The latest from Rock and Ice

• The Choss Pile: Gumby Academy
    Illustration by Emilie Lee. I’ve participated in a wide variety of outdoor sports my whole life, and I think climbing has one of the most positive, welcoming communities for beginners, at least compared to other outdoor sports. I don’t mean that sarcastically. I’m being serious. (Surfing, meanwhile, is undoubtedly the most toxic. Any new […]
• Carlo Traversi Does FA of “Empath” (5.15a), Webb and Woods Snag First Repeats
  Carlo Traverso on Empath (5.15a), Tahoe, California. Photo: Mary Mecklenburg. For every sophomoric route name that makes you cringe when you have to tell someone you sent it, there is a route name that makes you think a bit more, that actively augments the experience of the climb through its very label. That is what […]
• Bum Ankle: Fusion, Replacement or… Amputation?!
    I was in a cycling accident and broke my leg in multiple places. After two surgeries my ankle is at end-stage degeneration. I’m 38, an ultra runner, upper-level equestrian and climber. Not the typical candidate for a fusion or replacement. The ankle is super stiff. My research on replacements isn’t turning up positive outcomes. […]
• Tom Herbert Sets New Speed Record on “The Muir Wall,” First Climbed by His Father in 1965
    John Long had it right: For the first free ascent of Astroman---with Ron Kauk and John Bachar---and for the first one day ascent of the Nose---with Jim Bridwell and Billy Westbay---he teamed up with two of Yosemite’s best climbers and they made history. I am no John Long, but I am savvy enough to […]