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Babsi Zangerl just became the first person to free climb a route on El Capitan on her first try, without a fall. Her ascent closes a 30-year chapter of attempts.

https://www.climbing.com/news/history-of-el-capitan-flash-attempts/

The Team Italy coach adds another hard first ascent to his name before the end of the year
The post Gabri Moroni, 37, Climbs New 5.15a in Italy appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Gabri Moroni, 37, Climbs New 5.15a in Italy - Gripped Magazine

The Team Italy coach adds another hard first ascent to his name before the end of the year

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Find out why, plus see 6 words we’re retiring in 2025

https://www.climbing.com/community/and-the-climbing-word-of-the-year-is-float/

UK Sport confirms £2.775m funding to the BMC for the development of Paraclimbing and Sport Climbing programmes ahead of the 2028 Los Angleses Olympic Games.

Climbing gets £2.775m funding for programme development for LA 2028 Games | Climber Magazine

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By Hannah Provost

If you had to tell the story of the evolution of climbing within the history of one route, your most compelling choices might be The Nose of El Capitan or The Naked Edge in Eldorado Canyon. In this way, The Naked Edge is a time capsule containing within its memory: the much dreamed-of first ascent finally climbed by Layton Kor, Bob Culp, and Rick Horn; a period defining free ascent by Jim Erickson and Duncan Furgeson in the early 1970s; and one of the few battle- grounds for speed records in the United States. In 1962, Kor and Bob Culp were diverted attempting to aid the steep final edge, and today, climbers have speed climbed the route, bridge to bridge, in a little over 22 minutes. What is it about this climb that has allowed it to be the sketchbook for climbing legends to draw out the evolution of our sport? Anecdotes and artifacts from the American Alpine Club Library and archives provided the answer.
Perhaps it was all aesthetics—the compelling imagery of a climb that could divide dark- ness and light. Or maybe it was the fact that The Edge tends to rebuff many of its suitors. But whether The Naked Edge was dishing out a good humbling, or whether, as Jim Erickson famously argued, his free ascent style “humbled the climb” instead, The Naked Edge might live so prominently in our collective climbing memory because it encapsulates one of the great questions of each climbing endeavor. Who holds the power here? The climb or the climber?
At first, the route held all the cards. Layton Kor, known for his hulking height and wild, almost demonic, drive, could usually weaponize his determination and fearlessness to get through any hard climbing he might envision for himself. Yet when Layton Kor and Bob Culp attempted to aid the route in 1962, having each been turned away in 1961 on separate occasions, they still had to deviate from the original vision and finished the climb via a dihedral slightly to the left of the stunning final overhang. It wasn’t until Kor came back with Rick Horn in 1964 that The Edge, as we climb it today, was first done in its entirety.
Jim Erickson, a young gun with a knowing grin, hadn’t always been a hotshot. However, by the early 1970s, he had gotten into the habit of proving a point—freeing the old obscure aid lines in Eldo put up by Robbins, Kor, Dalke, and Ament the decade before. After several failed attempts to free The Naked Edge, repeatedly retreating from the first pitch finger crack due to a strict avoidance of hangdog- ging and rehearsing, freeing The Naked Edge was his foremost ambition.
By 1971, The Naked Edge had been ascended 30 or so times using direct aid. Erickson was envisioning a new phase of the route’s life. Yet his first moderately successful attempt, with prolific free climber Steve Wunsch, was yet another humbling. As he wrote for Climb!: The History of Rock Climbing in Colorado, the fourth pitch was daunting to the point of existential: “Steve dubs it impossible. I give it a disheartened try, but it is late so down we come, pondering the ultimate metaphysical questions: ‘Is there life after birth? Sex after death?’”
When Erickson and Duncan Ferguson returned a week later, things went a little more smoothly. Though The Naked Edge was the last major climb that the two would ascend using pitons, it wasn’t the use of pitons that haunted Erickson and sent him off on his staunch commitment to only onsight free -climbing. Rather, when Erickson reflects on the effort and technique of pitoncraft, and the incredible added effort of free climbing on pitons, he seems almost to be creating something, tinkering. Describing nailing the crux of the first thin pitch in an interview for the Legacy Series, a project of the AAC to preserve the history of climbing, Erickson painted a picture of immense toil: “You’re in this strenuous fingertip layback, with shoes that didn’t smear very well...You had to first of all figure out which piton you were going to place, you had to set it in the crack, you were doing all of this with one hand while you were hanging on. Then you had to tap the piton once to make sure you didn’t lose it... because if you missed it and dropped it you’re back to square one, so you had to tap the pin, finally hit it in, test it to see if it was good, then you’d clip a single free carabiner, and a second free carabiner into it, and then you would clip your rope in, all while you were hanging on with one hand in a bad finger lock.”
In the 1960s and 1970s, once a route was freed, it was not ...

