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    climber-magazineC
    Noah Wheeler continues his stellar 2025 form with the second ascent of Shaolin (Font 9A) at Red Rocks, Las Vegas. https://www.climber.co.uk/news/noah-wheeler-gets-second-ascent-of-shaolin-font-9a/
  • Your Quarterly Message From AAC Leadership

    General News climbing
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    American Alpine ClubA
    Originally published in Guidebook XIII Dear AAC Members, Thank you for taking the time to dive into this second edition of the AAC’s quarterly Guidebook. A lot of things are changing at the AAC, and we are energized by the new opportunities that these changes afford. We are re-envisioning our measurable impact and excited to further support our members in a way only the AAC can. This Guidebook is just that—your guide to the work that you make possible through your membership. When you read these stories— from celebrating volunteers like Maurice Chen, who is bringing our much-beloved Accidents in North American Climbing to international audiences (which you can read about in “Found in Translation”), or the shattering finding of member Eric Gilbertson that Rainier’s summit is shrinking ( in “The Height of Mountains”), to all the world-class climbing you can find at our cozy lodging facility at the New River Gorge, as well as the profound impact our grants program has on our members (as seen in “Sea to Summit” and “Life: An Objective Hazard”)—you’re seeing the AAC’s mission at work: the advancement of knowledge, inspiration, and advocacy. While we’re excited to share these stories with you, there is also a lot going on behind the scenes that hasn’t made it into a full-fledged story yet. Many of these happenings you can find highlighted in our “AAC Updates” section that follows. As we kick off this new year, we are also excited about ongoing projects that will shape the future of the AAC, like developing a new website, which will make it easier for our members to take advantage of their benefits. Finally, I want to take a moment to celebrate the impressive advocacy success that the AAC helped make possible at the end of 2024. The unanimous passage of the EXPLORE Act is a historic moment for recreationists, and as law, it will significantly expand access to our nation’s public lands and protect climbing in our beloved Wilderness areas. In December, the National Park Service also announced that they are discontinuing their proposed fixed anchor guidance; the AAC thanks the NPS for sensing the need to reevaluate the proposed regulations and looks forward to collaborating with them in the future on fixed anchor guidance. Looking forward, we are equipped to adapt our tactics to future challenges in order to advocate for the needs of our members, and all climbers. At the AAC, we’re pulled together by our passion for climbing, and that passion is woven throughout these pages. Our expansive grants, affordable lodging, significant research findings, impactful advocacy work, and more are only possible because of your membership, donations, and commitment to climbing. Nina Williams AAC Board President Operations and Governance Lodging Advocacy Education https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2025/2/10/ewld060rs1z9w881oz4awfrbwbiqmj
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    climbingC
    Plus a bonus clip of this climber lacing it! https://www.climbing.com/videos/falling-from-worlds-hardest-trad-route/
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    GrippedG
    I spoke with photographer Mike White to learn more about this historic image The post Now Available: Posters of First NIAD (Nose in a Day) appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/profiles/now-available-posters-of-first-niad-nose-in-a-day/
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    American Alpine ClubA
    The American Alpine Club will no longer host the Craggin’ Classic Series or the Hueco Rock Rodeo. We’re thrilled with the impact these events have had over the years and the ways they connected the climbing community. At the same time, we’re inspired by our new Strategic Plan and are confident that we are equipped to deliver even greater impact for climbers with this plan guiding the AAC’s activities for the next three years. The AAC ran the Craggin’ Classic Series for 13 years, and we're proud of the positive impact those events had on climbers and communities over that time. Nina Williams, AAC Board President, first connected with the Club through the Craggin’ series, and she is not alone. It is certainly true the Craggin’s were a party with a heart, and they truly epitomized bringing the community together over a passion for climbing. Across the 13 years of this series, we estimate that we've served over 30,000 attendees and nearly 8,000 clinic participants. Those same participants have given back to the local crags that host these events with well over 10,000 stewardship hours. Additionally, the AAC hosted the Hueco Rock Rodeo event for over a decade, and we're proud to have played a role in responsibly introducing thousands of climbers from around the globe to this amazing landscape and world-class bouldering destination. The Rodeo focused on encouraging climbers to challenge themselves through friendly competition while fostering a strong sense of community. It was also an important vehicle to introduce many climbers to the ethics of respecting a fragile landscape and the Indigenous communities that share this land. We’re excited to continue to be a conduit for responsible climbing in Hueco through our iconic lodging facility, the Hueco Rock Ranch.  We look forward to continuing to serve our members, engage local communities, and celebrate climbing through both new and existing initiatives. Please visit this page to learn more about the recently adopted AAC Strategic Plan. https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2024/11/1/n64m60v6pfx6iq6unz2d46lbd7o5zy
  • Katie Lamb Scales Equanimity V15

