Just like not everyone who climbs is a “climber,” not everyone who runs is a “runner,” and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the former, not the latter! And while most people probably can guess that rock climbing is great exercise, it’s not all-inclusive, so for me, running has always played a smaller,…
Twelve 5.12’s for 2012! As this year draws to a close, I am excited to share that I wrapped up a year-long goal of mine just a few weeks ago! At the tail end of 2011, I managed to send my very first route at the 5.12 difficulty grade. (Non-climber translation: a “send” means leading…
For those of you readers that are on the other side of 30, you may remember a TV show called Captain Planet. The heroes of this kid’s series were five environmental good guys, known as “Planeteers,” each possessing a magic ring that controlled an element of nature (earth, wind, water, fire) that they would use in…
Exposure is a commonly used term in rock climbing that might not be familiar to those outside of the sport. I found an online dictionary that defined it as “being in a situation in which you are very aware that you are high off the ground.” In other words, standing on a large summit that…
“This corner of the earth is like me in many ways I can sit for hours here and watch the emerald feathers play On the face of it I’m blessed when the sunlight comes for free I know this corner of the earth, it smiles at me.” – Jamiroquai Over the years I’ve had many…
For those non-climbers out there, the term “projecting” is used to describe the process that one goes through to successfully redpoint a route near or at their limit. A route is considered “sent” (aka redpointed) when the climber is able to lead the route from bottom to top (bringing the rope up with them and…
“Don’t forget to look out!” I’m a little better about it now, but when I first started climbing outdoors, I was notorious for climbing to the top of a route, getting lowered down, and then proceed to hear every person that climbed after me rave about the spectacular view they had when they turned around…
Love it or hate it, it’s nearly Valentine’s Day again ladies – a time of year when everybody wants to talk about love. Loving our husbands, kids, friends…but what about ourselves? And more specifically, our bodies? It seems as though a lot of marketing nowadays is geared towards how to improve our bodies. While the…
When people find out that I’m a rock climber, the usual reaction is something to the effect of – “Wow, I could never do that!” My response is almost always “What’s stopping you?!?” So many times we as women refuse to undertake new adventures because of fear – fear of the unknown, of failure, or…
