Finding a Gym Near You

There's an awesome website to find a gym near you: http://www.indoorclimbing.com/

More Rock Climbing Backgrounds!

Here are some more awesome rock climbing backgrounds...
http://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=146222

Sport Climbing

Sport climbing is climbing that involves pre-set protection that's already drilled into the rock. The bolts that are drilled into the rock and attatched to quickdraws, which the climber runs their rope to.

Some of my Favorite Rock Climbing Videos

Rock Climbing in Oman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCWLtyTmX3o
Climbing Ali Baba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qvasMlYXo
Mind Control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-btPtpkMr4
The Mescalito Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7tWqCwoUUA

La Dura Dura

Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra finallly finished climbing La Dura Dura! They've spent two years working to climb the 5.15c/9b+.

Trad Climbing

Trad climbing (which is short for traditional climbing) is just basically climbing that involves placing the protection in the rocks, like cams, nuts and bolts. All the equipment must be carried on your harness, which makes it a lot harder to carry the extra weight.

World's Tallest Climbing Wall

The world's tallest climbing wall is in Groningen, Netherlands. It's a 37-meter (121 feet) tall climbing tower, and was constructed in 2004. It's called the Excalibur and is located within theBjoeks climbing centre that features an indoor climbing wall. Because of the tower’s curved design, the concave portion of the tower that features a steep overhang of 11 meters (36 feet.) 

Slacklining

Slacklining is a pretty common hobby that comes with climbing. I've seen guys do some awesome tricks on the slack line, which seem to defy all possibility. Gibbon recently held a pretty big competition. Here's their website: Gibbon Website

Hangboards

One of the best ways to train at home (that is, unless you have a home rock climbing gym,) is to have a hang board. The best hang boards have everything - jugs, crimps, pinches, and slopers. Some workouts on hangboard are:

• hang for a minute, move one hand every 5-10 seconds, rest for 30 secs, repeat.
• hang one minute, off 20 secs, repeat
• pull ups
• pull lock-offs
• frenchies

You can get hang boards from most climbing sport stores - ems, moosejaw, metollius, or amazon all sell hang boards. 

Here's a diagram of a metollius hangboard (around $80) :

Bouldering in Hueco Tanks

Hueco Tanks is a sick bouldering spot in El Paso County, Texas. It is known for its unique rock type, and is visited by world-wide climbers.

Heel Hooks

I  as a climber like to heel hook. I find it very necessary in some climbs to hook my heel, and it's really good for taking a rest or chalking up. It takes a lot of weight off your hands, and can also help to pull your body in another direction.

Half Dome

Half Dome is one of the biggest rock formations in Yosemite. It's known for the free solo ascent by Alex Honnold (pictured below.)

Kevin Jorgenson and Tommy Caldwell

Kevin Jorgenson and Tommy Caldwell hanging about 1,500 feet up.

Gangkhar Puensum

Gangkhar Puensum is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world at over 7,500 meters. It is in Bhutan, where climbing high mountains has been prohibited since 1994. This is because  (1) the Bhutanese government's respect for local customs that consider this and similar peaks to be the sacred homes of protective spirits and (2) the lack of high-altitude rescue resources from any locale closer than India.

Alex Honnold Free Soloing

Any climber knows about Honnold's free soloing - it's terrifying but these pictures are amazing. He made the first free solos of the largest walls in North America. He will climb up 2,000 feet with no harnesses or ropes. 

Watch these videos and try not be jealous of how calm he is -
Free soloing an 11
Free Soloing in Yosemite

Sasha Digiulian

Another one of my favorite climbers is Sasha Digiulian. She's a Female Overall World Champion and a 3-time US National Champion. She's climbed dozens of 5.14's outdoors and the youngest woman in the world, a 5.14d (9a) and to onsight 5.14a. Some brands that she's sponsored by are Petzl, Red Bull, adidas, Five Ten, and GoPro. She lives in New York City and goes to Columbia University.

 She's currently a US adult national climbing team member, since 2007.

Reel Rock Films

If you haven't checked out the Reel Rock Films yet, you totally should. They're created by Big Up Productions and they're all awesome.

Here's the website link

And this is the trailer for one of their movies: 

The Gunks

The Shawsangunks, 90 miles north from New York City and one of the best climbing spots in the North-East. The four main cliffs are Millbrook, the Near Trapps, The Trapps, and Skytop. The height of the cliffs varies, but the high point is around 300 feet.

El Capitan

El Capitan is a totally rad place to climbing for harder climbs. It's more than 3,000 feet and opposite Bridalveil Fall, in Mariposa County, California.

The first ascent of The Nose was in 1958 by Warren Harding, which is probably the most famous and popular route on el Cap.

Red River Gorge

Possibly one of the best place for climbing on the East coast in Kentucky, is Red River Gorge. There are tons of famous sport climbs like the Motherlode and Thanatopis(5.14b) that attract climbers from all over. There are also many easier routes and bouldering throughout, and, of course there's Migeul's Pizza. 

“I love the Red both for its beauty and its enormous climbing potential. Climbing there on a dry, sunny fall day is one of the most magical experiences a climber can have. It's world class.” –Emily Harrington, champion rock climber and North Face athlete

 (Above) Ben Spannuth from team Five Ten, on Golden Ticket, 5.14c. (Left) Kai Lightner climbing Southern Smoke (5.14c)

La Sportiva

La Sportiva is one of my favorite climbing gear brands. Their gear is all extremely well-made and trustworthy. I own a pair of La Sportiva shoes, and they're the best pair of shoes that I've had, compared to my other pairs which were 5.10 and evolv. The shoes are mostly all around $150, but for a really good quality pair of shoes it's totally worth it.


The La Sportiva Pro Climbing team also has some amazing climbers on it, including Alex Honnold, Daniel Woods, Matty Hong and Meagan Martin, among many others.


Here's the link to the La Sportiva website

Sierra Blair-Coyle

One of my all time favorite rock climbers is Sierra Blair-Coyle. She's 20, a two-time national champion as a junior, and a US Bouldering team member from 2010-2013. 

Sierra-Blair Coyle competing at the 2013 ABS National competition. She placed 18th.








Climbing at the Portland Bouldering Rally in 2013. She placed 6th.

Deep-Water soloing in Black Rock Maui, HI.

Here's her website.

Petzl Rock Climbing Backrounds