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  • Climbing Events 2023

​Climbing Gyms: The Gateway Drug


By Stefani Dawn
It all begins with an innocent little top rope in the gym. Grab a hold, step up, grab a hold, step up. As the distance from the floor increases, you look down and a little flutter of fear and excitement triggers your body to release some cortisol, dopamine, adrenaline, and other handy chemicals. You complete the climb and feel pretty darn good. Repeat that action a few more times and eventually it generates about as much excitement as climbing the stairs.
 
Next, you think to yourself, “Hmmm…maybe I should try a grade or two up.”
 
Next time at the gym you eyeball some harder routes. Yep, the holds are smaller. Your palms sweat a little as you select a route and tie in. You dip your hands in the chalk bag, grab the first hold, and wonder if all the holds are going to be that crappy. Your arms eventually get pumped, your anxiety level increases, chalk bag-dipping increases, fears of falling increases. Cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine, and the stress-response cascade are doing their thing.
 
After you reach the anchors and lower, you breathe a sigh of relief and start to feel pretty good again. Dopamine is going to a special, happy place in the brain called the nucleus accumbens (in case you were curious). But, over time, those gym routes at that new grade just aren’t cutting it. You might as well be at the library.
 
One evening, you notice the quick draws hanging from the gym wall, then a woman with well-defined arms and back muscles smoothly pulls the rope up between her legs and clips it into the draw. Lead climbing looks bad-ass. You think to yourself, “Hmmm…maybe I should try that.”
 
You sign up for a class and hop on your first lead. What you heard earlier in class about falling at least twice the distance above the last clip hits you as you approach the next clip. The stomach flutter intensifies into a bit of an intestinal grumble. A larger release of the fight-or-flight chemicals tell the body to dispose of non-essential items, like shit and urine. You pucker-up and move forward. At the end of the session, when you are safe and sound on the ground, you feel pretty dang good – gotta love that dopamine reward.
 
Onward, upward, harder, more risky. The gym leads to the great outdoors, where holds aren’t easily seen or are deceptive, climbing grades are unpredictable, rocks can crush you, falls can propel you into jutting rocks or ledges, poisonous critters can sting or bite you, ropes can get cut by sharp ledges, bolts can pop out, and unpredictability rules. The chemically-driven body doesn’t know the difference between leading that first outdoor 5.10 or being chased by a bear; To the body, both events are simply one step closer to death.
 
To protect us from death, dopamine gets converted to adrenaline, making our body move and giving the brain more attention and focus. When we are done and the danger is over, dopamine moves back into the reward system, giving us the giddy sensation of success and that feeling of “Again! Again!”
 
In an over simplification of our amazing body, dopamine is the central character in generating the feeling of pleasure (there are other players too). It serves a biological function to get us to repeat actions that are, hopefully, good for us (e.g. sex for love, bonding, and reproduction; eating and exercising for health and well-being; or, accomplishing a task for progress and survival). However, when dopamine is repeatedly triggered in ways that release high amounts, addiction can come into play.
 
In drug addiction, drugs can increase dopamine up to 10 times the amount that occurs naturally in the body. The brain likes this; it feels really good. But if you keep feeding the body dopamine-releasing drugs, the brain physically changes – neurons become less sensitive to the dopamine and, ironically, the number of dopamine receptors decrease (akin to the body trying to turn down the volume).
 
Over time, these changes result in the high not feeling as high with the same dose of the drug. Thus, it requires more to feel good again. If the drug is decreased or stopped, the physical changes generate withdrawal symptoms. In short, it sucks to be without it.
 
Although exercise can be addictive, via these same mechanism of flooding the brain with dopamine, exercise induced dopamine is a more “natural” response (if you will), where reward comes with time and effort. Other balancing bodily chemicals also come into play. Drug addiction, on the other hand, is a shortcut.
 
Reasonable dopamine release is not a bad thing. In fact, it increases behaviors like drive and perseverance. When done via exercise, it stimulates other “healthy” chemicals that lower blood pressure, improve memory, and decrease inflammation. Exercise, in fact, has been shown to help people with a drug or alcohol addiction to not relapse.
 
Unlike drug addictions, we are less at the mercy of our chemical reactions when dopamine is triggered by exercise. Fear and logic help keep us in check – e.g. choosing to take the PG-rated version of a route versus the X-rated version. (X-rated is when there is little to no protection and a fall means likely death). Repeated experience also provides us with practice managing fear, which reduces the stress (or fight-or-flight) response. As our strength and skills improve, the actual and perceived risks also decrease, again, reducing the stress response. (Having ongoing stress/adrenal responses is not healthy overtime, so it is good to learn to manage it.) Managing the stress response also manages the dopamine flood.

