My old climbing pack finally retired this year; worn thin and never really all that comfortable, I might still use it for abrasive slot canyons where getting another hole in it won’t bother me. This summer I started looking around for a pack that would be good throughout the year – on ice, rock, or light mountaineering. While there are …
The Edge of Time, Estes Park
This rock is located in Jurassic Park, a popular climbing area near Estes Park, Colorado. I hiked to the area several years ago with my dad. If you look closely, you can see a top rope rigged. On the day I took this picture, there were about a dozen climbers on the various rocks. Back then I hadn’t learned to …
Solo expression: Challenge Buttress
Rarely do we get to express ourselves as purely as we’d like to but when it does happen, it’s truly a thing of beauty! Recently, many things have been put into an intricate perspective for me and I am continually learning how grow with them. It seems all too often we get trapped in a negative space when others aren’t …
Photo escape: Solo climb swing
The outdoors has long been my place of solace, the place where I go to work through emotions or simply revel in gratitude. Typically, I need to be solo to reap those benefits. The Active Explorer’s new climbing contributor, Brandon Aegerter, has also expressed a need for solo time in his post Climbing: From personal challenge to a way of …
Free to fall: The Psicobloc Masters Series climbing competition
Wearing neither a harness nor rope, the climber stretched her arm toward the distant hold using every muscle in her body to stay connected to the overhanging wall. Gravity won, pealing her off the wall to a splash landing in a pool 30-feet below. Shortly after, another climber reached the top of the 50-foot wall only to leap off voluntarily. …
Climbing: From personal challenge to a way of life
This post is written by my dear friend, Brandon Aegerter, who relays how climbing grew from a personal challenge into a lifestyle. Look for more climbing posts from him in the future as well, so please give him a warm welcome with a comment below! Go beyond boundaries today: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone! I must …