full attention to character and all its implications do you approach that. IF AUDREY (WHILLANS’ LONG-SUFFERING WIFE) MADE A POINT THAT WHILLANS’ BIO BE DONE “WARTS AND ALL,” WHY DID YOU PUBLISH IT ONLY AFTER HER DEATH? Good question—there’s a gap between the notional and the published, maybe? I had no desire to rub the nose of someone of whom I became very fond in certain aspects of Don’s life. ■

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[ SPOTLIGHT ]

BY ALISON OSIUS

For Jannu, they had a sponsor. The team used expedition tactics, an outdated style by Western standards, but normal in the context of Russian climbing history. Says Scott MacLennan, a friend of Ruchkin’s, from The Mountain Fund, “Even though the Soviet Union is gone, the old ways are still very much alive. To summit means success, to attempt is to fail ... You cannot get sponsorship for bold attempts.” Ruchkin visited North Conway, New Hampshire, in February to give a slide show for the American Alpine Club. He described the instability and difficulty of the walls of Jannu, on which he spent 50 days. In any style, the guy is tough as nails. HAVE YOU WON A COMPETITION? Seven times. [But] I participated not to be first. I just wanted to go climbing. Competitions mean you can do more and more difficult routes. WHY THE 10 WALLS? To display the ability of Russian climbers to complete such a big project. For so many years, Russia was [isolated].

Alexander Ruchkin RUSSIAN LOCOMOTIVE ALEXANDER RUCHKIN entered his first Championships of the former Soviet Union by chance. In 1991, he was working at a climbing camp in Kyrgyzstan that received a team slot as the event host. His team, firing the 3,000-foot north face of peak Free Korea in winter, took third in the competition. “Everyone was very surprised,” he acknowledges. “It was a big competition.” The various Soviet climbing camps anchored a regimented system of education and classification. Having already attained his first two “ranks” within the system, Ruchkin through his top-three finish earned the coveted rank of “Master of Sport.” At such competitions, climbers chose from various mountain routes, and were judged on difficulty and speed, with safety paramount. Use of fi xed ropes was com26 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

mon, and solo climbing, as unsupervised, usually did not add to one’s résumé. Today, the system remains much the same, but since the dissolution of the USSR, climbing is no longer state-funded. Climbers must now pay for trips or gain sponsorship. Ruchkin, 42, was the technical force behind the 2004 first ascent of the north face of Jannu, part of the “Big Walls: the Russian Way” series of 10 first ascents envisioned by Alexander Odintsov. Ruchkin has been present for five of the seven routes completed, including those on the Troll Wall, Norway; Trango Tower, Pakistan; and Great Sail Peak, Baffin Island. This summer he will attempt the north face of Masherbrum, in Pakistan. The “Big 10” climbers at first selected nearby destinations for economic reasons.

HAVE YOU GOTTEN TO CLIMB IN AMERICA? [smiles] Only at the REI wall in Denver. WHAT STYLE WILL YOU USE ON MASHERBRUM? It could be capsule-style, something between alpine and Himalayan, because it’s a very long wall. DO YOU WISH TO GO ALPINE? Alpine is considered more prestigious, and it’s my personal style. Leonid Vyssokov, translator: He has lots of climbs that he did in one day, much faster than others. Like the REI Wall. That only took one day. WHY JANNU EXPEDITION-STYLE? First, to succeed, based on 29 years of teams trying to make it alpine-style. NOW DO YOU THINK SOMEONE COULD CLIMB JANNU ALPINE-STYLE? Yes, now we have more information about the wall. But it’s very difﬁcult. WHAT WALLS AFTER MASHERBRUM? The other two are unknown. We’re considering Latok 3. We’ve tried twice. Vyssokov: I would suggest REI Wall. ■ PHOTO RUCHKIN COLLECTION

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[ ACCIDENT REPORT]

Tragedy in Paradise A CLIMBER DIES WHEN HER RAPPEL ANCHOR FAILS THE WORLD-CLASS SPLITTER cracks lining the narrow gorge at Paradise Forks, 40 minutes southwest of Flagstaff, Arizona, attract climbers looking to test their trad mettle in an accessible, aesthetic setting. The columnar basalt has friendly texture and offers good gear. The rim of the canyon is lined with ponderosa pines, which climbers use as toprope anchors and as rappel stations. In fact, rappelling is the most common way to access the base of the walls. On November 5, Shelly Windsor, an experienced climber from Tempe and owner of the climbing shop Over the Crux, rigged her third rappel of the day. The rappel setup consisted of two 15-foot slings of the same color, joined and looped around a thick tree approximately 30 feet from the edge of the cliff. She used one auto-locking carabiner to clip the rope, which was tied in a ﬁgureeight on a bight, to the slings. It was a singleline rappel.

Windsor tested her rigging by giving it a ﬁrm yank. Deeming it safe, she stepped off the rim. The slings detached from the tree and Shelly fell over 90 feet to the ﬂoor of the canyon. The slings, two separate loops of webbing still attached to the locking biner, also fell to the bottom. Shelly Windsor was no novice. She earned her stripes on El Capitan and at Indian Creek and was well acquainted with setting anchors. Shelly was meticulous. Her sister, Jennifer Williams, told the Arizona Republic that Shelly “frustrated” her partners with her attention to safety. “She would check her safety points two, three times,” Jennifer said. Accidents of this type are fairly common. Several climbers have been killed or critically injured recently when their rappel slings came undone, or rappel ropes came untied or disconnected from the anchors. This was the second fatal rappelling accident at Paradise Forks in three years.

No one will ever know what happened that afternoon. It is likely that the accident resulted from improperly joined slings. The safety-minded and meticulous Windsor also rappelled from a station that had no built-in redundancy without thoroughly double checking the setup. Windsor’s climbing partner on that day reported that Windsor was eager to get to the bottom of the canyon because she was thirsty. Several of Windsor’s partners said that the scenario was not consistent with her normal attention to safety.

PREVENTION DOUBLE UP Without exception, every anchor must have at least two separate and independent, bombproof anchoring points. Two bolts, two pieces of gear in two separate lines of fracture, two trees. In addition, there should be two separate and independent lines (slings or cords) from the anchoring points and the rope should be clipped through two opposed (and preferably locked) carabiners. KEEP IT SIMPLE Windsor’s partner said that the slings around the tree were “messy” and “wadded up.” This might account for the fact that the slings held when Windsor tested them with a tug. Perhaps they were tangled in the bark or with each other. An anchor should be simple and neat enough to judge at a glance. USE DIFFERENT-COLORED SLINGS Windsor’s slings were the same color, which could have made it difﬁcult for her to tell if they were properly joined together. Slings of contrasting colors, such as red and blue, make it easier to see if all is right—or wrong. DOUBLE CHECK Always visually inspect anchors, especially those you haven’t set yourself. Even if you’ve used the anchors already, re-inspect them each time. Carabiners shift, slings loosen and, unknown to you, other people might have adjusted or even partially disassembled the anchors. It has happened before.

28 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

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[ KEMPLE’S CORNER]

PHOTO AND INTERVIEW BY TIM KEMPLE

CHRISTIAN GRIFFITH You are known for being an artist, clothing designer, climber, runner and more. How would you describe yourself to someone in just a couple of words? I am a sensitive man. You ran for City Council last year. Why, and what did you learn? I ran to preserve access to the incredible mountains and cliffs that surround Boulder and that I grew up exploring. If I had been forced in my youth to stay on established trails, I never would have become a climber or developed my love for the outdoors. Finish these sentences: I never thought I would … Make it to 30. It scares me when … I remember I am over 40. Most memorable day of climbing ever? One free-solo trip up the Yellow Spur in Eldorado stands out. On the crux pitch, 5.9+, thin and steep with 500+ feet of exposure, I got caught in hurricane winds blowing off the front of an afternoon thunderstorm. It’s a knife-edge ridge up there and the wind was tearing across it. For 30 minutes I was somewhere in the middle.

30 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

Five most important moments in your climbing? Running into Pat Ament on Flag[staff] at age 13. He honed my climbing focus at that early age. Running into Jerry Moffat at age 19—oddly, at the same boulder problem, Smith’s Overhang. He opened my eyes to the new levels being pushed overseas and invited me to come over for my ﬁrst climbing trip to Europe. The death of my friend Eric Goukas in Yosemite at age 22. He was my highschool partner and rival as an artist and a climber. I have tried to do enough for both of us since then. Setting the 1989 Snowbird World Cup with Antoine Le Menestral, the most talented climber I have ever seen and an inspiration in much of my creative/design work ever since. Sending the Right Pocket Problem (V11) at Gross [Reservoir] two years ago, after three months of effort and proving to myself I could still get stronger. I’ve heard stories about you running naked in the alpine areas of Colorado. Is this true? I take it you haven’t seen the videos. Doesn’t it make sense that someone who designs clothes [for his company, Verve] would avoid wearing them? What is something you haven’t done, but really want to do in climbing? When I turned 30 I convinced myself I wouldn’t be getting any stronger and came up with a short list of things I still had to do. Redpoint The Rose and the Vampire (8b) in Buoux, France. Boulder Midnight Lightning (V8) in Yosemite and onsight solo Ulysses’ Bow (E7 6c) on Stanage Edge. I have done the ﬁrst two now and only have Ulysses left. I was wrong about [aging], however, and I am still getting stronger, so I have added Turn That Frown Upside Down (V12) at Gross Reservoir and No More Greener Grass (V12) on Mount Evans. I also want to free solo the Diamond on Longs Peak, but I might not be that brave anymore!

Vitals

Age: 41 Years climbing: 29 Weight: 166 Height: 6'2" Wingspan: 6'2" Vices: Sex, coffee, chocolate

[ SUPER GUIDE]

BY MATT DENDY

TEXAS IN NORTH TEXAS, BIGGER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER

MOST CLIMBERS PROBABLY THINK of Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) as a flat urban expanse inhabited by oil tycoons and television evangelists, a place that’s snarled with Hummer traffic on the Hueco-to-Horsepens circuit. Climbers also probably assume that the only bouldering in DFW is in one of five local gyms or on the occasional chipped railroad trestle. That’s correct, for the most part. However, an hour southwest of DFW are river canyons lined with God’s own rock—steep, pocketed Texas limestone.

32 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

While these areas don’t have access issues, problems could potentially arise owing to the law of the land in Texas. The Hostility area borders private land, so please stay near the boulders while climbing there. Atop the cliff bands above the Nolan River are homes, so be respectful. Follow the park rules at Tonkawa Falls and watch out for the Crawford locals, some of whom have shown their patriotism by spray painting an American ﬂag in one of the caves. Camping is allowed everywhere except at the Hostility Boulders and Nolan River, both considered day-use areas only. The best seasons to visit are fall through spring. In the summer, 90 percent humidity and 95-plus-degree days make sending slippery Texas limestone extra proud. A comprehensive guidebook to these areas will be included in Jeff Jackson’s upcoming Texas Limestone Bouldering. A guide to Tonkawa Falls can be downloaded at bloodyﬂapper.com, and a guide to Paradise on the Brazos, by Jimmy Forrester, can be downloaded at paradiseonthebrazos.com.

MERRICK ALES

The author on the Tonk classic Flesh Wound (V7).

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SUPER GUIDE

4HOSTILITY BOULDERS Albeit the smallest zone, the Hostility Boulders are the closest to DFW, an area developed by Shannon Smith, Matt Dendy, Kinsey Davis and Zack Leavitt in 2003. Hostility consists of two housesized boulders with about 25 problems from V0 to V8. The Titan Boulder is the ﬁrst and largest block visible through dense foliage from the access trail. Start with Sleuthfoot, a devious V3 with sloping crimps and a thought-provoking mantle. Just left is a worthy project, Titan (V10?), with hard moves the whole way from its sit-start to a 23-foot topout. Just above the Titan is the aesthetic Tidal Wave Boulder. Three classics ascend the “wave” face, from left to right: the well-traveled Lone Star Arete (V2), and two unrepeated testpieces deﬁned by big moves on small holds, Blue Pearl (V7) and Black Arete (V8). BETA: From Dallas, take I-35 south to highway 67 south toward Cleburne. From Cleburne, take highway 174 south toward Rio Vista. Before Rio Vista, take a right on FM 916 and drive until you see the “Fisherman’s Paradise Private Community” sign on your left. Just after the sign is a small pullout. Step over a bar and follow a trail for 20 yards: the Titan is just off the trail on the left.

The most extensive cliff-band bouldering near DFW, Nolan is a beautiful canyon of blue limestone walls. Between the cliff band and scattered blocks, there are roughly 60 problems in this still-developing area. Grades range from V0 to V9, with most between V5 and V7, and huge potential for more hard lines. Expect steep roofs, pockets, edges and frustrating mantel topouts onto slabs. Noteworthy ticks and recent ﬁrst ascents are Randall Townsend’s Baby Arm (V7), Matt Dendy’s Quality Control and Swingset Direct (both V8), and John Cooper’s

34 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

MERRICK ALES

4NOLAN RIVER

SUPER GUIDE Hail Mary! Dendy gets ready to dyno on Mary Bonita (V5) at Tonkawa Falls.

recent V9 low start to Quality Control. Classic moderates include the arete-hugger Jizzercise (V5) and Kinsey Davis’ Turtle Power (V3). BETA: Follow the same directions as Hostility from Dallas to Rio Vista. After passing through Rio Vista, at the Shamrock gas station take a left onto FM 933, which heads toward Blum. After crossing the railroad tracks you will arrive at a bridge over the Nolan River. Cross the bridge and park at an obvious pullout on the right. Walk straight ahead and cross the river; if water level is too high, return across the bridge and ﬁnd your way down a gully to the ﬁrst wall.

4TONKAWA FALLS Although 80 miles farther from Dallas than the above areas, Tonkawa Falls, a city park located in the town of Crawford, is perhaps the premier bouldering area of North Texas. Tonk’s bullet limestone surrounds a scenic waterfall and pool. There are some 150 problems, from V0 jug hauls with easy topouts to terrifying and technical roof climbs above backbreaking blocks. The rock features are varied, with huge huecos, crimps, tufas and slopers. Hard Tonkawa ticks include Matt Dendy’s roof problem Flesh Wound (V7), Ralph Bynard’s crimpy Le Ceil (V9) and Josh Haynes’ Channel Cat Sit Start (V11), with terrible feet and slippery crimps, the area’s hardest line. More moderates include the slab near the falls, The Shield (V1), the techy highball White Line Fever (V4), Not if You’re Pregnant (V4) and Mary Bonita (V5), a crimpy arete with a dyno ﬁnish. BETA: From Waco on I-35, take the Meridian/Robinson Highway 6 exit, and go west toward Meridian. Stay on this road for about eight miles to a stoplight marking the junction with FM 185. Take a left on highway 185 to Crawford. The park will be on your right heading into town. Say hi to Dubya! He calls Crawford home. ■

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 35

[ TUESDAY NIGHT BOULDERING]

BY ANDREW BISHARAT

THE F.A.R.T. QUEEN TRAINING ENTERS THE FOURTH DIMENSION

F RO M TH E M O M E NT I started climbing, I wanted to get better. There’s a manic foundation to my personality’s architecture, and I distinctly remember being shaken to the core by the tremors of the vertical world. At that point, I was a “fragile: handle with care” high-school package of ire. My bony legs failed me in track races and over the pole-vault bar. One time the pole rejected me like I was Chongo trying to get a room at the Awahanee, and I was shot like a misguided pellet back to where I had started running. During a 400-meter relay, my balls fell out of those public school-issued, man-tissue track shorts. I often threw up in my mouth. My ﬁ rst climb was Horseman (5.5), a Gunks classic with an exciting traverse out an exposed roof. For the record, I sent the shit out of that thing. My climbing instructor told me that I moved well over stone, and that I could be a good climber in no time at all. I asked him how to get better. He said I needed to learn how to build a toprope anchor, place cams, recite SRENE in my sleep, memorize Mountaineering: Freedom

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of the Hills, do pull-ups everyday, build fi nger strength and, uh, have fun. As for those two useless pixie sticks? “Legs? You don’t need legs for climbing.” I was sold. I vowed never to wear mantissue running shorts again, unless it was Halloween or part of a girlfriend’s kinky fantasy … so only six more times. After a week of tinkering with borrowed racks and unwieldy prusiks, I learned the righteous art of placing pro. I could’ve equalized the freakin’ American justice scale. I was so psyched that on my fi rst multi-pitch leads, I would often bring along three other bros using massive, tangled rope chains because having a ton of people ignorantly (me included) clipped to bodyweight pro just seemed like more fun. We were often mistaken for Koreans, who, for some reason, tend to climb big routes above their limits with as many people as possible (unlike the Japanese, who lean toward big-wall aid soloing or V16 slab problems). On one of those early leads, I sketched out on a 5.5 move, hanging from the seventh rung of no-fall terrain just below the belay ledge. My support team, fl ies in a spider web, chatted away while hosing me for slack cause they had the Grigri threaded backwards. I searched my bag of tricks, and found something useful for once: my death-grip. But I was more pumped than a Nevada gas station on the alien highway. I thought back to Freedom of the Hills, and all I could remember was how to perform a crevasse rescue. Stellar. Just then, some shirtless asshole soloed up a 5.9 to the right. He cruised over to the life raft (anchor) that was just three desperate moves away, and peered down on me like a Nazi dentist. “Uhh, do you know where I go here?” I asked. “Dude, you just go up.” At the time, the comment felt like a hot shower of shame. Now, I think it’s pretty cool, an astute description of what climbing is. At this magazine, we spend more hours than anyone will ever realize writing scrolls that describe how to belay, fall, lead, place pro, etc. “Dude, you just go up.” What else do you monkeys need to know? Anyway, I reached the ledge, brought up my posse of dumbasses, and vowed to become stronger. I bought Eric Horst’s

ART BY EMILIE LEE

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TNB

Key-Hole Lock

How To Climb 5.12, the deﬁ nitive guide to ticking a Riﬂe warm up. I learned that I needed to lose weight, compute the GI index for every avocado and sprout sandwich, climb with weights, hang from my tips, train for climbing by not just training for climbing, optimize my body composition, H.I.T something, and, uh, have fun. Armed with all this new information, I went to a gym and executed maneuvers that made me look like I was “training to hump a bathtub drain,” as my friend Dave Roy noted. I felt strong, and visited crags around the world to test my pinch grip. One time, I arrived at the base of a Mallorca beach crag as a gang of Germans with stone-cold faces cooked up some espresso. I got on the crag’s steepest route, reasoning that my new pinch grip would see me through the crux roof problem. When I got there, I pinched, squeezed and grasped the beetled limestone so tightly that I let out a little

The

Germans laughed uncontrollably, as if exorcising bad spirits.

wind. Farting apparently transcends language boundaries, even penetrating the phantasmagoric psyches torn by past decades of war. The previously deadpan Germans laughed uncontrollably, as if exorcising bad spirits. I fell off and vowed to get stronger. Then, I went to New Zealand and saw some “real mountains” and became obsessed with the high art of alpinism. I suddenly wanted to be somebody, and mountain climbing—light and fast, core and committed—would be the vehicle. Crags with sun, cams, bolts and, uh, fun, suddenly felt meaningless. So, I read Mark Twight’s excellent book Extreme Alpinism. I think I’ve since read the fi rst chapter a hundred times. I learned that alpinism is about will, determination and moral fortitude—meaning, having the gumption to do stuff “right.” That appealed to me. I learned that I needed to run on Stairmasters, lift weights, drink a bottle of wine and go for a sixmile run to mimic the effects of exertion at altitude, crimp with gloves, use Screamers, scream, keep my ice tools in a glass case on a pedestal in my foyer, and, uh, have fun. I climbed many peaks, sometimes solo, sometimes with partners. I often threw up in my mouth, but my balls never once fell out of my shell pants—probably because they had retreated into my body, shriveled and scared, like I was. But climbing mountains—or at least, the mountains that I was climbing—were all slabby ‘n’ shit. Plus, I was spending weeks at a time huddled up with other dudes in the middle of freezing-cold Brokeback nowhere. The tipping point came when someone called me a “glorified hiker.” Images of convertible zip-off pants, compasses, lug-soled boots, big stupid packs, glacier goggles and beef-fed Westerners who go to Nepal to “trek” (somehow more core than “hike”) around to take pictures of the cute little Buddhists and fi ll their suburban homes with Eastern goods made me sick. So, I decided to go for the steeps and become a big-wall climber. I moved to Camp 4 in a children’s yellow tent that I bought from Wal-Mart for $15. The nylon shelter was packaged in a box that depicted an eight-year-old girl and her pur38 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

ple dinosaur sitting inside. My mom cut out the picture and put it on the fridge to show everyone where her collegiate son was living. No real books teach you how to train for being an aid climber, so I simply copied the Valley denizens. I learned that I needed to: smoke a pack of cigarettes every day, start fires using white gas, drink heavily, be seen talking to Chongo, wear flannel shirts, display your climbing gear on a blue tarp as if you were an Arab merchant, and, uh, have fun. One time, during my first big-wall route, a blur of hair and deltoids blazed past me. After reading Rock and Ice, I found out the nature of this Teutonic rocket: the Huberbaum. I settled back into an uncomfortable existential hole, and wondered how in the hell I would ever be any good.

of how to train for climbing recently became even more confounding. Bret, the art director at this joint, and I recently hosted a Female Arm ‘Rasstlin’ Tournament. We decided to spell “wrestling” as “‘rasstlin’” just so the acronym of our event could be FART. It’s that kind of attention to detail that magazine editors and reality-show producers look for. We couldn’t contain our laughter—we were actually going to dub some poor girl the local FART queen. The tournament was a complete success. The girls wore Mexican wrestling masks, tattooed their arms, came up with names like “Tower of Power” and “Hercules Hannah,” etc. We raised about one million dollars (or something) for an independent radio station—because we support free speech, small business, blah blah (and, we couldn’t do it without the station’s electronic equipment). I coerced all my climbing friends into coming out. Many of the girls who competed were stacked with the muscles that can only be developed by climbing 5.13s. But it was no contest—one 50-year-old woman named “The Ninja,” dressed in a leopard-print leotard, a black cape and a butt-rocker wig, destroyed everyone. After the event, I sipped a gin martini with a lemon twist, loosened the cufﬂinks on my tuxedo, and congratulated Carbondale’s new FART queen. We spoke about climbing, arm wrestling and the rest of life’s delicacies.

