From the category archives:
Gregory Thaczuk writes about what it takes to climb 5.12. Sure I went climbing regularly but I wasn’t really trying. I took the easy way out. I toproped whenever someone else was willing to lead. I climbed the same routes regularly. If I was leading and my knees where at a bolt I would take [...]
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The Wall Street Journal has an article on John Bachar and free soloing. He was one of the first climbers to train for the sport like he was an Olympic athlete. Bachar was renowned not only for his physical prowess but even more for his mental mastery, his ability to put fear at bay and [...]
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Black Diamond’s QC Lab tries to answer the frequently asked question of whether climbers can use a Sharpie marker to mark the middle of a rope. The results – undetermined.
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Stewart Green writes up a mini-guide on how to clean your carabiners (including what not to do).
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My good friend Ryan Wanger wouldn’t stop talking about his new shoes, so I made him write a review. He is the Community Manager for the Boulder based startup Everlater, which helps people record their travel experiences with friends and family. Let me make this clear: my review of Vibram Five Fingers shoes is self [...]
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In advance of everything that will be coming out of the Outdoor Retailer show, here is a roundup of gear reviews from the past month or so. GearFlogger looks at pro reviewing the DMM Wallnuts and also reviews the Arc’Teryx Dually belay parka. Cupcake Mafia reviews the PrAna Natural Sticky Mat for yoga and the [...]
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Black Diamond’s quality control lab tested autoblock belay device common misuses and provided extensive details. Specifically they looked at: – incorrectly using a standard belay device as an autoblock device – using multiple biners as the “brake bar” in order to make taking in rope easier Regarding the multiple carabiner test, they found that using [...]
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I’ve started reading the book One Move Too Many as it was recommended to me by several different climbers. I’ll be posting my full thoughts when I’ve finished the book, but I can already tell you that this is a must have for any climber, especially those dealing with specific injuries. One idea from the [...]
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While grocery shopping the other day, I saw a large display for the new Clif Quench sport drinks. I vaguely remembered hearing about these, so I decided to buy one of each flavor and try them out. Let me start off by saying that my primary sports drinks are massive quantities of coffee in the [...]
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A new Harvard study confirms the health risks associated with BPA in polycarbonate water bottles. We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds. If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be [...]
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Will Gadd writes a provocative post on the recent deaths of Jonny Copp, Micah Dash, and Wade Johnson and using the tragedy label. For me I’m never going to use the word “tragedy” in reference to a climbing or mountain sports accident again. A tragedy is when a whole family gets killed by a drunk [...]
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As climbers, we suffer from numerous injuries. One of the more common climber injuries is medial epicondylitis or golfers elbow. Essentially this is pain on the inside of your elbow and it originates from overuse of the flexor muscles. All our gripping without exercising the opposing muscle groups is usually the culprit for climbers. As [...]
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