I lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, for about five years and, in my opinion, it’s one of the best-kept secrets in Canada. Very few people travel to the country’s eastern-most province, let alone live there; and when they do, many just complain about the weather. (Check out Alex Honnold’s whinge-fest about their climbing trip to [...]

With the news that the Gravity Climbing Centre in Nelson will have to close on Feb. 25, 2012, a core group of local rock climbers have banded together and formed the Kootenay Climbing Association, a non-profit organization with the mandate of opening and operating a climbing gym in the West Kootenays. The Association is running [...]

It was bound to happen eventually. The “Shit (insert group of people here) Say” craze has sucked in our beloved past-time. Andrew Tower, the editor in chief of Urban Climber magazine, has put together this little ditty of, well, shit we all say at the crag and in the gym. I’d like to see someone [...]

Speed climbing is stupid. It takes everything that is great about rock climbing (the graceful movements combined with strength, endurance and the occasional burst of power) and turns it into a drag race. That said, damn do these guys climb fast!    

Climbers are awesome! But so are regular people. Check out the video below to get your holiday stoke on:    

A few years ago I had the pleasure of hanging out with Lynn Hill in Potrero Chico, Mexico. She walked into the communal space at Homero’s campground and immediately came over to our table and introduced herself and her young son Owen. My friend Gri-gri and I were a bit taken aback – the best [...]

  Gravity Climbing Centre, one of Canada’s first indoor climbing gyms, is coiling up the ropes for good in April and unless a new organization can take up the slack, the West Kootenays will lose a major asset that’s carried climbers through the cold, dark winters until the ice . Owners Mirek Hladik and June [...]

Last September, while at the base of Mt. Gimli, I had the disturbing experience of being asked by a gentleman holding a rifle whether I’d mind if he “killed that mountain goat over there.” I had just spent the morning watching this beautiful, graceful animal jump around on the boulders in our campsite and now [...]