TH E D I S PAR ATE TH EO R I E S

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“All these climbing girls came up to me,” she said, “and asked me how I got so strong. I told them, ‘Look, I’m just a big ol’ softball-loving butch dyke!’ Ain’t nothing special about that.” Climbing is an incredibly beautiful and varied sport, art, lifestyle, whatever. For many reasons, climbers like to label themselves. “I’m a sport climber.” “I’m an alpinist.” Etcetera. People are on a never-ending voyage to deﬁne themselves in this cruel world, but perhaps such a quest obscures something bigger. Aren’t we all just climbers—and people—looking for love, purpose,

Topher Donahue

TNB

meaning? Who cares if you train to get bigger calves to tackle the Rupal Face, or bigger forearms to send 5.15? The tournament made me realize a couple things. First, changing your body and mind to ﬁt some dreary mold is stupid. Second, no matter how much body fat you lose, or how much you meditate in your dojo … no matter how core you think you might be, a softballloving butch dyke can always slam you back into place. For more TNB, or to start your own blogging page, visit www.rockandice.com. JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 39

Stonemasters DEAN FIDELMAN

By John Long

Upland was our home, a nowhere little burg lush with citrus groves and mountain panoramas. From the two-block commercial center in the middle of town, a sea of orange trees spread north, thinning as grey foothills rose into the splintered schist canyons and woody arroyos of the San Gabriel Mountains. Through the busted windows of my homeroom in Upland High School I’d often peer out at the San Gabriels and daydream about all the mountains I would someday climb, secret mountains obscured by clouds and 10 times the size of 10,064-foot Mount Baldy, gleaming in the distance. But I couldn’t go it alone. I needed partners and a way to get to those mountains. So I organized a high school rock-climbing club for the sole purpose of enlisting a partner who had access to a car. The club started off strong but was terminated after an overnight ﬁeld trip to Joshua Tree, when the chaperon caught several students with a ﬁfth of Pappy Van Winkle and a foreign-exchange student from Hyderabad—who’d shown such promise on The Blob earlier that day—was found wandering the desert in her panties. No matter, since by then I’d hooked up with Eric “Ricky” Accomazzo and schooled him on the little I knew about rope work. And we’d be climbing plenty since Ricky had a car—a powder-blue Ford Pinto we drove into the tundra over the following years, during which Ricky distinguished himself as king of the shit-your-pants runout. With a demeanor smooth as Mezzaluna and the athleticism of an all-everything water-polo player in high school and college, Ricky was to climbing what Sinatra was to song. From Yosemite granite to Chamonix ice, Ricky climbed the hardest new routes with a casual artistry that led Dale Bard to once ask, “What the hell’s that guy made of?” “He’s Italian,” I said. “That hardly explains it,” said Dale, as Ricky hiked a glassy Royal Arches slab that Dale and I had just backed off and declared unleadable. But back in high school Ricky and I were just two kids thrilled to get our feet off the ground. Then we were three. “You’re not going to believe this one, Johnny,” Ricky said one day after school. That morning, on a restless hunch, Ricky had driven up into the foothills and started snooping around a mangy canyon for a misplaced Diamond or Shiprock. Instead, he stumbled across a longhaired maniac running laps on a 30-foot mud cliff.

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DEAN FIDELMAN

John Bachar in a standing long-jump competiton, sometime around 1977. Looking on: Mari Gingery, Jessica Perrin, Roy McClanahan, Rick Cashner, John Long and Lynn Hill (left to right).

Mike Graham, an early Stonemaster, went on to found the popular Gramicci clothing line.

If not, “Tastes differ,” he’d often say. Richard went on to climb more routes in more places than most of us combined, all with such a low proﬁle he might have remained anonymous but for his fullpage photo in George Meyer’s Yosemite Climber, cranking an early ascent of Nabisco Wall, a young John Yablonsky belaying. It’s curious to consider how that picture and all that climbing ﬂowed from one dark and stormy September night in 1972.

An Unexpected Guest

The night started out like so many others, Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” mingling with clouds of ragweed and tangy incense so thick I could scarcely make out the profile of K2 on the joist, only six feet away. A fierce wind lashed The Basement and thunder rumbled down from the San Gabriels. I started in with Buhl’s forced bivy on Nanga Parbat, but the thrill had gone. I shifted to Messner’s solo of Les Droites, but the words had no substance. We’d cannibalized those epics of every last morsel of inspiration.

JOHN MIRELES (TOP); BRUCE ADAMS (BOTTOM)

two-lane road winding past a boulder-strewn streambed that occasionally overflowed during winter rains. You needed a compass to ever find the place, and on my first visit, Richard’s cranky old German shepherd nearly bit my leg off. The area and the dog had a wild remoteness to them, and following our afternoon bouldering sessions we’d return to The Basement to recite passages from Conquistadors of the Useless and a hundred other mountaineering books we’d devoured. Richard’s mom, two siblings, grandparents and 20-odd critters ranging from turkeys to Great Danes lived in Old MacDonald’s other farm, several hundred yards below The Basement. An artist friend of Richard’s had painted an exposed joist with a stylized cordillera, starting with Annapurna by the left wall and

Nothing held us back. Becoming a Stonemaster w “Huh?” I asked. “Another climber? In Upland?” “Yeah,” said Ricky. “Name’s Richard. Richard Harrison. Says he dropped outta high school because it was cutting into his climbing time.” Next thing I knew, Richard, Ricky and I were scratching over the boulders at Mount Roubidoux, a trendy practice climbing area near Riverside, California. Slowly and collectively we bought a perlon rope and a skeleton rack, and over the 1970 school year, and through the summer if we weren’t climbing, we were reading or thinking or talking about climbing. We’d memorize quotes, immortal passages and even the mawkish bookjacket copy from The West Ridge, Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, Starlight and Storm, and The Ascent of Rum Doodle. We’d recite the grave stuff in sotto voce and then yell the gallant summit quips at the top of our lungs, with bogus French and German accents we learned from listening to Inspector Clueso and watching Hogan’s Heroes. And much of this went down in Richard’s cinder-block bungalow, later known simply as The Basement. Richard lived up in the foothills, above the citrus groves but not quite in the mountains. His nearest neighbor was a half-mile away. A dirt drive found his lodging, set back from a crummy 42 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

ending with the Matterhorn by the door on the right. In the presence of these giants we dreamed away many evenings, recounting dazzling alpine epics, listening to music on Richard’s squeaky eighttrack tape deck and smoking ragweed he grew in the arid gulch behind The Basement. No one ever bothered us. When you’re 18, that kind of privacy, and the cloistered vibe of The Basement, made us feel like sovereigns of a secret castle. Richard always held court with a Missouri Meerschaum corncob pipe and the coolest aspect you’ve ever seen in your life. The son of a renowned woodworker, Richard grew up in an artists’ culture and developed a shine for alternative lifestyles that seemed to the rest of us so daring and unauthorized we wondered how anyone could actually pull it off and stay out of jail. The three of us would soon join a tight circle of So Cal climbers, and each of us brought ingredients to the group that were blended into the social dynamic. Richard brought the main course: following your own prerogative. If that squared with others, ﬁne. A rare photo of Tobin Sorenson, a Stonemaster infamous for pushing the envelope, killed attempting to solo the North Face of Alberta in 1981.

So we just sat there, surrounded by bones, with no catalyst for our scattered energies. It was the ﬁrst time in my life I asked myself, “Now what?” No one remembers who coined it, or who was ﬁrst to use it, but the term “Stonemaster” suddenly materialized in our conversation. Just mentioning the name was to

Rick Accomazzo, with Tobin Sorenson, took Stonemaster boldness to the Alps, where he established the Dru Couloir Direct, at the time that area’s most difﬁcult climb.

conjure The Stonemaster himself and his lightning struck us right between the eyes. Dazed, struck dumb, we waited breathlessly for some ghastly wraith to appear, and when it didn’t, we slowly cracked a few doors,

dence. But apparently The Stonemaster was like the wind or a wave, whose presence is visible only through the leaf storm and the heaving breaker. And just as the wave commands the water, The Stonemaster abruptly took charge of our bodies, which torqued and twitched as though some dark force had leapt from hell directly into our loins. We jumped up and started yelling over each other. Rash and alarming plans were voiced through us at breakneck speed and I half-expected pentagrams to appear on the rafters and horse heads to start bobbing around The Basement. But I didn’t give a damn. Bugger Herzog and Messner and never mind the Himalaya, we gushed. This was about us, and stupendous rocks, since we were rock climbers, after all. There was El Capitan and Half Dome and a thousand plums at nearby Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks

ushering us onto the High Lonesome where the Buhls and Terrays once roamed—and where they had died. But we were already two pitches up, and had been for a while. There was no bailing now. Around midnight I got on my bike for the six-mile pedal back to my five-by-15-foot dorm room at the University of La Verne, where I was slogging through my freshman year. From Richard’s house, a lung-busting half-mile climb gained the steep and twisting road rifling down from Mount Baldy. I could coast for a couple of miles, at what felt like mach 1, rarely encountering cars while tracking the single-white-lane line that, in the dead of night, was my only hope of not flying off the road. But that night a stiff headwind held me nearly in place and I floated down the road in a trance, touched by the fragrance of orange blossoms. My life, the life that was actually mine, had just begun.

Who Am I ?

Over the following months The Stonemaster always asked the same momentous question: Who am I, really? That’s a heady

r was like being birthed out the barrel of a cannon.

JOHN MIRELES (TOP); DEAN FIDELMAN (BOTTOM)

peered under chairs and behind an old Honda 50 in the corner. Richard even dumped out his rucksack, looking for physical evi-

and we’d climb them all in nothing flat. We’d been force-fed and were now spewing forth the greatest revelation of them all—that nothing held us back. It was like being birthed out the barrel of a cannon. Only later would I realize the shift from reciting other people’s stories to chasing after your own always involves breaking an illusory taboo, held in place by fear of the unknown. Month after month, book after book, our dream had dashed itself against the unknown like a fly against a windowpane. Then The Stonemaster threw open the window. Yet as we kept marching around The Basement and babbling grimoires to invoke our master (from first mention of The Stonemaster, we were his loyal subjects), and the fantastic adventures sure to follow, I grew cold in the middle. The Stonemaster was John Long (seated) with Mike Lechlinski, in younger years.

question for 18-year-olds with no maps and little experience. The question could only be answered through an odyssey, meaning we’d need a proper crew. God knows how, but the question found the ears of Mike Graham, Robs Muir and a handful of other young climbers scattered over Southern California, and all of us were soon on board. For the next few years none of us could talk about the boredom of being alive with any conﬁdence. From the moment we ﬁrst cast off, The Stonemaster shot us into action with a velocity that broke one of our backs, busted another nearly in half, killed another one outright, and had the rest of us pawing at slopers.

Early Journeys

Suicide Rock, in Idyllwild, California, served as our training ground and cultural laboratory. East of Suicide, a mile across Strawberry Valley, rose massive Tahquitz Rock, crucible of American climbing mores and incubator of the Yosemite pioneers. Tahquitz always felt hallowed and elderly, like a famous old uncle you were proud of but never visited much because he was, well, old. Suicide felt brand-spanking-new because most of the routes had gone up in the previous half-dozen years—courtesy of Pat Callis, Charlie Raymond, and Bud Couch—and there were plenty more new ones for the taking. The rock tended toward sweeping (up to about 300 feet) high-angled slabs, faces and JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 43

Robs Muir made the ﬁrst continuous free ascent of Valhalla (5.11), a climb that would soon become a rite of passage for all Stonemasters.

aretes, with extravagant runouts on polished granite. In an era long before sticky rubber, casting off on a Suicide testpiece had the feel and consequences of big-game hunting with your bare hands. And of the early hunters, Mike Graham, known in later years as Gramicci, was one of the best. Mike had the long, lean frame of an Olympic swimmer and the insolent dash of a surfer, which he was, having grown up in Newport Beach. With the gift of the natural and the drive of a beatnik, Mike did not once, in all the years I knew and climbed with him, ever round into maximum shape. He never needed to. He did everything on mental steel, God-given skill and guts. If you were to ask Jim Bridwell to name the greatest, go-for-broke lead he’s ever seen, it would be Gramicci cranking an 80-foot, unprotected, barndoor layback during the yet unrepeated first ascent of Gold Ribbon, on Ribbon Falls, Yosemite. Mike worked at Ski Mart, a big outdoor recreation retailer, and kept us all dialed in with the finest gear (later, Robs Muir, Ricky Accomazzo and I would also work there). Mike also fashioned the first Stonemaster logo, with the sizzling lightning bolt (forever chalked beneath the famous boulder problem Midnight Lightning), a signet later filched for a Lightning Bolt surf line. It was through Mike

Valhalla

Enter Robs Muir and Jim Hoagland, two UC Riverside students, both standouts at Mount Roubidoux and Suicide. It took the pair several tries, but they managed the ﬁrst continuous ascent of Valhalla, one of America’s few 5.11s and a route that had a reputation nearly the size of its creator, Bud Couch, a 6-foot 4inch college professor who lived in Idyllwild and lorded over Suicide with ﬂinty disdain. Bud was the last, and possibly the best, of the traditional line of Idyllwild masters that ran back 40 years, to John Mendenhall, the father of California rock climbing. Bud had his

The whole shebang felt absurd. There you had a cult of illustrious has-beens mostly loaﬁng in the shade, drinking malt liquor and tossing off snide comments, while a regular platoon, led by phobic drill sergeants, queued for their umpteenth slog up some dark and dreary ditch. One of Suicide’s most beautiful formations was called the Weeping Wall, and it was crying for good reason. For millions of years this great rock had drawn rain and wind upon itself to fashion resources that were largely going unused. We had to up the ante. It must have seemed arrogant for us punks to have made it our business how others used the crags, but we considered ourselves nothing if we couldn’t effect a sea change in the ways climbers felt and thought and behaved. It was all part of the tacit charter we had with The Stonemaster, and a means of proving that we belonged, that we mattered, that we were worth a damn as human beings. In our minds a revolution was not a luxury but a condition for being alive. “Time to step it up,” Richard concluded one night in The Basement, “or we ain’t going nowhere.” So shortly after Robs and Jim’s victory, we all shot for Valhalla, and we all got there. (Valhalla immediately became the prerequisite for a Stonemaster, and Mike kept a journal that logged the ﬁrst 20 or so ascents.) In another few months we’d repeated every old testpiece worth doing, yet the Stonemasters

that we met Gib Lewis and Bill Antel. Gib had a bottle-brush blond Afro and a learning curve that never ﬂattened out. An adventure-sports generalist who later mastered windsurﬁng and laid down the grimmest ski descents on record, Gib started out slow and just kept getting better and better. Bill apparently stepped from the shadows straight onto 5.11 face climbs. I never knew where Bill came from and didn’t care because the Stonemasters were like the French Foreign Legion in that regard—your past was forgotten the moment you signed on. So we had a name and a lightning bolt and marching orders to peaks unknown, but as a group we’d done little more than repeat Suicide’s standard hardman routes and shoot off our mouths. We desperately needed some dramatic victory to assert our arrival and establish the clout of The Stonemaster himself.

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circle of partners, whose names and photos were peppered throughout the guidebooks. We were awestruck by these guys and secretly wanted their blessing. Instead they laughed out loud as we tumbled all over the rock. I was too proud and insecure to roll with such ridicule, but far worse was getting dressed down by the board-certiﬁed leaders of various outing clubs that rounded out the Idyllwild climbing scene during those dog days. For ages these clubs had thrutched up the same 5.4 gullies in humorless cavalcades, the very gullies we’d downclimb (unroped, of course) to return to our packs. A couple of times when we ran into a battalion of these guys and the leader launched into another diatribe, barking and spitting in our faces, I just about served up the knuckle sandwich. John Yablonsky soloes Spiderline (5.11c), Joshua Tree, in the late 1970s.

JOHN MIRELES (TOP); DEAN FIDELMAN (BOTTOM)

Nobody could stomach dishonoring The Stonem

grew none the larger for our efforts, efforts that apparently inspired no one and pissed off everyone, leaving them anxious and guarded. Club leaders imagined we were ordering them out of those gullies and onto something new, leading one to write: “These so-called Stonemasters are as unacquainted with prudence as a hog is with mathematics.” The old guard acted like they were being elbowed out of the opera house by kids who could merely scream. But while they slowly faded to black and trudged up their gullies, anyone new to the game had a different order to follow—and eventually, many did. The Stonemasters had arrived, the game was on, and everyone was invited.

John Bachar took boldness to a new level—and ﬁrst brought sticky-rubber to the United States.

nobody took the big one as often or as dramatically as Tobin Sorenson.

A Once-in-aLifetime Experience

Safety in Numbers

In 1972 and 1973, the Stonemasters pulled down dozens of new climbs and ﬁrst free ascents at Suicide and out at Joshua Tree. New Generations, Iron Cross, Drain Pipe, Solid Gold, Ultimatum, Le Toit, The Flakes, Jumping Jack Crack, Ski Tracks and countless others from today’s tick list were all climbed in rapid succession. Most were dispatched mob style because no one could bear missing out on the glory, plus it was always more laughs with a conga line ﬁve or 10 strong. And far more dangerous because the Suicide climbs in particular were often protected by bolts and only bolts, and a leader was obliged to run the rope halfway to Kingdom Come before breaking

could stomach dishonoring The Stonemaster, even if the consequence was a pine box. So, sure enough, Gib started for that big knob, which naturally was as round as a grape and smoother, too. For 20 ghastly minutes as his feet oozed off that grape he hammered and whimpered and sweated the big drop until he ﬁnally sank that bolt. Then he lowered off to pats on the back and a bong hit or three, whence he slouched down and rocked back and forth like an imbecile as I tied in and cast off for the same merciless treatment. Of course the physical moves were usu-

Most climbers know of Tobin Sorenson, if they’ve heard of him at all, as the madman who, in Levis and a “Jesus Saves” sweatshirt, soloed the North Face of the Matterhorn, or who with the late, great, British alpinist Alex McIntyre, made the first alpine-style ascent of the Harlin Direct on the Eigerwand, or who joined Ricky Accomazzo on the first ascent of the Dru Couloir Direct, in Chamonix, then the hardest ice climb in the Alps (and one of the first times a team bivouacked while totally suspended from ice screws). If you had to pick the world’s best overall climber from the 1970s—from alpine peaks to Yosemite big walls—few would argue if you gave the nod to Tobin. More than a friend and a partner, Tobin was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. He answered the Stonemaster’s momentous question—Who am I, really?—in ways we could never fully grasp. In his fierce nature there was a touch of the feminine, as there is in every prince and pirate. His impulses always toggled between a wildcat and (continued on page 86)

emaster, even if the consequence was a pine box.

