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Urban Climber Magazine Feature Articles
Feature articles and photo essays from Urban Climber Magazine by: Rob Turan, Andrew Kornylak, Joe Iurato, Tim Kemple, Mike Brumbaugh, Andrew Burr, Justin Roth, John Evans, Abbey Smith, Brian Solano, Chris Brown, Matt Samet, Jackie Hueftle, Michael Reardon and more.
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 Coming to America
When my boyfriend and traveling companion, Klaus Isele, and I started our around-the-world climbing trip, our first stop was America. We’d saved money for years and finally purchased tickets that allowed us to fly anywhere in the world so long as we kept moving in the same direction. We continued west after America, but even after traveling through 17 countries, no place felt quite as free as the United States.  Homage: Dear Dudebro...
Well, I finally traded in the keys to my puke-green 1984 VW Westfalia for a gas-effi cient Civic. And yes, it felt like I was losing a part of my soul. That van had been my transportation, my bedroom, my kitchen, my living room, and even my bathroom at times. Her name was Sheila, and she was my best friend. You told me I’d regret the trade, of course. “Giving up on the life,” you so delicately called it. I know you disapprove of my desk job, too.  Road Warrior
One road trip I took when I first started climbing left my car in a ditch on the side of the highway and me with no cell phone service. Another left a mule deer in the same spot after it managed to cave in my entire hood. Another stressed me out as I considered fighting one (or more) of my closest friends for being more annoying than I ever remembered. Yet another made me thankful I wasn’t the one with a broken ankle.  Running with the Bulls
Winter weather on the Front Range can turn nasty real quick, leaving the crags covered in snow or just surrounded by so much bitter cold the masses tend to migrate to warmer places like Hueco Tanks, Texas, or the Southeast. Following the migrating birds, Paige Claassen, Jonathan Siegrist, Beau Stuart, and Andy Mann head for the often-overlooked crags of New Mexico in search of warmer weather and new routes.  Homage: Granite - Great Stone... or the Greatest Stone?
Choosing a favorite stone is like choosing a favorite color: pointless . . . and maybe even a bit childish. Still, while I don’t think I’ve had a favorite color since grade school, ask me what’s my favorite rock, and I won’t hesitate: it’s granite. Granite is El Capitan, in Yosemite; Hampi, India; and the Buttermilk boulders of Bishop. Granite is Joshua Tree; City of Rocks; and Rocky Mountain National Park. From The Mandala to Midnight Lightning to the Nose to Eternal Flame, this one wonderful stone comprises many of the world’s most inspiring climbing areas and climbs.  Ode on a Grecian Tufa
Postcards from the island paradise that is Kalymnos - The summer of 2009 was tough. I cut short a trip after learning two friends had died on a mountain in China. Soon after, my summer guide work began in Bellingham, Washington — I guided clients day in, day out in the north Cascades. On my off days, I trained for the American Mountain Guide Association alpine exam by climbing big alpine routes quickly.  CITY LIFE
10 TOP AMERICAN CLIMBING CITIES - By now, everyone’s heard of the little diehard climbing towns that just can’t be beat: Chattanooga, TN; North Conway, NH; Bishop, CA . . . the list goes on. Small, with loads of rock in their backyards, these spots are great road-trip stops. Heck, you could even live in ‘em . . . if climbing’s your No. 1 priority in life, you can work from home, you’ve go a fat roll of Benjamins, or you’re lucky enough to score a job in the outdoor industry . . . .  FUTURE GYMS
The next generation of climbing gyms is bigger, better, cooler, more professional... and it's changing the face of climbing as we know it - IN THE BEGINNING, there was only rock; no one climbed on plastic. Off-rock climbing training consisted of gymnastics-style strength exercises like pull-ups, front levers, and iron crosses. A few brave souls constructed homemade training apparati, most of which would sooner tweak a tendon or rip a flapper than up one’s climbing ability.  Steeped in South Dakota
How a couple of guys found the steepest crag in South Dakota - The story of climbing in Victoria Canyon - or the VC as we’d come to call it - began in the summer of 2006, while I was holed up in Rapid City, South Dakota, climbing and avoiding the scorching temps of Salt Lake City (where I studied nursing the rest of the year). One afternoon, my buddy Mike Cronin phoned.  UNDERGROUND CHUCK
Filmmaker, DJ and Highballin' Hardman Chuck Fryberger Sounds Off on the Industry, Making a Living and all that Bullshit - It’s early 2008, and I’m driving down a dusty dirt road in The Middle of Nowhere, Mexico. Deathly ill from some variant of Montezuma’s Revenge, I round a bend to find Chuck Fryberger, aka Underground Chuck, and his crew of climbers pulled over on the side of the road — un policía has tagged them for “speeding” in the middle of the Sonoran desert.  FRY DAYS
