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The Southern SloperFest Bouldering Competition and Music Festival brings together two of the South’s favorite pastimes—bluegrass and bouldering. On March 6 the annual festival at Alabama’s Horse Pens 40—a 120-acre craggy climbing haven in Steele—will combine a full day of slab grabbing with an all-night roots music and camping festival. The ancient exposed stone of [...]

Harness:
The harness needs to be comfortable enough to hang out in for hours and still have the features necessary to tackle anything from gym climbing to trad. The Misty Mountain Ranger is a new multi-purpose harness with some beginner-friendly features like double-backed, quick-adjust waist and leg loop buckles, which gives you one less thing to [...]

The rope is your lifeline when climbing.
Take care of it, and it will take care of you.
On The Crag
Don’t step on the rope, and try to keep it out of the dirt and mud, which in time will weaken the rope’s condition. Some climbers even bring a small tarp to lay on the ground at [...]

Rock climbing is like forming a band in high school; everyone does it, but very few of us do it right. Typically, this is the way most of us begin climbing: You see some videos on Youtube or maybe watch Stallone’s Cliffhanger, get psyched about dyno moves, then convince some work buddy who claims to [...]

Top five mistakes most new climbers make, and how you can avoid them.
[1] Forgetting your feet
“Most beginners try to muscle up a route, using all upper body and dragging their feet up the rock,” says Ryan Beasley, owner of Rock Dimensions, a climbing guide and instructional service. “But if you use your feet well [...]

The recent opening of the Boulders Area of Crowders State Park has many climbers wondering what other state parks might provide more access to climbers in North Carolina.
The Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC) has approached park management about climbing at Grandfather Mountain and is currently drafting a comprehensive proposal about climbing opportunities at Grandfather to be [...]

1. Most Horrible Thing Ever
Teams of two pedal Pisgah singletrack to reach 36 checkpoints during 36 hours of straight riding. No sleeping, no resting, no entry fees, no prizes, just brutal mountain biking. February.
pisgahproductions.com.

2. The Barkley 100-Miler
Considered one of the toughest 100-mile foot races in the world, ultra runners gain almost 53,000 feet in elevation [...]

Jessa Goebel is a pro climber living in Banner Elk, N.C. with a number of first female ascents to her name in the 5.13 range. She owns Climb-Fit, a company offering clinics and training sessions specifically designed to make climbers stronger on the rock.

I have the upper body strength of an egg noodle. Am I [...]

Yes, the barefoot movement is spreading. Now, climbers are tackling problems sans sticky rubber soles.
“It’s so pure, so simple, I simply love it,” says Ashley Hamilton, a recent barefoot convert from Nashville.

Hikers and climbers scour the summits for an algae that may help cure cancer.
Attention hikers and climbers: on your next trip to the local crag, you might have a hand in curing cancer. Sound ridiculous? Megan Sturdy, a medical chemist at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an avid climber, is calling on anyone [...]

The Most Horrible Thing Ever
In February, bikers attempted The Most Horrible Thing Ever, widely believed to be the hardest mountain bike race in the region. The race calls for over 36 straight hours of pedaling in six stages through North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest. For the second year in a row, no one was able [...]

Chris Sharma was in town for the Horse Pens 40 competition, and many of the competitors had seen his slideshow in Raleigh and Boone just a few days before the comp. So the mood was set by inspiration from his stories, and many climbers had dreams of 5.15b and V16 as they taped up their [...]

Photos by Cirque Productions:
Brian Burnham & Leon Godwin
The Hound Ears bouldering competition has been running now for 15 years and I’ve been attending for quite some time, so I notice the subtle changes that take place on a year-to-year basis. First of all the competitors keep getting younger . . . or I keep getting [...]

I’m not a good climber. I wouldn’t even call myself average. To call myself average would be an insult to average climbers.

Explore the seven best river-carved canyons in the Southeast—including an oasis of first ascents in the undiscovered Big South Fork.