Innholdsfortegnelse for February - March 2016 i Gripped: The Climbing Magazine

When I was 20, I took my first road trip through the U.S. in hopes of climbing at as many places as I could. I purchased a blue Chevy S-10 pickup truck for the journey for a few hundred dollars. My climbing partner, Noel Gingrich, had never been on such a trip, we had no idea what we were in for. From Ontario, we drove to the Mount Rushmore area and climbed short routes to the top of small spires; it was different than anything we had climbed in Canada. We spent the nights alternating between sleeping in the back of the truck and sleeping on the ground next to the truck. It was mid-July with no rain in the forecast. Next, we visited Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota, which…

Bubba Wins Award Barry Blanchard won the Boardman Tasker Award for his book The Calling, A Life Rocked by Mountains. Pirmin Bertle Crushing German Pirmin Bertle sent a new 5.15b called Meoise and a new V16 in Switzerland called Drop a Line. Sarah Hueniken Sets Standard Sarah Hueniken continues to lead and set new standards with her December send of Mustang P-51 M14 in Colorado. She is the first North American woman to send the grade. McColl Crushes Bishop Sean McColl visited Bishop in the fall and sent Maze of Death V12, Buttermilker V13, Direct North V14 and many other hard problems. Ashima Shiraishi Sends in Texas Ashima Shiraishi made the first female ascent of Terre de Sienne V14 at Hueco Tanks in Texas in the fall. She also sent…

We all have different projects. Whether that’s to climb some hard route at your grade or a new route of some capacity, it inspires us to continue to develop and push ourselves. I would say my main project for many years has been to just climb rock and ice and transfer that to the mountains. Until recently, I had never had a true project. I’m not much for projecting routes at the crags or working through the moves on a challenging boulder problem. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s my attention span or being scared to fail repeatedly. My first real project was Kooshdakhaa Spire in Alaska, which I first attempted in 2014. It pushed me harder mentally than anything I had done before. I have paddled numerous class-five first…

Dining In Mesquite, don’t expect the international flair and pizzazz of Las Vegas. There aren’t too many options, but the following hot spots provide a fun, social setting in which to celebrate your latest send. Los Lupes An authentic little Mexican joint. Great margaritas and a gazillion different versions of rice, beans and cheese. (250 West Mesquite Blvd.) Playoffs Sports Pub Great pizza and reasonably priced, this is a classic small-town sports bar where you can stuff your face and watch all the games. They even have a Bloody Mary Bar on Sunday. (551 West Mesquite Blvd.) La Fonda Not quite the ambience of Los Lupes, but excellent service and mucho buena comida. (550 West Pioneer Blvd.) Sushi Masa Being from Vancouver, I’m suspicious of sushi in the southwest desert,…

Drawn: The Art of Ascent By Jeremy Collins Mountaineers Books Jeremy Collins is a professional artist and climber who found a way to capture the beauty of his adventures through a mix of stories, watercolours and personal photographs. In his new book, Collins finds a creative way to capture his travels to four distant destinations while he searches for closure. The death of his longtime friend and climbing mentor leaves Collins searching for a way to honour and celebrate his passing. Setting his sights on four unclimbed routes, Collins makes it his duty to spread his friend’s ashes and document the process. Although all the climbs are only briefly detailed, the art and storytelling that surrounds the adventure is remarkable and beautifully rendered. Collins’s eye for beauty moves the reader…

We all enter the world of climbing through different avenues. We may be introduced to the remote peaks of mountaineering or the tall spires of alpine climbing. We may first witness climbing as a crack climb, where our bodies must fit within the crack to succeed. We may be attracted to the gymnastic nature and relative simplicity of sport climbing or the powerful nature of bouldering, drawn to the pure focus on movement alone. Whether our introduction begins in the wilds of the mountains or the chalky haze of the gym, in the end, we all get pulled down the rabbit hole. For a sport with so many different genres, it’s not surprising that climbers love labels and generalizations. A stereotypical trad climber, for example, is a crack head that…

Josie Hetyei became the second Canadian woman to send 5.14a after Ellen Powick. Some of Hetyei’s hard Canadian sends include Motivation 5.14a, Dinosaur Highway 5.14a, Northern Man 5.14a and A.D.A.T.O. 5.14b, all at Horne Lake, B.C. While being one of Canada’s most accomplished sport climbers, she has remained relatively under-the-radar on the national scene. In 2015, Hetyei sent a number of hard routes in Europe and the States and we caught up with her when she returned home. 1 Where are you from and where are you based now? I am from Richmond, B.C. and currently based between Richmond and the Laurentians in Quebec. 2 Where and what was your first climb? My first climb was at Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island as part of an outdoor education program through…

Gregory Alpaca 90L $165 The Gregory Alpaca is an award-winning full-featured duffel bag that can be carried over the shoulder, as a backpack or a briefcase. Tougher than most packs, the Alpaca was designed to last. It comes with big pockets, comfortable compression straps and external daisy-chain points. Built to resist weather and with so many carry options, the Alpaca is ideal for multi-stop road trips. The North Face Base Camp Duffel $129 The North Face Base Camp Duffel is as bomber as a bag gets. From your gear room to the roof of your car to the flight overseas to the trek to basecamp to the winter storm, this tough bag was built to endure your roughest trip. With a handy compression strap system that keeps your load tight,…

The climbing community is always there to support you when you do well but will never think less of you if you don’t. The climbing gym has often been categorized as a testosterone filled, sweaty, grungy place that is intimidating for women. Growing up in the sport, this fear factor was something I had to work to overcome. I’ve been climbing, training and competing since I was seven years old. This puts some pretty useful mileage behind me. I have worked hard for my current level of strength and technique. I love being able to put my experience to use, climbing with strong men and women alike. I would never have gotten to the place I’m at today if I backed down or was timid in the way I approach…

Life’s most valuable lessons and experiences can be the outcome of major disappointments. Last winter, I thought I had it all figured out. A fully-kitted truck and solar powered trailer, a home indoor training facility and a dream guiding job with winters off. I trained specifically for the first time in years with hopes to break personal plateaus and start our winter road trip in decent shape. To my surprise it worked and I was onsighting 5.12+ out of the car, with four months left to get my PCGI Multi-Pitch Guide Certification and climb 5.14. Everything was perfect. We kicked off our road trip in the Virgin River Gorge (VRG) and despite feeling great on the rock, I was feeling burnt out on the sport climbing scene. I was tired…

As a typical Canadian “snowbird,” I’ve made annual climbing trips to the classic desert crags for decades and I’m fortunate to have spent time at many of America’s celebrated areas. Of course, everyone loves the desert for its parks, splitter cracks, big walls and free-standing towers. While the well-known places have a lifetime of climbing, there remains unexplored walls where Nevada, Utah and Arizona come together. Around 130 kilometres east of Las Vegas at the Arizona state line is Mesquite, a golf and gambling hotspot at the entrance to the Virgin River Recreation Area. It is a small city that caters mainly to retired sun lovers. To climbers, Mesquite has historically been a pit-stop for cheap gas and booze when travelling from Las Vegas to St. George. In recent years,…

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