To top it off, simply having positive feelings of being stoked and excited have been shown to release dopamine and other good-for-us chemicals. So we do not necessarily have to do the harder, scarier climb to get the benefit from climbing. We simply need to enjoy it and give ourselves a pat on the back even when we finish that easy 5.6. 
 
But, each of us, with our own unique history and body, vary in the level of attention we pay to our internal safe guards or attempts to give ourselves high-fives for completing easy shit. Some people, for whatever reasons, emotional or physical, tend towards addictive behaviors. Psychologists and physiologists have evidence that exercise addiction exists. So, what does such an addiction look like? Big surprise, a lot like other addictions. It includes feelings of craving, withdrawal, and tolerance. A telltale sign is repeating the behavior obsessively to feel “normal,” doing it at inappropriate times (although I have a hard time thinking of when climbing is inappropriate, perhaps when giving birth), doing it to the exclusion of people you love, and doing it until it becomes self-injurious.
 
As I think about this list with respect to climbing, some of these are really difficult to quantify due to the nature of our sport. Climbing takes time and it often requires travel, which we try to squeeze into our precious time off. If we have a significant other that does not climb, we are faced with difficult choices, stay with him or her, or go climbing. At what point does going out and doing climbing cross the line into neglecting a relationship? Well, that answer is going to depend on so many different non-climbing-related factors. Or, is tweaking a finger because you were trying for a hard move self-injurous? I guess it depends. Sometimes shit happens. But sometimes we make shit happen. With drugs, addiction seems a little clearer. 
 
Whether or not climbing is addictive, if we keep getting back on the rock, the bottom line is, we ARE getting off on the dopamine rush. Our bodies are simply wired for dopamine and doing things that release it feel good. In my own justification of my love of…obsession for... addiction to? climbing (I married a climber so I don't have to choose between climbing and a loved-one), I can easily rationalize that there are far worse addictive things. As with all things in life, I guess if I keep it balanced, keep it safe, rest, smile, laugh, and don’t purposefully hurt myself or others, then it’s all good. I, for one, plan to climb on.
 
References
  • Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction: https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain
  • Exercise Addiction in Men: When Exercise Becomes too Much: http://www.webmd.com/men/features/exercise-addiction#1
  • Exercise as a Novel Treatment for Drug Addiction: A Neurobiological and Stage-dependent Hypothesis: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001668
  • Exercise, Pleasure and the Brain: Understanding the Biology of Runner's High: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-compass-pleasure/201104/exercise-pleasure-and-the-brain ​
  • Extreme Sports Addiction: https://www.addiction.com/3355/extreme-sports-addiction/
  • Neuroaddiction: The Reward Pathway: http://www.dirkhanson.org/neuroaddiction.html
  • Understanding Addiction: How Addiction Hijacks the Brain: http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm
  • Understanding Our Adrenal System: Dopamine: http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/understanding-our-adrenal-system-dopamine
  • Your Brain on Drugs: Dopamine and Addiction: http://bigthink.com/going-mental/your-brain-on-drugs-dopamine-and-addiction 

