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An easy-to-use lightweight option that will make your days at the crag safer and more fun
The post The New Metolius Basic Stick Clip appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
An easy-to-use lightweight option that will make your days at the crag safer and more fun
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
A great tent for all of your backcountry adventures this summer
The post Review for the New MSR Elixir 3 Tent appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
A great tent for all of your backcountry adventures this summer
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
At some point in my early to midtwenties, I came to the conclusion that life is not about rock climbing. There’s just too much other crazy shit happening every day on this beautiful clump of space dust. The older I get, however, the more I realize that climbing is most certainly about life. At the…
Vic Zeilman’s essay about soloing Lurking Fear on El Capitan. Published in The Climbing Zine Book, now available in hardcover.
The Climbing Zine (climbingzine.com)
After making the long-awaited second ascent of Hunkster's Roof V14, Salvo explored a sit-start version of the problem
The post Ethan Salvo Opens The Youngster’s Roof V15 in Squamish appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
After making the long-awaited second ascent of Hunkster's Roof V14, Salvo explored a sit-start version of the problem
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
His first time on the summit of Everest was back in 1994
The post Kami Rita Sherpa Climbs Everest for Record 31st Time appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
His first time on the summit of Everest was back in 1994
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
Crown Royale in Norway is considered the hardest crack climb in the world
The post Jernej Kruder Climbs 5.14d Trad in Norway appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Pete Whittaker's Crown Royale is considered the hardest crack climb in the world
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
Authorities had issued an evacuation order in the Swiss village before the event
The post Village Buried by Massive Collapsed Glacier appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
Authorities had issued an evacuation order in the Swiss village before the event
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
Last weekend, the IFSC World Cup circuit landed in the home of US competition climbing, Salt Lake City, for the third boulder World Cup of the season.
This is the newest big climb to be added to the granite walls on Baffin Island
The post New 19-Pitch Big Wall Route Took 23 Days appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
This is the newest big climb to be added to the granite walls on Baffin Island
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
After sending The Full Journey, Sleeping Lion, and Neanderthal, Fight or Flight will have to wait for another season
The post Stefano Ghisolfi Battling Chris Sharma’s Fight or Flight 5.15b appeared first on Gripped Magazine.
After sending The Full Journey, Sleeping Lion, and Neanderthal, Fight or Flight will have to wait for another season
Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)
Jernej Kruder has made the second ascent of Pete Whittaker'sJssingfjord trad route Crown Royale, 9a.
Yosemite's iconic granite walls draw climbers, hikers, and outdoor recreationists from all over the world. Big wall climbers spend long days on El Cap and Half Dome above the valley floor, attempting free ascents or classic aid climbs. Due to the park's growing popularity, reservations and permit systems have been implemented. Climbing is no exception.
In 2021, Yosemite NPS began a two-year big wall permit system pilot program in hopes it would help climbing rangers understand patterns on the wall and minimize negative impacts on the landscape through education. In January 2023, the permit program became permanent, and now all climbers staying overnight on big walls are required to have a permit.
As with everything in the climbing community, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding this, as seen on Reddit and Mountain Project threads over the past couple of years. Climbers speculated: Would the rangers be enforcing a quota? Would these permits be available 24/7, or would reservations need to be made in advance? Would climbers have to use the dreaded recreation.gov?
Through the permit system, big wall permits are free and available for climbers to self-register 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, near the El Capitan Bridge at a kiosk near the food lockers. There is no quota for routes.
In addition to timed permits, during peak hours (6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Memorial Day weekend, any day between June 15 and August 15, or Labor Day weekend), climbers must make reservations to enter the park. This is a timed entry reservation that is also used at other parks, such as Zion National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Arches National Park, allowing the park to regulate the influx of visitors.
There is no formal check-in with the rangers after climbing (or bailing). Yosemite climbing rangers and stewards use the information they gather from the permit system to update an Instagram account that reports on big wall traffic. The Instagram's daily posts include information for the number of people on popular climbs like Freerider/Salathe, Zodiac, and Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome.
"It is a work in progress, but we are trying to find a sustainable way to get that information out to climbers so that people can disperse from crowded routes if they want," said Yosemite Climbing Ranger Cameron King. The feedback the rangers have received on the account has been positive.
Below, we've created a guide to help you navigate your next Yosemite trip filled with all the fine print and details to minimize route finding off the wall.
