Photo of Barclay Rabbige taken by photographer Diego Perez. Diego is our featured photographer in this month's edition.
Welcome to the Common Climber "Exploring Our World" Edition!
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Introduction
Stefani Dawn, Editor-in-Chief Travel, exploration, curiosity are attributes held by climbers. Our travel may be near, into the cracks and crevices in our own backyards, or far, across the oceans. Wherever our footsteps and ropes take us, the allure of the rock is undeniable. This systemic allure knows no boundaries – touching climbers across cultures in similar, infectious ways. Although we may not know how to say “take” or “on-belay” in another language, we still know a fellow climber and what he or she needs, without saying a word. We share a Common thread, a DNA that makes us all Common Climbers. And despite the differences in food, language, and physical surroundings, once our hands touch the rock, we are instantly transported into familiarity: The muscle memory of holding a crimp, slapping a sloper, and toeing a crack; the habits of placing a cam and clipping a draw. In a new-to-us place, or even a new-to-us-climb in our favorite locale, we are in a beautiful balance of the familiar and unfamiliar. |
Stef climbing at Smith Rock, OR. Photo credit: Adam McKibben
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In this November 2019 “Exploring the World” edition we transport you to the United States, Greece, Spain, Australia, Mexico, China, and Italy. But, here you won't just get a flavor of the climbing experiences in these locations, you will also receive a tale from a fellow climber who also has climbing in his or her blood.
Feature Photographer |
Feature Artist |
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SPAIN
"Mountains...I want to draw it" Kamelo Onate A moving and poetic piece about what drives Kamelo to his artistry... "I make a rectangle with the fingers of my gloved hands and I frame that image of her approaching, with zombie step, staggering, and... I want to draw it! I want to draw that wind, the sound of blowing gusts that lift chunks of ice that stick like tiny projectiles, that unnatural posture enduring the thrust of nature that tries to reject her from his domains." |
Feature Articles: Exploring Our World
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UTAH, U.S.:
Maple Canyon: This One Makes You Taller By Maggie Odette At the age of 44 Maggie Odette claimed her first 5.14a. She quit her job, married her climbing parter, and, now, 4.5 years later, became camphost at Maple Canyon so she can project and send T-Rex, a 5.14b at the age of 49. Visit the conglomerate rock of Maple Canyon, UT and experience Maggie's story. |
CHINA
From Yangshuo, to Getu, to Liming By Emilie Pellerin Emilie Pellerin is a professional climber, but here she takes us on a personal journey through China, hitting the rock in three different locations and absorbing the sights, sounds, smells, and experiences of China - and sharing them with us. |
FRANCE
Verdon in Winter By Frothy Thomson The author seeks a unique, quiet, and memorable experience in the normally busy Gorge du Verdon. His, and his climbing-partner's, quest is to climb an obscure route under France's grey skies and cold winter air. |
GREECE
Meteora: The Sacred Mountains By Dave Barnes Dave reflects on the pull of climbing - "History records and legends recall how people have gone to the mountains to escape their demons and to understand who they were. Everybody runs from somewhere sometime in their lives - the mountains just make you look brave doing it." |
ITALY
Dolomites By Matt Tredway "My Italian climbing partner was a friend-of-friends...The 45ish, burly Italian scoffed, and said, 'Those sport climbers. They are like the kids today… too lazy to buy the sausage and cut it up… they want it pre sliced. They want to have hard grades, a planned route, no thinking, and don't even look around at the views!' I gulp a little, and nodded - knowing in the back of my mind that Shelf Road is a sport crag I've climbed a couple times a year since forever." |
MEXICO
La Huasteca By James Crump A hilarious and adventurous coming-of-age tale of when a 16-year-old Crump and his buddy Goomba cross the border to Mexico and go adventure climbing in La Huasteca. |
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BOOK REVIEW:
Climbing Rock: Vertical Explorations across North America (Book by Francois Lebeau and Jesse Lynch) Review By: Keith Bell "So much rock, so many areas, so many climbs, so many altitudes and differences in climate. The American climbing experience is a manifestly large and varied one. On the same day, one can be freezing his/her backside off at the base of the ‘Diamond’ or fighting heat exhaustion at Joshua Tree..." Keith shares how Lebeau and Lynch's book can help us sort things out. |
AUSTRALIA
Blue Mountains COMMON CLIMBER PROFILE: Julie Anderson Julie shares her philosophy on growing as a climber as she explores a new route in the Blue Mountains of Australia. |
FACEBOOK FEATURE
From the Common Climber Audience:
"Exploring Our World"
This month's theme is "Exploring Our World." We invited readers to submit photos and/or a description of their favorite place to climb.
Follow us on Facebook to see invitations to submit photos and comments for future editions of Common Climber!
Southeastern Alaska, I won’t tell you where specifically, you just have to find it for yourself and that’s exactly why it’s my favorite!
- Chris McCaffrey 
I live in Las Vegas, NV and Red Rock Canyon is my #2 all time favorite place to climb - but my #1 is the Blue Mountains of Australia! I'm in love with vistas, featured sandstone, and long trad multipitch - which BOTH Red Rock Canyon and the Blue Mountains have! But the Blue Mountains have some unique features inviting creative climbing movement, and almost everything is accessed from above. You either rappel in or walk down to the base and your day is done when you reach the top of the climb! Awesome!
This climb is called Sweet Nightmare (17/5.10b) and it was all sweet (even the carrots and the long traverse - haha!) - there was no nightmare about it! - Stefani Dawn |
Meteora,Greece long multipich traditional climbing! All that in conglomerate rock towers!!
- Vassili Theodorou😍😎😍😎😍😍 
By Steve46814 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9350954
I don't think I could pick an "all time" favorite, but one of the top would be Maisan (Horse Ears Mtn) in S Korea. Conglomerate sport in a beautiful park above a unique Buddhist temple Tapsa, followed by incredible food and mokkoli in the park village. Sadly, climbing there is no longer allowed.
- Rick Momsen 
Wherever I'm climbing at the time!
- Michelle Johnson |
My home, Northeast Alabama!
I personally like sport, TR and trad, and there’s plenty of that around here. I’m not really into bouldering, but HP40 is down the road from my house, so we go there sometimes too. The rock here is mostly sandstone, so it has a tremendous amount of variance. The SCC is probably the reason I love it here though. They’ve done a wonderful job acquiring properties throughout this region to designate for climbing. - Zak Mack 
By Burtonpe at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7995192
I love Mt Arapiles in Australia. The place is Ethereal. The rock, the community, the landscape make it truely remarkable. Only place in the world I can arrive at and feel mothered by the place itself. - Dave Barnes |
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Common Climber - Humorous, helpful, and inspired stories created for us and by us, the common climber!
Common Climber - Humorous, helpful, and inspired stories created for us and by us, the common climber!