Having a set routine before you begin every climb can help get you into the sending mindset. Whether you’re warming up on a 5.6 or getting ready to give your 5.13d project a redpoint burn, if you go through the same steps each time, you will be prepared to focus entirely on the motions necessary…
Author: Liz Haas
Reflections While Running in Salt Lake City
I woke up and picked up my phone: 7 a.m., two hours before the Outdoor Retailer trade show opened and an hour before I was meeting the Rock and Ice crew at breakfast. The hotel Internet was, as always, slower than dialup, so I decided to go for a run. I’m not used to city…
The Ten Rules of Toproping
Hayden Kennedy gave the closing keynote presentation at this year’s International Climbers’ Festival in Lander, Wyoming. His topic: The 10 Rules of Alpinism. His presentation was by far the best, as he didn’t stumble over his words like several other athletes, despite being more than a handful of beers deep, and he talked humorously about…
Training for the Lander International Climbers’ Festival
The International Climbers’ Festival has been a Lander, Wyoming, summer highlight since it began in 1993. Each July, hundreds of climbers from around the world come to Lander to climb limestone pockets at Wild Iris, slide down natural rock waterslides after exploring the sport and trad routes in Sinks Canyon, camp for free in City Park,…
Why Climb?
My dad wishes I didn’t climb. For one thing, he’s afraid of heights; so much so that walking three flights up a fire tower makes him nauseous, so scaling cliffs seems unfathomably frightening. For another, he’s never tried it, not even in a gym. He doesn’t understand the melding of strength, balance, and focus required…
The Seven Summer Climbing Trip Essentials
Shoes, chalk bag, harness, ATC, I go over the essentials in my head. Food, check; water, check; melatonin…shoot it’s still on my nightstand; I throw it into my bag. “I’m sure I’m forgetting something,” are my favorite parting words when embarking on any climbing trip. However, there are a few things you should always bring…
BEWARE: The Dangers of Trail Running
Living in Colorado, I’m surrounded by beautiful hiking, biking, and trail-running paths switching back and forth up the Rocky Mountains. After work, I can run up to a rock formation resembling a mushroom with a natural throne-like seat on top or snake through fields of wildflowers up to a green lake at the base of…
Climbing Cookies: Delicious, Nutritious Crag Fuel
Alex Honnold fuels his free-solos with cookies—his favorite are chocolate chip—and he crushes everything from 290 pitches on his birthday to biking hundreds of miles to climb all of California’s 14,000-footers. You should give in to the cookie temptation too. Why? Well for one, you’ll be one step closer to being Alex Honnold. For another, you’ll…
The Joy of Tenting Alone
I was four years old when I first slept in a tent. My dad dragged his old, bright-green two-man out of our basement, carefully unfolded it, and spent about 30 minutes pushing enormous plastic stakes into the ground to hold it up. I doubt I helped beyond maybe holding a stake or two, but that night…
High Infatuation by Steph Davis: A Book Review
I just finished reading Steph Davis’s first book “High Infatuation” while recovering from two days of climbing and an accidental hour-long run. First, I should mention that, for me, Steph Davis is incredibly inspiring. I first learned of her climbing, skydiving, BASE jumping, etc. adventures last fall, while writing a test article for an internship…
HAT BETA: A Flowchart Guide to Belayer Headwear
Originally published June 15, 2015, on coffeetapeibuprofenclimb.blogspot.com.
A Guide to Gathering Free Stuff at the GoPro Mountain Games
I spent last weekend “working” at the GoPro Mountain Games. It was inspiring, exhausting, and quite lucrative for gathering free stuff. Vail is a strange town with random signs saying “like nowhere on earth.” It’s more like a European-themed amusement park with chair lifts and a ski mountain as rides and tons of Swiss-chalet-style Patagonia outlets….
Coffee. Tape. Climb. 