There are so many alternative names for bouldering pads, all fantastic. Sketch pad, crash pad, elk saddle, backcountry massage mattress, volcano cork, marmot holster, rock toboggan, tree band aid. Surely, you’ve rejoindered some wheezing tourist with your own variation after being asked: “Say, now, what’s that there on yer back?” “It’s a parachute! See ya … Read more
Marcel Proust is a tough read, no doubt about it. That’s why I only read his quotes. “Every reader finds himself. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.” I so vividly recall … Read more
The holidays in a foreign country provide for some mixed emotions. On the one hand, you miss your friends and family and the insanity of going home and living in your old room again – even for a couple of days – and then driving back across the frozen destitution of Iowa and Nebraska to … Read more
Colorado climber Jamie Emerson is known for a lot of things. He climbs pretty hard, but mostly on boulders. He is an established route setter and forerunner for climbing competitions across the United States. He recently authored a guidebook to bouldering in Rocky Mountain National Park and Mount Evans. But, most famously (or infamously) he … Read more
Cory Richards…it’s really too much to talk about. The guy has been at the top of the outdoor photography game for years. Like, National Geographic top. He also recently became the first and only American to summit an 8000 meter peak in winter, Gasherbrum II in northern Pakistan. Jason Kehl, a frequent guest on ClimbTalk, … Read more
[All photos courtesy of Kyler Deutmeyer, an amazing Denver-based photographer. These images are raw, but you can check out some of his other finished climbing pics at kylerdeutmeyer.com. If you don't check it out, you will suck!] Act One This story begins with my birth. Right there at the beginning. I imagine my parents … Read more
Tom Cole once said, “Follow up the interview with a phone call. If Carrot Top can figure out how to use a phone, so can you.” Well, ClimbTalk Radio is so broke we can’t afford a phone that dials out. So, in absentia of a telephone machine, we give you this transcription of a fantastic … Read more
“All the wrong people remember Vietnam. I think all the people who remember it should forget it, and all the people who forgot it should remember it.” - Michael Herr, author of the seminal “Dispatches” You really get to know someone when you help tile his kitchen backsplash. Not really, but if you pay attention, … Read more
Let me tell you about something so obviously unfair as to be completely sinister. Here it is. One must continue to exist as a normal individual a day between quitting one’s job and going on an international vacation. That space between must be filled. One must carry on. One must fill the dead space. What … Read more
In the latter part of the last decade I spent a year teaching at a small English academy in Incheon, South Korea, an industrial power and seaport about a 30 minute subway ride from Seoul. In one of my many classes sat a little fellow named Rainbow. This is but a hint of Rainbow’s story, … Read more