Focus is all about summoning maximum concentration and attention at the moment it is crucially needed. Most climbers think of this when its time to send, but the ability to summon and maintain sufficient focus is also vital during daily training. With training cycles that last for months, often involving several weeks of training on plastic,…
Last spring I climbed Mission Overdrive in Clear Creek Canyon, a linkup that begins up Daniel Woods’ 5.14c(/d?) test-piece Mission Impossible, and then traverses right at mid-height to catch the upper half crux of the canyon’s mega-classic 5.13d Interstellar Overdrive. At the time I was curious to investigate the complete Mission Impossible, but the remainder of…
After sending Breakin’ the Law, I faced the kind of dilemma I always dream of: what to do with my remaining two climbing days. I thought something in the 5.14a-range would be a good goal; something I had a good chance to send in the time remaining, but not a sure thing. I spent the night…
by Mark Anderson I think if people realized how little I train (and climb) they would be shocked. I often joke with my wife that I should be quarranteened in a plastic bubble and studied by teams of cruel government scientists (ala E.T.). There is certainly a trend among top climbers to perform massive quantities…
I’m currently reading Greg Crouch’s fascinating book “Enduring Patagonia”. I’ve always had this thought in the back of my mind that when the kids are grown up I’ll go climb Cerro Torre for “fun”. After reading Crouch’s book I now realize the folly of that idea. Crouch spent 68 days trying and failing to climb…
We recently spent a few days in Wyoming to take advantage of the last week of Kate’s maternity leave. Sinks and Wild Iris are among our favorite crags. I can’t ever recall having a bad day at Wild Iris. Even when I get bouted by a project there (which happens often enough), the warmup climbs…
I’m heading out to Smith Rock in a few days for a two-week trip. The climbing at Smith is extremely thin and technical — and difficult to prepare for. I believe strongly in taining and I generally feel that using indoor tools is superior to “just climbing” outside (for building strength, power, and endurance). That…
In late 2009, my friend Ben Schmitt bolted a typical-looking Shelf Road face climb at Cactus Cliff. The line climbs a beautiful white wall of limestone, featuring a brutally hard 5-or-so-move crux right in the middle of the wall. When Ben put the hardware in, I was just finishing off the last of Shelf’s (existing)…
I spent the latter half of October working a route in Clear Creek Canyon called “Primetime to Shine”. This is a linkup of two popular Peter Beal 14a’s, “Primeval” and “Shine”. I’m usually not a big fan of linkups but this one is a rare example of a linkup that actually improves on the piece…
It was a long, hot summer on the Colorado Front Range, so after a seemingly interminable climbing drought the family was fired up to head north and check out the latest rage that is Ten Sleep Canyon. We’ve had lousy luck when it comes to Ten Sleep. I first bought the guidebook in the Spring…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 