JOHN MIRELES (TOP); DEAN FIDELMAN (BOTTOM)

out the drill. The details varied from route to route, but the ritual remained the same. Like the time a stack of us gathered for a first ascent on the Smooth Soul Wall, at Suicide. There, Gib was clawing up crumbly, centavo-sized edges 20 feet above the boulders when he finally spotted a divot sufficient to stop and place that first and critical bolt. Looking at sprained ankles at the least, he had no sooner reached for the hammer than someone screamed, “You can’t stop there, you spineless sodomite!” “I mean, come on!” someone else added. “At least push it to that big knob . . .” Gib frantically scanned the rock overhead, wondering if the burnished marble 15 feet above was the “big knob” in question. “Er . . . I don’t know, man . . . “ “Why’d you grab the lead if you’re gonna embarrass us like that?” That always clenched it because nobody

ally nothing compared to onsight routefinding on holdless faces, and stopping to slug in those bolts, balanced on nothing at all, and looking at jumbo whippers. After a few hours and three or four bolts the next “leader” would float to the high point with the greatest of ease, wondering out loud what the commotion was about, till he cast off on the bald adventure overhead. That was the pay dirt, and we all lined up as much to scare the shit out of ourselves up on the virgin face as to haze the poor sap on the sharp end. This was before EBs, when the shoe of choice was either red PAs (Pierre Alain) or brown RDs (Rene Desmaison), which edged OK, but had the friction coefficient of a shovel. The slightest misstep and you were off for the big one. And Bachar styles Up Forty (5.11a), Joshua Tree, sometime in the late 1970s.

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 45

BIG, BAD AND VERY BOLD, ZIONʼS BIG WALLS WRITE A NEW CHAPTER ON FREE CLIMBING

IN 1927, THE SELF-STYLED “Daredevil Mountaineer” W.H.W. Evans set off to climb Zion National Park’s Great White Throne, a sentinel of white-capped sandstone that looms 200 stories above the valley floor. The brash Evans, alone and braced with just 15 feet of rope and a canteen, climbed and scrambled up the formation’s south face. Amazingly, he clawed his way to the summit after just a day of effort. To prove that he had in fact done the impossible, Evans bivied and built a row of campfires that could be seen by tourists in the park below. The next day, however, he fell on the descent and knocked himself out. In what was one of America’s first climbing rescues, the Park Service, after several days of searching, found a jibbering Evans lying at the base of the upper cliffs. After a scolding, they unceremoniously evacuated him on the back of an ass. In 1931, Dan Orcutt repeated Evans’ route—and discovered a human skull on the summit cairn. Then, as now, free climbing in Zion demands boldness. The monolithic walls are intimidating. The rock can change from iron-

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hard varnish to beach sand in one move. Runouts are real. From the late 1960s to the late 1980s, most climbers were content to frig around in aiders. In 1992, Zion free climbing burst into the modern era when Peter Croft and Jonny Woodward freed Moonlight Buttress, an eight-pitch aid route that went at a stout 5.12d. Despite the momentum generated by Moonlight, Zion free development practically ground to a halt. The small number of climbers pushing big free routes in this country concentrated on Yosemite, where a free ascent of the Big Stone would make headlines and guarantee you a place in history. Ironically, the free activity on El Cap was the catalyst for the resurgence in Zion free climbing. After all, if the Big Stone could go free, what could be made of Zion’s featured walls? (RIGHT) THE CRUX ON THE Dunn Route was so sequential the ﬁrst ascentionists had to chalk a key grip with the letter “L” to make certain they wouldn’t goof the sequence. Even then, the author (shown here) whipped on a 0 TCU seven times, falling up to 30 feet.

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MIKE LOOKED AT ME STERNLY AND SAID WE WOULD NOT LEAVE UNTIL THE ROUTE WAS FREE. A FULL 1,500 FEET HIGH, Angels Landing appeared so formidable to early Zion visitors that they declared only angels could land on its summit. They had it pretty close to right. This formation is home to Zion’s quintessential aid routes, with classics such as the Lowe Route, which Mike had freed earlier this year, and the prize line we were chasing, The Dunn Route, ﬁrst climbed by Jimmy Dunn in 1974. The route was an obvious free-climbing objective for Mike and me, as it tackles one of the wall’s major weaknesses. Before we set foot on the route, Mike tried to extract route beta from Dunn, but all he said was that it had nice ledges and he thought it would go free. Two hundred feet of 5.9 chimney, frogging in the wide stuff and shearing off a bit of skin, took us to the ledges that Dunn mentioned. When Mike reached the belay, he broke the bad news: He was sick and I would have to do all of the leading. Hand jams on the third pitch took me out a roof and into a giant chimney

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that pinched off into a 20-some-foot horizontal roof with a halfinch crack that took an hour and a half and many falls to unlock. When Mike followed, he threw up, a good indication that it was time to bail. With Mike sidelined, I enlisted Andy Raether to belay me on the next pitch, which we worked out, but the effort was so taxing that a link-up was out of the question. Two weeks later, Mike and I were in the car again hammering the asphalt from Colorado to Zion. During the drive, Mike looked at me sternly and informed me that we would not leave Zion until the route had gone free. (RIGHT) THE “TORPEDO PITCH” is the Dunn Route’s ﬁ rst technical crux, where a 20-foot, 5.12+ roof caps a strenuous chimney. Here, Anderson belays Pizem as he grapples with this slippery, near-footless section.

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WHEN MIKE AND I got back on the Dunn Route, he hiked the crap out of the 5.12 roof on the third pitch, but said that he had had to “dig deep” to do it. No small talk coming from the guy who last year onsighted or flashed every pitch on El Cap’s Freerider. Having earlier worked the crux with Andy, and doubting whether I could repeat them clean, I encouraged Mike to take the sharp end on the 5.13 crux. He led off as I shouted encouragement. I thought he had the pitch in the bag, but he came flying back into view after falling just one move from the anchor. I took the sharp end and felt good, but also blew out of a loose finger lock just shy of the anchor. I pulled the rope, tied back in, and fired the pitch, blood marking my trail to the top from the flapper I’d opened up on my first attempt. When Mike arrived at my hanging belay, he asked for the next lead. Above us rose a wild chimney built of loose rock. As he climbed, rocks pelted my helmet. I just looked down, fed out slack and listened to his grunts. When he had nearly 200 feet of rope out, he gave three tugs to tell me to get moving. I let the haulbag fly out of sight and seconded the craziest chimney pitch I’ve ever climbed. Mike was lounging on a ledge when I finally saw him. He reassembled the rack and sent me up the angling corner that dominates Angels Landing. As I found out, the Dunn Route requires your entire bag of tricks, a point driven home by pitch six. A little laybacking at the start takes you to some chimney work in a corner. Add a roof traverse and you gain a splitter crack. As with most long Zion routes, the stone becomes more weathered and featured the higher you climb [photo this page]. I appreciated the features as fatigue set in and I had yet to face the six-inch offwidth overhead. “Ah, Zion, when do you ever let up?” I grunted out another 30 feet and built another hanging belay at the base of a right -angling squeeze chimney. Mike led the squeeze without any gear and again ended up on a huge ledge. I followed, trying to face climb and cheat the chimney as much as possible, and, with patina holds breaking under me, just managed the pitch. Mike, noticing that the loose pitch had rattled me, geared up and led a fabulous patina pitch of finger locks in a corner protected by small gear. We were now just one pitch from the top, but as on many Zion classics, it paid to have a bold partner like Mike, someone who enjoys the rush of the death pitch. That last lead was one of the gnarliest and scariest pitches I have ever been on— the perfect finish. Robert Pizem is a high-school science teacher living in Golden, Colorado.

JUST ONE MOVE SHY OF THE ANCHOR, MIKE CAME FLYING INTO VIEW. 50 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

ROBERT “PIZ” PIZEM on pitch six, a 5.11 roof-to-hands crack sprinkled with the odd thank-God jug. (RIGHT) LIKE MANY ZION free climbs, the Dunn Route has its share of chimneys and offwidths. Here, Anderson dispatches Pitch 5, a virtually unprotected 5.11.

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MIKE WAS AFRAID I WOULD STEAL HIS ROUTE, AND WOULDN’T TELL ME WHAT HE WAS TRYING. Done Deal Dunn Route Free Version (V 5.13) Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch Pitch

1 5.9 chimney 2 5.11R offwidth/face/roof (loose) 3 5.12+ hands/chimney (the “torpedo pitch”) 4 5.13 (crux) tips layback 5 5.11R chimney/offwidth (loose) 6 5.11 roof/hands 7 5.11 chimney/offwidth 8 5.11 splitter ﬁngers corner 9 5.11R traverse (loose and sandy) 10 5.6 ﬁnish on Prodigal Sun

MIKE ANDERSON on the ﬁfth pitch of Golden Years (5.12+).

The Man With the Plan I MET MIKE ANDERSON SPORT CLIMBING IN THE UTAH HILLS after getting rained out of Zion. I was working on some free link-ups and he was secretly working on the Lowe Route on Angels Landing, which he would soon free, along with Spaceshot. Mike was afraid I would steal his route, and wouldn’t tell me what he was trying. Nevertheless, we exchanged numbers. He moved to Colorado to teach engineering at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and we teamed up in the fall of 2005. Our ﬁrst route was a one-day ﬁrst free ascent of Golden Years (5.12+) at the overlooked Kolob Canyon. Having already climbed the

first three pitches over the summer with another partner, I took the lead this day. A scary, sandy and slopey first pitch, followed by a wide-hands splitter, followed by 5.12 laybacking, deposited us at the route’s C1 section. After judging the falls from the flared crack to be too dicey, we hand-drilled a few bolts. These were the first bolts I ever hand-drilled, and the effort fried me. Mike and I had agreed that if we succeeded on this pitch, we would finish the route no matter how long it took. To make a long story short, we were back on the ground by 1:30 a.m. after beginning at 8:30 am. Headlamps would have been helpful. In this photo, Mike Anderson takes care of business on pitch five, a 5.11 zig-zagging splitter that weaves up a perfectly smooth and clean headwall.

JUST A BOARD GAME

Graham ďŹ&#x201A;ashes Chutes and Ladders (V10), Hueco Tanks, Texas.

DAMN,

GRAHAM!

After six years of

KILLING IT IN EUROPE, David Graham RETURNS

TO AMERICA STRONGER THAN EVER.

SO WHY IS THE BEST

ROCK CLIMBER IN THE WORLD SO

MISUNDERSTOOD? By Andrew Bisharat Photos By Tim Kemple

he night feels rare. Hurricane, a tiny arid town outside Utah’s Zion National Park, is living up to its name. Rain and wind chop the unaccustomed sky like a sushi knife through squid. Just inside the single-ﬂoor adobe house that is the stage for tonight’s debate, a more familiar storm is taking place. A group of climbers is sitting in a living room, post-dinner, enjoying fermented beverages, talking ethics. “Yeah, well, opinions are like a-holes—everybody’s got ’em,” says Jorge Visser, who

lives here with his partner, Lauren Lee. Dave Graham and his girlfriend, Layla Mammi, have been crashing here for a few days of climbing. I turn to the window, sip brandy, and think that there’s going to be a lot more of this if the weather doesn’t clear. “There’s no excuse for chipping,” says Graham. “You’re stealing from the future. That’s what the Basque now realize. There are many Basque climbers climbing .14b. ‘You all climb .14b?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, we all climb .14b.’ And what—”

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STILL UNREPEATED

On his own Psychedelic (5.14d), Gorilla Cliffs, Santa Clara, Utah.

“But their routes are chipped!” Visser butts in, knowing that if you don’t interrupt Graham you’ll never get a word in. “Humans don’t create holds!” Graham replies. “That’s where a natural route’s beauty lies, in interpreting the abstract. It’s interesting when I can ﬁnd a solution that is much, much, way more different than Chris [Sharma]. A chipped route climbs the same way. That’s boring.” The night is rare for other reasons, too. Dave Graham is back in America after disappearing to Europe, where he did nothing but climb—very, very, very hard, to mimic the 24-year-old’s repetitive diction—for six years. Graham has now sent over 140 routes of 5.14a or harder, including the ﬁrst ascent of Coup de Grace (5.15a), a new contender for the world’s hardest. As Graham continues to throw down about chipping, he massages a swollen muscle in his hand, an injury sustained during his latest trip to Hueco, where he climbed many Fred Nicole problems in a few tries, downgrading some, and put up test pieces of his own. Graham’s lifetime total of V10-and-harder boulder problems is impossible to tally, but the estimate breaches 300. Big numbers easily lose meaning. Graham is more than the sum total of his tick list. Many think he is the most psyched climber in the world. But for reasons unclear (and upsetting) to Graham, his career as a professional doesn’t hold a candle to his astronomical talent on the rock. To some degree, he has taken a back seat, professionally, to the likes of Chris Sharma, the Caldwells, and even Lauren Lee, who is sitting quietly, like me, desperately trying to follow Graham’s incisive, if long and circuitous, monologues. “I’m trying to tell people,” says Graham, “people like Daniel Woods and Adam Ondra, who are just physically stronger than everyone else, chipped routes are truly, truly, truly not that hard.” “It’s funny how people act like climbing is this spiritual journey, some kind of path to enlightenment,” Visser says. “But all the top climbers I know are unhappy.” The comment reveals how Graham can come off as angry and discontented, impressions that I’ll come to realize are dead wrong. Graham is just redblooded, and for him a good debate is as casual as a crimpy 5.12d. The argument over chipping crescendoes. Graham is at the edge of his seat, his blue eyes, as usual, wild with intensity. “I wish you wouldn’t get so worked up about this,” says Visser, laughing. Then, pleading, “What, please, what can I say so you’re not so worked up?” “Nothing!” Graham shouts. “I’m a Scorpio!”

A TALE OF TWO GRAHAMS David Ethan Graham “talks too much.” He’s too “opinionated.” He’s too “thin.” He’s not a “sex symbol.” He’s heard it all before. “Only in America is someone the ‘worst’ climber [because he is] skinny, talks a lot and shoots his mouth off,” says Graham, referring to a feature written about him in 2000, just before he fled to Europe, which flippantly stated that Graham, due to his appearance and lifestyle, should be one of America’s worst, not best, climbers. “There’s no reason why I should be one of the worst! I’m one of the best because I try so hard. I try so, so, so hard.” Sensationalism is one aspect of America’s bigger-is-better, superlative-crazy culture, one that Graham says has never accepted him, a spindly, self-effacing New Englander who doesn’t sugarcoat. In the professional climbing world, ticking the next hot grade, and even marketable personalities and good looks, are cash cows. Sponsor-hungry climbers sometimes market themselves by assigning their projects inflated grades, especially if a route is obscure or chipped to suit personal strengths, and by exaggerating the quality/ beauty/difficulty of a line. Graham, on the other hand, wears his heart on his sleeve. In social situations, he’s affable and courteous, always willing to chat and is interested in what others say. But beneath the surface lies passion and militant idealism. Graham is relentlessly honest—perhaps to his own detriment—especially when it comes to climbing. “I could’ve said Coup de Grace is 5.15b. If you want me to say I’ve climbed .15b, I could, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I really want it to be that hard, and compared to every other route in Europe, it probably is. But .14d isn’t even close to being consolidated. It’s very difficult to claim .15a. We haven’t even scratched the surface of hard climbing. Why rush?” On Christmas Eve, 2004, Graham posted a diatribe on the website 8a.nu, where climbers are ranked based on their sends. He had just climbed a sit-start project to Toni Lamprecht’s The Dagger (V14), a problem on the back of the Dreamtime boulder, in Cresciano, Switzerland. Graham called his addition The Story of Two Worlds, graded it 8c, or V15, and said it was “the new standard” for the grade. Claiming the new V15 standard meant that other V15s, such as Fred Nicole’s Dreamtime and Bernd Zangerl’s New Baseline, both of which Graham had sent in 2002 and 2003 respectively, were easier. He changed the ratings of these and other problems on his 8a.nu scorecard to reflect his impression of difficulty.

“I have posted what things feel like for me,” he wrote. “I don’t want to offend anyone. I just want to climb really hard.” “I can’t be angry if he thinks that something is easier than I thought,” says Nicole, who has tried, unsuccessfully, Graham’s two V15s: The Story of Two Worlds and From Dirt Grows Flowers. “Sometimes a better solution was found, and sometimes I was simply wrong.” The problem’s name—The Story of Two Worlds—is ironic. In one world, there’s Graham, who’s in a class of his own, both in terms of talent and his belief in, and candor with, himself. The other world is where everyone else lives.

THE RAPTURED

Pausing on a 5.14b in Spain, Graham bursts with good energy.

“People don’t understand passion,” says Graham. “When you’re psyched on one thing, you delve into it 100 percent and you make huge compromises. “I think that people in a position of influence should influence in the right way,” says Graham. “Being rash and rushing to conclusions is usually bad. You need to explore things. I understand [people’s] need to inflate grades—to keep the money flowing and not sound stagnant. But that compromises the artistic side of climbing. Climbing is that rich—it’s that vivid and entrapping.” The day after the chipping debate, the rains continue. After waking up just before noon, Graham is on the phone with Jason Kehl discussing a sponsor trip to Japan, where they will make some money, shoot pictures and, most important, be given time to climb. “I really can’t complain that much,” says Graham. “I’m definitely very fortunate.” Climbing is out of the question, so Graham,

Mammi and I head up toward an obscure canyon outside of Saint George, a beautiful landscape of walls and washes that, perhaps, holds good boulders. “Maybe we’ll find something,” says Graham. “Fuckin’-A right! Maybe we’ll find something really, really cool!” He is weaving through traffic in a Saab he and Mammi recently purchased from a friend. He seems positive despite the bad weather and an injured hand. Just then, his mood shifts like the car’s harried transmission. “God, these people all suck!” “People, zey can go so slow in zis country,” says Layla, a German accent wrinkling her English. Graham and Mammi, who was born in Germany, have been together for three years after they met climbing in Bishop. We come to a stop sign where a woman in a big old Buick is waiting to turn right. A yellow bumper sticker catches our eyes—it uses symbols to say: “Man Plus Woman Equals Marriage.” At first, being in Mormon country, we think the sticker is speaking against polygamy. An instant passes before we realize that the sticker denounces gay marriage. Graham lays on his horn for, no kidding, 45 seconds, until the car turns. Graham passes the elderly woman on the right. Both he and Mammi flip the bird. “I can’t believe there are people still like this in this country, in this day and age,” says Graham. “It’s stupid. It’s incredibly prejudiced and wrong, trying to tell people how to live their lives.” To me, observing from the back seat, the outburst seems a tad extreme, even though I fully share the couple’s reaction. I find myself in Visser’s position of the night before, wondering what I can do or say to make Graham less agitated. We reach our destination and he jumps out of the car. “Wow, look at that boulder. It looks so beautiful from here. See those colors? I wonder if there are holds.” He’s off down the trail. I scurry to collect my things, surprised by Graham’s sudden mood change, and realize that there are more than two worlds to the story.