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  • Editions
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  • Themed Editions
    • Adaptive Climbing Edition >
      • Adaptive Climbing Photo Feature: Paradox Sports
      • Climbing with Type 1 Diabetes
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      • Amputations: Leg Prosthesis for Climbing
      • Blind Ambition Builds a World Class Climber: The Story of Jesse Dufton
      • First Paralyzed Ascents: Rand Abbott
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      • Rock!
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    • Belaytionships Edition >
      • Featured Photographer: Charlie OlGrady-Kessner
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      • Zac the Interloper
      • Book Review: Uncoiling the Ropes
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      • I Am My Father's Son: Layton Bridwell
    • Big Wall Edition >
      • Book Review: Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss
      • Featured Photographer: Matt Spohn
      • Grading Commitment
      • Hanging with the Monkeys, and Getting the Monkey Off My Back
      • It Was His Time: Brad Gobright Interview May 2019
      • John Middendorf : A Big Man for a Big Stone
      • Sébastien Berthe Free Climbs the Nose From the Ground Up
      • Shit Happens – Or, Why You Need a Walkie Talkie
    • Developers and Guidebook Authors >
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      • Andrew Penny - A Blue Mountaineer
      • Kevin Powell
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      • AUSTRALIA - Photographer - Diego Perez
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      • Book Review - Climbing Rock
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      • A Tale of Oso Madre
      • Clayton Herrmann - Featured Photographer
      • Rysavy Ridge >
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        • Throng of Roland
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      • The Three Sisters
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      • ARTIST: Shawn Lee
      • A Shift on Moonlight Buttress
      • Claiming a Space on the Mountain
      • Colorblind
      • Feature Photographer: Bryan Sillorequez
      • Is Diversity in America Diverse?
      • MOVIE: People of Climbing:
      • Profile - Favia Dubyk
      • The Lineage
    • Joshua Tree >
      • Bouldering: JTree Made Me Do It
      • Improv at JTree: Bad Bolts
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    • Overcoming Adversity >
      • Acopa Outdoors
      • Anoushe Husain
      • Expanding the Circle
      • Failure is Part of the Price: Rand Abbott Attempts the First Adaptive Lead Ascent of The Nose
      • Overcoming a Brain Tumor: WeighMyRack Founder Interview: Alison Dennis
      • Rising
      • The Mountain Path Book Review
    • Overcoming Boundaries >
      • Photographer - Brook Anderson
      • Profile - Louise Shepherd
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      • Rock Type 1
      • The Tape Job
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      • Climbing is My Art
      • Mt. Logan Solo
      • Photographer - Michelle Ranee Johnson
      • Profile - Caitlin Schokker
  • Writing
    • All Writings (List)
    • Topics >
      • Adaptive Climbing >
        • Adaptive Climbing Edition
        • El Capitan: Enock Glidden
        • Failure is Part of the Price: Rand Abbott Attempts the First Adaptive Lead Ascent of The Nose
        • Quinn Brett Interview
        • My Journey to Adaptive Rock Climbing
        • Planning for Mt. Rainier: Adaptive Climbing
        • Resources - Adaptive Climbing
        • Single Pitch Instructor Adaptive: It's About Climbing Independence
      • Alpine & Ice >
        • A Chamonix Initiation
        • California Still Has Untouched Climbing Wilderness
        • Elusive Ice - A Rare Tasmanian Treat
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        • My Common Alpine Epic
        • The Dru Derby >
          • Horses for Courses - The Dru Derby 1971
          • My Dru Derby
          • The North Face of the Dru - Chris Baxter
        • Vertical Ice Climbing in Ontario, Canada, eh?
      • Profiles >
        • Climberisms by Dylan Taylor
        • A - Shawn Axelrod - Overcoming Boundaries
        • B - Megan Banker - Plus-Sized Climbing Advocate
        • B - Wendy Bruere - More Than It Hurts
        • D - Favia Dubyk - American Ninja Warrior
        • F - Debbie Fowler - A N00bie Climber's Story
        • E - Ian Elliot - It's All Up From Here
        • H - Lindsey Hamm - The Hamminator
        • H - Sabine Pratt Hunziker - Little Red Riding Hood
        • M - Marisa Michael - Nutrition for Climbers
        • M - Josie McKee: Training the Mind for Joy
        • P - Dave Parry - Author Grit Blocs
        • S - Caitlin Schokker
        • S - Louise Shepherd - Aussie Legend
        • T - Mia Tucholke - IFMGA Mountain Guide
      • Comics >
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        • Dear Memory
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        • How to Climb and Avoid the Corona Virus
        • Train the Mind: Mental Toughness Tips for Quaratraining
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        • Trying to Send this Route
