by Mark Anderson Roof climbing is my nemesis. As someone who “grew up” climbing at Smith Rock, I always gravitated towards clean, monolithic faces that sweep skyward in one continuous plane of consistent steepness. My best angle is probably plumb vertical, and the steeper it gets after that, the more I struggle. The climbing on…
Editor’s Note: This is Part V in a way-too-many-part series on Mark’s trip to Germany. If you missed Parts I thru IV you can check them out here: Part I: Hitting the Wall Part II: Getting Blasted Part III: Chasing Waterfalls Part IV: Blitzing the Classics We were nearing the end of our trip, and…
Editor’s Note: This is Part IV in a way-too-many-part series on Mark’s trip to Germany. If you missed Parts I thru III you can check them out here: Part I: Hitting the Wall Part II: Getting Blasted Part III: Chasing Waterfalls Over the next five days we climbed at nine different Frankenjura crags, split by…
Editor’s Note: This is Part III in way-too-many-part series on Mark’s trip to Germany. If you missed Parts I or II you can check them out here: Part I: Hitting the Wall Part II: Getting Blasted After a stellar day of climbing at Rabenfels, we crammed our gear into the station wagon and commenced the…
Editor’s Note: This is Part II in way-too-many-part series on Mark’s trip to Germany. If you missed Part I you can check it out here. The next day was our first sight-seeing day, which we spent visiting a trio of so-called “Medieval Villages”. Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl, and Rothenberg have been fastidiously preserved to maintain the look…
After months of planning, weeks of training and many days of anxious packing, it was finally time for our journey to begin. The flight to Germany turned out to be pretty uneventful. We were really worried about flying so far with two young kids, and perhaps all that worry, and the resultant preparations, paid off.…
After 22 straight hours of traveling which included one train, two cars, three buses, and four airplanes, we finally arrived home late Monday night. We’re all still quite jet-lagged–the kids were wide awake at 3:30 am this morning–but we had an AMAZING trip! I won’t get into specifics today, but In the mean time here…
I’m off to Deutshland morgen! I’m bursting with excitement (and a fair bit of justified anxiety about our 12-hr airplane extravaganza). I’ve had my best-ever summer strength phase, a really good two weeks of power training and I feel like I’m in outstanding shape. I’d still like to lose a few pounds, which may be…
This week’s article introduces a new author to our team; Mike’s wife, Janelle Anderson. Janelle has been climbing alongside Mike for 15 years now. She consistently climbs in the 5.12+ range, and occasionally 5.13-, despite often generously sacrificing her goals to give Mike the best chances on his projects. Janelle will be a regular contributor,…
125 miles off the southern coast of Australia, pummeled on all flanks by the Tasman Sea, lies an otherworldly landscape of temperate rain forest perched upon a mountain of granite and dolerite. This untamed and rarely visited corner of the world is known as Tasmania, and Tasmania is known to climbers for its fantastic sea…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 