Climbing May - June 2017

CLIMBER Shelma Jun ROUTE Bowling Pin (V4) LOCATION Buttermilks, Bishop, California In 2014, then 32-year-old New Yorker Shelma Jun started an Instagram account named Flash Foxy to inspire and connect with other women climbers. Two years later, Flash Foxy held their first Women’s Climbing Festival in Bishop, California. This year, the event returned to the East Side of the Sierra with 300 women attending panel discussions, clinics, slideshows, and stewardship projects. As Jun puts it, Flash Foxy’s goal is to “create a space where women can feel inspired, supported, connected to each other, in a place where conversations can happen to take down barriers to climbing as well as overall in their lives.” Jun hopes to expand the event in coming years and has been at the forefront of addressing the sport’s changing demographics—in particular, the…

[Rob Coppolillo] Rob Coppolillo is a writer and American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and IFMGA-licensed mountain guide based in Boulder, Colorado. During his AMGA preparation and exams, he survived three courses taught by Marc Chauvin, his co-writer on “The LSD Lower” (p.50). He co-owns Vetta Mountain Guides in Boulder, where he lives with his wife and six-year-old twin boys. [Marc Chauvin] Marc Chauvin is an AMGA/IFMGA mountain guide who has been guiding for 39 years. Chauvin helped create the AMGA Certification Program and has assisted in developing AMGA curricula over the past quarter century. He’s a past AMGA president, Alpine Discipline Coordinator, and Instructor Team Member. Turn to page 50 to learn from Chauvin and Coppolillo’s “The LSD Lower.” [Amanda Ashley] Nineteen years affer her first submission and countless pitches later, Amanda Ashley has a…

Hello, Again “LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS YEAR,” read a cryptic email from Julie Ellison, then the editor of Climbing. It was January. Bitter winds blew offthe Continental Divide west of Boulder, Colorado, and I figured this was it: I was being canned. I’d been splitting my time copyediting between Yoga Journal and Climbing, hanging on by a financial thread as I struggled to keep our family of four housed and fed, wondering if a husband and wife, two boys, cat, and a dog could all live in a refrigerator box, and which underpass had the best hobo fights. “I’m leaving,” Julie said, as we sat in her offce. “I want to hit the road and get back to writing and shooting. I think you’d do a great job as editor.” I’d held…

ROYAL ROBBINS Back in 1997, I was living in Boulder, Colorado, and climbing every free moment. Royal Robbins was one of my idols. One day, during a staffmeeting, I found out that my assistant manager was Royal’s daughter, Tamara. I was in shock. All I could say was, “Oh … so you’re from Modesto.” Months passed, and Tamara and I became good friends. We never spoke of her father until one day when I was considering driving up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to climb the Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton. I had only minor experience in that type of climbing and asked Tamara casually, “The next time you talk to your dad, ask him if he thinks a solid-5.9 climber can handle the Exum Ridge.” A few hours later, Tamara…

Nothing better than sitting in front of your tent and watching the sun set after a long day climbing in the Alps. —LEON BUCHHOLZ Bernd and Finn Zeugswetter wake up after a rainy-night bivy under their backyard oak. —BERND ZEUGSWETTER El Cap casts quite the shadow, as seen from our bivy on Muir Wall. —ANNA KIRKWOOD The Jackie Treehorn Bivy on Big Lebowski in Zion National Park, Utah. —GREG TROUTMAN Daniel Jeffcoach just feels lucky we found a ledge at all. Way up there and out there in Tehipite Valley, Kings Canyon, California. —BRIAN PRICE Back in the duvet-and-wool times of 1982 on Coll de Nou Fonts in the Catalan Pyrenees. MOISES COLL I’m not sure you can really call it a bivy, but we called this bivy, at the base of Spearhead in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, “the Marriott.” —JON BANKS A…

What do you do for Latino Outdoors? I work with José on executing the mission and vision of the organization. Together, we support the volunteers with their regional programs and events, like snowshoe or kayak outings, hikes, family campouts, group runs, yoga in the park, and indoor rock climbing. Our work focuses on growing our overall capacity and impact through fundraising, managing grants, establishing partnerships with conservation organizations and outdoor retailers, and everything else it takes to run a nonprofit. What does Latino Outdoors do specifically? We’re focused on three key areas. The first is in supporting Latino leadership in the outdoors and conservation by building a strong network of outdoor leaders and providing opportunities for professional development. The sec second is growing Latino engagement in outdoor spaces and public lands by leading…