Climbing, July 2007

Country: United States
Language: English
Web site: www.climbing.com

EDITORIAL
The rebirth of cool: remember your first time?

LETTERS

HOT FLASHES
Women that rock, and rock… and rock some more, from V10, to 5.14, to 5.13 onsights; an obsessed Slovenian tops the Alps’ 82 high points in 104 long, wintry days (but doesn’t hallucinate); and Dean Potter gets retro-chic on Hong Kong Phooey — Indian Creek’s hardest — and goes wayyy highball in Yosemite.

FEATURES

Free Blast
The south face of the Marmolada, the highest point in the Italian Dolomites, is one of the most impressive rock walls in the Alps. Although it towers 3,000 feet and stretches more than a mile, this proving ground for Messner, Maestri, and Mariacher remains a cipher to most.
By Jeff Achey

More Gunky Than Funky
We’ve all heard the standard Shawangunks refrain — ”How can 5.9 be so damned overhanging?!” — but you rarely get to see it. Here, the photographer Jim Thornburg takes you up the dizzying moderate heights of this East Coast quartzite paradise in a photo essay that redefines  “5.9.”
Story and photos by Jim Thornburg, Sidebar by Nicky Dyal

Gallery
The oil paintings of Steve Dieckhoff; Sharma in the West; shots from the sharp end; the marriage of climber to rock at Lover’s Leap, California; and Swiss multi-pitch paradise.

Black Hole 
Where do you boulder when everyone’s out to get you? Flagstaff, Arizona.
By Dan Dewell
Photos by Keith Ladzinski

GLBT And Joshua Tree
Queering Climbing, a first-person essay.
By Tanya Pluth

GET SCRAPPY
The maiden voyage of Cedar Wright’s new column, Get Scrappy, featuring lurid tales from the bottom o’ the dirtbagging barrel.

CLASSIC CLIMBS
Eldorado Springs Canyon’s Yellow Spur is all that and more: vibrant lichen, fussy cracks, little crimps, and skyscraper air.

TECH TIPS:
Bouldering: The 10 Essentials of Alpine Bouldering
Training: Hang on for serious power-endurance gains,
Andy Raether-style, as he lays out The Month.

TEN THINGS
Climber slang.

GEAR YOU NEED
For a summer session at Ceüse, the French mega-crag.

REVIEWS
Book club: flashback to Yosemite in the Sixties, read up on Bishop Bouldering and Smith Rock Select, and go True Green.

PERSPECTIVE
Pat Ament: writer, artist, musician, photographer, climber