from Mountains and Water
If you are interested in learning more about what makes an elite-level boulderer tick, please check out my interview with Carlo Traversi . As part of my bouldering book blog, I plan on talking periodically with leaders in the sport about what they think is important for developing as a climber. Carlo Traversi: Alpine Sessions from Five Ten on Vimeo .
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from Mountains and Water
Welcome to the long dark days of winter. The snow finally melted off here in Boulder and bouldering outside is once more an option. Not that I have been doing much of that. A couple of weeks off due to weather and various illnesses and suddenly my Christmas break was over. Before Christmas, I felt as though my training was going quite well and now I am trying to recover that standard, little by little. I have very nice simple but effective training set-up in my basement which has been very helpful in ...
published: 4 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
About a month ago, before I went on unplanned hiatus from writing this blog, I read a very interesting commentary at Kairn.com on the Olympics and climbing. There has been a consistent push in recent years for the inclusion of competition climbing in the Olympics, perhaps in part because the potential resulting higher profile could bring bigger sponsors on board for events such as the World Cup. Here are some thoughts translated from the French, originally authored by Jean Pierre Banville: " Elleva y ...
published: 4 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
In a previous post, I discussed my feelings about the transformation of climbing into a luxury sport, at least at a certain end of the socio-economic spectrum. I posted a Youtube Video of an ad made by Citibank that features Katie Brown and Alex Honnold. Here's the video: Given the dismal economic picture in the US right now and the fact that big American banks in particular have had a great deal to do with it, it was natural that the ad would spark a certain degree of controversy. A forum post on Mountain
published: 5 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
I have written a brief introduction to my new book on bouldering . Please check it out. If you have bought the book already and would like to let me know what you thought of it, please contact me via email or Facebook. The Bouldering Book on Facebook Also here is an image of the review in Rock and Ice:
published: 5 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
Well this afternoon I failed, by the smallest of margins on a project that the lords of bouldering around here would describe as a turd, that is, a problem of minimal height, dubious rock quality, and an awkward fairly licheny beached-whale finish. Needless to say, I mostly climb alone on this kind of problem. This time of year especially others prefer to migrate to Hueco or Bishop or even Switzerland, where the real climbing is happening, the kinds of places where climbers are somehow able to live for ...
published: 5 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
At 8a.nu, Jens proposed a topic for discussion "The uniqueness of climbing" based on the following premises: "Climbing is in comparison to other physical sports totally unique on the following parameters. Gender: Some female almost at male top level Age span: World class between 9-50 years Specialization: Some equally good at 1 move boulders - 40m onsight - 500m Multi Pitches Training: Most just climb without a programme Comeback: 20 sessions after 1 year break makes you often equally good" While much of
published: 6 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
I think it is safe to say that the regular bouldering season is finished as of about 12 noon this last Tuesday. Currently most of the Front Range is under about 8 inches or more of snow. I made one last-ditch effort to try European Human Being on Monday afternoon but was unsuccessful, make that completely out of it altogether. Angie Payne, who was trying Freaks of the Industry, was also unsuccessful that evening. To top it off, just as I was at Bear Lake, having navigated every stretch of ice successfully
published: 6 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
OK, I admit it. I have been putting off writing about climbing. Not because of the latest compliment/putdown by Andrew B. And it's not because I have been trying desperately to get in just one more decent session on European Human Being before the snow entombs it until next July, though that has been an issue. It could be apathy, could be laziness, it could be burnout. Whatever, as people used to say before whatever became, well, whatever. Then the World Cup rolled into town last week and I began thinking
published: 7 months ago
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from Mountains and Water
I had recently been going through a drought of sorts in bouldering, focusing on unproductive projects that were draining my energy. A hint of things beginning to turn around popped up when I was able to start linking up European Human Being last week, actually falling off the last move from the start. A cool day last week but not much time meant a quick visit to Flagstaff Mountain where I haven't climbed in months. Though it was bit warm at first, warming up felt OK and as the sun went down the conditions
published: 7 months ago
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