After seven years of editing the best climbing magazine in the world, I've read thousands of articles by hundreds of writers and worked with dozens of them to help them turn their Dear Diary entries into the smashing articles that you read in Rock and Ice. Over the...
Andrew Bisharat
Andrew Bisharat is a writer and climber based in western Colorado. He is the publisher of Evening Sends and the co-host of The RunOut podcast.
Climbers Who Drop Weight to Send
When climbers drop weight in order to succeed on a hard ascent, is that, in some weird way, “cheating”? There’s no doubt at all that losing pounds is the surefire quickest way to help you climb harder. Training to improve finger strength, getting better at lock-offs,...
Crag Exposure: Rifle Mountain Park
Author's note: I wrote this many years ago for my friends' website Pimpin' & Crimpin', which, like many good climbing blogs, seems to have gone the way of the buffalo, though perhaps one day it will make a comeback, like Mark Wahlburg. Still, it's one of my...
Justification for Climbing Media
The new issue of Rock and Ice will be out on newsstands next week, and I’m really excited about its arrival because it has a feature I wrote about my climbing trip this spring to Catalunya, Spain. Why is Catalunya important? It’s important because people are going...
Weekend Whip: Sam Elias
Climber: Sam Elias Whip: 1994 AWD Chevy Astro Van Engine: 4.3-liter V6. Gas mileage: 18-20 miles/gallon. Price paid: $1,500 (151,000 miles) Current mileage: 163,800 About the whip: The Chevy Astro van is a popular conversion van that was first introduced to...
Cold Cold World Chaos
One of my least favorite categories of gear to review is packs. For one, all packs are the same. There are hundreds of them just on the climbing market, and they all claim to be unique, but ultimately they’re all just nylon sacks with straps, cinchers, waist...
Ode to the Puoux
This week, I want to give a shout out to all our crags/woodies/bouldering areas that are our local zones, but are—let’s face it—total piles. Not everyone gets to live near paradises of perfect rock with actually fun climbing—places like Yosemite or … all of Europe....
Memories recalled by “Dark Side of the Lens”
THIS IS ONE of the more powerful short films I've seen. It appeared at this year's 5Point Film Festival in Carbondale, and having Mickey Smith there in attendance at the show made that viewing special. The script for this film is a poem, really, about passion, and...
Milestones
LIFE IS AN UPHILL ROAD, punctuated by many happy milestones—moments that make the trip seem worth taking. There are the inevitable, profuse potholes, too—and the deeper ones may make you consider abandoning the ride all together. But if everything were easy, it...
Dispatch from Everest
A nice video from the boys at Camp 4 Collective. These guys do amazing work.
Weekend Whip: Hayden Kennedy
Climber: Hayden Kennedy Whip: 2009 Ford Transit Connect 27 MPG (highway), 6 cylinder, front-wheel drive, automatic Purchase price: $19,500 (used with 2,000 miles) About the Whip: The Transit Connect has nothing fancy -- no power windows, no cruise control. It's...
Adam Ondra and the Style & Ethics of Pre-clipping
Is Adam Ondra the future of climbing? Yes. This video of him sending one of the hardest routes in the world, Chaxi Raxi, is great. Chris Sharma bolted this route and let Adam do the first ascent when he was around Oliana this spring. Chax Raxi starts out on a 30-foot...