BEGINNING OF THE SENDS “I’ve got a pretty loud brain,” says Graham. “The extreme pessimism and optimism. All these things clash in my brain at once. I can sit alone and rile myself up thinking about three different opinions. I think if I’d never found climbing, I would be in a deeper war with myself than I am now.” Graham is telling me about growing up in Portland, Maine, about difﬁculties in high school, about having a lesbian mother and a family that never quite ﬁt in, and the gift of discovering climbing. The journalist JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 57

side of me listens intently and records the facts, but my climber side hopes to discover the secret that makes Graham perpetually stoked to climb. Turns out, Graham has always been exceptionally driven, even manic. As a kid, he burned off energy outdoors catching snakes and turtles. Always responsible in school, Dave was active, getting good grades, skiing, playing guitar in a band and ice hockey before school. “I think that a lot of Dave’s climbing ability arrives from his sense of balance,” says Andrew Graham, Dave’s surprisingly softspoken father, who lives with his wife, Anne, in Portland, Maine, and runs a digital-printing company. “That came from learning to play hockey. He had very little puck-handling skill, but the coaches always liked him because he had this enormous determination. He was never really good at anything until he found climbing.” Dave’s parents divorced when he was eight years old after his mother, Wendy, came out. Now Wendy lives with her partner of seven years, an Irish woman named Sive. Wendy recently quit a “corporate job” at L.L. Bean to become a gardener; she says gardening is her true love. Graham has two siblings: a brother, Isaac, 20, who attends school in Boulder, Colorado, and a seven-year-old half-sister, Eleanor. “My parents were really perfect to me,” says Graham. “We were a perfect family of outcasts.” Dave’s parents allowed him great liberty, mostly because he was very responsible, they say. As early as 16, he was on crosscountry climbing trips—during one tour, he climbed all the chipped (and therefore “easy”) 5.14s at Charleston, Nevada, in a week. During another, his friends abandoned him at Smith Rock (because they couldn’t keep up), though he met up with Beth Rodden and together they worked To Bolt or Not to Be, America’s ﬁrst 5.14a. “He tried it … and campused it,” says Rodden. “He’s got some of the strongest ﬁngers out there. Tommy [Caldwell] and I once saw Dave climb a V14 while in full conversation. He is for sure the most energetic climber we have met.” During another early trip, Graham put up the still-unrepeated Psychedelic (5.14d), outside Saint George, a candidate, with Caldwell’s Flex Luther, for the hardest route in the country. Dave’s parents also gave him his choice of high school—his options were between Dearing, a private, conservative, predominatly white school that was in the nice part of town, or Portland Public High School, which is downtown and ethnically diverse (45 per58 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

cent minority). Graham chose the latter. “Portland gave the students more freedom,” says Graham’s mother. “Dearing kept a tighter reign, so I thought Dave made a good choice.” Still, Graham had a difﬁcult time. “It was brutal,” he says. “I hated seeing people treat each other so horribly. There was a kid from Somalia who was just thrown into this illusory universe, where the kids only know MTV and the mall, and the teacher is teaching them to be more arrogant about themselves.” Dave was introduced to climbing at 14 by a friend who persuaded him to go to the Portland Rock Gym. Dave’s father bought him shoes, a harness and a gym membership—it was immediately obvious that climbing suited Dave’s wiry frame and resilient tendons. He began climbing with one of his best friends and classmates, Luke “Gomez” Parady. They climbed at the gym throughout the week and went to Rumney, the sportclimbing mecca of the Northeast, in New Hampshire, every weekend, shooting from

GRAHAM SENDS TWICE

AS MANY HARD ROUTES

A YEAR

AS SHARMA 5.11 to 5.14 in two years. At 16, Dave began receiving recognition in climbing magazines for tearing through Rumney’s open projects. Jaws (5.14b), China Beach (5.14b) and Livin’ Astro (5.14c) are not only some of the country’s most powerful, difﬁcult routes, but some of the most beautiful. In school, however, Dave felt underappreciated and misunderstood, sentiments that remain with him to this day. “I’d be so proud every time I would go climbing,” says Graham. “I’d come back so happy, so psyched, and kids would rip on me, saying things like, ‘Climbing rocks is so fucking gay.’ “Luke was never bothered. Nothing could touch him. But me, I wanted to know why. I could never just say, ‘Oh, that’s just bullshit.’ I think everyone should stand up for their feel-

ings. Energy is cool. That means a lot to me.” His father says, “It’s really hard for Dave to deal with the fact that other people don’t share his sense of the importance of everything. He wants the world to be perfect, and a place where it is perfect is on the rock. I suspect he always struggled with that. One time when he was 10, we were skiing and he looked around and said, ‘I wonder what the world would be like if everything could be made of polar fleece,’ because that seemed perfect to him.” When Dave and Luke were 16, something special happened to them. They met Joe Kinder, a talented kid from Manchester, New Hampshire, who had been climbing for roughly one year. The Graham-ParadyKinder trio, and their matchless passion for climbing, is one of the more extraordinary stories in the sport-climbing and bouldering world. They shared an uncommon blend of natural talent, youthful zeal and friendship that raised their ability beyond what any of them might have accomplished had they never met. Graham tells me, “We climbed really hard, really fast, and we had each other. Nothing compares to that original momentum.” Suddenly, he is speechless—the first and last time I see him at a loss for words. “Luke and Joe,” says Graham. “They were the biggest gift I’ve ever had.” The gift was reciprocal: After meeting Graham and Parady, Kinder went from climbing 5.13b to 5.14b in six months. Says Kinder, “We were just really eager to climb with each other. The three of us in our own little world, trying things that couldn’t be done. Somehow, they’d get done by Dave, just out of pure motivation. Gomez was always second. Then me. “To this day,” Kinder continues, “Dave is my personal hero.” If they couldn’t go to Rumney, the trio trained on a regimen Graham calls “The Program,” which contains only one tenet: figure out how to climb every single day without hurting yourself. “If we were in the gym,” says Graham, “we’d try climbing the same problem in as many different ways as possible, imitating our heroes. Climb all smooth like Francois Legrand, or really powerful like Chris Sharma, or try to lock off on everything like Iker Pou.” Around the same time that Dave was getting national attention, another teenager of the same age from across the country was atop the first pinnacle of his ongoing career. “Chris [Sharma] was my original hero,” says Graham. “He was on the back of the first climbing magazine I ever bought. The neverending reports of what he was doing always got me psyched. He has incomprehensible

MORNING BURN

talent. I love his climbing style. It’s so sensitive. He’s always in the right place at the right time. Occupying the right field of space, making the right trajectory. He represents so much to me.” While Sharma and Graham are now good friends (“The only drama Chris and I ever have is if he smokes all my tobacco,” says Graham, laughing), their public image and reception could not be more opposite. Sharma is from So Cal. He’s handsome and well built, and has appeared in Esquire magazine wearing a $1,300 sweater. He never rates anything he does. He takes months off at a time from climbing, and comes off as even-tempered and spiritual. Graham is from Maine. He’s handsome, but skinny (5’ 8” and 138 pounds). He talks about ratings a lot, and bashes people who chip. The world’s injustices torment him. He climbs almost every day and sends twice as many hard routes as Sharma does in a year. And Graham has never posed for Esquire. “It’s easy for people to be pinned in the magazines,” says Kinder, who supplements his own sponsorship money by working two days a week at REI in Las Vegas (“for the health insurance”). “I feel bad when Dave gets hated on,” he says, referring to the obstinate first impression that many people have of Graham. But beneath his incessant faultfinding and meandering rants, Graham, according to every one of his good friends and family, is in fact not distraught at all. “People need to realize that Dave is really intelligent,” says Kinder. “He can participate in any conversation. He’s very thoughtful and unselfish. Always, always positive. Plus, I think he’s a cool-looking motherfucker. He’s skinny—he should flaunt that shit.” As a self-conscious 18-year-old, having a public image was difficult. Intead of college, with his parents’ blessing (financially and figuratively), Graham left for Europe in 2000 to, in his words, “delve into the great abyss of hard climbing over there.”

Soft light bathes Jumbo Pumping Hate (5.14a), Mount Charleston, Nevada.

AN OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE From ages 18 to 21, Graham climbed some of Europe’s hardest and most famous routes. On May 21, 2001, he became the first (and still only) American to repeat Action Directe (5.14d), at Frankenjura, Germany, the world’s first 5.14d, sent by Wolfgang Gullich in 1991. He climbed Dreamtime in 2002, before aggressive brushing (aka chipping) by someone else reduced its difficulty, and Collateral (V14), which has also been chipped into a V12 after the fact. He made first ascents of such 5.14c’s, in France, as: The Foun, Boki; Ba Ba Black Sheep, Céüse; Voie de Petrol, Pic St. Loup. On the boulders, some of his hardest FA’s JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 59

CORDLESS BUT CALM

Soloing The Present (5.14a), Gorilla Cliffs, Utah, Graham eschews the route’s two bolts.

60 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

include such V14’s (all in Switzerland) as King of Sonlerto, Ticino; Deep Throat, Avers; Lonely Low Lifestyle, Susten Pass; Confessions, Cresciano. There are also, of course, his two V15s: From Dirt Grows Flowers and The Story of Two Worlds, at Chironico and Cresciano, respectively. “I focused on wreaking havoc,” says Graham. “No American rock climber had gone to do all these things. And I have a huge tick list, but that’s not the point. Every single route was surrounded by a huge cultural experience. “I went to Europe and found a number of people who accepted me for who I was,” says Graham, who is nearly fluent in French and Spanish, and can get by in Italian and German. “I was there because I wanted to be there. And they let me in.” On a return visit to the States, Graham met Layla Mammi, his first girlfriend. They returned to Europe and bounced between Switzerland, Spain and Germany before settling into an apartment in Switzerland. “I was 23, and just moved into my first apartment,” Graham says, laughing and incredulous. “An apartment? What’s that like? You finally stop moving every single day, stop traveling between rented flats. Yeah, I was happy to have an apartment, goddamn it.” In Europe, Graham says, he learned how to deal with the world. “I didn’t pass with a 4.0,” he says, “but I still learned a lot. And I changed completely. A more tangible form of confidence, not like the one I saw in high school.” Graham’s mother, Wendy, took a trip to Italy a few years ago and saw the change firsthand. “He had matured a lot, especially since he’s been with Layla,” she says. “He drove down from Switzerland to Italy, and he was great. He was so self-confident. I was surprised to see how much he’s learned about the world, about politics.” While Graham had found a place where he felt accepted, within the super-competitive milieu of Europe’s professional scene, he again began to feel marginalized. “The Swiss don’t want to climb with me anymore because they’re competitive,” says Graham. He describes running into Fred Nicole, who was trying a new project one day at a bouldering area. Nicole, says Graham, would barely acknowledge him; he scurried to collect his things and left. “Bernd [Zangerl] and Fred; they’re accepting to Dave, but they’re also jealous,” says Kinder. “They keep things from him so they can do them first.” “I’m sorry he feels like this about Swiss climbers,” says Nicole. “The spirit of compe-

CRIMPY, BUT CASUAL?

tition can be in all climbers’ minds. For some, it motivates them, and for others it can be destructive. But in any case it shouldn’t become the most important part of your vision.” After sending Coup de Grace, which Graham says is the “world’s first hybrid route,” meaning it’s essentially four very difficult boulder problems stacked into one line, he returned to America brimming with confidence. “Even though I’m struggling to find my place in the American pro-climbing scene,” he says, “I conquer that feeling of dissatisfaction all the time. I have solutions. Maybe everything can be perfect.” “It’s not about grades, it’s not about competition,” says his father. “It’s about a lifestyle that he believes can save the world. I think he’s right. I think climbing could be something everyone could do and be a part of and find joy in.”

On the second ascent of James Litz’s Freaks of the Industry (V14/15), RMNP, Colorado.

MAKING AN EXISTENCE Now, the first sunny day in over a week feels rare. It’s crisp and clear, the way God intended Utah to be. Graham, Mammi, Isaac Caldiero and his friend Amber, and I are going to the Black and Tan wall, a Boone Speed discovery that is short, hard and unrelenting. Graham’s hand is still out of commission, but he’s here to belay, smoke and tell us about racism in Euro politics. Caldiero, after three tries, fires a 5.14a that he’s worked a few times before while Graham pumps his iPod out of a boom box. Another person is about to try the same route, and Graham asks him what music he wants to climb to; the dude’s indifferent, if not annoyed. Graham gets up, and asks if I’ll belay him on another undone project. “I just want to check out the moves,” he says. “If it hurts my hand, I’m coming down.” Everyone is watching Graham, expecting excellence. He falls and hangs when his hand hurts, but, in less than 15 minutes, Graham has made his way up a possible .14b. We all receive a narration of how cool the moves are and what the crux is like. “I had to do something, or else everyone here was going to kill me for talking,” says Graham, laughing. As he unties, he says, “I have this huge interest to try to understand stuff. I really love rock. I love interpreting walls. I want to understand rock ... and I think I do understand it.” We go to an adjacent warm-up area to set up an easy toprope for Amber, who has never climbed. “OK, so what you want to focus on is not listening to anyone, and just doing what feels natural,” says Graham. “You’ll be fine.” Amber, hardly aware that she’s getting a thousand-dollar clinic from the

world’s best, ties in and ﬂoats the 5.7. “Fuckin’-A right! You’re a natural!” says Graham. Amber is appreciative. The sun drops, and we leave the perfect world of rock. Graham, in the back seat of Caldiero’s car, tells me more about being a pro climber, though he seems more relaxed, even chill, if you can use that word to describe Dave Graham. “I never knew what my role was. I used to think it maybe had something to do with impressing people, but those are ludicrous concepts. I used to think being a pro climber was all about hard climbing, but, in Europe, I

realized it was about making yourself an existence in someone’s mind. “Just by being yourself,” he says, “you can leave that spark of energy.” We drive back through the hills to Saint George—where I say goodbye and continue home. The following week, Graham ﬂashes two 5.14a’s with his injured hand, though it barely makes news. The big numbers are still meaningless ... but after all, the spark is everything. Andrew Bisharat is a senior editor for Rock and Ice. JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 61

STONE TEMPLE PILOT Carlos Lorono onsighting Libera Tumente (7b+), Rodellar, Spain. Photo by David Munilla

STOMACH PUMP Andy Raether busts Gutless Wonder (5.14b), at the Puoux, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Photo by Keith Ladzinski

[ FIELD TESTED]

BY THE EDITORS

SOLE SOUNDS Rock and Ice’s 2006 Rock-Shoe Review

Testing, testing. The La Sportiva Viper in action above Basalt, Colorado.

THERE WAS ONCE A TALENTED and respected Boulder climber who was obsessed with his feet. For him, merely ascending a route without falling wasn’t enough. Like any good OCD type, he had to perfect every foot placement, fine tuning the rubber-to-rock contact points until he could flit up the stone with no visible effort. Weighting the fingers, though as necessary as a daily constitution, was for the other, no-talent schleps. One fi ne autumn day, on a difficult and delicate problem that tackled one of Eldo’s famously buffed riverside boulders, his foot skipped off a hold. Shocked by the rookie blunder, he tried again. Again, his foot slipped. And again. How could this be? After a suitable period of chanting and rocking cross-legged to calm the devil stirring in his heart, he gave the problem a supreme effort. As carefully as a surgeon might probe the brain, he again touched rubber to the marbled hold. Oh so gingerly, he applied more weight until

66 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

... his foot hit the ground with a resounding thwack. “Jesus God!” he screamed, tearing off his shoes and chucking them into the roiling river. Climbers, like bad carpenters, often blame our tools for our mistakes. When a foot slips, we say the rubber is shite, or the ﬁt sucks or the design is ﬂoppy. Yet 5.12 has been climbed in sneakers and V10 sent barefoot. How much of a difference can shoes really make? A lot. During this year’s test of 18 new

rock shoes we found a few that could take entire grades off of certain types of moves, such as a tricky heel hook or toe-point edging. In other cases, moves that were impossible in one shoe were actually casual in another. The disclaimer, of course, is that not every shoe is meant for every type of move. In fact, most shoes are specialized for one task or another, a point that factored heavily into our evaluation. Let it factor into yours. A bad carpenter may blame his tools for shoddy work, but a real loser also chooses the wrong tool for the job.

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BNN

FIELD TESTED CAVA HELIOS

$79.95

ADVANCEDBASECAMP.COM

BBBNN

This is a strong contender from Cava. The Helios, though its tensioned heel makes it a struggle to get on, is a good and affordable plastic, bouldering and cave slipper. Shod in Five Ten Stealth rubber, the nimble Helios is an in-between slipper: it has a midsole

that edges better than a totally soft slipper, but it isn’t as supportive as a full-blown shoe with a midsole. This synthetic slipper, made partly in the U.S. and Korea, is fully lined and has a tensioned heel rand that kept the ﬁt snug; expect little stretch. FIT: I had a vacuum yet comfortable ﬁt with my street-shoe size. —DR

BOREAL PIRANA $135

EB EASY

E-BOREAL.COM

EBCLIMBING.COM

BBBBN The Pirana seems like a sexed up version of last year’s Boreal Joker, which I liked. It has a more aggressive rand that slingshots and compresses your feet into powerful paws, but not so much that it brutalizes your toes or requires a black-belt in thumb wrestling to get on. The Pirana also boasts a new, ribbed heel and a canvas instead of nylon lining. The tweaks and dinks make the Spanish-built Pirana a feisty and precise bouldering and sport shoe, one that’s on the medium-stiff side, able to edge on just about nothing. Kudos for the two, large pull-tabs and padded tongue, which help make the Pirana a pleasure to drive. I’d use it for super-technical face work such as at Smith Rock and Eldo, and micro-chip granite bouldering. FIT: The high-volume ﬁt suited my fat, wide, American foot. —DR

$135

BBNNN The Easy is a decent shoe at a premium price. This Velcro slipper from France is among the softest out there—don’t expect much in the way of support—so come prepared with good footwork. Heavy and/or beginner climbers will find this shoe difficult to use. Climbers who prefer super-soft, sensitive shoes will find this shoe at home on overhanging sport routes and steep bouldering. The Easy features a novel spat-like covering that makes the model easy to get on and off, but does little to adjust the fit, and you basically end up with one adjustment from the ball of the foot to the instep. FIT: I tested a 41 Easy, which is usually my size. The fit was brutally snug, but necessarily so as the Velcro flaps limit tightening. —DR

EVOLV DEMORTO

$99

EVOLVSPORTS.COM

BBBNN A non-aggressive, all-day shoe, the Demorto is a new design from Evolv for people (i.e., those with Morton’s toe) who want a symmetrical toe profile. None of our testers have Morton’s toe, but I still found the Demorto comfortable, reliable and sticky. My first two toes weren’t scrunched up at all; they had plenty of room, which made edging pleasant. However, the rest of my toes, especially the pinkies, were squashed by the symmetrical shoe design. A good, stiff last made me think the shoe would be excellent in cracks. And they probably are—however, because my little toes had no room, jamming hand-size cracks was super painful (many people don’t realize how much you “stand” on your pinkie toe in crack climbing). Finger cracks were much better, and the shoes were precise and performed well. The Demorto, a narrow shoe, are made with traction underneath the arch and on the heel, which adds grip for both heel hooks and mossy belay ledges. FIT: I got a good fit a half size under my streetshoe size. As with all Evolv shoes, split-sizing for people whose feet are different sizes, costs an extra $30. —AB

TESTER

STATS JEFF JACKSON FOOT 11 U.S. street shoe. I have a narrow foot

CAVA MITHRA $99.95 ADVANCEDBASECAMP.COM

BBBNN

This medium-soft, unlined, U.S.-made leather shoe is for the super steep, working best for full-pad smearing and toe catches. It’s also good for cracks up to thin hands, having a cap of rubber over the toes similar to that of the Five Ten Piton. I, however, couldn’t get

68 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

the Mithra to work well for me on edges. When front-pointing, the toe usually bent up and blew off. People with strong feet and precise footwork could probably get the shoe to power up for them. I couldn’t. The Mithra is easy to get off and on, and pulls up snug via two Velcro straps. The sole is Five Ten Stealth. FIT: My street-shoe size ﬁt great. —DR

with a high arch. Euro designs tend to ﬁt better than wider U.S. models.

LIKES Shoes that excel in a wide variety of climbing styles—cracks, face, slab and steeps. For bouldering and gym climbing, however, I like to designate a slipper. Now that I’ve passed 40, comfort is king. I like shoes that I can keep on my feet for hours at a time.

DISLIKES Shoes that are difﬁcult to get on and off, heel tabs that I can’t get my beefy ﬁngers through, and designs that torque my feet.

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FIELD TESTED MONTRAIL MAGNET

$100

BBBBN

I was surprised how much I liked the Magnet. With its cambered design and baggy-look, the lace-up, semi-stiff Magnet looked like they would never fit my old, narrow paws. Generally, I dislike cambered shoes because I have trouble outside edging and fitting them into heeltoe locks. In that way, these shoes were no different from other high-tech designs I’ve tried. Over the course of several months, however, these cambered shoes excelled in steep applications where the down-turned toe can paw or grab sloping features that traditional, straight-lasted shoes paddle with no purchase. I sent my hardest boulder problem this winter wearing the Magnet. FIT: I’m a size 11 U.S. and fit the Magnet at 44 (U.S. 11). This sizing did not diminish performance and let me wear the shoes all day. —JJ

EB EVASION

$99

BBBBB

With its air-tight ﬁt, supersoft sole and no-nonsense, straight-lasted design, I found myself reaching for the Viper anytime the stakes were high—on hard problems or when I needed to burn off my buddies at the gym. Sized tight, the Viper never slipped off heel hooks or sloshed around on my foot. I liked the heel counter, a medallion of foam that helps protect the bottom of your heel in a fall, and especially appreciated the sharp toe proﬁle that allowed me to weasel some rubber into tight pockets or seams. FIT: I tested a 41.5—as tight as possible. Getting the slipper on and off was a pain, but after two sessions, the shoe started to mold to my foot, and getting it on and off became much easier. —JJ

the EB Easy, the Evasion edged better and was more versatile, holding its own on angles from slabs to caves. The Evasion wasn’t, however, a top pick for toe pointing: The sole extends slightly past the rand, creating a lip of rubber that bends up when you power off the toe, which is also strangely upturned. FIT: The Evasion stretches a lot. I’d downsize this model a half to a full size. —DR

$99

EBCLIMBING.COM

BBNNN

This all-leather, unlined slipper is the better of the two EB offerings, but still carries a hefty price— the Cava Helios is about the same and $20 less. The Evasion, however, does have a more relaxed ﬁt than the Helios, and is easier to enter and exit. Stiffer than

MONTRAIL INDEX

LA SPORTIVA VIPER LASPORTIVAUSA.COM

MONTRAIL.COM

$80

MONTRAIL.COM

BBBNN I liked this shoe, a slipper with a secure double Velcro closure, straight no-frills last and stiff edging platform. The design exceeded my multipurpose needs. The CTX thermal foam toe counter, a Birkenstock-like ridge under the toes that dials in the ﬁt, appealed to my hippy-dippy origins. Apportioned with lots of rubber over the toe and even on the Velcro straps, 70 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

the Index shined on cracks. What’s not to like? This shoe has Montrail’s Gryptonite GC, a durable rubber, but one that skated off holds other rubbers grabbed. FIT: My street-shoe size worked well. —JJ

FIVE TEN PITON

$115

FIVETEN.COM

BBBBN

Although it is billed as a crack shoe, you would be hard pressed to find a better multi-use tool. The Piton is a burly, relatively flat and straight shoe that’s comfortable enough to wear for hours or pitches at a stretch, and high-performance enough for just about any sort of terrain. A low-profile, rubbery, shovel-like snout easily glides into and sticks in cracks down to thin-hands. On vertical to slabby rock, the supportive Piton feels boardish, but still edges and smears great. This is, in fact, about the ideal shoe for climbs that weave from crack to face, such as the sort you find in Tuolumne. The Korean/U.S.-made Piton, like an everincreasing number of shoes, sports a sliver of foam under the heel for approach/descent comfort. But, the scant foam didn’t seem to do anything other than compromise heel-hooking performance. I’d like to see the foam either eliminated, or beefed up enough to provide real value. FIT: I checked out a U.S. 8, a full size under my street shoe. The fit was snug and comfortable out of the box. After a month of use, the shoes have stretched little and still fit perfectly. —DR

TESTER

STATS

Duane Raleigh

FOOT 8.5 U.S. street shoe, 42 Euro. I have a wide, high-volume foot. U.S.-specific fits, which are usually wider than Euro fits, work well for me. LIKES Basic, flat-lasted shoes with moderately stiff midsoles that power up the edging without torturing my feet. My favorite shoes aren’t sexy, but ones I can wear all day. DISLIKES I try to stay away from radically cambered models, as these are too painful unless I size them large—and then I lose all of the advantages of the design.

