“It can’t be a route if there aren’t any holds, Sonnie,” Alex called from the ground. I could see him down there, sitting back in his harness comfortably, looking up at me, grinning. I was roughly 60 feet in the air, on the opposite end of the 9mm rope he… Read More
“If you really want to have an adventure that’s not going to be sexy—it’s gonna be dirty and it’s gonna be rowdy—there’s a place out here for you,” says Josh Ewing. “It’s the chance to do something where you’re not going to see another climber.” In the beginning, Josh came… Read More
Everyone in the Patagonia family is saddened to hear about the passing of Royal Robbins on March 14, 2017. Some in the company knew him personally, many of us did not. But we are, to this day, greatly inspired by his pioneering spirit and commitment to clean climbing. Read More
Wind pushed a wave of fine snow off the top of the wall, coating the already frosted rock in another slippery layer of spindrift. I put my head down to let it pass, looking at my fingers covered in blood and snow, and wedged into icy finger locks. Objectively, I… Read More
In 2013, as a member of the Expedition Denali team, I had the privilege of flying over and around a tiny splinter of the six million acres that make up Denali National Park and Preserve. The park contains what seems to be limitless rough terrain, some of the… Read More
I was lucky to grow up in the valley of the Haute-Durance, located in the Hautes-Alpes not far from Briançon and the border to Italy. Home was a wild and protected area where my parents introduced me to the joys of mountain trails, skiing on beautiful slopes through evergreens and… Read More
Chad Kellogg. September 22, 1971 to February 14, 2014. Seattle climbing community legend. Dear friend to many. And the toughest guy around. “For Chad, not eating and shivering on ledges, that was like skiing powder for him. It was just that fun,” remembers Jens Holsten. Today, we take… Read More
I took a hex off the rack and pushed it far into the crack. The rime was thick, and the crack’s edges blurry. The hex mushed into the rime and stuck. I beat on it with my ice axe just to be sure, then gave it a swift tug. It… Read More
One of my earliest outdoor climbing experiences was at the crags around the quaint countryside village of Dunkeld. An escarpment of Schist can be seen escaping from the deep forest high on the hill just beyond the village. It was here that I would spend many a day for ten years. Read More
As I swung my tools into the unconsolidated snowy headwall and tried to catch something that would hold my weight, I looked down and saw Jason and Caro huddled together at a hanging belay. In the gathering dark, they were trying to avoid the constant barrage of snow and ice… Read More
The national park system may not have saved my life but it definitely allowed me to truly discover and continually define it. Following an abysmal 13th grade at an entry level university and an equally lamentable year employed in one of the most dangerous professions, I bolted west to manifest… Read More