Table of contents for Summer 2021/2022 in Vertical Life

Looking back, I remember the first time I picked up a Vertical Life mag. My hands were chalky and bloody, dirt and grime firmly lodged under my nails. I’d only been climbing for less than a year, I was in my early 20’s and freshly addicted to a sport that would become a lifestyle, which would inevitably shape my adult life. I’d just gotten my first flapper at the gym, it was a disgustingly hot afternoon, and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I waltzed up to the front desk looking for a bandaid and something to do while I waited for my climbing partner to finish up. Staff behind the desk saved the day by handing me a bandaid and a copy of Vertical Life to pass the…

I’m sure some of our readers already know a bit about you from your send of East Coast Fist Bump (5.14a/32 Trad). For those who don’t, could you tell us a bit about yourself? I am a climber and a mental training coach based out of the South-West US. I’m originally from Michigan and I started climbing as a teenager, I competed a little bit but was always way more drawn to outdoor climbing and loved going on trips with people from the gym, so I got a pretty early start in trad climbing, I started probably when I was like 15/16 and started guiding when I was 18, so pretty young. I have a background in Outdoor Education and have really been drawn to kind of the mental training…

Serpent 2018 was a grim year for emergency services at Dyurrite (Mount Arapiles). There were eight call-outs, twice the average number. Six of those accidents were serious, and three involved protection that failed. The saddest accident that year involved a young couple in their twenties on a climbing holiday from Scandinavia. Leif and Ingrid (not their real names) were sport climbers; back home, Leif led grade 25s. They bought a trad rack in Melbourne and drove to Dyurrite. Serpent was their first climb on trad. While Ingrid belayed, Leif started up the route with his brand-new rack. Serpent is a marvellous old classic, a twostar grade 11 with good protection and solid rock. The climb is aptly named, being rather serpentine in nature, with four vertical sections linked by three…

Rolling up to a climbing gym for the first time can be both an exciting and daunting experience. In many ways climbing gyms are vastly different from a traditional gym environment. People you’ve never met before are hanging off candy-esque chunks of plastic bolted to the walls, the air is filled with exasperated “pssshat’s”, but if you’re lucky, there could be a friendly doggo or two sitting patiently by the entrance hoping for a pat on your way to the wall. While climbing environments bring us seasoned climbers joy and an opportunity to connect, these spaces can definitely be a source of hesitation for people new to the sport. As climbing grows in popularity, we are seeing more and more people entering our sport and our community. It’s more important than…

COZ ON FOOD AND FIRE TO FORK Growing up in a Hungarian family meant a steaming hot bowl of Gulyás was never far away. The scent of paprika and potatoes wafted through the house, beckoning me to follow mum into the kitchen to try to swipe a spoonful of whatever she was cooking. Food never fails to bring our independent and wayward family together. Food is a cultural experience. We celebrate with food, we commiserate with food, we share our stories with food. After a long day on the rock, there’s nothing more comforting than knowing you’re en route to the campsite ready to cook up a storm and regale your wayward climbing family with stories of the day. Be they tales of woah or tales of wins, there’s something…

A BOOK REVIEW When is a climbing book, not a book about climbing? I picked up The Mountain Path ready to be regaled with stories of climbing prowess for which author Paul Pritchard is rightly remembered. I did find those, and they were captivating. But this book will stay with me, not because of the incredible climbing stories within its pages. But because this honest, humble, and at times hilarious book, can make you believe that a traumatic brain injury can be one of the best things to happen to you. Part memoir, part mindfulness map, part travel log, and part guide to Buddhism, The Mountain Path takes a refreshing look at what drives climbers to do what we do, the lessons we can learn from the mountains, and the…

ON TRANS PRIDE, RESILIENCE AND COMMUNITY IN CLIMBING THE TEA I SIPPED FELT ESPECIALLY COMFORTING WHILE I BURIED MYSELF DEEPER INTO THE LOUNGE ONE EARLY LOCKDOWN MORNING, AS I FIRED UP A ZOOM CALL WITH A SMALL GROUP OF LOCAL TRANS CLIMBERS. WE KICKED OFF BY CHECKING IN ON HOW WE WERE FEELING AMIDST THE CRUX OF THE NAARM/MELBOURNE LOCKDOWN, WHILE EAGERLY AWAITING LOR SABOURIN (THEY/THEM) TO JOIN THE CALL. THEY APPEARED ON SCREEN ALL SMILES TO SPEAK ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING JOY IN OUR BODIES AND CREATING SPACE FOR OUR OWN VISIBILITY IN A SPORT WHERE TRANS ATHLETES AND MENTORS ARE HARD TO FIND. THEIR PASSION AND WISDOM INJECTED A MUCH NEEDED SENSE OF HOPE AND INSPIRATION INTO OUR COMMUNITY, WHILE ANY FORM OF CLIMBING REMAINED UNAVAILABLE AS…

