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It starts with a plan like a break in the clouds. We set out thinking on the lines, the foods, the sunrises and campfires, the saving up. And then you set to with the forty-second aspen tree planted that day, the twenty-third special with sauce on the side, the eighty-first stone laid, the fifteenth pair… https://climbingzine.com/patience-chris-schulte/

“I am glad / For every thought that puts my memory / On my past time.” —Michelangelo   This piece is published in Volume 19 of The Climbing Zine. Banner photo of Layton Kor by Paul Mayrose   Nothing slowed Layton Kor. April, 1962, he drove to Yosemite with Jack Turner and wrote me a… https://climbingzine.com/not-for-me-to-wonder-why-an-early-ascent-of-the-naked-edge-with-layton-kor-by-pat-ament/

The distinction between a “climber” and “someone who climbs” has always fascinated me; it’s a nuance I’ve observed throughout a decade of routesetting, teaching, and exploring anyplace I could find rock. These observations started small, with friends who found the sport around the same time I did. Gradually, one by one, they stopped telling people,… https://climbingzine.com/get-sends-or-die-tryin-by-devin-dabney/

I started seeing it sometime last year, and it got a small chuckle out of me then: #bitchesonpitches. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered: in a world full of bad bitches and rich bitches and boss bitches and basic ones too, what does that word even mean anymore? by Kathy… https://climbingzine.com/i-got-99-problems-and-a-bitch-is-one-by-kathy-karlo/

A roommate and dear friend of mine used to talk both eloquently and incessantly about her Purple Rabbit. She would describe its power, its pleasuring capabilities with the benefits of independence and non-attachment. Often I thought she shared to entertain our friends’ appalled reactions, although over time, I realized her serious appreciation for her rabbit.… https://climbingzine.com/the-crimson-bunny-going-at-it-alone-by-alexis-mclean/

Fifteen meters up Rutabaga, a moderate 5.9 splitter at the base of Squamish, BC’s Stawamus Chief, stretches a traverse between cracks. The move crosses jugs and offers fine, slabby feet, but still, I find it exhilarating. In fact, for reasons related only slantwise to climbing, it is exactly the sort of move that I seek… https://climbingzine.com/a-knot-like-infinity-by-north-bennett/

Ring the bells in elegy For the last engine Of the last Saturn On (semi) permanent loan From the buddy of the last dirtbag To struggle off rock You were bitching the other day That the artists weren’t starving anymore That the spirit was no longer willing to suffer for it maybe, But the flesh… https://climbingzine.com/elegy-for-the-apparent-last-true-dirtbag-a-poem/

The Dirtbag is Dead, the second version by The Dead Dirtbag, Mike Handzlik. Stickers are available to order now. Shirts and hoodies coming soon. (Including our first ever tie die.) Order stickers here: https://shop.climbingzine.com/collections/stickers https://climbingzine.com/the-dirtbag-is-dead-2/

In 2016 at the International Climbers’ Festival in Lander, Wyoming, we held a “love letter to climbing” contest. Ana Ally was the winner, this is her letter. Enjoy.  Banner photo of the author by Scott Keating Climbing, my love. As I sit here, I struggle to find the right words to describe you. I am about… https://climbingzine.com/love-letter-climbing-ana-ally/

Think back over your climbing career. I bet you’ll find a climb—or two—that define you. These won’t be your hardest sends necessarily. They will be the beautiful ones, the scary ones, the ones that came into your life at just the right time. The ones that tested you, that possessed you, that shaped your character… https://climbingzine.com/texas-tower-redux-by-josh-smith/

Jimmie Dunn is perhaps the first person who envisioned single-pitch climbing in Indian Creek. In the mid-1970s, he walked up to an unclimbed Supercrack and thought, This place is going to be great for training someday. I was first introduced to Jimmie by Stewart Green, who is seen in this photo bouldering in the Fringe… https://climbingzine.com/the-last-pitch-from-volume-25/

If I close my eyes and never awaken  A thousand adventures I hope to have taken Some with family and some with friends All of them undoubtedly cherished in the end  So don’t sit inside and cry, “boohoo”  Feelin’ sorry for me and feelin’ like poo Instead get yourself where there are no crowds Look… https://climbingzine.com/dans-poem-by-dan-escalante/

Joshua Tree National Park is a refuge. I don’t know if I’d decided this by then, sitting folded into the crook of Cyclops Rock, but I felt it. The stone bench was smooth, from water and wind and hands and feet and seats, narrow enough to let our legs dangle over the edge, leaning back… https://climbingzine.com/icons-danger-desert-medicine-birch-malotky/

We are running a sale on our back issues (Volumes 12 – 24) , to score 50% off, good through this weekend. Here’s the link to use: https://shop.climbingzine.com/discount/NEWSLETTER50ZINES https://climbingzine.com/score-50-off-on-back-issues/

“There’s someone on that off-width you wanted to do.”   I pause—midstride—and look up to see someone hanging out halfway up the climb I was hoping to get on. I push my scratched Dollar Store sunglasses up over my head and use my hand to shield my eyes instead. The day is already hot, and… https://climbingzine.com/so-you-got-your-knee-stuck-by-kaya-lindsay/

I am continually amazed and supported by the collectors of The Climbing Zine. Over 15 years of publishing there have been plenty of ups and downs, but the support of the climbing community has always been constant. I am an artist first and a businessperson second, so I’ve learned, and continue to learn lessons, often… https://climbingzine.com/sell-out-the-zine-volume-25-and-zine-collecting/

Let me die on the rock Doesn’t matter which one Something sunny and remote Away from the dummies and remotes   by Luke Mehall, publisher of The Climbing Zine. Photo by Jake Burchmore, published in Volume 22    Not that I’m not a dummy too I’m just a different kind of fool The artist living… https://climbingzine.com/let-me-die-on-the-rock-a-poem-by-luke-mehall/

It’s a dingy bar. Dark and musty. Where, I’m not exactly sure, but there is a feeling of sadness that radiates on every level. The light trickling through dusty, half-drawn shades is not telling of any particular time of day, perhaps evening. Weak rays of sunlight barely cut through the haze that lingers at the… https://climbingzine.com/hypoxic-dreams-by-vic-zeilman/

Luke Mehall reads “The Dirtbags Aren’t Dead, They’re Just In Mexico” published in the new issue of The Climbing Zine, Volume 25, now available. Photo by Ivan Ioza https://shop.climbingzine.com/ Our sponsors for Season 6:  Kilter: http://settercloset.com (email holds@kiltergrips.com for more information) Scarpa: www.scarpa.com Mountain Project / OnX: https://www.mountainproject.com/ Osprey: https://www.osprey.com/ Black Diamond: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/ https://climbingzine.com/the-dirtbags-arent-dead-theyre-just-in-mexico/

I guess you could call it a town. It’s open three or four months per year. Driving east, hues of dark green, azure, and gold flicker along the extended cracks on the windshield. A serpentine road curves through pine forests and atop steep inclines, tracing edges of valleys, the rim of the lake. by Alexa… https://climbingzine.com/old-lady-tuolumne-alexa-flower/