“Country Style: Going Trad in South Africa.” Climbing Magazine. December 2008. Download PDF “How badly can you want it? I’m in the bed of a “bakkie” (South African for pickup truck), with snail shells raining on my head. They’re the former inhabitants of a topper covering four people, climbing gear, and three days of food in a two-seater Nissan Hardbody bouncing north out of Cape Town toward Tafelberg. It … Read More
First-Timers | Climbing Magazine
“8 Tips for Your First Day Out With a Newbie.” Climbing Magazine. December 2008. Download PDF “Marla is your best friend – you go way back. She runs marathons and could dust you on foot, but you’re a climber, and thus Marla is one of your “other” friends. That is, until she expresses an interest in climbing. However, before you bestow your vertical … Read More
Classic Climbs: Yellow Brick Road | Climbing Magazine
“Everything Wild and Granitic, in One 300-Foot Rock Climb.” Climbing Magazine. October 2008. View Online | Download PDF “Every story you’ve heard about the Needles (California) is true: the place does feel haunted, and the climbing is that good. Towering cones of granite claim the horizon of this wonderland, perched at 8,000 feet in the Sierras near the edge of the Kern River … Read More
Polish Invasion | Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Straight Line Column. September 2008. View Online | Download PDF “Dad, to me on the first chair of the day: ‘Are you feeling it? Do you think today is the day?’ Me: ‘I don’t know.’ Dad: ‘Come on now, pretend you’re 12 again.’ This is a typical exchange between my 66-year old father and me before we … Read More
Adventure And Understanding in the Horn of Africa | OR Dailies
OR Dailies Guest Column. August 2008. Download PDF “I didn’t go to Ethiopia to climb; I went to search for coffee. In October 2006, I traveled deep into the cradle of humanity to hunt for a rare coffee bean that garners over $150/lb—and found climbing instead. I understood that Ethiopia was a place of war and terror, but it never factored into my … Read More
The High Side of the Horn of Africa | The Explorers Journal
“The High Side of the Horn of Africa. The Explorers Journal. Summer 2008. Download PDF “I scissor my hand up and down in the crack, clearing loose grains of sand from the inside edge. The purchase gets better and I commit to the hold and begin cleaning the inside of the next. Midway through my next excavation, the edge of the crack outside my foot fractures. The horizontal runnel I’d … Read More
The California Needles | Gripped Magazine
“The California Needles: Perfect, Multi-Pich Granite.” Gripped Magazine. July 2008. Download PDF “How many times in life does a place exceed expectations? It’s 3 p.m. on a late September afternoon and I’m hiking into the Needles in southern California. For more than a decade I’ve been trying to get to this exact spot – 2,400 m above sea level in Kern River Valley in the High Sierra. … Read More
Whipped: My Space
“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 | Book
VERTICAL ETHIOPIA documents a climbing expedition to unexplored sandstone spires in northern Ethiopia. In March 2007, four women traveled to Ethiopia to discover if climbing might be the next frontier for this continuously evolving country. Told through a series of vignettes that reveal what it means to climb, to travel, and to explore, Vertical Ethiopia looks closely at the intersections between adventure … Read More