Belaytionships Edition

Cover Photo by Featured Photographer Charlie OlGrady-Kessner

Featured Photographer:
Charlie OlGrady-Kessner

Charlie Olgrady-Kessner is a climber, musician, and photographer based in southern Utah.

In this month's Featured Photographer interview Charlie shares some incredibly thought-provoking words about relationships in climbing (he and his wife Marisa are both climbers), how we can use climbing to grow emotionally, his experiences as an American with Asian ancestry, and his approach to climbing photography,

Check out Charlie's unique portfolio of photos and walk away with some new ways of thinking and seeing the world.

Editorial

February is the month of love, and who here doesn't LOVE rock climbing?! February is also all about relationships and the most important climbing relationship is the belaytionship - our climbing partners who give us a catch or bouldering spot, who support us in our literal and figurative ups-and-downs, and go to the ends - or edges - of the earth with us.

This month's edition is themed around those life-giving belaytionships. We honor it in their various forms:

a father and son in the touching story of Jim and Layton Bridwell
three climbing couples and how climbing fits into their world: new climbers Drew and Sarah Hulsey; seasoned crushers Charlie and Maggie Odette; and London ladies Natalie and Jeantique.
a flashback with a furry climbing buddy in Zac the Interloper
our Featured Photographer, Carlie Olgrady-Kessner, whose wife Marisa is also a climber
We also have a book review of Uncoiling the Ropes, where Irish climber Clare Sheridan shares 50-years of climbing adventure and first ascents with her husband and other valued climbing partners. (Anyone interested in doing a CC Book Club with this book?)

The belaytionship is also honored in a beautiful video we have featured on our new YouTube channel - which debuts today! Woohoo!

Scroll down below to the bright red YouTube section and click on the ATMOSPHERIC video (or click here) to see this lovely tribute. We also have five additional awesome videos to share with you.

Editor Stefani Dawn climbing at Smith Rock State Park, Oregon, being belayed by hubby Rick Momsen and receiving encouragement (ok, maybe not...) from her other climbing partner fluff-bomb Althea.

We have been working hard to create this YouTube video content and offer you a high-quality channel that promotes the Common Climber philosophy - welcoming and celebrating all climbers! Please check out the videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Lastly, if you are looking for some unique Valentine's gifts for that special belayer we have our beautiful Anthology and "Proud to Be a Common Climber" t-shirt! Thank you for your belay of Common Climber!

-- Stef

Belaytionship Stories

I Am My Father's Son: Layton Bridwell
(By Dave Barnes)

Jim Bridwell (aka. The Bird) is a well-known Stonemaster of Yosemite. Jim passed in the summer of 2018 and now his son Layton is doing the emotional task of sorting through all of his father's things.

Common Climber Assistant Editor Dave Barnes joins Layton on a cell-phone tour of Jim Bridwell's garage and goes down memory lane of a life-long belaytionship between father and son.

Drew and Sarah Hulsey

Newly-weds and new climbers Drew and Sarah Hulsey of Nashville, Tennessee, share their perspectives on being new climbers and how climbing enters into their relationship.

Maggie and Charlie Odette

Together since 2009, Maggie and Charlie Odette dedicate their lives to rock climbing. They live in a tiny camper and seek out steep sport climbing and good weather conditions. Both are over the age of 50 and are crushing 5.14s. Find out how they support each other in their climbing endeavors.

Natalie and Jeantique

Natalie and Jeantique are climbers based out of London, England. In this interview they share the story of how they found each other through climbing, the role of climbing in their lives, and how they navigate through Jeantique's health condition called hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). hEDS affects collagen and connective tissues throughout the body and it's effects of hEDS are systemic, life-long, and life-altering. But climbing helps Jeantique in unique ways.

FROM THE ARCHIVES
Zac the Interloper
(By Keith Bell)

An edition about Belaytionships can't ignore the beloved relationship with our crag dogs (and cats and other animals, for that matter), so we are pulling this article from the archives! Author Keith Bell says:

"In a 50 plus year career there are many candidates for my best ever climbing buddy. A man’s best climbing friend; I’m doggoned if I could make a choice.."

Book Review

Book Review: Uncoiling the Ropes
Book Author: Clare Sheridan
Review By: Dave Barnes

Clare Sheridan is an Irish climbing trailblazer, putting up hundreds of first ascents over five decades. Dave Barnes shares a review of Clare's autobiography that describes her life of climbing (and raising kids) with husband and climbing partner Calvin Torran, as well as other's with whom she has shared a rope.

In Dave Barnes' words, "As a climbing autobiography and a story in general you will not be disappointed in opening the covers and diving in. It is engaging throughout, thought provoking at times, and often had me laughing out loud..." Learn more about this book and Dave's thoughts on the content.

Welcome to the Common Climber YouTube Channel! This month we are launching our new channel with six videos - one in each of our playlists. We have six playlists to meet your various climbing-related video needs and keep you entertained! The palylists are:

Gear
Storytelling
Atmospheric
Humor
Education
Training & Nutrition

We will be releasing unique new content every month!

Our goal is to get 100 subscribers right away so we can get the custom Common Climber URL. Will you help us out and subscribe?