FIELD TESTED MAD ROCK MUGEN

$79.95

MADROCKCLIMBING.COM

BBBBN

The Mugen climbed great, and wearing them was never painful. I often slipped them on first thing in the morning to warm up, intending to don a higher-performance shoe later, but instead left them on all day. The shoe forced my toes into the perfect scrunch position—each toe was slightly curled, which made edging precise at every point on the forefoot. The Mugen was the only model I tested that truly fit like a glove. The China-made Mugen sports Mad Rock’s distinctive dual-thickness rubber sole, with a harder patch of rubber on the edge, and a softer patch underfoot for smearing. I’ve worn Mad Rock shoes since they first came out, and am not completely sold on this design. In the past, the rubber has split at the joint, and with some models, the harder rubber has actually stretched up over the top of my toes. Mad Rock has worked out many of these bugs, however, and the super-sticky rubber on the new Mugens has performed great and hasn’t shown any significant signs of wear. I would recommend this shoe for any face-climbing situation, from plastic to hard bouldering to sport routes. FIT: 10.5 (44 Euro), my street-shoe size, was perfect. —AB

SCARPA THUNDER

MAMMUT KARMA $89

EVOLV TALON

MAMMUT.CH

EVOLVSPORTS.COM

Slippers, especially the BBBBN aggressive, down-turned kinds, are incredibly easy for manufacturers to screw up. Make the shoe entry too small, and you’ll never get your foot in. Make it too big, and your foot falls out the second your heel touches stone. The Karma, however, is a great new addition to this specialized breed. The Karma is very soft—by flexing my toes upward, I could actually reverse the shoe’s camber. This ability ended up being useful in various toe-hooking situations, where shoes of this radical ilk usually perform badly. The rear pull-tabs were easy to use, but I was unable to finger the pull-tab on the elastic top very well. Also, I wish Mammut, a Swiss company, had made the elastic top stretch further down the sides of the foot, providing a more precise fit. The material on the Karma bunched up, which was slightly uncomfortable, but didn’t affect climbing performance. The rear of the heel is chiseled into waves that definitely add a bit of grip to heel hooks. Many slippers slide off my feet during heel hook moves, but the Karma never did. The China-made Karma, due to its shape and precision, is an excellent highperformance indoor slipper, but unless your toes are strong, they might be too soft to wear outside. FIT: I tested 10.5’s (44 Euro), and could wear the shoe for a half-hour stint. I could’ve gone down a half-size, however. These slippers are soft enough to size tightly for extra performance. —AB

$99

BBBNN The Talon is an updated version of the Aggro, a shoe I have worn on many gym and boulder circuits. The heel is now fully covered with rubber and the shoe sports a new lace system. The lace system can get tangled and is somewhat slow to cinch up, owing to many lace eyelets. However, having laces at all is a welcome improvement to an already great shoe. Also, the tongue is super-padded and very cush, adding a layer of comfort to the top of your foot. The new, fully rubberized heel is also killer, stiffening the heel, which greatly helps with hooking blunt protrusions, but isn’t as effective on sloping holds. Compared to the Mammut Karma, a shoe of nearly identical shape, the Talon is much stiffer and the toe box is a bit wider. When it comes to steep gymnastic routes outside, I’d grab the Talon for its increased support. On the other hand, ﬂexing your toes upward to toe hook—easy with the Karma—is more difﬁcult with the Talon. FIT: I tested one half-size up from my street shoe, which was just right. For $30 more, you can get this shoe in split sizing. —AB

$89

SCARPA.COM

BBBNN This is a good pick for an all-day, all-arounder. One of the stiffer new models, the Thunder is at its best on slabby to vertical faces where you inside and outside edge much of the time. The Thunder is at its worst in the gym or bouldering, where it’s inability to smear is glaringly apparent. Underfoot, the Thunder feels boardy, but its stiffness also means

that foot fatigue won’t be an issue. With only a hint of a camber, it lets your toes lie naturally ﬂat—I could wear the shoe most of the day, and even hiked in them a bit, no problem. FIT: This shoe stretched a lot. Go down at least a half-size smaller than usual. —DR

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 71

FIELD TESTED RED CHILI SAUSALITO 2

$89

REDCHILI.DE

BBBNN

The lace-up Sausalito was the stiffest shoe I tested and, not surprisingly, excelled at edging. The low-top provided for excellent mobility and ameliorated some of problems that generally hex a super-stiff boot. On low-angle smears, for example, I could radically drop the heel to get more of the Red Chili rubber (some of the stickiest stuff I tested) onto the rock. The fully lined, all leather Sausalito was obviously made to last. Though the applications were limited by the stiff mid-sole, the Sausalito is an excellent choice for high-angle face climbers, people who experience foot fatigue with soft shoes and those who want an all-day, all-around multi-pitch shoe. FIT: I found that a 42.5 (U.S. 9.5) ﬁt my size 11 U.S. foot the best. I have a very narrow foot, but I could size the Sausalito with my toes almost completely un-knuckled and there was still plenty of room left to tighten down the laces. This shoe is a good choice for people with narrow feet. —JJ

MAMMUT GOBLIN $99 MAMMUT.CH

BBBBB

This is Mammut’s best shoe to date, and by miles. I rank it alongside any top-shelf steep-rock, sport or bouldering model. The synthetic-leather, Czechmade Goblin has a powerful toe that can milk micro dinks, and has a stable inside and outside edge that works great on vertical chips. Underfoot, the Goblin feels medium-stiff. A two-piece sole places a pad of Vibram rubber under the forefoot, and a ribbed swath extends up the heel. The ribs are trendy, but I didn’t ﬁnd them functional. A large entry, Velcro straps and double-heel tabs let you in and out of the shoes without any fuss. FIT: These shoes run very small; I wore a full size larger than usual. —DR

72 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

RED CHILI CORONA

$109

REDCHILI.DE

BBNNN The Corona is a working stiff. Thanks to one of the most rigid soles of all shoes reviewed, this new shoe from Red Chili climbs well outdoors, especially on angles around 95 degrees. A low-volume, pointed toe-box provides precision footwork—your toes are scrunched together to work with the stiff sole as a single power point. The shoe is a bit down-turned, though its camber isn’t aggressive. It took about four gym sessions to break the Corona in enough to feel like I could actually climb in them. They do soften up, though they are always painful to don ﬁrst thing in the morning, when the shoe is cold. Rubber swaths above your toes add grip to toe-hook moves—in fact, I was so caught off guard by how well the Corona grabbed the crux toe-hook on one of my projects that I fell off. The heel is also super stiff, which helps some heel hooks, but hurts in others. The Corona, made in China, strikes a balance between an edging shoe and an aggressive one. If you are looking to get into the world of down-turned shoes, especially if your toes are weak, or you are a heavier person who needs support, the Corona is a great choice.

FIT: I wore a 44 Euro. I could squeeze my foot into a 43, but it was just too painful to actually climb in. —AB

Andrew Bisharat

TESTER

STATS

FOOT 10-10.5 U.S. street shoe, 44 Euro. My feet are average, and I ﬁt into most brands. LIKES If I’m climbing anything long, I want a stiff model, preferably leather because I think it feels more comfortable than synthetic. I prefer laces to Velcro because they are more versatile.

DISLIKES I hate bad pull-tabs. If I spend more energy trying to get a shoe on than actually climbing, that’s bad.

SCARPA VISION VELCRO $109 SCARPA.COM

BBBBN Slippers with down-turned toes and asymmetrical curves usually send my dogs scurrying like roaches before a cloud of Raid, but the Italian-made Vision Velcro was a pleasure to test drive. This slipper may be curved, but the shape isn’t so radical it rearranges your metatarsus. Modestly stiff, it performs closer to a shoe than slipper, being very precise and supportive—those of you who find standard slippers too soft and flopsy should check out these rigs. Topside, a wide foot opening and supertrick Velcro strap system get you in and out in seconds, which, after all, is what a slipper is all about. The Velcro strap also lets you crank down the fit across the ball of the foot, compensating for the inevitable stretch, just don’t expect to get the toe compression (and toe-point edging) of a lace-up shoe. Heel and toe hooking are excellent—the slipper grabbed scummy hooks that sent other shoes and slippers off to die. A

low-proﬁle toe and a patch of mesh rubber over the forefoot also suit the Vision Velcro to thin cracks, but don’t buy it just for that because it’s really a high-octane gym, sport and bouldering shoe, and one of the few I tested that I’d actually buy. FIT: Fit these as tight as you can stand— they stretch a lot. I tested my standard size 41. —DR

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PAD BAD I’m going to Font and am wondering how you travel abroad (via airplane) and bring along a crash pad? The airline I’m using restricts luggage size to 62 linear inches (length plus width plus height). Most folded crash pads exceed this size, and the airline wants to charge $125 (one way) for my pad. Should I pay up?

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KATHLEEN TAMANAHA SEATTLE, WA

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Revolution Uzi. These pads skate in under the 62-inch rule, so they can ﬂy for free, just like that crying, farting, barfing two-year-old ankle-biter snuggled in Momma’s arms right next to you. Option B. For the $250 your airline would charge you to transport your pad, you can buy a whopper of a mat (plus a case of ﬁne vin rouge!) in PaRee. So, acquire your pad there—try the Au Vieux Camper—smank all over it for several weeks, then sell it to some besotted local and blow the cash on single malt at the duty -free shop on your way back to America. Damn straight! Option C. Freight your pad over in advance to the hotel Fontainebleau (yeah, right!), or to your friend’s tree house, where you will mooch/live for free during your little visit. A freight carrier such as DHL might be able to get your pad to France and back for less money, but this will depend on the pad’s weight. Check ahead and allow up to two weeks for delivery.

THE SANCTITY OF WATER

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YOU ARE IN LUCK, because until recently we boulderers were restricted to traveling in ass-drawn trundles or 4WD golf carts, such as you saw in the recent article on Arkansas bouldering. Fortunately, last year the airlines collectively lost about $10 billion, causing them to start milking us climbers like an old Guernsey. While fat, clammy passengers are free to ooze over into your seat, your 62-inch-plus big boy has to pony up extra just to ride in baggage. And your air carrier isn’t alone—all airlines, except for maybe Air Jihad, which welcomes Americans and all of their bling, have roughly the same policy and charge $80 to $100 or even more for big items such as crash pads, surfboards and cofﬁns. Some airlines won’t even accept oversized luggage, domestic or international. Gear Guy, however, makes a comfortable living sticking it to the man. Here’s how you can, too. Option A. Take a compact pad such as the Black Diamond Satellite or the

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What’s the best way to purify water? BILLY SHEPARD LITTLE ROCK, AR DO YOU MEAN PURIFY or just ﬁlter? I

ask because most people mix up the two and they are not actually interchangeable. Just guessing (since you reside in a nation where we no longer potty in our drinking water), I’ll bet you meant “ﬁlter.” Filtering simply involves straining the big chunks out of your water, and you can technically ﬁlter water through your underwear, although a store-bought product will do a better job of getting out the bacteria and the veritable zoo of microbiological cysts such as cryptosporidium and giardia lambila. If one of these critters lodges in your guts you will shit yourself into a skeleton within two weeks. “Purifying” means that you actually kill/ remove the nasty viruses, such as hepatitis A and polio, which you can get from drink74 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

ing water contaminated with fecal matter, such as that in most of the uncivilized world. To purify water, you can use a commercial pump unit, which will strain out the same critters as ﬁlters, but also kills viruses. Your other choice is to treat your water with a chemical made for the job. Pumps and chemicals both have disadvantages. Filters are heavier, bulkier and can freeze, break down or clog. Chemicals can leave you with a “just-sucked-on-a-sock” mouth, and may not kill cryptosporidium, a crab-like beast with a tough protective shell. Chemicals also won’t strain out muck, so down the pizza hole all that puriﬁed crap goes. In a pinch, you can purify water by boiling it for one minute, three minutes at elevations 3,000 feet or higher, where the boiling point is lower.

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PLUGGED IN How do I get power? JOE BRACKUS ANCHORAGE, AK PAY YOUR ELECTRIC BILL. Next!

DEAL OR NO DEAL I’m building a trad rack, but my wallet is shrinking. Is it better to go expensive, and buy quality cams, or buy cheap and sacriﬁce function or durability? JIM BELLFREY LOS ANGELES, CA LET’S EXAMINE THE ROOT cause of

your problem. Is your wallet shrinking because you were caught surfing smut on your work computer, lost your job and are now drinking Mad Dog under the overpass? Or is it shrinking because you turned 35, and your momma cut you off the teat, and now you are having to flip sliders at Micky D’s just to feed the snake? Or is there another, deeper reason? You think about that. Per the cams, cheap units can cost less because the Research and Development and quality control isn’t there. R/D and quality control cost a manufacturer big ducats, jacking up the retail price of the cams. Since both items are invisible to the consumer, a manufacturer can skimp or leave them out entirely and no one is the wiser (except for Gear Guy!). The garage-shop operations probably don’t have big expensive insurance policies either, so if you take a digger and explode your spleen you will have no one to sue. Before you buy a cam, read its hang tag to determine if it is CE/UIAA approved, if it was batch tested or individually tested, and if its manufacturing conforms to ISO quality-control standards. Put a check in the minus column for every item the cam lacks. In the store, you may or may not notice a difference between the cheap and expensive cams. These days, most cams come with sewn slings, are color-coded, etc. But in the field, you may notice big differences between triggering, cam action and range. In most cases—not all, as there are some really expensive dud cams—the top-end cams are easier to trigger, feel smoother and have greater camming ranges because the manufacturer put a ton of time, thought and money into the product. Caveat emptor! Gear Guy has spoken! ■ JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 75

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Tips To Get You Outta That Fix

BREATHE EASY Breathing is perhaps the most important and least considered performance variable. Children who climb tend to breathe with their lower abdomens, middle-age climbers breathe from the stomach region, and older climbers breathe mainly with their upper chests. Breathing patterns are also affected by emotions—someone who is excited will breathe faster, with the inhalations shallower than someone who is sad. While the most important muscle for breathing is the diaphragm, every tense muscle—from a twitching Elvis leg to pumped forearms—reduces breathing capacity. Focusing on relaxing these muscles will get more oxygen to your fatigued muscles, and can be the difference between sending and falling. Also, when you hold your breath, you subsequently compensate by breathing with the upper chest, which tends to promote anxiety and tension. Concentrate on abdominal breathing, and every chance you get, take a good, deep breath. FRANK DELAROSA AUSTIN, TX

Hold onto the webbing just beneath the bar. Now, lift your legs up to 90 degrees, focusing on relaxing the diaphragm so that you lift from the core while breathing easily. If lifting straight legs is too strenuous, simply lift your knees up to your chest in slow repetitive motions.

HIPPIE FOOT Here’s how to make an ecofriendly rock-shoe odor eater! Get a small plastic spray bottle with the adjustable nozzle for misting. Buy a cheap bottle of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol from a drug store. Finally, buy a vial of aromatic essential oil (patchouli oil is great) from your local health food store. Mix about 8 ounces of the alcohol and 10 to 20 drops of the essential oil in the spray bottle. After you get home from climbing, shake the bottle and lightly mist the inside of your rock shoes. The mist can take a day to fully dry but the alcohol will kill odor-causing bacteria in the shoes. The alcohol evaporates, leaving behind a trace of the essential oil.

3 5

DR. FRESH NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.

CORE CRUNCH

SPIDER WEB Hanging belays are uncomfortable no matter how good your harness is. On a Grade VI, a belay seat is up there with daisy chains and ascenders as items you don’t want to forget/drop/ break. While bringing a belay seat is no big deal on a big wall, it is hard to justify its bulk and weight on multi-pitch free climbs. In these situations, contrive a hanging belay with a bit of fancy rope work. Tie into the anchor per usual. Pull up some rope, wrap it around your butt and clove hitch the strand to the anchor. Next, construct two loops of slack for your feet. The idea is to create a “lounge chair” where you are leaning on your seat and being supported by your feet. Using clove hitches allows for easier adjustment of the loops. Even a single loop to stand in can make a hanging belay much more comfortable. RAINBOW YOUNG POST FALLS, ID

78 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

ZACH DAVIS SPOKANE, WA

Leg lifts increase core strength, which means next time your feet cut on a crazy overhang, it will be a breeze to swing them back up and onto those micro edges. The best way to do leg lifts is to modify a standard pull-up bar with a couple of adjustable-length gear slings. Undo the buckles on the gear slings, hook them around the bar, and redo the buckle. (Alternatively, use one-inch tubular webbing.) Place an arm through each sling (stand on a chair if you need to) so the slings rest comfortably under your triceps.

SAND BABIES If you’ve ever climbed in Thailand, Kalymnos or Cayman Brac, then you’re familiar with the way beach sand clings to your rope, gear and especially feet. Some climbers try to swipe the sand off their dogs using towels or small brushes, which is tedious and ineffective. Instead, cover your feet with a healthy dose of baby powder, which dries them and keeps the sand off your skin.

Send tips to

betterbeta@rockandice.com.

DAVID WOLF BOULDER, CO

DAVID CLIFFORD

[BET TER BETA ]

TIPS FOR GLACIER TRAVEL Summer’s here, so get out and savor blue skies, stable weather and ﬁrm snow. Below are some tips to help you enjoy the glacier environment. As always, wear a helmet and take a course in crevasse rescue before venturing out.

Tying-in to the end of a rope with loops of rope around the torso to shorten the rope’s working length.

Installing a friction hitch on the rope and readying it for use in case it is needed to ascend the rope.

Self-rescue: ascending a ﬁxed rope (TIBLOC + friction hitch).

Roping up on a glacier: length adjusted according to the terrain with the rope kept taut (top). Tying into the middle of the rope while allowing more freedom of movement (bottom).

Make a lanyard between the harness and the TIBLOC.

Engage the TIBLOC with the thumb.

For more technical information visit www.petzl.com or pick up a Petzl catalog at your local outdoor retail shop. THIS INFORMATION IS NON-EXHAUSTIVE.

[ TRAINING]

BY DAN HAGUE AND DOUGLAS HUNTER Working the route, Leslie discovered a sequence that, though longer than the usual set of crux moves, got her through that section. At this point, after solving the crux puzzle, many climbers would have lowered to the ground to rest, planning to dive right into the redpoint. But not Leslie. With me belaying her, she climbed the crux again and again until the moves were committed to memory. Eager to get on the rock myself, I asked if she was ready for me to dirt her. “Lower me to the third bolt,” she said. “Why? You already know what to do,” I replied. “Do I argue with you when you’re climbing?” I reluctantly obeyed, muttering and kicking dust out of frustration. After dialing the lower section, Leslie ﬁnally lowered. After resting, Leslie, still spent from the working runs, gave the route two redpoint burns without success. Next day out, however, and on her second attempt, she hiked the lower section, cruised the crux and clipped the chains. Redpointing, as Leslie demonstrated, isn’t a matter of working a few moves, and then mindlessly ﬂ inging yourself at the route. To be sure, that method can work, but often as not ends in failure. With the right redpoint tactics, which include intelligently working a route, you can minimize your effort and maximize your chance of success. Here’s how.

Seeing Red HOW TO WORK A ROUTE FOR THE BIG SEND EIGHT YEARS AGO, MY GIRLFRIEND, LESLIE, was working Magnitude

at Kaymoor in the New River Gorge. Sixty feet of sustained, technical face climbing led to a notoriously reachy crux, and even at the relatively modest grade of 5.11d, Magnitude had shut down many talented climbers. In fact, one of this country’s top female sport climbers once failed to send the route and, disgusted, left the New vowing never to return. Leslie had sent a few 5.11s at this stage in her career, but Magnitude would be a quantum leap harder than anything she had yet done.

