Everything climbing and the outdoors.
In what’s proving to be a sad year of climbing-related deaths, the well-respected climbing author Craig Luebben died yesterday in Washingtonâ??s Cascade Range by falling ice. I’ve always enjoyed his writing and this is sad loss for the climbing community. My condolences go out to the family. Peter Beal also points us to an excellent […]
Sad news in the climbing world. Climbing legend John Bachar, age 51, was found at the base of the Dike Wall in Mammoth Lakes, California yesterday. There are not many details at this point, but it’s presumed that he was free soloing. The Dike Wall is a beautiful cliff of pristine granite situated at 9,000ft […]
A news report about an ice climber falling from the anchors of a Vail ice climb has been making the rounds this morning (@jennfields, SuperTopo) From the article: At the top, Boratenski found nylon cords as well as a metal carabiner. He used the nylon instead of the metal as an anchor, something he now […]
From what I consider to be a somewhat morbid website, I was forwarded a link from Obit Magazine (yes, a website all about people dying, I don’t care how they try to spin it) regarding a climbing death at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia last Fall. The author reflects on her death and how other climbers […]
Stewart Green writes up an excellent and detailed analysis of a climbing accident at the Garden of the Gods, Colorado. Apparently there were two sets of anchors at the top of The Practice Slab, an 80-foot sandstone slab route on South Gateway Rock, but the climber used the older set. This climber, however, disregarded the […]
I just received the following information from Friends of Forester: The rock climbing community lost a legendary climber and environmental advocate on November 24 when Jimmy Ray Forester fell while climbing in El Potrero Chico in northern Mexico. Forester, an experienced, talented and well-known climber, failed to return to camp after a climb on El […]
Much has been going around the internet about Todd Skinner’s death Monday while rapping off the Leaning Tower in Yosemite. I received an email today from a climbing partner who just moved out to California. His friend and fiance were on Leaning Tower right before Skinner. They were rapping down as he was jugging up and […]
The Houston maritime attorney acknowledged a recent study found that indoor rock climbing has a low risk of injury and is 10 times safer than soccer. The study was published by the quarterly medical journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine (PDF) by the Wilderness Medical Society. From the scotsman.com, The study by German researchers was based […]
From scrambling accident to beer commercials, the LA Times has an article updating Aron Ralston. Three years ago, Ralston was just another outdoor adrenaline junkie, attempting to be the first person to solo climb all 59 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot-plus peaks in winter. During a break from his quest, he ventured into a Utah canyon where […]
A Nepali guide and a Panamanian climber died after returning from Mount Pumori in Nepal. Both of them successfully climbed Mt. Pumori on March 25, but while returning, they climbed 100 meters down and unfortunately slipped and fell down in mountain trench of 500 meter depth which led them to the death. These two climbers […]