      • Equipment (writings) >
        • Aliens!
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        • Shit Happens – Or, Why You Need a Walkie Talkie
        • The One Item to Stockpile
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        • Why GriGris Suck
        • 8 Reasons I Carry a Full Rack on Every Trad Climb
      • Facebook Feature >
        • FF: Big Walls
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      • Fiction >
        • GOD
        • Red Curtain: Prologue & Chapter 1 Excerpt
      • Gift Ideas >
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        • Climbing Stocking Stuffers 2021
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      • Grades, Styles, & Types >
        • Absolutely Hypothetical: Introducing the Graham Scale
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        • Trad Climbing is for Chicken Sh*#s
        • WTF 5.7?
        • 18 Climber Types: Which Are You?
      • Kids >
        • Family Stages
        • The Guidebook
      • Legends & Tributes >
        • B - John Brailsford Tribute - The Immaculate MOAC
        • A - Bryden Allen
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        • C - Cutcliffe - The Boy from Bothwell – A Tribute to Max Cutcliffe, an Australian Legend
        • G - Brad Gobright
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        • H - Thomas Huber - In Another World - A Personal Climbing Journey
        • J - Saxon Johns
        • M - Tim Macartney-Snape: ​A Legend from Sea to Summit
        • M - John Middendorf
        • S- Paul Seddon - From a Nut to a Harness: A Tribute to Paul Seddon, The Third Troll
        • R - Early to Rock: David Roots
      • Mental-Physical >
        • Climbing Training Series >
          • Climbing Warm-Up: Shoulders & Fingers
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          • Train the Mind: Mental Toughness Tips for Quaratraining
        • Climbing Through Life
        • A Climb Worth Fighting For
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        • Encouraging Words - At Any Age
        • Everyone Around Me Is Better Than I Am
        • Falling Far Enough
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        • How Auto-Immune Disease Affected My Climbing
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        • Mind, Body, and Soul
        • My Demon Has a Name
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        • Of Cartoons and Quickdraws
        • Push and Pull
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        • Take Risks - You'll Remember Them Later
        • The Art of Climbing Without Rock
        • The Devil's Game
        • The Eye
        • The Taste of Climbing
        • 12-Weeks to Onsighting a 5.8
      • Other/Misc >
        • A Leap into the Blue Back in the Day
        • Animal Acts Part 1: Things with Wings
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        • Assault on Schurman Rock
        • Christo's Little Bay Rhapsody
        • Climbing, Community, and the U.S. Presidential Election
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        • Dirtbag Trucker
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        • Dorothy, We Aren't on Havana Anymore
        • Guatemalan Worry Dolls Go Climbing
        • No Health Insurance Changed How I Climb
        • Snakes and Ladders
        • Starting Over
        • Summit Fever
        • Sydney: Growing Up
        • The Adventure of A Lifetime - So Far
        • The Bane of Northwest Climbing
        • The Hangglider Incident
        • The Pink Tricam
        • Things of Stone and Wood
        • We Were Just Boys
        • Zac the Interloper
      • Places & Climbs >
        • Climbs >
          • Consolation Prize
          • Echo Crack and Cracked Egos
          • Email From Italy
          • Flakes and Shakes: Flake Crack Revisited
          • From Yorkshire to Eternity
          • I Like Fake Cracks (And I Cannot Lie)
          • Lost Boys Meets Hard Boys >
            • The Lost Boys: The Epic First Ascent of Mount Warning's Wollumbin Shield
          • Ozymandias Direct - Fifty Years of Fun and Games
          • The Fourth Bolt of Texas Radio
          • The Matterhorn
          • Thumbing The Nose at Mr. CF Jingus
          • Tiptoeing Through Some Bungles
          • Tombstone Territory
          • Yosemite - What We Came For
        • Location Reviews
        • My Home Crag >
          • Climbing in the Upper Cumberland Valley, Kentucky
          • Copen Hill Climbing Wall
          • Drytooling in the Rain - Wayne's World, WA
          • My Home Crag: Nowra, NSW, Australia
          • New River Gorge, West Virgina
          • The Kenyan Climber
        • Travel Stories >
          • Blue Mountains - Bliss: Climbing in the Blueys
          • Buenos Aires, Argentina Crag
          • Colorado - Calling Pat Ament
          • Coolum Cave - Sendfest 8
          • Ecuador - A Nation of Four Worlds
          • Egypt: The Sinai Sampler
          • El Potrero Chico - Riding the Dirty Dog
          • Yosemite: Growing Up
          • Lover's Leap - Zone of Craptitude
          • Moonarie
          • Rio de Janeiro - Classic Climbs Sampler
          • Sintra, Portugal
          • Taghia, Morocco - Hardly Failing
