For four years now, I’ve called the road my home. The phrase “van life” as a colloquial term conjures up images of prayer flags and fairy lights draped around a van that looks like it belongs in an Ikea catalogue, where an Instagram model in a flowy dress with a sun hat looks out over … Continue reading My Shitty Van Life
The beginning of this entry loosely picks up where the last one left off: Yosemite Valley, after a successful albeit extremely grueling free ascent of El Corazon on El Capitan [full story here]. The wall tested me in every possible way, and by the time I finally staggered back to my van with the soul … Continue reading The Lone Black Stallion: Mount Hooker
I can’t do this anymore. the thought played over and over in my head as my knees wobbled with every step, struggling not to cave under the heavy load. My pack was full of hundreds of feet of crusty old abandoned static ropes that I had just spent hours cleaning off the upper pitches of … Continue reading Team Free: A Fool’s Errand on El Corazón
Greetings loved ones, let’s take a journey. The story I am about to tell began a long time ago in a faraway land… except it was just one year ago, and exactly where I am now: Las Vegas, Nevada. I didn’t want to be here. I hated Vegas; the approaches were too long, the style … Continue reading The Crystal Dawn Wall
What follows is a few short (by my standard) stories detailing personally significant experiences from my fall season in Yosemite. While this spring I was a student of El Capitan and the sunnier east side of the Valley, this time consistently warm weather kept my partner Harrison and I exclusively on the opposite side, which … Continue reading Lessons from the Dark Side
“All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken,A light from the darkness shall spring,Renewed shall be blade that was broken,The crownless again shall be king.” A lot has … Continue reading All That Glitters
In a cabinet next to the bed in my van lives a very small collection of books. The collection includes a rotating cast of crossword puzzles and journals, but for lack of space few have made the cut as long-term residents. Hangdog Days by Jeff Smoot, Climbing Free by Lynn Hill, Advanced Rockcract by Royal … Continue reading The Index T-Shirt
The faint taste of peanut butter, the warmth of the early morning sun, the feeling of callused hands against my back as my partner Harrison kissed me goodbye on the 3rd of April, 2021. I had only been in Las Vegas for three weeks, a short stay by my usual travel patterns, but after six … Continue reading The Salathé
Every fall I’ve developed something of an annual bad habit. I bee-line for the Creek with no plan for the Creek with no plan other than to stay there until winter manages to creep its icy tendrils so deep into the sandstone that I have no choice but to leave at the last possible moment. … Continue reading The Impossible Dream
Climbing highlights from a long and fruitful season in Indian Creek I often tend to wax poetic when I talk about Indian Creek, telling romantic tales of this place’s immeasurable beauty, unmatched and endless crack climbing, unshakable community, or the way all these things make me feel like I’m living out the part of my … Continue reading From Indian Creek, With Love
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