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,…
Tag: climbing
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…
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….
Rest Day Activities
As much as we’d like to, few of us can climb hard for even five days in a row without suddenly being unable to send V4 (or V1 if you’re me). If you’re climbing outside on a week-plus-long trip or just psyched on a project near home, your skin is likely destroyed after a few days,…
Making Time to Play on Rocks
I didn’t have time to climb. I needed to run to Walmart, CVS, and buy bulk pasta from BJ’s before picking up my sister from school. I needed to start packing to move back to UNH for my summer research internship that would start in a few days. I didn’t have time to drive an hour…
The Art of Climbing Slowly
Like downclimbing, climbing slowly takes much skill and practice; however, once mastered, this art can enhance your climbing experience greatly. All genres of climbing can be slowed down, from taking as long as possible to set up for a one-move-wonder boulder problem to taking your time to place each piece with perfection on a 10-pitch…
NO EXCUSES: Go Climbing
There are many excuses for not climbing. Do not give in. Here are solutions for a few common “I can’t climb today” excuses that will get you off the couch and onto some rocks: Originally published May 3, 2015, on coffeetapeibuprofenclimb.blogspot.com.
Coffee. Tape. Climb. 