          • Tasmania - Legend of the ‘Unclimbable Cliff’
          • Thailand - Lost and Found: A Mini-Epic in Paradise
          • Vedauwoo, WY
          • What Two Friends Uncovered in Verdon
          • Yosemite - What We Came For
          • 20 World Destinations for Adventurous Climbing
      • Poetry/Prose >
        • A Bard of Yosemite
        • Anti-Social Climbers
        • Sojourn at Dyuritte
        • Finding Poetry
        • Ice is Nice
        • The Space Between
      • Safety and Skills >
        • Bolting and Ground-Fall Potential
        • Euro-Death Knot is NOT
        • Multi-Pitch Tips: Two ATCs
        • Sketchy Anchor Bolts
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        • Three Ways to Use a Stick Clip
        • Top 10: Climbing Best Practices
      • Social, Social Media, & Social Issues >
        • Chossy Trio Renegades
        • Climbing into the Fold
        • Diversity in Climbing is Not a Bandwagon
        • Don't Burn Out
        • From Gortex to Camouflage: The story of climber, Irina Galay and climbing’s responses to the war in Ukraine
        • Fuck "Gumbies" and "Noobs"
        • I Am a Woman: Brie Chartier Shares Her Transition Journey
        • Montana, My Home: Claire Larson
        • My Husband Climbs Stronger than Me
        • Navajo Rising
        • Social Network Rescue
        • Social Pressure, Climbing, and Leave No Trace
        • The Alps Will Have to Wait
        • The First Climbing Gym Union?
  • Marketplace
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  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews >
      • Advanced Rock Climbing Book Review
      • Adventures at the Edge of the World
      • Climbing Glass Book Review
      • Climbing Rock: Vertical Explorations Across North America
      • Hangdog Days Book Review
      • HOOKING UP: The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual
      • Paul Preuss: Lord of the Abyss
      • Red Curtain - Book Review
      • Sydney Climbing - Book Review
      • The Greater Fool - Brad Gobright and the Blinding Shine of Originality
      • The Mountain Path Book Review
      • The Sharp End of Life: A Mother's Story - Book Review
      • Uncoiling the Ropes
      • Valley of Giants
      • Yosemite Bigwalls: The Ultimate Guide Review
    • Equipment/Gear Reviews >
      • Belay Device Review >
        • Edelrid Mega Jul
      • Harness Reviews >
        • ArcTeryx-FL-365
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      • Packs and Bags >
        • Sukoa Chalk Bag Review
        • Trango Crag Pack
      • Personal Anchor Systems >
        • Camp-Daisy-Twist
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      • Other Gear Reviews >
        • D4 Delta2P Portaledge
        • Skyhook Stick Clip Review
    • Location Reviews >
      • Australia >
        • Queensland, Australia >
          • Kangaroo Point Photos and Beta
          • Kangaroo Point Review
        • New South Wales Australia >
          • Blue Mountains >
            • Blue Mountains Photos and Beta
            • Blue Mountains Review
          • Nowra >
            • Nowra Review >
              • Nowra Photos and Beta
      • Mexico >
        • Potrero Chico Photos and Beta
        • Potrero Chico Review
      • United States >
        • Climbing Area Check List - U.S. >
          • Climbing Area Check List Part 1: Alabama to California
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 2: Colorado to Michigan
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 3: Minnesota to New Mexico
          • Climbing Area Checklist Part 4: New York to Wyoming
        • Arizona >
          • Queen Creek Canyon
        • California >
          • Joshua Tree >
            • Joshua Tree Tips
          • Mount Whitney >
            • Mount Whitney Photos and Beta
        • Idaho
        • Oregon >
          • Smith Rock >
            • Smith Rock - Photos and Beta
            • Smith Rock Review
          • Spring Mountain >
            • Spring Mountain Review
            • Spring Mountain - Photos and Beta
          • Trout Creek >
            • Trout Creek Photos and Beta
            • Trout Creek Review
        • Nevada >
          • Gun Club
          • Keyhole Canyon
          • Mt. Charleston, Nevada
          • Red Rock Canyon >
            • Red Rock Canyon Review - Yeahs and Neahs
            • Red Rock Canyon Photos and Beta
        • New Hampshire >
          • North Conway, NH
          • Rumney, NH
        • New York >
          • Gunks Review
        • Utah >
          • Echo Canyon
          • Ferguson Canyon >
            • Ferguson Canyon Photos and Beta
            • Ferguson Canyon Review
          • Ibex >
            • Ibex Photos and Beta
            • Ibex Review
          • Maple Canyon >
            • Maple Canyon, Utah Photos and Beta
            • Maple Canyon Review
          • Moab >
            • Moab - Main - Photos and Beta
            • Moab -Main - Review
          • St. George >
            • St. George - Prophesy Wall- Photos and Beta
            • St. George - Prophesy Wall - Review
        • West Virginia >
          • Seneca Rocks
        • Wyoming >
          • Ten Sleep
  • Photographers & Artists
    • A-F - Photographers and Artists >
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