By Mercedes Pollmeier I wasn’t always a climber. I started out my athletic career as a tennis player and played as a junior in open tournaments in Australia. I landed a full scholarship in the U.S. at University of Northern Iowa, and surprisingly, this is where I first stumbled across climbing. I got my first …
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by its author on her personal blog. Thanks, Claire, for telling us your story and letting us share it on RCW. Climb on! By Claire Bukowski In March of 2013, I decked from the top of my gym during a local onsight competition. I slipped off the last …
Read more How I recovered after decking at a climbing competition
At 25, Tracy Martin was out of money on a roadtrip in California. She found a job as a waitress in South Lake Tahoe where she also met Ginny, who took her climbing for the first time. “I was hooked from there,” Tracy said 25 years later. It wasn’t her first introduction to rock climbing …
Read more Tracy Martin on sustaining a 25-year climbing career
By Teresa Wasiak I dated a guy quite a long time ago who “climbed.” He is the one who introduced me to climbing, which consisted of him and his best buddy setting up a top rope and getting a bunch of people (usually girls) together to come out and give it a try. I gave …
Emily Harrington started climbing the way many kids take up sports. When she was 10 years old and living in Boulder, Colorado, she tried climbing on artificial walls, loved it, and “begged” her dad to go again. She joined the junior climbing team at a local gym and began competing. “What climbing has meant to …
Read more Emily Harrington loves the versatility of climbing
Hillary Newkirk and Alison Sexton live and climb in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They compete on Joe’s B Team at Joe Rockhead’s Climbing Gym, where the two started talking about women’s issues in climbing. “Alison and I … realized that a lot of what we were talking about was related to women and climbing and our perspective (0f) …
It’s true that most climbing accidents happen on the descent. “It’s human error,” said Tracy Martin, an AMGA Certified Rock Guide in Las Vegas. Tracy took a small group into Red Rock Canyon’s Calico Basin to brush up on skills associated with getting down from a climb. The clinic came out of a conversation during a …
By Aimee Roseborrough Currently, I have two “home crags” – Costa Blanca, Spain, and Bend, Oregon. Four years ago, my husband and I moved to Bend and built our “forever home” but last year, while visiting Costa Blanca, we fell in love with the region. We decided to live in Spain for 6 months with …
Read more Comparing two homes: Smith Rock and Costa Blanca, Spain
By Taryn Phaneuf I moved to Minneapolis for college, where I never got into local music or art or food. It just wasn’t a priority. A couple years into my schooling, however, I started escaping with friends to the state’s North Shore to camp, hike, and (eventually) climb. The state’s rocks and trails were fundamental …
We had the pleasure of interviewing Lynn Hill today, pioneer in women’s rock climbing, and in climbing in general! She is the first person, man or woman, to free climb the Nose of El Capitan! According to Lynn, It’s the most iconic “big wall” rock climb in the world – there are 2 iconic rock formations in Yosemite, …
