Photo Credit: Bryn Sillorequez

Writings in this category focus on unique and unusual topics that don't easily fit into other topic categories. Enjoy!

• A Day Out with Barnsie (By Keith Bell) - ​Common Climber contributor Keith Bell has a light-hearted writing style and way with words. In this unique story he uses climb names and song titles to tell us about a fun time out with a group of friends over New Years. One of those friends is Common Climber Assistant Editor Dave Barnes - aka. Barnsie (FYI - Aussies like adding "ie" to the ends of words). Barnsie is also the nick-name of a famous Australian rock-n-roll artist, which is where the song-play begins. Check out this fun story, and build in a little extra time to to hear the tunes referred to in the story - they will transport you to the Land Down Under in the most creative of ways. 
• A Leap into the Blue Back in the Day ​(By Keith Bell) - ​Often climbs are named based upon an experience with the first ascent - but this climb, called "Serenity," was named tongue-in-cheek for the very non-serene descent that occurred before the ascent. 
• Animal Acts Part 1: Things With Wings (by Keith Bell) - Keith Bell has a way with words and some rich climbing tales. In part one of a two-part series Keith shares four laugh-out-loud tales of climbing encounters with "Things With Wings."​
• Animal Acts 2: Things That Slither, Crawl, and Walk  (By Keith Bell) - Keith Bell wraps up his entertaining two-part series on critters he has encountered while climbing. From snakes, to things with fur and exoskeletons, these stories will make you laugh, cringe, or be fascinated - or all of the above. 
• Assault on Schurman Rock (By Jeff Smoot) - Author Jeff Smoot heads to a local Seattle outdoor climbing wall, Schurman Rock (the oldest known purpose-built artificial climbing wall in the world), for some peaceful laps - not today! A light-hearted climbing story with a little history thrown in.
• Christo's Little Bay Rhapsody (By Keith Bell) - Christo, an avant garde artist that likes to wrap very large things, left his mark on Little Bay near Sydney, Australia - with the help of climbers, of course. Contributor Keith Bell happened to be one of those climbers. In this interesting and humorous account, Keith fills us in on what it was like to help wrap 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) of coastline with fabric and what happened in the aftermath - including how NOT to deal with 400 meters of rope.
• Climbing, Community, and the U.S. Presidential Election (by Stefani Dawn) - A rock climber explores the importance of rock climbing and community in light of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.​​
• Climbing Gyms: The Gateway Drug (by Stefani Dawn) – WARNING: Climbing may be addictive. Sort of.
• Climbing Hands (By ​David Barnes) - A climber's hands are conductors which earth us as we climb. Our feet back them up.  A climber’s hands are the touch-stone of our climbing lives. If you’re into tender and supple hands, don’t take up climbing.
• Climbing in the Bare Essentials (By Stewart M. Green) - There are First Ascents (FAs), and then there are First Naked Ascents (FNAs). Stewart M. Green gives tells the tale of a FNA at the granite slabs of Whitehorse, New Hampshire. ​
• Climbing Resolutions: A New Year's Conversation with Myself (by Stefani Dawn) - A climber has a New Year's conversation with herself...Can you relate?
• ​Climbing Through Life (By Nick Ducker) - "This utterly arbitrary pursuit of getting one's physical being from point A to point B, in maybe the most difficult manner possible, has continued to have a profound impact on how I perceive my experience in this world. It has also accompanied me through and contributed directly to some of the most definitive moments of my life."
• Demented Dirt Bag (by ​David Barnes) - The scruffy looking peeps who have darkened hands from anodised carabiners, weird looking toes from being cramped in climbing shoes for way too long and blunt everything’s, from ice axes to pocket knives. They have scavenged hands from getting their jam in cracks. These climbers have given up on normal and live for the climb. These demented ones are The Dirtbags. 
• Dirtbag Trucker (by Joe Martin) - "It had been a long, 14-hour day at the tail end of a week-long run and I was finally close to my end-of-trip destination. This time I was on a Covid haul of toilet paper from Danvill, Kentucky to Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to 2020, I would never have imagined that toilet paper would be the major survival commodity of an almost-apocalyptic panic from a virus. I would have guessed maybe medical supplies, freeze dried food, or survival gear. But nope - just a helluva lot of toilet paper..." Trucker Joe Martin takes every opportunity when he's on the road to find places to climb. Sometimes he ends up on narrow and rutted dirt roads where there's no way to turn a big-rig around. Follow along in Joe's lively, southern story-telling about a trucking-climber's life. 
• Don't Take Granite for Granite (By Stefani Dawn) - Every new crag and rock type brings a unique experience. But one type of rock - granite - is the most unpredictable.​
• Dorothy, We Aren't On Havanah Anymore (By Stefani Dawn) - Have you ever gotten on the wrong climb and realized it a little too late?
• Guatemalan Worry Dolls Go Climbing (By Melissa Kline) - Author and climbing instructor Melissa Kline also has a hobby as a miniaturist! During COVID quarantine, she got creative. Check out her photos!
• GymRhino: Africa's Most Famous Boulder Takes to the Road (By James Thurlow) - When James Thurlow went to the Rocklands, South Africa, he fell in those with the infamous V8/7B+ climb The Rhino. He wanted to project it, but living 6000 miles away made that task difficult. Then his partner suggested, "Why not build a replica?" And the journey to replicate The Rhino began. See how this vision came to fruition, how they have created easier versions of the climb to make it more accessible, and, if you are in Europe, how you can climb it too. 
• Joshua Tree: Heinous Approaches  (By Stefani Dawn) - When boulderfield meets desert the approach can be unpredictable - sometimes it's no big deal, sometimes "hell boulderado."
• Last of the Summer Wine (By ​Tony McKenny) - Sometimes you just don’t know that you have reached the end – the last time you see a friend or change a nappy or hold your small child’s hand – but I think both Tom and I knew that this would be our last major climb together. Nothing was said, we just sensed that the times they were a-changing.
  
