Above me was a perfect roof crack; around me, a continent of poverty and war; in front of me, a nightmare....

BY DOUG ROBINSONMIKE STRASSMAN, prolific first ascentionist, writer and videographer, passed away at home in Lone Pine, California, July 1.  Mike...MIKE STRASSMAN, prolific first ascentionist, writer and videographer, passed away at home in Lone Pine, California, July 1. ...

Joe Josephson phoned with an interesting proposal: Fred Beckey had come to town for a reunion of Montana's Dirty Sox Club, a guild of Montana climbers from the 1960s through the 1980s.

If anyone has earned an honorary membership in a group named Dirty Sox it is Washington's Fred Beckey, sovereign of American DirtBag Climbers. ...

Alex Honnold looks startled when he opens the door to greet me. His eyes, which are wide —“like a cow’s,” he claims— shine. He’s surprised that I’m writing about him, that reps from various companies now actively recruit him, and that John Bachar and Peter Croft have phoned him....

It was already pushing 4 p.m. on the cool May afternoon when I arrived for the first time in Waterval Boven, the small South African railway town near......

As I slogged up a flooded gorge, the churning water drowned out the sound of the rain beating down on the hood of my cagoule. It was the fourth day si......

It is 2:00 in the afternoon on a warm spring day in the desert. "There's a naked disco party tonight," Holly says.

Normally, "naked" and "party" are intriguing, but in the climbing world the chances are slim for catching a decent ratio of sexes. ...

The climber driving the ambulance was only trying to help the climber who had fallen on his head....

Return of the Very Serious Climber—older yet eternally questing. And now, on 8a.nu....

Kyle and I had been moving for over 18 hours, skiing five miles of glacier and climbing 3,100 feet of the convoluted south west ridge of Peak 11300 in Alaska. The setting sun bathed the peaks in a soft, rosy light. As Kyle rappelled to a small col in the ridge, where we planned to bivy, I snapped a few pictures and smiled....

January 24, 2005: Paul Cormier looked like a mad scientist from the North Pole. His graying hairs shot out of the sides of his brown fleece hat, their tips frosted with rime and frozen sweat....

I never told Scott the wind story.ΠI crawled back into the tent, shivering, and was so bundled up in my down parka that he couldn't see the fear that......

The List is stupid. Why the heck would you even think like this?No one cares.Climbing won't change anything. It won't change politics, global warming ......

Of course it was a bad idea, but even the guide considered it safe. He bought 400 rupees’ worth. So did some of my Sherpa friends. The interpreter planned to give it to her parents to improve digestion, eyesight and stamina. Why not try a piece?...

Eating small meals helps keep my energy level up but I'm drained by 4 p.m., while large meals keep me satisfied but sluggish. What are some of the best foods to eat at the crag to feel energized throughout the day?...

I landed in Austin on July 3rd at 7 p.m. The pilot announced that it was 101 degrees. The heat index was 109.EP, a droll Irish Texan, son of a cop, mi......

Turns out the hardest crag of all is indoors...

Someone once told me a story about an old-school surfer, a Hawaiian guy who rode the giant waves on a heavy longboard back in the days before jet skis and spotters, when a bad wipeout could render you unconscious, roll you under the sea and kill you deader than a hammer. ...

I hoped that my best friend would fall. Not just my climbing partner but my best friend. We were both working on an unclimbed route at The Columns, our local climbing area in Eugene, Oregon, and I wanted the first ascent. ...

I still never finish a climbing trip without planning the next one. For 20 years, climbing is what has kept me mentally and physically driven. In Janua......