Welcome to 2024!
In this themed edition we take a moment to look forward and behind, embracing both the old and the new!
NEW
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Featured Photographer & Story
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Vietnam - Yen Thinh
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Climbing photographer Massimo Cappuccio captures images and the story of Jean Verly's discovery and establishment of a new climbing area at the Yen Thinh Valley in Huu Lung, Vietnam. Jean went above and beyond placing bolts in the walls. With a forward-looking vision, Jean assembled a small travel-economy supporting the locals.
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Editorial - Old and New
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The start of a new year invites us to look forward and behind - What have we accomplished? What is next? Doing both those things creates a sense of fulfillment. Without reflecting upon what we have accomplished, life can feel superficial - like busy bodies on autopilot... plus, we'd never really give ourselves the credit we deserve. Likewise, without the creation of something new - or looking forward to something - life can lose its spark. So we need both - the old and the new!
With Common Climber, it seems I am always looking forward, working on the "next" - i.e. what is going into the next edition? When I look back upon the year, I am delighted at the incredible Common Climber stories and photography we have shared! I love them all! As I was assembling this edition, I was considering doing what I have done in some year's past - which is re-share stories featured in the out-going year. This time, though, I'm doing it with a twist. Sharing something NEW paired with something "OLD" - and they are CONNECTED. The explanations of the "old," the "new," and the connections, are shared below with the stories - it'll be fun! |
Stefani Dawn climbing "Ride the Wind" - a 2023 What the Fabulous! WTF 5.7 climb - with friend Joy Jones.
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At the end of this edition, Assistant Editor Dave Barnes and I share our own personal reflections and accomplishments of 2023. Dave put up some First Ascents in his neck of the woods in Tasmania and, although I climbed more than 5.7s, I kept ticking away on my personal passion project - the WTF 5.7 Tour, where my hubby and I are climbing all of the "published" 5.7s in Red Rock Canyon. Below I share videos of tour from 2023.
To kick off the new year, may 2024 be wonderful - full belays in incredible places with people you love!
Stef
Stefani Dawn
Editor-In-Chief
To kick off the new year, may 2024 be wonderful - full belays in incredible places with people you love!
Stef
Stefani Dawn
Editor-In-Chief
New
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Jusant - Climbing Video Game
Jusant is a new video game with climbing at its center. The game was officially released on October 31, 2023 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows platforms. Common Climber reached out to Don't Nod to interview Kevin Poupard, a Co-Creative Director of Jusant, to learn more. |
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New...But Also Old
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Common Climber presents a new trio of humorous stories about the first Australian ascent of the East Face of the Grand Capucin in Chamonix, France in 1971.
In story one, Night Cap - The Plan Howard Bevan tells of "the plan" to beat the Chamonix crowd by "bivvying" the night before the ascent on one of the lower ledges. Keith Bell shares his side of the "experience" with A Grand Night Cap. The third story in the trio - Fiasco on the Grand Cap - 1969 - takes place a couple years earlier on the first attempted Australian ascent of Grand Capucin by Mike Stone and Ian Guild (friends of Howard and Keith). Common Climber is fortunate to be able to re-publish Mike's original story that was featured in Thrutch magazine in 1971. Mike Stone passed in 2019. In honor of Mike's contributions to the climbing world, Keith Bell provides a tribute. |
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Night Cap - The Plan
By Howard Bevan |
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Old - Honoring 2023
In honoring the contributions and publications in Common Climber in 2023, we highlight a few connected stories.
The Grand Capuchin is one of several spires on Mont Blanc. In the September-October 2023 edition of Common Climber we featured guidebook author Lamberto Camurri with some of the history of the area and beta on Climbing the Best Granite Cracks in Europe. Lamberto highlights the Grand Capuchin as well as the Aiguilles du Dru -- which leads us to our next old and new connection...
Exactly one year ago, in the January-February 2023 edition, Common Climber featured it's first ever - and quite unique - three-fer story where Keith Bell, Howard Bevan, and Chris Baxter tell three different - highly entertaining - sides of their ascent of the Petit Dru (on the Aiguilles du Dru) where they unknowingly enter into a "no hold barred" race to the top with 10+ other parties.