80 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

Your primary goal is to send the route in as few attempts as possible. Learn all you can every time you touch the rock. Memorize the holds, moves, rest stances, clipping positions, and chalking points and the location, nature and sequences for the cruxes. Your first run on the route should be a fact-fi nding mission. As you reach each new bolt, clip straight in, rest and then lower to the previous bolt. Suss the available holds and try different sequences. Choose the easiest sequence you can fi nd, and practice the section several times before moving on. Keep in mind that a route is not a series of holds, but linked movements. Make sure you can easily locate each hand and foot hold, and that you can move fluidly from hold to hold while keeping an appropriate pace. A number of techniques can speed the learning process. When you are working a route, there is no such thing as bad

TIM KEMPLE

Ch ris Lindn er ch urning a nd b urning on R oc ket M a n (5 .13c) , Rum n ey, N ew H a m pshire.

FACT-FINDING MISSION: BURNS 1 – 3

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ALPINE ASCENTS INTERNATIONAL

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IFMGA/AMGA Certiﬁed instruction, guiding, expeditions in rock, ice, alpine, ski/ snowboard, avalanche safety PO Box 1013 Boulder CO 80306-1013 800-868-5429 303-350-0366 www.alpineworldascents.com info@alpineworldascents.com Boulder area • Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and throughout CO Red Rocks • Devils Tower • North Cascades, Alaska Canada • Europe • Mexico • Ecuador • Peru Bolivia • Argentina • Chile • Africa Himalayas

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AVENTURAS PATAGONICAS

PO Box 11389 Jackson, WY 83002 307-734-5201 888-203-9354 www.patagonicas.com summit@patagonicas.com Aconcagua • Bolivia • Alps • Chile • Patagonia • Antarctica

CHICKS WITH PICKS

All women’s ice climbing clinics PO Box 486 Ridgeway, CO 81432 970-626-4424 www.chickswithpicks.net kim@chickswithpicks.net Ouray, CO • North Conway, NH

COLORADO MOUNTAIN SCHOOL

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COSLEY & HOUSTON ALPINE GUIDES

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EARTHWORKS, LLC

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EXPLORADUS, LLC PROFESSIONAL MOUNTAIN GUIDES

Jim Williams - Expedition Leader PO Box 4166 Jackson, WY 83001 USA 307 733 8812 f. 503 213 9861 pmg@atrav.com • www.exploradus.com Grand Teton • Denali • Seven Summits • Asia: Ama Dablam, SA: Aconcagu • Africa • Antarctica

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INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN GUIDES

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Resort Based, Since 1996 Mid Atlantic - Northeast Northern U.S. Rockies International 434-996-8726 Virginia 406-920-2808 Montana 434-325-8166 Wintergreen Resort info@owlsadventures.com www.owlsadventures.com

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SOUTHWEST ADVENTURE GUIDES

P.O. Box 3242 1205 Camino Del Rio Durango, CO 81302 Toll Free: 800-642-5389 Local: 970-259-0370 info@mtnguide.net • www.mtnguide.net San Juan Mountains, CO • Alaska • Aconcagua • Bolivia Ecuador • Mexico • Peru

SWISS GUIDE

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TIMBERLINE MOUNTAIN GUIDES, INC.

Accredited by the AMGA. PO Box 1167 Bend, OR 97709 541-312-9242 www.timberlinemtguides.com info@timberlinemtguides.com Guiding on Mt. Hood and the other Oregon Cascade peaks and rock climbing at Smith Rock State Park since 1983.

VERTICAL ADVENTURES

PO Box 7548 Newport Beach, CA 92658 949-854-6250 f. 949-854-5249 800-514-8785 www.verticaladventures.com BGvertical@aol.com Joshua Tree • Idyllwild • Tahquitz • Suicide Rocks

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CONTACT

JOANNE KNEAFSEY 877-762-5423 ext. 20 jkneafsey@bigstonepub.com

TRAINING style, so grab draws and use the rope and belayer to help you. To learn efficiently, have your belayer take frequently and hold you at specific points. If you need to gain a little height, winch up on the rope. At some point you’re likely to encounter a segment that you either find very difficult or scary. Here, a stick-clip can save the day, letting you snag an out-ofreach bolt and continue on your way. Most of us have climbed many routes where tick marks are more ubiquitous than cell phones, doubtless due to their usefulness. Need to hit a hidden hold in just the right spot? Need to make sure you use a specific foothold? Tick it. But use discretion. Ticks don’t need to be obtrusive. Often just a thumbprint of chalk will do. Don’t forget to brush off the ticks after you’ve sent the line. The crux is not the only section to learn and practice. Years ago at Kaymoor, my friend Doug and I worked The Tantrum, an overhanging 5.12d with a bizarre crux that involves jamming both feet over your head. I was so focused on the crux that I failed to learn the difficult sequence at the third bolt and kept falling there on redpoint. Only after I prac-

ticed that troublesome section was I able to send. Last, visualize a section immediately after you’ve practiced it. Hang from a bolt, close your eyes and use your mind’s eye to see the holds and sequence in detail. Imagine every nuance of the sequence— body position, texture of each hold, even the shapes of intermediates and footholds. If you have trouble identifying holds or moves in your mind, repeat the segment until you can remember it perfectly.

TRICKLE DOWN: BURNS 4 – 7 After you’ve completed several working burns, change emphasis from learning the details of short bolt-to-bolt sections to linking these sections. In 1993, Dale Goddard and Udo Neumann, in their book Performance Rock Climbing, described a method for joining sequences. Get yourself to the last bolt and, using the sequence learned earlier, climb to the top. If successful, lower down to the next-to-last bolt and climb from there to the top. Repeat all the way down the climb. With this method, the most repetition occurs at the top of the

climb, where fatigue often causes a loss of judgment and precision. While you are working the route from the top down, locate all rest stances and practice any troublesome sections between them. Rests permit you to recompose and prepare for the next segment, effectually breaking a long climb into manageable parts.

REDPOINT! Having learned, practiced, linked and memorized major sections of your route, you are ready to redpoint. Before you tie in and launch into a burn, take a few minutes to prepare. Hydrate, eat lightly or not at all, and rest. Thirty to 40 minutes between attempts is a good rule of thumb. While you’re resting, visualize the route. Sit by yourself, close your eyes, and see and feel every move on the climb in order from bottom to top. Visualizing helps you remember critical movements and holds and builds conﬁdence. Note where thoughts of falling may occur on the climb and devise a method, such as shouting “Go!” to deal with these “negative” places. A simple afﬁrmation

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LEARNING THE MOVES

will often be enough to propel you past trouble spots. Once you cast off, follow your sequences. Resist the urge to change anything during a redpoint burn—let your unconscious execute the learned routine. If you succeed, congratulations. If you fail …

Simply memorizing which holds to use, although important, barely scratches the surface when it comes to efficient redpointing. As you practice a given sequence, your mind and body learn, usually on a subconscious level, small efficiencies that make the moves easier, allowing you to redpoint routes much more difficult than you could onsight. You can learn these efficiencies faster by focusing on balance, movement initiation, timing and repetition.

TOO-PUMPED CHUMP

BALANCE : Balance is the relationship between your base of support (typically where you

Redpoint failure is an inevitable part of the game. Learn by dissecting each attempt. Lack of endurance is the typical reason given for failure. “Shit! I pumped out.” Endurance may well be the culprit, but is usually just a symptom of the true cause. Redpointing is a game of learned efﬁciencies. Examine your sequences leading up to the fall. Did you follow those derived in the learning process? Were they the most efﬁcient, or do you need to try something different? Did you execute them well? Did you rest adequately either before or during your run? Did fear overwhelm you at a critical point? Discuss the attempt with your belayer; what did he/she observe? Be honest, make corrections, rest and try again.

contact the rock) and your center of gravity. An awkward move can usually be improved by changing your base of support or the path or position of your center in space.

INITIATION: Every movement originates in a distinct muscle or joint, which then determines how the move develops. A move initiated from the legs will be signiﬁcantly different from a move initiated in the hips or arms, even if the sequence is exactly the same. Experiment with different ways of initiation and choose the one that makes the move easier. TIMING: A climb will be easier the less time it takes to complete. Memorization and practice produce precise movement at greater speed. Coordination in climbing often refers to the relationship between the advancing hand and hips. For many hard moves the hips are thrown upward, a hand releases and catches the next hold before the hips begin to fall away from the wall. In many failed moves, the hips are already moving away from the rock as the hand reaches for the next hold, resulting in an overly dynamic “catch.” The difference between the two is subtle but important, and on difﬁcult moves it may take a lot of practice to time a move consistently and correctly. REPETITION: Climbers often stop practicing a move immediately after it “feels right,” but completing a move once or twice does not guarantee you can repeat it on redpoint. Once you’ve explored the balance, initiation and timing, don’t move on until you can repeat the move perfectly. Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter have recently released The Self-Coached Climber, The Guide to Movement, Training, and Performance, available at many online book sites.

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(continued from page 45)

a saint, but when Tobin tied into a rope he was all wildcat. During our early mob ascents, whenever Tobin took the lead we’d never goad him; rather we gnashed our teeth and held our breath because Tobin hadn’t technically caught up to the rest of us but he charged as though his knickers (back then he always wore knickers) were literally on fire. God must have indeed adored him. It’s the only explanation why Tobin survived the titanic, head-over-heels, rag-doll falls he logged each and every weekend. A great natural athlete, his skill quickly approached his ambition and, praise the Lord, Tobin’s harrowing falls eventually declined. But so long as he lived his goals outpaced his capacity—or anyone’s capacity. We were too young to appreciate where it all must lead, but from the day he first chalked up, Tobin Sorenson was a dead man climbing. I believe that the savage force that drove him and his magnificent sense of purpose derived from his respect of climbing history. Worship and veneration came naturally to Tobin. Though he would have considered it blasphemous to place any climber alongside the Almighty, Tobin would nevertheless risk your life and his own to secure his place alongside Buhl, Robbins and Messner—all supreme artists in Tobin’s mind. Emily Dickinson said that art is a house that wants to be haunted. But Dickinson meant how a house, inclined by

history, would naturally attract the ghosts of the great ones who had lived and were tangled with similar challenges. Tobin, on the other hand, seemed determined to inhabit the house with his own ghost. Why else would he follow hard cracks out at Joshua with a noose around his neck, or race his sports car on the wrong side of the road during rush hour trafﬁc? And what did this have to do with becoming an imminent climber? All we knew for certain was that Tobin had some strange and dreadful need to square off with his maker every time out. Though the rest of us could never match Tobin’s nerve and commitment, his example shifted the group’s paradigm from a rogue’s adventure to a game of deadly seriousness, a shift accentuated by the newest Stonemaster, John Bachar, who through passion and heroic effort transformed himself into one of the greatest ﬁgures in 20th-century adventure sports. John always played his own tune (both on the rock and a thrift store alto sax); but early on he did so within the context of the group, and we all had the edgy rapture of watching John go where no climber had gone before. If ever a Stonemaster carried the name on his sleeve (and he scribbled it on his boots as well), it was John Bachar, Grand Templar of the entire movement.

Double Trouble

Throughout 1973 the group energy arced up and found expression through several pivotal ascents. First came the Vampire, an old Robbins aid route that took the boldest line up the baldest section of Tahquitz. Eight-hundred feet long, with a flapjack thin, expanding flake soaring up the glazed, southwest face, the Vampire was to Southern Californians the closest thing we had to a big wall. When Ricky Accomazzo freed the A4 traverse on the third pitch, via an audacious, sideways leap to the expando flake (an improbable 5.11 foot traverse was later found a body length below), any notion we had about what a leader could and should do flew straight out the rain fly. Preceded by .10d and .11a pitches respectively, the Vampire was, along with Yosemite’s Nabisco Wall, and Eldorado’s Naked Edge, one of America’s first multi-pitch, super free climbs. The Vampire naturally led to Idyllwild’s most improbable free climbing prospect: Paisano Overhang, a 20-something-foot, down-turned roof crack that went free at 5.12c (though the rating was not established for another decade when Randy Leavitt and Tony Yaniro invented Levitation to bag the second free ascent). The combination of grisly wide crack moves and A3 protection gave us a futuristic yardstick to

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�� 86 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

STONEMASTERS measure any other crack on the face of the earth. If we could climb something as hard and poorly protected (a fall would have likely been a back breaker) as Paisano, what could stop us? And so on the vortex of these climbs we made our summer pilgrimage to rock climbing’s grandest stage: Yosemite Valley.

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Within a few weeks of arriving in the Valley in 1973, the Stonemaster movement gained critical mass; out of necessity we broke ranks with our small cadre of So Cal partners and teamed up with other kindred rascals. Robs had already climbed the West Face of El Cap and we had some catching up to do. Richard and Kevin Worral kick started the fandango with an early ascent of the Direct Route on Half Dome. Ricky and Gib climbed the Nose and I quickly followed suit, tying in with British ace Ron Fawcett. Directly on our heels climbed Richard and soulful English mountaineer Nick Escourt (who a few years later perished in an avalanche, 6,500 meters up K2, during an early attempt on the West Ridge). During those first months the Stonemasters lived on the walls. But more pivotal than our first Grade VIs was the relationship we forged with Jim Bridwell, the most practiced rock climber in the world and a carry over from the Yosemite pioneers, most of whom fled the Trench in the late 1960s. If The Stonemaster himself had a right-hand man, it was Jim Bridwell, aka “The Bird.” To climb with Jim (which we all did) was to embrace the boldest, newest, most outrageous adventure you could, each and every time out. And come what may. What came was a thousand exploits—some jackass, others sublime— that took Jim and me from El Cap in a day to Venezuela’s Angel Falls to the jungles of Borneo. Through Jim we met Mark Chapman, Ron Kauk,

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Werner Braun, Billy Westbay, Ed Barry, Jim Orey, Rik Reider, Dale Bard and many others. When the Stonemaster’s gusto grew too much for us Southern Californians to contain, our original group burst at the seams and the Stonemaster mojo splashed over one and all. By 1974 there were easily 25 Stonemasters (an ascent of Valhalla was no longer a criteria), and by 1976, most everyone in Camp 4 was a charter member of the most unofficial club on the planet. Years later a climber would write that the Stonemasters “set a cultural standard aped by monkeys around the world.” But the way it played out, the monkeys around the world were themselves Stonemasters, since the original movement diffused into the masses after a few short seasons. Of course the story of the Stonemasters in Yosemite was actually a sub-plot in which The Stonemaster himself played a leading role only in the beginning, when the bull’s-eye was anything new, anything that could pull out of us some undiscovered property. Since this existential experiment matched the needs of an entire generation of outcasts, it quickly assumed a life of its own, and The Stonemaster’s work was done. He knew that the most valuable technique was the exit and none of us ever saw him go. From the beginning The Stonemaster provided a springboard into the mysterious, an adventure made ridiculous by climbing El Capitan 20 or even 30 times, something many climbers had now accomplished. After a dozen or so big walls you could return to find challenge and no doubt danger, but you’d no longer encounter an unknown world. When we first jumped into terra incognito, we returned so transformed that our relationships, our clothes, even our language morphed to reflect the inner transmutation. But over the years the crazy clothes and lingo and attitudes became ends in themselves, no longer predicated by jumping beyond our experience. We’d crisscrossed this particular ocean a thousand times and in the process a Stonemaster had come to mean little more than a formidable granite mariner—a rarity when we’d first attacked Suicide and Joshua Tree, but not anymore. Then Tobin died while trying to solo the North Face of Mount Alberta (a feat later attempted by another Stonemaster, Mark Wilford). So boldly and so often had Tobin marched point on our quest into the unknown, when every summit and every ending flowed into something new. But this time he’d led us into no-man’s land, where the future dead-ended and there was no exit. We just hung our heads and stared at our shoes. Especially early on, The Stonemasters moved freely between dreams and destruction. Because we were all forced to work on the rescue team (the only way to escape Yosemite’s 14-day camping limit), we’d handled our share of corpses. Our founding ranks had also been thinned when Bill Antel shattered his back on Rixon’s Pinna-

88 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

STONEMASTERS

Senior Contributing Editor John Long is the author of 30 books, with over a million copies in print. He is the 2006 recipient of the American Alpine Club’s Literary Award for excellence in alpine literature.

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 89

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cle, and when Gib Lewis fell 100 feet to the deck—right in front of Ricky and me—while soloing the mottled ice falls in Lee Vining, in the Eastern Sierras. Miraculously, Gib would return, but Tobin never would. When Tobin died, so died the last of our innocence, and innocence was the lifeblood of every Stonemaster. Our pain was nothing compared to the injustice we felt, which left us dismayed and outraged. We surely saw it coming, and Tobin essentially died by his own hand. But I hated God just then. You come into the world believing a brave heart will live forever. When you learn otherwise, you might love once more, but never again will you be the same person. I couldn’t bring myself to attend Tobin’s funeral—something I later deeply regretted—and instead dug out an old Impressions tape and listened to a song that, years earlier, in a girlfriend’s tent cabin in Yosemite, Tobin and I used to play over and over. People get ready, there’s a train comin’ You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’ You don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord. Tobin was the only apostle among us, but this lyric summed up the comeone, come-all philosophy that spread the Stonemasters so far and wide, and saw many people from so many places just get on board. But this locomotive carried within it the seeds of its own destruction. In time, the train became crowded and the nuclear, personal bond that held together our passion and desires slowly unraveled. That’s when I understood that a Stonemaster, in his pure and original form, could only be a kid with a restless spirit and unrequited dreams. And I was no longer a kid with dreams but a man with memories. Yosemite and I were done with each other. Suddenly I stared out over an emptiness so vast it put all my previous encounters with the unknown into the shade. A wise friend said that, once you know the nature of this emptiness, like an Atlantic squall, you can plot a course through it. Or you can play grab ass on deck as the winds tear the sails to shreds. The only course I knew was to return to Yosemite, and it only took a few days and a few climbs to know I was playing grab ass once more. I went to New Guinea and Borneo and Irian Jaya and other places I can’t remember and could never pronounce. Once again the great unknown provided salvation and spared me the bitterness, dread and ennui that, following one’s first, shattering letdown, drive many into the bottle and into the grave. At long last I found myself back in The Basement with Richard. It would be our last and shortest confab in our secret castle (Richard soon moved to Red Rock and never came back). Almost by reflex we started in with the stories, though this time the stories were our own. We had to go over the main beats for the thing to ever be over, and for us to move on. With Nuptse as our witness, soaring off the dusty joist, we recounted how through sweat and fear, but the whole while laughing, we drew near The Stonemaster. And how strange to finally discover he was never so much a being as an island in our hearts, with a fireball bursting in a wordless sky, and tall walls looming, and rascals quaking through lonesome bivouacs, and waterfalls gushing through shady clefts as a bottle of tincture of benzoin explodes in my pack and ruins my one good pair of pants. And all along The Stonemaster asks: Who am I, really? Through many epics did we find him, having followed the plumb line mostly, though not owning to our route-finding skills, but rather because The Stonemaster had sought us all along. By no other means could you find that island, where the young and strong alight for a month or a year, and jump just as far as they can. Every old Stonemaster knows the place. We still feel the wind on our faces. And in other haunts and in other ways we might still jump beyond ourselves. But only the young can live on those craggy shores, and we would land there no more.

