“If You Step Into the Van, You’d Better Learn the Rules.” Climbing Magazine Column. July 2008. Download PDF “In my 31 years, I’ve learned only three types of partners really matter: climbing partners, love partners, and the oft-underrecognized road-trip partners. In a perfect world, you’d have one person to fulfill all three roles — less logistical hassle that way, and less stuff to load … Read More
True To Self: Lies and Delusions in the Mountains | Climbing Magazine
Climbing Magazine Feature Essay. April 2008. View Online | Download PDF “I’m a mountain guide — which might mean I’m a control-obsessed thinly veiled masochist or that I’m a climber who likes teaching people how to stay safe in the mountains. It definitely means taking risks. I’ve guided thousands of pitches from 5.0 to 5.11, ice, big mountains, and long … Read More
Vertical Ethiopia | Climbing Magazine
“Vertical Ethiopia: Sandstone Chaos in the Horn of Africa.” Climbing Magazine. January 2008. Download PDF “My first Ethiopian hand jam feels perfect. My flexed thumb nestles into ochre sandstone as I reach above for the next jam. I know this routine well: reach, pull, gear, clip, repeat. I do it for 20 feet. I could be in Indian Creek . . … Read More
Whipped: Father’s Day
“The Best Way to Explain Climbing to Your Family? Scare the Bejeezus Out of ’em. . .” Climbing Magazine Column. January 2008. Download PDF “No one in my family is a climber. In Minnesota we Burhardts stick to sports that suit our locale: in summer, we find new ways to exploit the 10,000 lakes, and in winter, we ski. So when I began … Read More
Klettergarden | Climbing Magazine
“Klettergarden: Alpine Moderate Madness in Rocky Mountain National Park.” Climbing Magazine. August 2007. Download PDF “What comes to mind when I mention Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)? Probably the Diamond of Longs Peak, that 1,000-foot granite plaque capping an ominous east-facing cirque. Or maybe Hallet Peak and the clusters of V-hard boulderers sessioning the talus at its base. Or tourists filming bored, overstuffed elk from their … Read More
Princeton Alumni Weekly | Feature Article
DREAMJOBS: The Rate Race. The Grind. Princeton Alumni Weekly. March, 2007. "Now, climbing is Burhardt's profession world, professionally speaking, with her work split into three occupations: climber, writer, and guide. Foundations and gear companies support her climbing excursions, magazines pay her to write about her trips and other stories she encounters, and when she returns home to Colorado, private clients hire her ... Read More
Whipped: The Dark Side
“Welcome to the Mad Pursuit of Night Climbing.” Climbing Magazine Column. February 2007. Download PDF “Four hundred feet up Eldorado Springs Canyon’s Yellow Spur, pigeon shit on my lips and headlamps around my ankles, I screamed at my belayer to stop pulling me off. It was well past 10 p.m., and what we were doing would easily qualify as an epic — except we’d chosen it … Read More
Getting What You Came For | Climbing Magazine
“Getting What You Came For: Adventure Climbing in Corsica.” Climbing Magazine December 2006. Download PDF “I had plenty of gear, just nowhere to put it. Quaking in a strenuous stem, I finally gave up trying to sling a sloping horn. Going horizontal out a 3-foot roof, I used all the Corsican tricks I’d learned in the past weeks — I … Read More
Whipped: Expando-Crag
“Maximizing Your Climbing Space, Polish-Style.” Climbing Magazine Column. September 2006. Download PDF “The Poles, long known for making do in the face of social, political, and economic hardship, have also always applied the same perseverance to sport. Consider the recent introduction of the bicycle with hydraulic saddle-lifting mechanism, or the kayak-surfboard for those especially tricky waves, introduced in 1999 with some success. But by far the best example of Polish … Read More
Arctic Ale | Patagonia Field Report
Patagonia Field Report. Summer 2006. View Online | Download PDF “For three days we’d had nothing to drink but stout. We extracted the brew from shallow ponds and bogs, depressing the slimy moss with the tilted side of an aluminum cup and watching the dark liquid seep over the lip, eight ounces at a time . . .”