Skip to content

The 10 Best Summer Crags

General News

Suggested topics


  • The Prescription—January

    General News climbing
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    28 Views
    American Alpine ClubA
    It’s bouldering season in Hueco Tanks, Texas. While most consider bouldering relatively safe, it is perhaps the most accident- and injury-plagued facet of climbing. This month we bring you an accident that took place in 2024 on a famous John Sherman highball called See Spot Run.   This accident will be featured in the 2025 Accidents in North American Climbing. On January 22, I (Pete Korpics, 35) was attempting to climb a long-standing project of mine called See Spot Run (V6). I was well aware of the risks involved and that it would require ample padding.  During previous sessions, I had placed six or more pads in a wide area including the back of the fall zone. Six pads or more is ideal, but I was admittedly negligent on the day of the accident, as I felt I’d complete the route and was excited to do it. I also felt that the pad number and pad placement—five total and not as wide as prior attempts—was adequate, given the presence of two spotters. I felt very strong getting to the crux. After pulling through the crux, I got very pumped, lost momentum, and hesitated. We all know that moment when you feel uncertain about the next move. In those moments we tell ourselves, “Do it anyway.” Sometimes this works, but often it doesn’t. In this case, I fell.  I fell from roughly 15 feet up, with quite a bit of force. My spotters were hesitant to put their bodies in harm’s way. I had told them that, above the crux, staying clear was the best thing to do. Having two people injured is worse than one.  Due to the momentum of the fall and the poor pad placement, my left foot hit the rock and right foot hit the pad. I severely sprained my ankle. It was probably not helpful that it has in the past received the same injury.   Bouldering is inherently dangerous, and highball problems particularly so. Besides being a four-star John Sherman classic, See Spot Run is a notorious ankle breaker. It is 25 feet tall and described on Mountainproject.com as “one of the more notorious highball problems at Hueco.” During the same season that Korpics had his accident, other falls from the route caused multiple ankle sprains. Keep ‘Em On The Pad! On highballs, the impact forces of a falling climber can be equally hazardous to the spotter. The general rule for highballs (and all bouldering for that matter) is to ensure that the falling climber lands on the pads and stays on the pads after impact. Spotting might look less like controlling and guiding the fall, and more like giving the falling climber a shove to keep them on the pads. The spotter(s) should also protect the head and neck from striking bare ground, rocks, etc. Korpics wrote to ANAC: ”Preventable action would have included better pad placement and more pads. We could have used thinner pads to cover gaps between pads. This accident may also have been prevented by assertive spotting, and a strong shove from one of the spotters would have landed me on the pads. That possibility was negated because I had instructed my spotters to stand clear if I fell from above the crux. “Confidence should not lead to complacency,” he continued. “I’d been climbing a lot and climbing well, including numerous highballs prior to the accident, so I’d let my guard down. I do not blame the spotters, as I had given them specific instructions. I had placed the pads, I chose to climb despite knowing more pads would be better, and the injury was my fault.” (Sources: Pete Korpics, Mountainproject.com, and the Editors.) https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/1/14/the-prescriptionjanuary
  • 0 Votes
    1 Posts
    24 Views
    climbingC
    Thankfully the climber was unharmed—though could have easily been gored. https://www.climbing.com/videos/climber-makes-big-mistake-fall/
  • Sean Bailey adds Alphane (Font 9A) to CV

    General News climbing
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    21 Views
    climber-magazineC
    Sean Bailey has made the sixth ascent of Shawn Raboutou’s bouldering testpiece Alphane in Switzerland https://www.climber.co.uk/news/sean-bailey-adds-alphane-font-9a-to-cv/
  • A 65-day Climbing Expedition to Greenland

    General News climbing
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    40 Views
    GrippedG
    Watch Sea to Summit, a film that features a multi-month adventure in the Arctic to establish new big wall routes The post A 65-day Climbing Expedition to Greenland appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/a-65-day-climbing-expedition-to-greenland/
  • 0 Votes
    1 Posts
    36 Views
    UK ClimbingU
    Mick Fowler and Victor Saunders have made the first ascent of Yawash Sar in the Karakoram. 40 years after their first trip to Pakistan, Fowler and Saunders returned to the country and climbed the north west face of the 6,258m peak, reaching the... https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=775219
  • A Journey Through Time by Adam Ferro

    General News climbing climbingzine
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    32 Views
    ClimbingZineC
    https://climbingzine.com/a-journey-through-time-by-adam-ferro/
  • 18-Year-Old Led 16 Hikers to Safety in Wildfire

    General News climbing
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    56 Views
    GrippedG
    Jasper National Park officials have given an update on how much of the town of Jasper was destroyed by the fire The post 18-Year-Old Led 16 Hikers to Safety in Wildfire appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/18-year-old-led-16-hikers-to-safety-in-wildfire/
  • Badass Bouldering Week | Climbing Daily Ep. 2428

    Videos climbing
    1
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    38 Views
    EpicTVE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmiVmcgNwmA