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What happened in 2023? I blinked, and it was gone.
There was war. Pictures of an alien body filled my social channels. Everyone everywhere complained about something.
The Chinese balloon, the explosion of AI, heat waves, global climate change protests. Anxiety-riddled moments that touched us all to varying degrees.
But, also, inflation came down, more energy became renewable, and—I really don’t care what you say about either—there was just something to appreciate about Barbenheimer.
Climbing, for its part, had its own ups and downs, turmoil and chaos, progress and beauty, and moments of joyous success. The most read articles of the year reflect that wide range. Below, find that list, featuring everything from the corporatization of gyms to medically administered ketamine; from harrowing rescues to, despite pulling a massive chunk of rock onto himself, a whippee that was OK; and from bouldering shoe highlights to everything you need to know about training.
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1. How Gyms Lost Their Souls
The climbing industry has boomed over the last decade. Impressive establishments have cropped up across corporate America, and they purport to cater to all. Climbing gyms appeal to a health-centric pop cultural consciousness as the latest epicenters for exercise—patrons can visit a modern facility and choose from a bouldering session, a yoga class, a treadmill, and more. Since the pandemic, climbing gyms have served as establishments for social revitalization. Many people enjoy going as a chance to catch up with friends face to face, meet new people, or go on dates. And climbing gyms are accessible, lively Instagramable institutions feeding a hunger for urban sports that’s been deepening for years. Over the last decade, they’ve become “cool.”
But doesn’t it feel like the climbing community has lost something?
2. Climber Stuck for 12 Hours in Crack—The Doctor Prescribed Ketamine
On Friday, October 27, a climber was stuck for 12 hours on Indian Creek’s Generic Crack, a 5.10- FA’d in 1976 by Jimmy Dunn and Brian Delaney. The climber, whose name has not been released, slipped while climbing and subsequently lodged his knee into the crack; he was 100 feet off the deck.The incident occurred around 8 p.m. The stuck climber was wearing pants, so although his partners were able to procure soap after a quick trip to the van, dousing his leg did little to free it. San Juan County Search and Rescue members upped the ante; after rapping down from the wall, they tried motor oil and medical lubricant. But the knee remained stuck.After several hours, a team from Grand County Search and Rescue arrived to assist. Finally, a paramedic administered ketamine to get the man’s muscles to relax. Then, using a seven-to-one hoist system, the rescuers were able to free the climber. Miraculously, he suffered only minor physical injuries—though he’d be forgiven for avoiding wide cracks in the future. The whole ordeal took 12 hours.
Read here.
3. Our Favorite Bouldering Shoes (Updated 2023)
Bouldering shoes come in all shapes and sizes. The model that’s best for you depends on a variety of factors, including on your body type, climbing style, how hard you climb, the type of rock you climb on, how many different pairs you want to own, and how much money you want to spend. But for the sake of this article, we’ll assume that when someone Google’s “bouldering shoe” they are looking for a performance shoe, something that’s built for a specific kind of (generally steep and hard) climbing.
Here, we’ve compiled ten of our favorite bouldering shoes—and a list of ten things to think about when buying climbing shoes.
4. Gym and Auto Belay Manufacturer to Pay $6M in Settlement for Auto Belay Accident
Seattle’s Vertical World and Colorado-based manufacturer C3, which produces Perfect Descent auto belays, have settled in a lawsuit following a severe climbing accident that occurred on August 1, 2019. The climber, Michael Vandivere, sustained a 30-foot fall and subsequently suffered a number of severe injuries, including 12 pelvic fractures, a traumatic brain injury, lung injuries, bladder laceration, and other fractures. C3 Manufacturing has agreed to pay $5 million and Vertical World will pay an additional $1 million.
5. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Climbing Gym
Like all spots where people gather, the climbing gym is a microcosm of the macro, a place where our unique traits, quirks, and personality ticks are brought to the forefront through the stressors of climbing—but where certain larger patterns also emerge, highlighting the universality of the human experience. Go into any gym and you’ll see the same behaviors; you’ll see the same Seven Deadly Sins playing out in plastic-pulling dojos around the world.