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GUIDES & EXPEDITIONS WORLD WIDE CLIMB IN MAGNIFICENT RUSSIA. Guided climbs, treks and ski adventures in Russian mountains: Elbrus,Kamchatka, Kola Peninsula. Trips to St.Petersburg. Top Sport Travel www.slope.ru, +7(812)7401210 HIMALAYA, AFRICA, ACONCAGUA EXPEDITION. With Daniel Mazur. Everest, Kilimanjaro,Ama Dablam, Cho Oyu, Pumori, Mt. Kenya,Lhotse, Treks. www.SummitClimb.com;info@SummitClimb.com; 360570-0715 MOUNTAIN MADNESS. Join our Alpine & Rock climbing school in the Cascades and South America. Climb the Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro, Cho Oyu, Everest, trek in Patagonia, the Inca Trail & to Everest Basecamp. Cascade volcanoes & classic North Cascade climbs all summer. 800-328-5925; mountainmadness.com

UNITED STATES ALPINE WORLD ASCENTS. BOULDER, COLORADO. Year-round instruction and guiding locally, throughout the US, and internationally. IFMGA/AMGA trained/certiﬁed mountain guides. Custom-designed, all levels welcome! info@alpineworldascents. com; www.alpineworldascents.com COLORADO MOUNTAIN SCHOOL. Courses, climbs and expeditions and indoor training. Colorado’s total climbing service located in Boulder and Estes Park. Exclusive guides for Rocky Mountain National Park since 1870. www.cmschool. com or 888-267-7783 CLIMB NEW HAMPSHIRE. year-round with Mark Synnott, www.marksynnott.com, 603383-6976 DEVILS TOWER, OURAY, MOAB, Rock, Ice, Mountaineering, Backcountry Skiing; Colorado, SouthDakota, Utah, Wyoming; towerguides.com; 888-345-9061 FOX MOUNTAIN GUIDES. North Carolina Rock and Ice Guiding, Climbing Courses, and AMGA Top Rope Site Manager Courses. Exams and Recertiﬁcation in the Southeast. foxmountainguides.com Ph:1-888-28-GUIDE MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES SEMINARS. (MAS) - AMGA Accredited. Rock climband ing, mountaineering, avalanche backcountry skiing. S.F. Bay Area, Sierra Nevada, Lovers Leap, Calaveras Dome, and Mt. Lassen. (209) 753-6556 or www. mtadventure.com

RHINOCEROS MOUNTAIN GUIDES. Jim Shimberg. Guiding since 1986 in NH and worldwide. jimshimberg@aol.com. 603726-3030 or Rock Barn 603-520-5696. www.rhinocerosmountainguides.com SAN JUAN MOUNTAIN GUIDES. Ouray’s Local Experts! ICE, ROCK, ALPINE, SKI. Group Courses and Custom Programs. Ouray, Telluride, San Juans, Black Canyon, Moab. International: Bolivia, Europe, Asia. Clint Cook - IFMGA/ UIAGM AMGA Certiﬁed Guide. 970-3254925 www.ourayclimbing.com

NON-PROFIT THE HIGHEST GOAL: Sherpa Adventure Gear and the Sherpa Education Fund are partners in support of disadvantaged Sherpa families in Nepal. A portion of proceeds from every piece sold by SAG goes to school scholarships for the needy through the SherpaFund. Help us to help them! More info: www.SherpaAdventureGear.com, email info@SherpaAdventureGear.com, SherpaFund.org, email Kathy@SherpaFund.org

CANADA CIRRUS ALPINE GUIDES. Guided Custom Climbing Adventures. IFMGA/ACMG Guides. 15 Years Professionally. Guiding the Canadian Rockies. Classic Snow and Ice Peak Ascents. Sport and Alpine Rock Climbing. Quartzite, Granite and Limestone Routes. Bugaboos, Ghost River, Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, Mt Robson, Mt Assinaboine, Mt Edith Cavell, Mt Columbia, Mt Athabasca. Rock Climbing Instruction. 2 and 4 day. Alpine Skills intro 2 and 6 day. Call Local Mountain Guide Mark Stewart. Personalized Service and experience getting you to the top. Canmore Alberta, Canada. 403-678-8567; cirrus@shaw.ca; www.cirrusalpineguides.com. LAKE SUPERIOR ICE CLIMBING. Instruction & Guiding, Guidebooks & Gear. Batchawana-Mile 38, Montreal River, Agawa Canyon. Accomodation, Meals, Camping. www.northofsuperiorclimbing. com; 705-946-6054

VerticalAdventures

2/3/05

11:05 AM

VERTICAL ADVENTURES ® Rock Climbing School Joshua Tree & Idyllwild

Accredited Member of the AMGA

(800) 514-8785 www.verticaladventures.com

SOUTH AMERICA ACONCAGUA SPECIALISTS. 10 Years Experience, Satellite Phones & Pulse Oximeters used on all trips. 10 departures, Unique Routes, & Small Groups. Also Patagonia, Peru, Ecuador, Nepal, Pakistan, Africa, & Alaska Programs. ALASKA MOUNTAIN GUIDES AND CLIMBING SCHOOL Inc. 800-7663396; alaskamountainguides.com CHACRARAJU EXPEDITIONS. Climbing & Trekking in Peru. Cordillera Blanca, Huayhuash, Raura, Yauyos. Unique trips & Small groups. www.chacrarajuexpeditions.com.

INSTRUCTION OUTPOST

WILDERNESS

ADVENTURE.

AMGA & AEE Accredited. 20859 CR 77, Lake George, CO 80827. 719-748-3080, 830-825-3015; www.owa.com, owa@owa. com. Colorado, Texas, Copper Canyon (Mexico), Bolivia, Alps & Wyoming JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 91

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GUIDES & EXPEDITIONS F LY I N G

A L A S K A

S I N C E

CANADA

1 9 6 3

Climbing McKinley or the Alaska Range?

Lavel, QC. ACTION DIRECTE CLIMBING. 4377 Boul Street Elzear O. Lavel, QC H7P 4J3; www.actiondirecte.qc.ca Bolton, Ontario. ROCKIN PLAY INC. #14 McEwan Dr West Unit #8, Bolton, Ontario L7E 1H1; www.rockinplay.com

We invite you to fly with K2 Aviation.

Toronto, Ontario. JOE ROCKHEAD’S CLIMBING GYM. Suitable for carbohydrate reduced diets. 29 Fraser Ave., Toronto, Ontario M6K 1Y7; 416-538-7670; www.joerockheads.com

— Todd and Suzanne Rust

907-733-2291•800-764-2291•www.flyk2.com

Toronto, Ontario. THE ROCK OASIS. 27 Bathurst Street, Toronto: 15,000 sq. ft., 60’ high plus bouldering; 416-703-3434; Ajax Community Center: 3,000 sq. ft., 25’ high plus bouldering: 905-231-3434: www. rockoasis.com “AAI has the best e-newsletter out there on climbing, with expert tips from guides, gear reviews, and great stories.” Bronson Barber, Men’s Journal

Alpine Climbing Newsletter Sign up: www.aai.cc American Alpine Institute

Toronto, Ontario. TORONTO CLIMBING ACADEMY. 416-406-5900; www.climbingacademy.com Victoria. CRAG X. The Godfather of Victoria’s urban cliff scene. 341 John ST, Victoria , BC; (250)383-4628; www.urbancliffculture.com

ARIZONA Flagstaff. VERTICAL RELIEF CLIMBING CENTER. Awesome indoor walls, guiding and instruction, gear shop, S.W. guidebooks, showers. 928-556-9909; www.verticalrelief.com

� �� For 30 years we've helped people become safe & successful climbers. We offer courses, guided climbs, and expeditions at all skill levels. Join us for state-of-the-art skills, great experiences, & spectacular routes! “ The country’s most respected and thorough rock, ice, and mountaineering courses.” – Men’s Journal

CHINA • ECUADOR • FRANCE • NEPAL • PATAGONIA • PERU • SWITZERLAND

CASCADES • ROCKIES • SIERRA • JOSHUA TREE • RED ROCK • ALASKA

ARGENTINA • BOLIVIA • CANADA • CHILE

360-671-1505 • www.aairock.com 92 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

Phoenix / Deer Valley. SOLIDROCK GYM. 43 topropes, 100’s of well set, frequently changed routes, beginner to expert. Dedicated Lead & Separate Bouldering areas. Near I-17 & Pinnacle Peak Road, 23620 N. 20th Drive, Ste 24, 623-587-7625 Scottsdale. AZ ON THE ROCKS. State of the art, approx. 14,000 square feet, fully air-conditioned, lead climbing, ﬁtness equipment, showers. 480-502-9777; www.azontherocks.com

ORDER HOW TO CLIMB TODAY!

Only $399 plus shipping

Call 1-877-762-5423 ext. 18

CONTACT JOANNE KNEAFSEY jkneafsey@bigstonepub.com 877-762-5423 ext. 20

Tempe. PHOENIX ROCK GYM. 1353 E. University, Tempe, AZ 85281; 480-921-8322. www.phoenixrockgym.com

ARKANSAS Little Rock. LITTLE ROCK CLIMBING CENTER; www. littlerockclimbing.com; 501-227-9500

CALIFORNIA Anaheim Hills. ROCK CITY CLIMBING CENTER. 714-777-4884; www.rockcityclimbing.com

ROCK GYMS

Berkeley. BERKELEY IRONWORKS. 14K sq. ft. climbing. Full ﬁtness center, yoga and programs. Retail shop. 800 Potter St. Berkeley, CA 94710; 510-981-9900; www.touchstoneclimbing.com

Concord. TOUCHSTONE CONCORD. 10K sq. ft. climbing. Full ﬁtness center, yoga and programs. Retail shop. 1220 Diamond Way #140 Concord, CA 94520; 925-602-1000; www.touchstoneclimbing.com Davis. ROCKNASIUM. Great Routes. 530-757-2902; www.rocknasium.com

Marin County. CLASS 5. 6K sq. ft. climbing. Fitness center. Retail shop. 25B Dodie St., San Rafael, CA 94901; 415-485-6931; www.touchstoneclimbing.com Monterey Peninsula. SANCTUARY ROCK GYM. 1855A East Ave., Sand City, CA 93955; 831-899-2595; www.rockgym.com

Orange County. SOLIDROCK GYM (LAKE FOREST) 10,000 sq. ft. climbable terrain. Top roping, bouldering, lead climbing, airconditioned. 26784 Vista Terrace; 949588-6200; www.solidrockgym.com Roling Hills. QUANTUM ROCK EXTREME. Mobile rock walls for rent in Southern California. Mobile rappel tower too. www.quantumrock.com; 310-378-2171

Sacramento. SACRAMENTO PIPEWORKS. 10K sq. ft. climbing. Full ﬁtness center, yoga and programs. Retail shop. 116 N. 16th St. Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-341-0100; www.touchstoneclimbing.com San Diego. SOLIDROCK GYM. Three locations- DOWNTOWN, POWAY, and SAN MARCOS. 30 foot walls, 35-45+ ropes. Hundreds of clearly marked, frequently changed, expertly set routes. Toproping, bouldering and lead climbing. www.solidrockgym.com; 619-299-1124 San Diego. VERTICAL HOLD SPORT CLIMBING CENTER, INC. The largest in Southern California. Over 20,000 square feet of superbly textured climbing surface. Colossal 40 foot lead cave, 200+ toprope/ lead routes, 2 awesome bouldering areas. 9580 Distribution Ave., San Diego, CA 92121; 858-586-7572; www.verticalhold.com

San Francisco. MISSION CLIFFS. 14K sq. ft. climbing. Retail shop. Touchstone’s ﬁrst gym. 2295 Harrison St. @ 19th St., San Francisco, CA 94110; 415-550-0515; www.touchstoneclimbing.com

San Jose. TOUCH STONE SAN JOSE. 3K sq. ft. climbing. Bouldering and Yoga. Retail shop. 200 S. 1st Street #70 (Downtown), San Jose, CA 95113; 408-920-6000; www.touchstoneclimbing.com San Mateo. PLANET GRANITE. 20,000 square feet, 50 foot high cracks! Extensive weights & fitness, yoga, pro-shop. 100 El Camino Real, Belmont, CA 94002; 650591-3030; www.planetgranite.com Santa Clara. PLANET GRANITE. 14,000 square feet of sculpted climbing, weights & fitness, pro-shop. 2901 Mead Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95051; 408-727-2777; www.planetgranite.com Santa Cruz. PACIFIC EDGE. Indoor climbing at its finest! 104 Bronson St., Santa Cruz, CA 95062; 831-454-9254; www.pacificedgeclimbinggym. com Santa Rosa. VERTEX CLIMBING CENTER. 707-573-1608; www.vertexclimbing.com Thousand Oaks. BOULDERDASH INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING. 10,000 sq ft indoor climbing surface/bouldering. 45 ft high walls with over 40 lead/top-ropes.

THRILLSEEKERS.

Denver. MEGA

bouldering

arches.

300

traverse,

topropes,

12,000

Ft.

lead

sq.

ft.,

www.thrillseekers.cc Colorado Springs. SPORT CLIMBING CENTER. Colorado’s ultimate indoor climbing destination. Spacious. Over 13,000 square

feet.

Northpark

Guiding

Dr.,

available.

80918;

4650

719-260-1050;

www.sportclimbcs.com Fort Collins. INNER STRENGTH ROCK GYM. 5800 square feet. 3713 South Mason,

Fort

Collins,

CO;

970-282-8118;

www.innerstrengthrock.com Fort Collins. MIRAMONT LIFESTYLE FITNESS. Over 6000 sq. ft. of awesome terrain.

Upland. HANGAR 18 INDOOR CLIMBING GYM. 256 Stowell St., Ste. A, Upland, CA 91786; 909-931-5991; www.climbhangar18.com

1800 Heath Pkwy. www.thegymoftherock-

Victorville. THE BULLET HOLE TRAINING CENTER. The high desert’s only indoor climbing gym! 15315 Cholame Road Unit D Victorville, CA 92392; 760-245-3307

TER. Glenwood Community Center Rock

ies.com; 970-221-5000 Glenwood. GLENWOOD CITY REC CEN-

COLORADO Breckenridge. BRECKENRIDGE RECREATION CENTER CLIMBING WALL. 880 Airport Road, Breckenridge, CO 80424; 970-547-4324 Denver. PARADISE ROCK GYM. Denver’s indoor climbing community. 6260 N. Washington St., Unit 5, Denver, CO 80216; 303-286-8168.; www.paradiserock.com

Wall. Sculpted climbing, bouldering. 100 Wulfsohn Road; www.glenwoodrec.com; 970-384-6301 Glenwood Springs. COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE, Spring Valley Center Climbing Gym. Boudering area and top rope wall. 970-947-8237

CONNECTICUT Manchester.

STONE

AGE

ROCK

GYM.

860-645-0015; www.stoneagerockgym.com Wallingford. PRIME CLIMB. Connecticut’s OLDEST and BEST 203-265-7880; www. primeclimb.com.

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 93

ROCK GYMS FLORIDA Miami. X-TREME ROCK CLIMBING. Florida’s premier climbing facility. 12,000+ square feet of state-of-the-art fully textured arches, aretes, slabs & overhangs. 13972 SW 139 Court, 33186; 305-233-6623. www.x-tremerock.com Newberry. SUN COUNTRY ROCKS. 2500ft2 of top rope, lead climbing, and bouldering on 35’ wall with great features.www.suncountryrocks.com Orlando. AIGUILLE ROCK CLIMBING CENTER. Orlando’s indoor climbing gym. 9,500 square feet of climbing and bouldering, proshop and yoga. 999 Charles St., Longwood, FL 32750; 407-332-1430; www.ClimbOrlando.com

GEORGIA Atlanta. ATLANTA ROCKS! INTOWN/PERIMETER GYMS. The largest gyms in the Southeast, offer challenging climbing on 12,000/6,000 square feet of seamless, textured climbing surface, featuring multi-tiered, wildly overhanging ledges on terrain so realistic, it seems like real rock. Lead routes up to 85 linear feet 50/40 topropes, bouldering features, aerobic and weight training equipment, computerized rotating climbing wall, locker rooms and showers. Group rates, daily instruction, equipment sales and rentals INTOWN! location 1019A Collier Road, Atlanta; 404-351-3009; PERIMETER! location 4411A Bankers Circle, Doraville; 770-242-7625; www.atlantarocks.com Atlanta. WALL CRAWLER ROCK CLUB. Atlanta’s neighborhood climbing gym. Where the climbers hang out! www.wallcrawlerrock.com. 404-371-8997 Kennesaw. ESCALADE ROCK CLIMBING GYM; 2995-B Cobb International Blvd Kennesaw, GA 30152; 770-794-1575 Metro Atlanta. ADRENALINE CLIMBING. Climbers come here for long overhanging leads, massive bouldering, pro route setting, & relaxed atmosphere. 6000 sf, Radwall design. 460 Brogdon Rd., Suwanee 30024; 770-271-1390; www.adrenalineclimbing.com

ILLINOIS Bloomington. UPPER LIMITS. Over 20,000 ft2, 65’ silos, wave wall, bi-level cave, large outdoor bouldering area and 110’ routes Climate controlled! Just off I-55 and I-74 309-829-TALL (8255); www.upperlimits.com Chicago. LINCOLN PARK ATHLETIC CLUB. 773-529-2022; www.lpaconline.com 94 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

Chicago. VERTICAL ENDEAVORS. 18,000ft2 of climbing on 40 ft. walls. 19 auto belays. Programs and outdoor guiding for all ages. 630-836-0122,; www.verticalendeavors.com Crystal Lake. NORTH WALL. 815-3566855; www.climbnorthwall.com Evanston. EVANSTON ATHLETIC CLUB. 847-866-6190; www.eaconline.com Homewood. CLIMB ON. 18120 Harwood Ave, Homewood, IL 60430; 708-798-9994; www.Climbon.net.

INDIANA

MINNESOTA Rochester. PRAIRIE WALLS CLIMBING GYM. www.prairiewalls.com. 507-292-0511 St. Paul / Duluth. VERTICAL ENDEAVORS. The Twin Cities facility (651-776-1430) offers 18,200ft2 of climbing while Duluth (218-2799980) offers 12,000ft2 on walls up to 42’ tall. Auto Belays. Programs and outdoor guiding for all ages. www.verticalendeavors.com

MISSOURI Springﬁeld. PETRA CLIMBING GYM. 916 N. Cedarbrook, Springﬁeld, MO; 417-8663308; www.petrarockgym.com

Bloomington. HOOSIER HEIGHTS. 5100 S. Rogers St.; www.hoosierheights.com; 812 824-6414. 12,000 sq. ft. of climable terrain. 2000 sq. ft. top out boulder. Seperate party room available for rental.

St. Louis. UPPER LIMITS. 10,000 ft2 of custom sculpted terrain. Climate Controlled! Auto belays. Conveniently located off I-64/40 behind Union Station. Free parking. 314-241-ROCK (7625); www.upperlimits.com

MARYLAND

NEVADA

C L I M B I N G

C E N T E R S

Columbia, Timonium & Rockville. EARTH TREKS CLIMBING CENTERS. State-ofthe-art Climbing Gyms, among the largest in the country, with the best bouldering in the area. Three facilities within 25 minutes of Baltimore and Washington, DC: 800-ClimbUP, www.earthtreksclimbing.com.