Guidebook XII—Rewind the Climb — American Alpine Club

The Naked Edge By Hannah Provost If you had to tell the story of the evolution of climbing within the history of one route, your most compelling choices might be The Nose of El Capitan or The Naked Edge in Eldorado Canyon. In this way, The Naked Edge is a time capsule containing within its m

American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)

Check out Maya Silver's author page.

https://www.climbing.com/places/guide-us-ice-parks/

The dreamiest cragging, bouldering, and deep water soloing in the equatorial region

https://www.climbing.com/places/the-10-best-tropical-climbing-destinations/

Will Power just dropped on Will Gadd's YouTube page, watch it below
The post Feautre Film on Will Gadd Released for Free appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Feautre Film on Will Gadd Released for Free - Gripped Magazine

Will Power just dropped on Will Gadd's YouTube page, watch it below

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

One of the most popular summer post-climb shoes of the year is now winter-ready
The post The Arc’teryx Kragg Shoe is Now Insulated appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The Arc'teryx Kragg Shoe is Now Insulated - Gripped Magazine

One of the most popular summer post-climb shoes of the year is now winter-ready

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

#freeclimbing #rockclimbing #climbing #sportclimbing #bouldering

Watch a video featuring the history-making ascent in 2014 by Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter
The post Women’s Speed Record on The Nose in Yosemite appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Women's Speed Record on The Nose in Yosemite - Gripped Magazine

Watch a video featuring the history-making ascent in 2014 by Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Coach and elite climber Cameron Hörst highlights three all-too-common hang ups for sport climbers—and how to train them away.

https://www.climbing.com/skills/training/common-climbing-projecting-mistakes/

Short videos featuring the strong American on V16s and one V17
The post Daniel Woods Climbing Five of His Hardest appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Daniel Woods Climbing Five of His Hardest - Gripped Magazine

Short videos featuring the strong American on V16s and one V17

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Following #plants in the crags: MIREN rock face survey https://the3dlab.org/2024/01/23/following-plants-in-the-crags-miren-rock-face-survey/

"cliff #vegetation, and the influence of rock #climbing on it, is pretty unique: rock faces often cover strong microclimatic gradients, resulting in a unique vegetation of species at either the warm or cool edge of their distribution. This unique vegetation often consists of (locally) rare species with very patchy distribution"

In a new film, Fitzgerald tackles a few of the state's most impressive lines
The post David Fitzgerald Climbing Hard California Blocs appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

David Fitzgerald Climbing Hard California Blocs - Gripped Magazine

In a new film, Fitzgerald tackles a few of the state's most impressive lines

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Erwan Legrand, son of Francois Legrand, has made the first ascent of an old project
The post Son of French Legend Climbs New 5.14c appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Son of French Legend Climbs New 5.14c - Gripped Magazine

Erwan Legrand, son of Francois Legrand, has made the first ascent of an old project

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

New footage of the accomplished German climber on a hard new project has been released
The post Alex Megos Projecting Possible 5.15+ in U.S.A. appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Alex Megos Projecting Possible 5.15+ in U.S.A. - Gripped Magazine

New footage of the accomplished German climber on a hard new project has been released

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

I was told it must’ve been awful for a person like me to spend the large majority of days locked down in a cell. Every “awful” thing is an opportunity for the spirit to rise above.   Words and art by Isaac Wright, published in Volume 22, now available   The truth is that nature…

Drifter Shoots, A Photo Essay by Isaac Wright

I was told it must’ve been awful for a person like me to spend the large majority of days locked down in a cell. Every “awful” thing is an opportunity for the…

The Climbing Zine (climbingzine.com)

The Blizzard of Aahhh's hit theatres 36 years ago - watch the fill movie below
The post This is One of the Best Ski Movies Ever Made appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

This is One of the Best Ski Movies Ever Made - Gripped Magazine

The Blizzard of Aahhh's hit theatres 36 years ago - watch the full movie below

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)