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Yeah, we are star matter from the big bang   And that love ain’t far behind you   Love ain’t far behind   —Ani DiFranco, “Star Matter”   We looked for god in the wet heather, the crumbling talus, the heinous gully, and the father-son fishing trip. How can the same god that crafts this… https://climbingzine.com/echoes-of-expansion-taking-our-gear-for-a-walk-in-the-north-cascades-by-katie-griffith/

“We’re not sponsoring The Climbing Zine, because we’re only doing digital ads this year,” my contact at Patagonia told me.  This was a setback I’d been anticipating — Patagonia has pulled back from a few different long term sponsorships — but to hear these words directly, from my long term business colleague who represents the… https://climbingzine.com/keeping-the-zine-alive-after-losing-patagonia/

Long before we decide, the path is carved for us. Sliced through existence to be forged for this one, and beyond. The goals we strive for in this life, the roles we thrive in, the roads we stride on, all to guide us through the night of our own inner selves, as we run from… https://climbingzine.com/arnos-dragon-by-devin-dabney-a-poem/

As we move towards publishing Volume 25 and wrap up our Keep The Zine alive campaign, one of our readers sent over an idea: “What if I pay for 50% off the next 25 subscribers”? If you’ve been waiting for a deal to subscribe, this is it, here’s the link, good for the next 25 people… https://climbingzine.com/anonymous-donor-covering-50-off-for-25-subscribers/

The black-and-white photograph is small and square, half a century old, showing my grandmother posing in front of the dark, mysterious walls of the Black Canyon. As I study the image, I quickly realize that she is witnessing a time period in 1961 when there is not a single documented rock climb of any significance… https://climbingzine.com/reflections-in-the-black-by-vic-zeilman/

SHOP https://climbingzine.com/5-6-tanks-are-here/

Introducing our first ever mixtape from The Climbing Zine. The Microdose Mixtape pairs Luke Mehall’s spoken word poetry, with the music of Devin Dabney. Enjoy. Merch is available here: https://shop.climbingzine.com/ Tapes and vinyl will be available shortly https://climbingzine.com/introducing-the-microdose-mixtape/

Way back when, which seems like not so long ago, your guidebooks tended to be a few pages of the barest drab info. Stapled, folded, printed in black and white, with a poor font and a quick-to-mellow yellowish cover of a slightly higher poundage of press that, nevertheless, tended to feature a look like they… https://climbingzine.com/comin-in-from-the-top-by-chris-schulte/

“Keep dreamin’, stay hungry, and remember that there is no finish line.”    This quote by Todd Skinner in the opening pages of the book Hangdog Days by Jeff Smoot gave me chills the first time I read it. In the pages that followed, I felt history come to life as I read tale after… https://climbingzine.com/staying-hungry-on-the-salathe-by-brittany-goris-full-story/

The sun’s last rays glance across the underside of a cloud-swept November sky as it sets south of the La Sal Mountains’ pointed peaks. The light, poking through a swath of blue above the horizon, sets the cloud bellies on fire, creating a tapestry of orange and gold and pale gray, and bathing Lost World… https://climbingzine.com/a-campfire-tale-with-the-old-man-in-the-desert-by-stewart-m-green/

“If this climb doesn’t blow you away, nothing will,” James ventured as he hit the brakes. “I still can’t believe that Earl and I did it.”   We hopped out of the Youth Challenge Bus and ambled over to the abrupt rim of a dark abyss at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. Never… https://climbingzine.com/in-the-company-of-friends-by-ed-webster/

Dearest Luke, I have been meaning to write to you for some time, but I have Zine 23 fresh on my mind and some spare time, so here it goes. I don’t even know where to begin with this. My name is Tavish, and I’m a twenty-three-year-old climber from Seattle. I managed to end up… https://climbingzine.com/a-letter-to-the-zine-by-tavish-hansen/

“Life can be rugged and cold, or smooth and exciting. The climb these two have just performed today symbolizes life and all of its trials and excitements,” read our officiant. “…All love is enclosed in our love: / all thirst ends in our embrace,” I read, starting an excerpt from “Ode and Burgeonings” by Pablo… https://climbingzine.com/long-life-endures-climber-wedding-sara-aranda/

We are psyched to announce that our next “Zine Thing” will be at Wild Iris Mountain Sports in Lander, Wyoming on Thursday, June 27th. The event is FREE. Luke Mehall will tell stories from The Zine, and we’ll also include stories from the audience. Have a story you’d like to tell? Please contact Luke at… https://climbingzine.com/zine-thing-in-lander-on-july-27th-at-wild-iris-mountain-sports/

Climbing with a pack on is the worst. It’s heavy, it’s awkward, and you don’t even use half its contents in the end anyway. I was stuck, by all accounts of the word. I couldn’t go up; I couldn’t go down; I couldn’t go sideways. I was stuck. And it was all because of this… https://climbingzine.com/eleventh-hour-half-dome-jason-haas/

A conversation with Taylor Luneau. Taylor discovered climbing after an injury derailed his ice hockey career. Taylor and Luke have a wide ranging conversation from local climbing organizations to the relationship of climate change and ice climbing, and much more. Plus in the outro is the premiere of the poem 5.6+ from the upcoming Microdose…<hr /><p><a href="https://climbingzine.com/from-the-ice-rink-to-the-ice-climb-with-taylor-luneau/">https://climbingzine.com/from-the-ice-rink-to-the-ice-climb-with-taylor-luneau/</a>

Though I’ve been dangling off the cliffs of Yosemite for twenty-plus years now, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with intimidation at the base of the roof crack known as Separate Reality.   Taylor and I had just rappelled in, and it was his lead, which was just fine with me. Taylor is a relatively…<hr /><p><a href="https://climbingzine.com/to-live-and-die-in-yosemite-by-luke-mehall/">https://climbingzine.com/to-live-and-die-in-yosemite-by-luke-mehall/</a>

Score Volumes 14 – 23 + three dope stickers for $59.99. Shop the sale Shop the sale <hr /><p><a href="https://climbingzine.com/all-back-issues-sale-1000-pages-of-the-zine-stickers-for-59-99/">https://climbingzine.com/all-back-issues-sale-1000-pages-of-the-zine-stickers-for-59-99/</a>

A black fin of sandstone protrudes from the right side of the crack. I pinch it like a tufa and look up at the iron ring. Next stop, ring, I tell myself. Feet up, then hands. I layback the crack for a few moves and then pull in to stand atop the fin. It wiggles…<hr /><p><a href="https://climbingzine.com/traumzeit-sandstone-dreamtime-by-tanager/">https://climbingzine.com/traumzeit-sandstone-dreamtime-by-tanager/</a>

It was that familiar feeling you get when you finish a big climb—that immense wash of relief that climbers all know, when you finally touch down from that last rappel, and you are once again planted on solid ground. It’s a bittersweet transition from the transcendental vertical realm to the horizontal plane of the ordinary.…<hr /><p><a href="https://climbingzine.com/guerreras-by-zach-clanton-an-excerpt-from-volume-24/">https://climbingzine.com/guerreras-by-zach-clanton-an-excerpt-from-volume-24/</a>