Climbing December 2016 - January 2017

CLIMBER Ethan Pringle ROUTE Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c) LOCATION Promontory, California Over 10 days, Ethan Pringle worked this 110-foot 30° overhanging crack as Pacific Ocean waves lapped the Main Wall at the Promontory in Northern California. When temps dropped and the wind blew, Pringle thought, Better enjoy the struggle while it lasts. He nested three small cams and launched into a fivefoot section of V11 roof moves and then a challenging headwall. A. er a 20-foot runout, he placed a blind stopper. Having redpointed Blackbeard’s Tears (5.14c) on September 21, Pringle completed one of the world's hardest cracks ever sent on gear. CLIMBER Isabelle Faus ROUTE Wheel of Chaos (V14) LOCATION Upper Chaos Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Isabelle Faus describes the moves on Wheel of Chaos, a granite and banded-gneiss testpiece at 10,000 feet above sea level, as “25 moves going through a…

[Elaine Elliott] “Trad is definitely the discipline I respect and admire the most, which inspired me to write the story on Tennessee legend Rob Robinson,” Elliott says (p.22). A. er meeting Robinson, Elliott was struck by “how badass those 1970s and ’80s climbers were.” As a committed sandstone disciple, she hopes to continue the bold Southern legacy and establish her own routes in the near future. [Marcello Rossi] The tales of fellow Italian climbers have always inspired Rossi, who writes of Simone Moro’s complex relationship with the mountains (p.52). According to Rossi, the alpinist’s bold winter ascents have granted him legendary status as “one of the best climbers of our time.” When he’s not searching for new stories, you’ll find Rossi in the kitchen, reading, or sport climbing. [Alison Dennis] Balancing her passions of mountain…

I DIDN’T WANT TO GO CLIMBING. It was March 2015 in Zion, and the boyfriend and I had spent the previous day roasting in the sun on an 800-foot wall. We decided to explore Keyhole Canyon, a “mellow” (so he said, having done it before) slot canyon near the park’s east entrance that had a few rappels and shin-deep water. We’d be back at the car drinking cold beers in less than an hour. With the bravado of youth, we headed out with flimsy daypacks, clad only in T-shirts and lightweight bottoms. Based o. what I’d seen of Keyhole on social media, I could already imagine my feed bursting with images of filtered light and curving red walls. We waded through water up to our ankles and squeezed through bottlenecks;…

Standing on a ledge at Camp 6 on El Cap, Honnolding hardcore 2,000-plus feet off the ground. —ALEX ANDERSON We might be living in the flatlands of Lithuania, but it’s all about perspective. —VIKTORIJA MALISKAITE (@VIKICKS) How about the real deal? In September 2014, Jessie Tan and I le_ Michigan with one goal: climb the RNWF of Half Dome and take the Honnolding picture on Thank God Ledge at any cost. —PATRICK RONAN Taken after climbing the crux pitch of Tooth Fairy, a stellar 5.10 in the Organ Mountains of New Mexico. Shortly thereafter, a huge swarm of bees made its way up the wall 10 feet to our right. —IAN HARRIS Taken during a night of buildering in downtown Los Angeles. —GERRY EGBALIC Hagen Hall Honnolding after setting a few features at the A.R.C.H. gym in Amarillo, Texas. —JONAH GRAY…

IN THE ANCASH REGION of Peru, the town of Huaraz sits above 10,000 feet. Though the region is home to the highest tropical mountain range in the world, there are few local climbers. The high cost and limited availability of gear make the sport inaccessible, and guiding has largely been the pursuit of American and European companies. Nikki McGee, founder of Elevated Mountain Guides, wants to change that. McGee is bringing knowledge and donated gear to the Instituto Superior Tecnologico Eleazar Guzmán Barrón, a technical school in Huaraz that o. ers an a. ordable guiding and tourism program to locals. We spoke with McGee about the program. What was the inspiration for the first trip? There was a donations bin at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Salt Lake City, where I am a…

I was climbing with my usual group at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, Arkansas. It was a community day, promoted by our local gym. While we worked a route, another climber from our gym jumped into our rotation. We all finished the route, then it was the new guy’s turn to go for the redpoint and then clean the anchor. The belayer asked if he knew how to clean. He said he did and gave a little attitude, acting like it was a stupid question. He climbed the route just fine, but things got weird at the chains. He removed the quickdraws from the anchor and then yelled, “Downclimbing!” I looked up to see that he hadn’t threaded the rope. Instead, he intended to downclimb from bolt to bolt to retrieve the…