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In addition to freeing The Nose via the 5.13 V9 Schnoz variation—marking a first for the route—Puman also ticked off a laundry list of hard lines, from boulders to big walls
The post Recap: Hannes Puman’s Mind-Blowing First Visit to Yosemite appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Recap: Hannes Puman’s Mind-Blowing First Visit to Yosemite - Gripped Magazine

In addition to freeing The Nose via the 5.13 V9 Schnoz variation—marking a first for the route—Puman also ticked off a laundry list of hard lines, from boulders to big walls

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Finishing up tonight's indoor session with a low-level traverse, and I found a "Hero" sized mini Double Decker hidden in a hold!! #Climbing #IndoorClimbing #CragSwag

"To be an excellent boulderer, one must work through all the displeasure of moves that feel unnatural," says American writer Francis Sanzaro
The post Five excerpts from The Craft of Bouldering, a must-have new book appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Five Excerpts from 'The Craft of Bouldering', a Must-Have New Book - Gripped Magazine

"To be an excellent boulderer, one must work through all the displeasure of moves that feel unnatural," says American writer Francis Sanzaro

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Hannes Puman becomes first to send the alt pitch to Changing Corners

https://www.climbing.com/news/the-schnoz-the-nose-el-cap/

UK Sport has announced investment of 2.775 million of government and National Lottery funding in Sport Climbing and Paraclimbing ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. 2,275,000 has been allocated to further develop the existing British Mountaineering Council/GB Climbing Sport Climbing programme, while 500,000 will fund the c...

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(www.ukclimbing.com)

Ice is a fickle medium that is hard to assess. This month we’re highlighting an accident report from ANAC 2023 involving a leader fall that was compounded by pulled protection. Though the climber was very experienced, this accident underlines that even as more people climb ice than ever before, it takes years of experience to accurately gauge conditions. Also, climate change is increasing the hazards of rockfall, avalanches, ice collapse, and generally warmer ice.
Utah County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue was dispatched at 11:09 a.m. on December 26 to aid an ice climber who had fallen from the first pitch of Finger of Fate (3 pitches, WI4+) in Provo Canyon.
The climber, Tim Thompson (29), was nearing the end of the first pitch when ice sheared from under his left foot. He wrote to ANAC that he was “pushed forward into my ice tools and my relaxed grip caused me to fall.” Thompson’s uppermost screw pulled out of the ice, causing him to fall a total of 50 feet.
Utah County team members arrived and, with the help of the climbers already on scene, evaluated the ice conditions, established an equalized anchor with six screws at the base of the climb, and developed a plan to move the patient horizontally about 100 feet over steep, slippery terrain to a five-by-ten-foot ledge that was out of the rockfall and icefall area. Conditions were deteriorating, the ice was becoming less cohesive as temperatures rose, and rocks were starting to fall.
A Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter crew did a reconnaissance of the ledge and determined that it would be a suitable place for a hoist operation. The patient was then short-hauled from the ledge to a nearby parking lot, where an ambulance was waiting. He was airlifted to a hospital and assessed to have two broken vertebrae, a broken elbow, torn ligaments in an elbow, and a badly broken left wrist.
Warm conditions make ice climbing hazardous. Recalls Thompson: “The weather was warm the day before. Temps overnight were about 28°F for almost 10 or 12 hours and were hovering around 31°F or 32°F while climbing. We felt confident that the ice had had enough time to heal, and that as long as we climbed quickly, we were in no danger.”
Running water, heat retained by the underlying rock, and even indirect solar radiation can prevent ice from refreezing. The warm temperatures also affected the quality of Thompson’s protection. He wrote to ANAC, “When I put in the last ice screw, the ice was really soft. Up until the last quarter of the route, the ice [had been] really healthy and the screw placements were really good. I got several really solid screws lower on the route, and the second-to-last one (the one that caught me) was in really bomber ice.”
Thompson did well to place extra gear that he might have dismissed as unnecessary. Before the final section of the pitch, he says, “I remember pulling onto the ice after a ledge rest and deciding to step back down and place a high screw. I knew that would be a lot of protection, as the last screw was just below my feet. But if I had not placed this screw, I would have hit the deck from almost 100 feet up. Things could have been a lot worse.”

Sources: Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue and Tim Thompson.

Warm conditions make ice climbing hazardous. Pete Takeda, editor of Accidents in North American Climbing, and IMGA/AMGA Guide Jason Antin are back to explain the hazards ice climbers face in warm conditions, such as protection pulling, poor tool placements, and shearing crampons.

Producers: Shane Johnson and Sierra McGivney; Videographer: Foster Denney; Editor: Sierra McGivney

Location: Silver Plume Falls, Silver Plume, CO

Over time an ice climber learns to gauge conditions and most importantly, when to go for it and when to back off. This is a long and experience-based learning curve. The biggest lesson is: If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Whether a novice or an experienced ice climber, don’t factor luck into your decision-making.
Utah guide Derek DeBruin’s flowchart is a handy tool to assess ice climbing decision-making on any given day:

This flowchart can assist in managing hazards by helping determine the stability of the ice, the effectiveness of ice screw...

The Prescription—Fall on Ice | Protection Pulled Out — American Alpine Club

Ice is a fickle medium that is hard to assess. This month we’re highlighting an accident report from ANAC 2023 involving a leader fall that was compounded by pulled protection. Though the climber was very experienced, this accident underlines that even as more people climb ice than ever b

American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org)

The World Cup circuit is coming back to Colorado in 2025
The post Denver to Host Its First-Ever World Cup appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Denver to Host Its First-Ever World Cup - Gripped Magazine

The World Cup circuit is coming back to Colorado in 2025

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Print magazines last longer than internet sites, they read better and have higher-quality images
The post Six Reasons to Buy Climbing Magazines appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Six Reasons to Buy Climbing Magazines - Gripped Magazine

Print magazines last longer than internet sites, they read better and have higher-quality images

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

Bailey made the first ascent of one of the world's only V17 problems this year. Watch some of his most difficult sends to date below
The post 13 of Sean Bailey’s Hardest Rock Climbs appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

13 of Sean Bailey's Hardest Rock Climbs - Gripped Magazine

Bailey made the first ascent of one of the world's only V17 problems this year. Watch some of his most difficult sends to date below

Gripped Magazine (gripped.com)

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/