• Meditations on the Rope (By Bruce Burchell) - ​Author Bruce Burchell did some of the early ascents of climbs in Oregon and Yosemite, California. Even when stationed overseas, Yosemite kept him returning. Bruce shares tales and tips in "Medications on the Rope."
• No Health Insurance Changed How I Climb (By Stefani Dawn) - When my husband and I quit our jobs and started our own rock climbing-related business, we lost our health insurance. This definitely impacted how we approached our climbing (and some of it's embarrassingly funny).
• Rock Star Groupie (By Stefani Dawn) - A climber finds herself following a route-setting rock star. Who is it and why?
• Snakes and Ladders (By ​David Barnes) - Australia – the land where walking out your front door means you may be bitten, stung, or even killed by any number of critters. Now try it on a climb...
• Starting Over (By Stefani Dawn) - We all love climbing. We are dedicated to it. We’d do it every day if we could. But face it, we’ve all been there - be it from injury, work demands, location, or lack of partners – we have to start over, again, and again, and again. And it sucks every… single…time...​
• Summit Fever ​(By Jeff Smoot) - A young, glory-eyed teenage Jeff drags his dad and little brother up a mountain in the fog and rain to bag his very first peak.
• Sydney: Growing Up ​(By Dave Barnes) - Nothing much happened in the burbs of Sydney growing up in the 80’s. Shoplifting, cheap wine and smoking bongs was culture as was going to the vid shop to grab a movie. Life was cheap and pre-internet the world was small. Climbing entered this time and space for me hence forth, life changed.
• The Adventure of a Lifetime...So far (By Dierdre Wolownick) - "When you think of big wall climbers, it’s not generally an “elderly lady” who comes to mind. That’s what my son, Alex Honnold, called me during my first year of climbing, when he led me and another “elderly lady” friend up Snake Dike on Half Dome. Eight years later, when I climbed El Cap with him, I was even more elderly."
• The Bane of Northwest Climbing (By Stefani Dawn) - @#$% moss! Enough said.
• The Hangglider Incident (By James Crump) - Climbing pot-pipes? Cops? Hanggliders? Texas climbing legend James Crump tells a tale like no other. This story is no exception. Be ready to laugh - and be shocked - in disbelief as this larger-than-life Texas climbing tale unfolds. 
• The Pink Tricam (By Emma Renly) - Author Emma Renly describes her first trad lead, and how the pink tricam was both her downfall and her saving grace. ​
• ​Things of Stone and Wood (By Dave Barnes) - A tree is lodged smack-dab in the middle of Dave’s new climb. The author struggles with whether to remove the tree of leave it, taking us on a thoughtful journey of trees and climbing. 
• We Were Just Boys (By Lyle Closs) - "We were just boys. What, for god’s sake, were we doing attempting to climb a 300-metre vertical cliff straight out of the sea with no experience, paltry gear, and nothing by way of adult guidance. Such is spring, when saplings think the rainforest owes them greatness." Two young boys face Tasmania's cliffs, weather, and rough seas in the days before cell phones, sophisticated climbing gear, and how-to YouTube videos.  
• Zac the Interloper (By Keith Bell) - A crag dog holds a special place in a climber's memory - best climbing buddy. Woof. 

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