Climbers and other visitors who plan on entering Yosemite National Park between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. from June 15 thru August 15, 2025, or during Memorial and Labor Day weekends, will require reservations. Visitors holding a Half Dome or wilderness permit, in-park camping or lodging reservations, or en
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
Wildfires are no longer a distant threat, they are a growing reality for climbing areas across the United States. From the devastation we saw in the Sierras in 2021 to more recent fires in the Southeast, this year fires at Woodcock Cove, Table Rock State Park, and Green River Game Lands have left a
Access Fund (www.accessfund.org)
Before there were 8a.nu leaderboards and Mountain Project ticklists, before there were beta videos and newspaper articles for every cutting-edge ascent, there was a word-of-mouth understanding of who was setting the standard of the day.
Pushing the standard of climbing at the Gunks has proven to be key in the history of climbing in the United States, and any connoisseur of climbing history will know the names of Fritz Wiessner, Hans Kraus, Jim McCarthy, John Stannard, Steve Wunsch, and John Bragg—all AAC members by the way. But what often gets overlooked in the whispers of rowdy Vulgarian parties, naked climbing antics, and strict leader qualifications that swirl around Gunks history are the distinct contributions of women to Gunks climbing. A central figure in this story is the unique character Bonnie Prudden.
First, we must set the scene. Prudden was most active climbing in the Gunks in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when climbing on rock was done in sneakers with a hemp rope. Rather than boldness, a strict no-falls attitude pre-vailed, and good judgment was prized over achieving the next cutting-edge grade. Pitons and aid climbing were status quo, and without a priority on pushing the limits of the sport, the time period was considered non-competitive. While Wiessner, Kraus, Prudden, and others were climbing 5.7s (even occasionally 5.8), most climbers stuck to routes rated 5.2–5.4.
Climbing in the Gunks started with Fritz Wiessner, who went on a developing tear starting in 1935. He and Hans Kraus would be the leading developers of the area until the late 1950s, collectively establishing 56 of the 58 multi-pitch climbs put up in that period. In 30 of those first ascents, Prudden played a role, and she wasn’t just tagging along.
With competition on the back burner, the significance of leading was murky. Some of the climbers at the time proclaimed that there wasn’t a big difference between leading and following. However, the great tension and division that would characterize the Gunks’ history— between the Appalachian Mountain Club climbers (Appies) and the rebel Vulgarians that opposed their rules—came down to the question of regulating leading. The Appies, the dominant climbing force in the Gunks until the Vulgarians and other rabble-rousers splintered the scene in the 1960s, created a lead qualification system, determining who could lead at any given level. Alternatively, some climbers were designated as “unlimited leaders,” who didn’t need approval to lead specific routes.
Although they were painted as control freaks by the Vulgarians, the truth behind why the Appie crowd was so invested in regulating leading (and minimizing the risk inherent in climbing) was because they were keenly aware of the generosity of the Smileys, the landowners who looked the other way as climbers galavanted around on the excellent stone of the Trapps and Sky Top.
Bonnie Prudden was lucky enough to rise above all of the drama. As a close friend and frequent climbing partner of Hans Kraus’s (who was obviously an “unlimited leader,” being one of the first, and much-exalted, developers of the area), Prudden had frequent access to new, difficult climbs. In interviews with researcher Laura Waterman, Prudden relayed that in the early years, while climbing with her then husband, Dick Hirschland, she always led because of their significant weight difference. Later she took the lead simply because of her skill, tutored by Kraus and Wiessner.
Prudden took her first leader fall on the 5.6 Madame G (Madame Grunnebaum’s Wulst) and recalls catching a fall from Kraus only four times. At the time, 5.7 and 5.8 was the very top of the scale, and Prudden was keeping up—and sometimes showing off.
The story of the first ascent of Bonnie’s Roof, now free climbed at 5.9, is often held up as proof of Prudden’s talent, and rightfully so. But the gaps in the story and the fuzziness of Prudden’s memory of it might reveal more than the accomplishment itself.
On that day in 1952, Prudden thought the intimidating roof “looked like the bottom of a boat jutting out from the cliff,” as she wrote in an article about the climb in Alpinist 14, published in 2005.
Overhanging climbing was still a frontier to explore, but Kraus was a man on the hunt for exposure, rather than difficulty. It just so happened that the massive overlapping tiers of Bonnie’s Roof would provide both.
Prudd...
Setting the Standard By the Editors Before there were 8a.nu leaderboards and Mountain Project ticklists, before there were beta videos and newspaper articles for every cutting-edge ascent, there was a word-of-mouth understanding of who was setting the standard of the day. Pushing the standard
American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)
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