The Grand Capuchin is one of several spires on Mont Blanc. In the September-October 2023 edition of Common Climber we featured guidebook author Lamberto Camurri with some of the history of the area and beta on Climbing the Best Granite Cracks in Europe. Lamberto highlights the Grand Capuchin as well as the Aiguilles du Dru -- which leads us to our next old and new connection...
Exactly one year ago, in the January-February 2023 edition, Common Climber featured it's first ever - and quite unique - three-fer story where Keith Bell, Howard Bevan, and Chris Baxter tell three different - highly entertaining - sides of their ascent of the Petit Dru (on the Aiguilles du Dru) where they unknowingly enter into a "no hold barred" race to the top with 10+ other parties.
Mont Blanc: Climbing the Best Granite Cracks in Europe
(By Lamberto Camurri) Guide book author and long-time climber Lamberto Camurri shares beta on crack climbs in the iconic Mont Blanc. |
Horses for Courses: The Dru Derby 1971
By Keith Bell Keith Bell's humorous version of the "Dru Derby." |
My Drew Derby
By Howard Bevan Howard Bevan's light-hearted version of the race to the top - even though he is the one who was injured in the process. |
The North Face of the Dru: A Reprint from Thrutch
By Chris Baxter Chris Baxter's shares a more detailed, more dramatic, account of the story - written not long after it happened. Common Climber is excited to have the originally published version for you here (from the climbing magazine Thrutch in 1971). |
Book Reviews
New and Old...
Keith Bell shares a NEW review of the latest release - Climb Harder - of the Climb fiction series by Philip Barker. Philip's first book Climb, was reviewed in the September-October 2023 edition of Common Climber.
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2023 - From the CC Editors
Dave Barnes
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2023 - Reflection
By Dave Barnes Assistant Editor Dave Barnes shares his reflections on 2023. Read about some of the First Ascents he put up and his observations about the climbing world of 2023. |
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Stefani Dawn
The WTF 5.7 Tour is a personal passion project - to climb all of the published 5.7s at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. I am driven to do this because Red Rock Canyon is my favorite climbing area in the world (tied with the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney, Australia!). I want to experience this place I love to its fullest, and somehow, experiencing all of the climbs in a specific grade feels like a neat way to do it. Along the way, I hope to illustrate that 5.7s are one of the most unpredictable, interesting, and varied climbing grades (particularly the old school climbs.)
In 2023, I did not make as much ground on the tour as I would have liked - completing 6 climbs totaling 3420 feet (366 m). In fact I probably lost ground, because new 5.7s keep getting posted to Mountain Project - haha! But, in the Common Climber way, there were also other priorities - Common Climber magazine, lots of other climbs to do, an ankle injury, work (weekend warrior), lots of rain (good for the desert, but we can't climb the sandstone for several days after), house projects, so on and so forth. But, even if less than desired, it is still important to take account of our accomplishments. I had fun and climbed over 3000 feet of unique 5.7s!
To put the tour into prespective, there are 262 5.7s at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada (listed in the Handren Guidebook and Mountain Project) - totaling 56,057 vertical feet. To date I have completed 95, totaling 26,405 vertical feet and have 70 more climbs to go, with 28,028 vertical feet remaining. Like the tortoise, slow and steady gets it done!
In 2023, I did not make as much ground on the tour as I would have liked - completing 6 climbs totaling 3420 feet (366 m). In fact I probably lost ground, because new 5.7s keep getting posted to Mountain Project - haha! But, in the Common Climber way, there were also other priorities - Common Climber magazine, lots of other climbs to do, an ankle injury, work (weekend warrior), lots of rain (good for the desert, but we can't climb the sandstone for several days after), house projects, so on and so forth. But, even if less than desired, it is still important to take account of our accomplishments. I had fun and climbed over 3000 feet of unique 5.7s!
To put the tour into prespective, there are 262 5.7s at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada (listed in the Handren Guidebook and Mountain Project) - totaling 56,057 vertical feet. To date I have completed 95, totaling 26,405 vertical feet and have 70 more climbs to go, with 28,028 vertical feet remaining. Like the tortoise, slow and steady gets it done!
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