Las Vegas. RED ROCK CLIMBING CENTER. 8201 W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89117; www.redrockclimbing.com

NEW JERSEY

Rockville. SPORTROCK 1. 703-212-7625; www.sportrock.com

Fairﬁeld. NEW JERSEY ROCK GYM. 373D Rt. 46W, Fairﬁeld, NJ. Over 12,000 square feet with air conditioning. Eldorado Walls with giant lead roof, large freestanding boulder, cave, tunnel, and pro-shop; 973-439-9860; www.njrockgym.com

MASSACHUSSETTS

NEW MEXICO

Boston. METROROCK CLIMBING CENTER. 69 Norman Street, Unit 9, Everett, MA 02149; www.metrorock.com Woburn. BOSTON ROCK GYM. New England’s most experienced gym (est. 1989). Most varied climbing, most varied programs (indoor and out). Over 65 ropes (top-rope, lead, and bouldering) with 15,000 sq. ft. of terrain. Newly expanded, centrally located. Something for everyone of all ages. Call 781-935-PEAK (7325); www.bostonrockgym.com

MICHIGAN Ann Arbor / Pontiac. PLANET ROCK CLIMBING GYM & TRAINING CENTER. Over 39,000 total sq. ft. of climbing terrain. Over 50 ft. top ropes and 85 ft. lead routes. Ann Arbor 734827-2680; Pontiac; 248-334-3904; www. planet-rock.com Grand Rapids. HIGHER GROUND ROCK CLIMBING CENTRE, LTD. 851 Bond NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503; 616-774-3100; www.higround.com

Albuquerque. STONE AGE CLIMBING GYM. NM’s best just doubled in size! Topout bouldering, two lead caves, guiding, complete climbing shop. 505-341-2016, www. stoneageclimbinggym.com Santa Fe. SANTA FE CLIMBING CENTER. 825 Early St Ste A, Santa Fe, NM. 87505; www.climbsantafe.com

NEW YORK Albany. ALBANY’S INDOOR ROCK GYM. Over 6,000 square feet of climbing. Labyrinth system. 4C Vatrano Road, Albany, New York; 518-459-7625; www.airrockgym.com Buffalo/Niagara Falls. NIAGARA CLIMBING CENTER. www.niagaraclimbingcenter. com; 716-695-1248 New Paltz. THE INNER WALL. Main St., Eckerd’s Plaza, New Paltz, NY; 845-2557625. www.theinnerwall.com Schenectady. ELECTRIC CITY ROCK GYM. 518-388-2704; www.ecrockgym.com

Get the exposure you deserve! • CRAIG SALEEBY • retail@bigstonepub.com • 877-762-5423 ext. 17 Valhalla. THE CLIFFS AT VALHALLA. 1 Commerce Park, Valhalla, NY 10595, (877) 914ROCK (7625)

Tacoma. EDGEWORKS CLIMBING. 6102 North 9th St. Tacoma, WA 98406; www.edgeworks-climbing.com

NORTH CAROLINA

WISCONSIN

Charlotte. INNER PEAKS CLIMBING CENTER. 9535 Monroe Rd., Ste. 170, Charlotte, NC 28270; 704-844-6677; www.innerpeaks.com

Brookﬁeld/Pewaukee. ADVENTURE ROCK. 21250 W. Capital Dr. Pewaukee, WI 53072; 262-790-6800; www.adventurerock.com Madison. BOULDERS CLIMBING GYM. 3964 Commercial Ave. Madison, WI 53714; www.bouldersgym.com

Fayetteville. REDPOINT INDOOR CLIMBING. 5213 Raeford Rd Suite 103, Fayetteville NC 28304; 910-868-ROCK; www.climbredpoint.com Greensboro. THE ULTIMATE CLIMBING GYM @ TUMBLEBEES. 6904 Downwind Rd. Greensboro N.C. 27409; www.theultimateclimbinggym.com

OREGON Portland. PORTLAND ROCK GYM. Portland’s premiere rock gym (est. 1987) 12,500 sq. ft. of climbing surface and growing! From Highball bouldering to 60 ft. lead walls. 21 NE 12th Portland, OR 97232; 503-232-8310 ; www.portlandrockgym.com Tigard. CLUBSPORT ADVENTURE CENTER. Oregon’s largest rock gym. 18120 SW Lower Boones Ferry Rd. Tigard, OR 97224; 503-968-4535; www.clubsports.com

PENNSYLVANIA Oaks. PHILADELPHIA ROCK GYM. 422 Business Center, PO Box 511, Oaks, PA 19456; 610666-ROPE; www.philarockgym.com Wind Gap. NORTH SUMMIT CLIMBING GYM. Large, all extremes, professional walls and routes. Easy access from Eastern PA, NY and NJ. 610-863-4444

Frisco. CANYONS OF FRISCO CLIMBING GYM. 7164 Technology Sr., Ste. 202 Frisco, TX 75034; www. canyonsclimbing.com Houston. STONEMOVES. 281-397-0830; www.stonemoves.com

UTAH Provo. QUARRY INDOOR CLIMBING CENTER. 2494 N. University Pkwy Provo, UT 84604; 801-418-0266

VIRGINIA Alexandria. SPORTROCK 7625; www.sportrock.com

703-212-

Sterling. SPORTROCK 3. 703-212-7625; www.sportrock.com

RHODE ISLAND Lincoln. RHODE ISLAND ROCK GYM. 401727-1704; www.rhodeislandrockgym.com

TENNESSEE Chattanooga. THE TENNESSEE BOULDERING AUTHORITY. Indoor climbing, instruction, guiding and fraternizing. 423-822-6800 www.tbagym.com

Nashville. CLIMB NASHVILLE; 615-4637625; www.climbnashville.com

TEXAS Carrollton. EXPOSURE ROCK CLIMBING. Over 9,000 square feet of climbing, excellent bouldering and gear shop. Portable climbing wall available. www.exposurerockclimbing.com

Virginia Beach. VIRGINIA BEACH ROCK GYM. 6,000 square feet, 33 foot textured wall with roofs, aretes, slabs, cracks and bulges. Toprope & lead, bouldering, rappelling, proshop. Open everyday. 5049 Southern Blvd., VA Beach, VA 23462; 757-499-8347; www. virginiabeachrockgym.com

WASHINGTON Seattle. STONE GARDENS. Big & friendly, Tonsof bouldering. Lots of TR & lead too. 2839 NW Market St., Seattle; 206-7819828; www.stonegardens.com Seattle/Redmond/Bremerton. VERTICAL WORLD.America’s ﬁrst indoor climbing gym. Fun routes, friendly service and professional instruction since 1987. Three gyms for the price of one! Seattle 206-283-4497; Redmond 425-881-8826; Bremerton 360-373-6676; www.verticalworld.com JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 95

RETAILERS ALASKA ALASKA MOUNTAINEERING & HIKING 2633 Spenard Rd. Anchorage, AK 99503 907-272-1811 F 907-274-6362 www.alaskamountaineering.com amh@alaska.net ALASKA ROCK GYM 4840 Fairbanks Street Anchorage AK 99503 907-562-7265 F 907-561-7291 www.alaskarockgym.com

ARIZONA ARIZONA HIKING SHACK 11649 N Cave Creek Rd Phoenix, AZ 85020 602-944-7723 F 602-861-0221 800-964-1673 www.hikingshack.com dale@ahsrescue.com BABBITT’S BACKCOUNTRY OUTFITTERS 12 E. Aspen Ave. Flagstaff, AZ 86001 928-774-4775 F 928-774-4561 www.babbittsbackcountry.com backcountry@infomagic.net GRANITE MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS 320 W. Gurley St. Prescott, AZ 86301 928-776-4949

ARKANSAS

209 W Sunbridge Dr Fayetteville AR 72703 479-521-6340 F 479-521-8059 877-521-6340 www.packrat.biz info@packrat.biz

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE 16 11161 W. Pico Blvd. West Los Angeles, CA 90064 310-473-4574 for other SO CAL locations: www.adventure16.com

AUTHORIZED DEALER MAMMOTH MOUNTAINEERING SUPPLY 3189 Main St. (Next to Wave Rave) Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 760-934-4191 www.mammothgear.com NORTHERN MOUNTAIN SUPPLY 125 W. Fifth St. Eureka, CA 95501 707-445-1711 F 707-445-0781 800-878-3583 www.northernmounain.com www.killerdeals.com mtn@northernmountain.com REAL CHEAP SPORTS 36 W. Santa Clara Ventura, CA 93001 805-648-3803 F 805-653-2581 www.mountainoutlet.com THE NORTH FACE 423 N. Beverly Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90210 310-246-4120 www.thenorthface.com THE NORTH FACE 217 Alma St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 650-327-1563 www.thenorthface.com THE NORTH FACE 180 Post St. San Francisco, CA 94108 415-433-3223 www.thenorthface.com VALLEY SPORTING GOODS McHenry Village 1700 McHenry Ave., #D50 Modesto, CA 95350 209-523-5681 F 209-523-0624 800-435-0150 www.valleysg.com WILSON’S EASTSIDE SPORTS 224 N. Main St. Bishop, CA 93514 760-873-7520 www.eastsidesports.com

COLORADO BENT GATE MOUNTAINEERING 1313 Washington Ave Golden CO 80401 303-271-9382 F 303-271-3980 877-BENT-GATE www.bentgate.com bentgate@bentgate.com

96 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

BOULDER MOUNTAINEERING 1335 B Broadway Boulder, CO 80302 303-444.2470 F 303-444-2729 www.thebomo.com info@thebomo.com MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS 112 S Ridge St Breckenridge, CO 80424 970-453-2201 tele@colorado.net OURAY MOUNTAIN SPORTS 732 Main St Ouray CO 81427 970-325-4284 www.ouraysports.com PINE NEEDLE MOUNTAINEERING 835 Main Ave # 112 Durango CO 81301-5436 970-247-8728 F 970-259-0697 800-607-0364 www.pineneedle.com info@pineneedle.com THE NORTH FACE 629-K So. Broadway Boulder CO 80303 303-499-1731 www.thenorthface.com WILDERNESS EXCHANGE UNLIMITED 2401 15th Street Ste 90 Denver, CO 80202 303-964-0708 www.wildernessexchangeunlimited.com info@wildernessexchangeunlimited.com

GEORGIA CALL OF THE WILD 425 Market Place Roswell (Atlanta) GA 30075 770-992-5400 F 770-992-9343 callwild@earthlink.net THE CLIMBING STORE 3032 North Decatur Atlanta GA 30079 404-292-8834 climbingstore@bellsouth.net www.theclimbingstore.net

IDAHO LOST RIVER SPORTS 516 N Main St Hailey ID 83333 208-788-7625 lostriversports@cox-internet.com

ILLINOIS STARVED ROCK OUTFITTERS, LTD 888-580-5510 815-667-7170 F 815-667-9970 201 Donaldson St Utica IL 61373

THE NORTH FACE John Hancock Center 875 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60611 312-337-7200 www.thenorthface.com

INDIANA J.L. WATERS & COMPANY 109 N. College Ave. Bloomington, IN 47404 812-334-1845 800-440-1845 www.jlwaters.com

KENTUCKY J & H LANMARK 189 Moore Dr Lexington KY 40503 859-278-0730 800-677-9300 jhoutdoor@aol.com

PHILLIP GALL’S OUTDOOR & SKI 1555 E New Circle Rd Lexington, KY 40509 859-266-0469 F 859-269-5190 www.phillipgalls.com pgall@iglou.com

MASSACHUSETTS MOOR & MOUNTAIN 3 Railroad St Andover MA 01810 978-475-3665 F 978-470-1982 www.moor-mountain.com

MIDWEST MOUNTAINEERING 309 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55454 612-339-3433 888-999-1077 www.midwestmtn.com info@midwestmtn.com Free Climbing Cave

MONTANA NORTHERN LIGHTS TRADING CO. 1716 W. Babcock Bozeman, MT 59715 406-586-2225 F 406-586-7544 866-586-2225 www.northernlightstrading.com info@northernlightstrading.com Skiing, Climbing, Boating PIPESTONE MOUNTAINEERING 129 W Front St Missoula MT 59802 406-721-1670 www.pipestonemountaineering.com pipestone@montana.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT 2733 Main St. North Conway, NH 03860 603-356-6316 F 603-356-6492 www.ime-usa.com

NEW JERSEY CAMPMOR 810 Route 17 N Paramus NJ 07652 201-445-5000 800-CAMPMOR (266-7667) www.campmor.com

NEW MEXICO

NORTH CAROLINA

DIAMOND BRAND OUTDOORS 2623 Hendersonville Rd Arden NC 28704 828-684-6262 www.diamondbrand.com

OREGON THE NORTH FACE 1202 NW Davis Street Portland OR 97209 503-727-0200 www.thenorthface.com REDPOINT CLIMBERS SUPPLY 8283 11th Street Terrebonne OR 97760 541-923-6207 F 541-923-1303 800-923-6207 ascent@goclimbing.com www.goclimbing.com ROCKHARD Smith Rock State Park 9297 N.E. Crooked River Dr. Terrebonne, OR 97760 541-548-4786

PENNSYLVANIA

BUCKS COUNTY OUTFITTERS 64 E Swamp Rd Doylestown PA 18901 215-340-0633 F 215-340-9621 www.buckscountyoutﬁtters.com info@buckscountyoutﬁtters.com NESTOR’S SPORTING GOODS INC 2510 MacArthur Rd Whitehall PA 18052 610-433-4060 800-898-1133 www.nestors.com

THE NORTH FACE 326 Newbury St Boston MA 02115 617-536-8060 www.thenorthface.com

SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINWORKS 328 S. Guadalupe Street Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-984-8221 F 505-984-8303 www.sdcmountainworks.com info@sdcmountainworks.com

NESTOR’S SPORTING GOODS INC 99 N West End Blvd Quakertown PA 18951 215-529-0100 800-439-2858 www.nestors.com

MINNESOTA

NEW YORK

45 DEGREES 209 S Main Street Stillwater MN 55082 651-430-3609 www.45-Degrees.com GetOutside@45-degrees.com

THE NORTH FACE 2101 Broadway (at 73rd) New York, NY 10023 212-362-1000 www.thenorthface.com

MOUNTAIN SPORTS 2025 West Pioneer Pkwy. Arlington, TX 76013 817-461-4503 800-805-9139 www.mountainsports.com mail@mountainsports.com

TEXAS

ONLINE RETAILERS UTAH

VIRGINIA

WEST VIRGINIA

BLACK DIAMOND EQUIPMENT RETAIL STORE 2092 East 3900 South Salt Lake City UT 84124 801-278-0233 F 801-278-5544 www.bdstore@bdel.com

MOUNTAIN TRAILS 212 E Cork St Winchester VA 22601 540-667-0030 www.mountain-trails.com mail@mountain-trails.com

ADVENTURE’S EDGE 131 Pleasant St. Morgantown, WV 26505 304-296-9007 F 304-292-2295 www.adventuresedge.org info@adventuresedge.org

HURST 160 N 500 W (corner of Bluff and Blvd.) St. George, UT 84770 435-673-6141 F 435-628-3380 www.hurststores.com jhurst@hurststores.com

INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT 3265 East 3300 South Salt Lake City, UT 84109 801-484-8073 F 801-467-7884 www.imeutah.com imeutah@networld.com

WASATCH TOURING 702 East 100 South Salt Lake City, UT 84102 801-359-9361 F 801-534-0905 www.wasatchtouring.com wtouring@xmission.com

VERMONT CLIMB HIGH 191 Bank Street Burlington, VT 05401 802-865-0900 www.climbhigh.com info@climbhighretail.com

CLIMB HIGH 2438 Shelburne Rd. Shelburne, VT 05482 802-985-5055 www.climbhigh.com info@climbhighretail.com

OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE 152 Cherry St. Burlington, VT 05401 802-860-0190 F 802-860-4327 www.gearx.com info@gearx.com

THE NORTH FACE 78701 Tyson’s Corner Center McLean, VA 22102 703-917-0111 www.thenorthface.com

WASHINGTON BACKPACKERS SUPPLY 5206 S. Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 253-472-4402 www.marmotmountain.com

FEATHERED FRIENDS 119 Yale Ave N Seattle WA 98109 206-292-2210 206-292-6292 - Mail Orders F 206-292-9667 www.featheredfriends.com retail@featheredfriends.com MARMOT MOUNTAIN WORKS 827 Bellevue N.E. Bellevue, WA 98004 800-CLIMBIN www.marmotmountain.com MOUNTAIN GOAT OUTFITTERS 12 W Sprague Ave Spokane WA 99201 509-325-9806 F 509-747-5964 www.mountaingoatoutﬁtters.com sales@mountaingoatoutﬁtters.com

SECOND ASCENT 5209 Ballard Ave NW Seattle WA 98107 206-545-8810 F 206-545-9397 www.secondascent.com info@secondascent.com SUMMIT HAUS 5 miles outside Mt. Ranier National Park, 30027 SR 706 East Ashford, WA 98304 800-238-5756 www.summithaus.com THE NORTH FACE 1023 First Ave. Seattle, WA 98104 206-622-4111 www.thenorthface.com

THE GENDARME PO Box 53 Seneca Rocks, WV 26884 (304) 567-2600 800-548-0108 www.climbseneca.com info@climbseneca.com

WATER STONE OUTDOORS 101 E. Wiseman Ave. Fayetteville, WV 25840 304-574-2425 F 304-574-2563 www.waterstoneoutdoors.com waterstone@charter.net

WISCONSIN WHEELER’S CAMPGROUND E. 11329 Hwy. 159 Baraboo, WI 53913 608-356-4877 www.wheelerscampground.com WILDSIDE ADVENTURE COMPANY 880 Highway 12 Ste #1 Baraboo WI 53913 608-356-9218 F 608-356-9233 www.wildsideadventurecompany.com

WYOMING CORE MOUNTAIN SPORTS 1019 15th Street Cody WY 82414 307-527-7354 877-527-7354 www.coldfear.com aaron@coldfear.com TETON MOUNTAINEERING 170 N Cache PO Box 1533 Jackson WY 83001 307-733-3595 800-850-3595 www.tetonmountaineering.com

WILD IRIS 333 Main St Lander WY 82520 307-332-4541 F 307-335-8923 888-284-5968 www.wildirisclimbing.com wildiris@wyoming.com

CANADA LA CORDEE PLEIN AIR 2777 St Martin Blvd West Laval PQ H7T2Y7 800-567-1106 www.lacordee.com

LA CORDEE PLEIN AIR 2159 St Catherine East Montreal PQ H2K2H9 800-567-1106 www.lacordee.com

LA CORDEE PLEIN AIR 1595 Blvd Des Tromenades St Hubert QC J3Y5K2 800-567-1106 www.lacrodee.com info@lacordee.com

MOUNTAIN MAGIC EQUIPMENT 224 Bear St Banff, AB T1L1B7 403-762-2591 F 403-762-4672 800-661-0399 www.mountainmagic.com info@mountainmagic.com

HONG KONG HONG KONG MOUNTAINEERING TRAINING CENTRE IF on Yip Building 395-7 Shanghai St Kowloon Hong Kong, China 852 23848190 F 852 27707110 www.hkmtc.com hkmtc@hkstar.com

Contact! CRAIG SALEEBY 877-762-5423 ext. 17

retail@bigstonepub.com

JULY 06 | R O C K A N D I C E . C O M 97

McHale& Company

www.acmeclimbing.com sales@acmeclimbing.com 800-959-3785 509-624-4561 F 509-747-5964 12 W Sprague Ave Spokane WA 99201

ALPENGLOW www.acadiamountainguides.com www.alpenglowgear.com rocknice@alpenglowgear.com 888-232-9559 F 207-866-7562 92 Main St Orono ME 04473 www.backcountrygear.com bcgeartech@backcountrygear.com 800-953-5499 207 Madison St. Eugene, OR 97402 BENT GATE www.bentgate.com bentgate@bentgate.com 877-BENT-GATE 877-236-8428 1313 Washington Ave Golden CO 80401 www.campmor.com info@campmor.com 800-CAMPMOR 800-226-7667 Catalog - PO Box 700-R15 Saddle River NJ 07458

CLIMBINGGEAR.COM www.ClimbingGear.com info@climbinggear.com 888-707-6708 423-266-8200 100 Tremont Street Chattanooga, TN 37405 Free Shipping over $75 www.gearexpress.com 888-580-5510 815-667-7170 F 815-667-9970 201 Donaldson St Utica IL 61373 GRANITE 2124 Lake Tahoe Blvd South Lake Tahoe CA 96158 530-544-4726 F 530-544-4724 granitegearshop.com granite@leavenotrace.com

MCHALE PACKS PO Box 33672 Seattle WA 98122-0672 206-533-1479 www.mchalepacks.com dan.mchale@comcast.net

MOUNTAIN GEAR www.mountaingear.com info@mgear.com 800-829-2009 F 509-325-3030 730 N. Hamilton Spokane, WA 99202

www.mtntools.com climb@mtntools.com 800-5.10-2-5.14 831-620-0911 F 831-620-0977 PO Box 222295 Carmel, CA 93922

NORTHERN MOUNTAIN SUPPLY www.killerdeals.com mtn@northernmountain.com 800-878-3583 707-445-1711 F 707-445-0871 125 W. Fifth St. Eureka, CA 95501

ROCK/CREEK OUTFITTERS www.RockCreek.com info@rockcreek.com 888-707-6708 423-266-8200 100 Tremont St Chattanooga TN 37405 Free Shipping over $75

SIERRA TRADING POST www.SierraTradingPost.com info@SierraTradingPost.com 800-713-4534 F 800-378-8946 5025 Campstool Road Cheyenne, WY 82007

www.summithut.com summit@summithut.com 800-499-8696 5045 E. Speedway Tucson, AZ 85712

Rock & Ice (USPS 0001-762, ISSN 0885-5722) is published 9 times a year (January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and December plus one annual) by Big Stone Publishing, 1101 Village Rd., Ste. UL-4D, Carbondale, CO 81623. Periodicals postage paid at Carbondale, CO, and at additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Rock & Ice, 1101 Village Rd., Ste. UL-4D, Carbondale, CO 81623-1563. Subscription rates are $25.95 per year, $39.95 for two years. Canada and Mexico, add $10 per year for surface postage; all other countries add $12.50 per year for surface postage (US funds only). Canada Post CPM #7157697.

[ PARTING SHOT ]

PHOTO BY WILLS YOUNG

MIND MATTERS IN THE OPENING sequence in the ﬁ lm Hard Grit,

a panting Jean-Minh Trinh-Thieu stretches sideways for a slanting sloper, his last pro far below. He swings off the balancey upper groove of Gaia (E8), Black Rocks, Derbyshire, for a 35foot, wall-slamming leg-breaker. Yet Lisa Rands, arguably the world’s boldest female free climber, who chooses appealing lines over hard grades, was mesmerized when she saw the 50-foot prow of Gaia. “I had traveled around England and seen other routes, and that one stood out,” she says. In 2004, Rands, 30, of Bishop, California, became the ﬁ rst (and still only) woman to climb E8 (5.13 R) with The End of the Affair, in Yorkshire. Gaia was her second of that grade. For the earlier route, she says, “I [only] had an 98 R O C K A N D I C E . C O M | 06 JULY

idea of what would happen if I fell. With Gaia, I had a visual.” On Gaia, the only gear is at 10 and 15 feet, at the route’s technical crux. Rands spent four days, with some toproping, on the route, with lead attempts foiled by weather. On Easter morning, her fifth day, she toproped the upper groove three times, each time feeling offsequence. On lead, she changed a hand position and surprised herself by cruising the difficult lower crux, then continued. In the groove, however, she slightly “misplaced” both feet. “I reached out for this slanting sloper, and I couldn’t reach it right because my feet were wrong. Just when I touched the sloper, where JeanMinh fell, that image flashed through my mind. “I thought, ‘Ooh, better try harder.’”

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