BETA Good quality coffee is really the key here. If you perfectly brew shit beans, you’ll end up with a perfectly shit cup of coffee. Too strong? » Use more water during brewing or dilute after» Use less ground coffee» Use lower temp water» Steep for less time» Grind coarser Too weak or acidic? » Use less water during brewing» Use more ground coffee» Grind finer» Use hotter temp water» Steep for more time Tastes bitter or Ashy? » Use lower temp water» Grind coarser» Steep for less time» Check your coffee isn’t a ‘dark roast’ (if it is use a much lower temp) EVERYDAY AEROPRESS RECIPE This is my go-to recipe for most mornings at camp. For anything besides an alpine start or a rest day, I’ll probably start…

LIGHT ON EATING DISORDERS IN CLIMBING This 46 minutes documentary isn’t as light as its title suggests. Light explores the dark realities of eating disorders and fatphobia in climbing - one that is common but doesn’t get talked about. Why would anyone? If being light means having more power to weight ratio, which hopefully will translate into climbing harder grades, then surely it’s beneficial, right? Angie Payne, Emily Harrington, Andrea Szekely, and Kai Lightner share their struggles about the quest for lightness in an unspoken world where climbers are praised for losing weight and how that can eventually spiral towards destruction if left unchecked. YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=thtDQJGrO5s…

BUSINESSES IN LOCKDOWN The Crux’s story began with two friends, Asama and Aaron, on a routine afternoon climb. What started as a casual conversation about our love for the sport and culture, quickly became a deep dive into the realm of possibility. We wanted to create a climbing gym where our values and passions could reach more people, and hopefully make a positive contribution to the sport we love most. If climbing had taught us anything, it was that focus and determination could almost surely make that idea a reality. We first started climbing as a way to keep fit and have a laugh, but we stayed for the ideals that we found were already deeply embedded in climbing culture. Climbing is about challenging yourself, not others, it’s about supporting friends…

Congrats on the film, I really enjoyed it! Mark: Yeah I think it turned out well, I was really happy. You know, I’m just in it, Sam really put it together so I was super happy with the way he did it. Samuel: It was nice working with Mark because I could mostly just have fun. When I was filming I was pretty serious if I knew I needed something to make sure the film was good, but most of the time we were just out there having fun and I was just tagging along. the harder filmmaking took place during editing, as it normally does for my process and style. You can document as much as you want, but you can’t document too much or you’ll end up with…

Looking at the photo takes me back three years prior to a similar morning at the Mount. Magpies warbling as the first light of the day pierced a wispy layer of fog, encasing canola fields. The night prior, I had eagerly agreed to climb at the butt-crack of dawn so that a good friend and mentor, Mitch Scanlan-Bloor, could perform his wizardry behind the lens. That morning went exactly according to plan and Mitch took one of the best photos I have ever seen of Arapiles. As an aspiring photographer that had never used a camera, I was completely blown away. His ability to conceptualise the shot and then coordinate all the elements to bring it together was admirable. I vaguely remember Mitch explaining that to achieve the right settings,…

Maybe, you got your first carabiner at a social climbing competition, as a door prize. Now you’re thinking of getting a belay device. You ask around, and someone recommends a store called ‘Bogong Equipment’ on Little Bourke Street. Bogong owner Neil Blundy states, "My business philosophy is really simple. To own and run the sort of store for outdoor adventurers that I personally would like to shop in. Everything flows from that." A key pillar of the Bogong story is the careful development, over many years, of an extensive suite of the world’s best outdoor brands. In the climbing space this means brands such as La Sportiva, Edelrid, DMM and Grivel, absolute market leaders in rock shoes, ropes, carabiners and ice tools respectively. The staff at Bogong have also always…