Because I care about your soul—but probably mainly because I’m old, grumpy, and easily annoyed, especially when I’m just trying to get in a quick, hassle-free workout—I’ve come up with a list of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Rock Gym and their corresponding Virtues. Without further ado, here they are. And remember: Deus meus, ex toto corde poenitet me omnium meorum peccatorum … which I think means, “Dear Lord, may the friction be perfect and the grades soft during my next gym session.”
6. A New 5.10 Crack Appeared Overnight in Yosemite
Last week a 200-foot hand crack appeared overnight near Yosemite’s Royal Arches cliff. The splitter was quickly climbed at 5.10- and named Super Natural before park officials closed the classic area.
Jesse McGahey, a Supervisory Park Ranger at Yosemite National Park, told Climbing: “We learned about this [new crack] from a Yosemite Mountain School guide who had climbed up there on August 6th and did not see the crack. And then he climbed it on August 20th and the crack was there. And it was a finger-tips to one-inch sized crack 200 feet long or so.”
7. Major Accident and Dramatic Rescue in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
A 30-year-old woman from Grand Junction, Colorado, is in critical condition after a fall and dramatic rescue which occurred on Monday, September 11, on The Great White Wall (IV 5.10d; 1,300ft) in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.Becca (the family asked that we not divulge her last name for the sake of privacy) was about thirty feet up the fourth pitch when her foothold broke. The one piece of protection she had below her—a yellow TCU—ripped from the wall when her rope came taut, and she hit the ledge at the base of the pitch hard, sustaining multiple broken bones, a punctured lung, and a severe head injury which left her immediately unconscious.
8. Weekend Whipper: Sport Climber Snaps Off Massive Stalactite Onto His Chest
There is perhaps no climbing style closer to swinging on a jungle gym than limestone cave climbing. Tufas and stalactites draw climbers from around the world to knee bar, stem, and otherwise huck themselves at these unique features, and climbing a dripping pillar of limestone is an unforgettable experience. But this week’s whipper is a reminder that geologic time includes now.
Lukas Jozefiak had traveled from Poland to Sicily for a sport-climbing vacation. “I love tufas, stalactites, and similar formations,” he wrote to Climbing. “[And] I have a lot of experience in such climbing: I climb regularly in Kalymnos, Spain, and Thailand.” But Jozefiak says this trip to Sicily was “terribly unlucky”—namely because he trundled a four-foot stalactite onto his chest.
9. The Free Soloist Who Fell to Earth
The footage is shaky, but there’s no doubt what’s in the frame: a man climbing a section of shining white rock. “What in the world,” the guy filming says. “This guy’s fucking insane. He’s soloing, climbing this route, naked, without a rope. He’s out of his damn mind.”As the camera zooms out, it becomes clear that the soloist is hundreds of feet off the deck. Aside from eschewing clothes and a rope, the climber is also barefoot. All he’s got on is a gray newsboy cap. A twangy guitar lick comes in, followed by the lyrics: You can’t kill me / I will not die / Not now, not ever / No never/ I’m gonna live a long, long time / My soul raves on forever.The clip, just 1 minute 56 seconds long, ends with a still frame of the climber looking back at the camera and flipping the bird.Titled “Free Soloing with a Hat,” the video enjoyed a viral moment in the climbing corners of the internet when its subject, Austin Howell, shared it on Vimeo in April 2015. Howell, then 27, was a sinewy string bean with a permanent dirtbag scruff of a beard. His frizzy shoulder-length locks and the hat, which he was rarely without, belied the quickly thinning hair atop his head.
10. The Training Bible: A Complete One-Year Training Plan
Welcome to Climbing’s 12-month training plan. This eight-phase series will present specific workouts based on the principles of periodization, a proven approach to training that results in peak performance. Each six-week segment will build upon the previous with the end result being a better, stronger climbing machine—you.