Photos by Andrew Burr / AndrewBurr.com - In Edward Abbey’s 1975 novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, four roughneck misfits set out to destroy paved roads, dams, and other signs of encroaching industrialization in their remote Southwestern homeland. The novel’s set in the sere desert plains and canyons of southeast Utah, specifically the tiny hamlet of Hite and the area surrounding the White and Fry river canyons.  The Truth About Hueco
By Melissa Strong and photos by Andy Mann / andymann.com - The rumors surrounding Hueco this past year have raised many a desert dirtbagger’s eyebrow, sparking an onslaught of questions about the fate of America’s bouldering mecca. Despite the general confusion, Hueco’s still here, open, and functioning — in fact, there’s a renaissance in the works that’s begun to lift those dark clouds of uncertainty hovering over the Tanks.  The Legend of Litz and the Lilly Boulders
Words by Rob Turan > Photos by Andrew Kornylak / AkornPhoto.com - Let me tell you about the day I met James Litz. For two years, I’d made the Lilly Boulders, a collection of 25 sandstone blocs in Tennessee’s Obed Wild and Scenic River (a national park), my personal playground. I worked there as a National Park Ranger, living in nearby Wartburg. I climbed and put up problems daily. Then one day, a gangly 125-pound high school kid from Kingsport, Tennessee, strolled into the Park Visitor Center while I was on duty and introduced himself.  The Connection
By Joe Iurato and Tim Kemple > Photos by Tim Kemple / KempleMedia.com - Quick, finish this statement: Climbing is… It’s hard, right? There's no right or wrong answer, but it probably feels as if someone just asked you for the meaning of life. I mean you’ve thought about it, but you never really THOUGHT about it. That little blank forces you to consider on a personal, maybe even a spiritual level, why you have such a shatterproof, inseparable connection to this entity called rock climbing.  Cuba: Fear Me, Fear Me Not
Words by Mike Brumbaugh > Photos by Andrew Burr / andrewburr.com - Cuba. This one small island nation stirs up a distinct mental picture in nearly everyone’s mind. We’ve all heard the stories, but it seems as though nobody has actually been there. It’s like the sweet forbidden fruit, so close (only 90 miles from Florida) and yet so far away. For Americans, there is one consistent theme in all discussions about traveling to Cuba: Fear. -lg.jpg) THE SOUND OF ROC TRIP
Words by Justin Roth / Photos by John Evans - Roc Trip Zillertal hasn’t yet started, and I find myself tagging along with the Petzl pros as they tour the four or five main areas containing Voi Ultimes (“Ultimate Routes”). In the seats in front of me are some of France’s strongest rock jocks — Tony Lamiche, Liv Sansoz, Mickaël Fuselier, Jerome Meyer, Daniel Du Lac.  The Southerner
Words by Abbey Smith > Photos by Brian Solano / bsproductions.us - At first glance, Chris Sierzant isn’t the type of guy you’d bring home to your mother. A true Southern bad boy from Kennesaw, Georgia, he stands proudly and speaks his mind without hesitation in a direct, honest, often abrasive manner. He sports a wiry, ripped frame decorated in finely detailed ink; and Lucifer, his massive Doberman Pincher, is always by his side.  Homage to the Lowball
Words by Justin Roth - The lowball boulder problem is perhaps the most derided of rock climbs. On a boldness scale, it lies somewhere between toproping in the gym and standing on a chair to change a light bulb. No one makes films about lowballs, or writes books about them — how many lowballs have you seen in the photo galleries of this magazine?  Urbanity: Buildering in Florida
Words and photos by Chris Brown - Climbing is where you find it. Some people have marvelous crags a mere stone's throw away from their homes, while others - well, they may not be so fortunate. What's amazing though, are the numbers of climbers that populate, travel to, and travel from areas with no rocky crags, boulders, or cliffs to speak of. The passion of rock climbing has a lesser-known half sibling - buildering.  Spray
It all started with a fateful encounter with Chris Lindner at the 2006 Outdoor Retailer Show, in Salt Lake City. We started sharing thoughts about making a movie together. Our ideas were similar, and we knew almost instantly that we were going to make it happen.We had only one problem: we had no plan. We didn’t know where we’d shoot or who the climbers would be. All we knew was it was going to be fresh, unique…badass. Luckily, sometimes psych and motivation are all you really need. |
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