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    GrippedG
    Jimmy Webb called the problem a "contender for the hardest technical boulder in the world" The post Katie Lamb Scales Equanimity V15 appeared first on Gripped Magazine. https://gripped.com/news/katie-lamb-scales-equanimity-v15/
  • The Line — July 2024

    General News climbing
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    American Alpine ClubA
    It’s prime season for climbing in the high peaks of the western United States, so we’re sharing six brand-new mountain routes from six states around the West. AAC Members: Get a Sneak Preview of the AAJ right now! AAC members can now download a PDF of the complete 2024 AAJ. Log in at your member profile and click the Publications tab to download your sneak preview. Physical copies of the 2024 AAJ will start going into the mail next month. Nathan Hadley and friends spent more than 25 days establishing and free climbing Bluebell (2,000’, 5.13-), the first free route up the North Norwegian Buttress of Mt. Index. About one-third of the bolt-protected route’s 21pitches are overhanging. Hadley believes it’s one of the steepest long free climbs in North America (“Imagine two of Yosemite’s Leaning Towers, with sections of slab before, in between, and after.”) Hadley’s AAJ report describes the arduous effort to establish the climb and also offers a touching tribute to one of his partners on the route: Michal Rynkiewicz, who died in a rappelling accident soon after this climb was completed. The East Buttress of Aiguille Extra, a 14,048-foot satellite of Mt. Whitney, was first climbed in 1978 with a bit of aid. Forty-five years later, James Holland and Cam Smith freed the 10-pitch route at 5.10+, adding a three-pitch direct start. In AAJ 2024, Smith writes, “James and I hope the free version of the East Buttress (1,230’, IV 5.10+) will encourage others to check out [Aiguille Extra], an unsung gem of the Eastern Sierra.” A rare new route up the beautiful Elephant’s Perch was completed in September by Greg Rickenbacker and Benj Wollant. Takin’ ’Er By the Tusks (625’, 5.12a R A3) combines challenging aid and stout free climbing on the southeast face of the granite formation. A bolting ban in Sawtooth National Forest ensured plenty of exciting climbing. Wollant, who grew up in the nearby town of Stanley, wrote in his AAJ report that establishing a route on the Elephant’s Perch was “a longtime dream come true.” “Given that I’d never stepped foot into Glacier Gorge [in Rocky Mountain National Park], you might say my plan to rope-solo a new line up the 1,500’ northeast face of Chiefs Head (13,577’) was ambitious,” writes Nathan Brown in AAJ 2024. But that’s what he did. Brown, a prolific new-router who earned his ground-up chops in North Carolina before moving to Colorado, spent two summers establishing Spirit Animal (10 pitches, 5.11), all alone, on the remote and steep Chiefs Head wall. Brown finished work on the route last September, but had not yet redpointed the full route in a continuous ascent. Just this month, he made the trek into Glacier Gorge yet again and rope-soloed the route completely free, with a bivouac in the middle. Tetons guide Michael Abbey had long imagined a more direct route up the north ridge of Mt. Owen, hewing closer to the ridgeline than the original North Ridge Route (Clayton-Emerson, 1951), which slants in from the left. It took a couple of attempts, but in 2023 he and Karen Kovaka completed Directissima (V 5.10) over two days in August. In his AAJ report, Abbey notes that another North Ridge Direct was climbed in 2001, but the key pitches of the new line were most likely unclimbed before last summer. Until 2023, the Bear’s Face had only one known full-length route: Ursus Horribilis, established in 1998 by Andrew McLean and the late Alex Lowe. Last summer, Chantel Astorga, Matt Cornell, and Jackson Marvell, along with photographer Austin Schmitz who was shooting images of The North Face team members, completed a line started by Cornell, Marvell, and Justin Willis three years earlier. Ménage Trout has 13 pitches and went at 5.10+ R A2+. Astorga wrote in https://americanalpineclub.org/news/2024/7/18/the-line-july-2024
  • Reflections in The Black by Vic Zeilman

    General News climbing climbingzine
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    ClimbingZineC
    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/