URBAN CLIMBER MAGAZINE


				URBAN CLIMBER MAGAZINE - FINISH HOLD Got something to say that we can close the book on? Send it over to finishhold@urbanclimbermag.com. If we like it, you’ll see it here, and you’ll get a CHOICE PRIZE and bragging rights. PHOTO: Tommy Caldwell walked nine miles for this FA: Spread Eagle (V11), Box Lake, RMNP. Photo: Andy Mann / andymann.com

The B-Sides
As the Golden Globes are to the Oscars, so these dubious achievers are to the prestigious Urby award winners. Best hangover send: During a night of debauchery, Dinkus promised a cute girl he’d never met that he would take her climbing the following day. His drink list, which included four Jäger bombs, six Budweisers, two shots of tequila, and an unknown volume of whiskey sodas (he spilled more than he drank), left him still over the legal limit the next morning.

Getting it Done
Particles of chalk gently alighted, circled, and danced away, illuminated by a shaft of sunlight slicing through the pines. The breeze was playing havoc with my nerves—one whispering wave would taunt me with a cool freshness from the brook, only to get sideswiped with a furnace-like gust from the sundrenched canyon sides above. I was worried. I was already greasing off the slick, tightgrain stone, and my fingers wouldn’t stop seeping. It was 8:47 a.m., yet time was short. The advancing wall of heat would finally catch up and make the long, technical line impossible.

The Moment
You came to this place with one thing in mind: This setting can’t be beat. You knew the line would be proud, but it is so much better up close, in person. You have done the moves over and over again in your head; the beta is dialed. It is the last day of your trip of a lifetime, and your departure looms in the very near future. Despite all previous efforts, the crux continues to shut you down. As the daylight dwindles, you are left with one last attempt, the absolute last go before you are forced to pack up and head home.

Inclined to Climb
During one of my adventure days last winter, I stumbled (quite literally) across an incredible splitter crack on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. It just so happened that this splitter crack was right beside the world-famous Incline Railway. The first time I climbed this crack, I sought cover under the darkness of night and climbed the splitter by moonlight.

Train as Hard as This Kid!
I live in Tanzania, East Africa. I’m a Peace Corps volunteer here, and I live in a village called Ihanja. My house is near the local primary school and kids pass it on their way home. One day they caught me on my rock rings and, enthralled, asked to try them out. Soon they were crowded around seeing who could do the most pullups. This picture is of a kid named Ben who wanted to win the contest…bad.

FINISH HOLD - #37 - IRRATIONAL FEARS
My name is Arnold, and I am a sport climber. Ergo, I eat celery by the bushel, I have an 8a.nu scorecard, my harness has one gear loop on each side, it takes me 45 minutes to onsight a 50 foot 5.9 trad route, and I haven’t used an ATC or similar manual belay device in five years.

FINISH HOLD - #36 - TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY
The error of our ways is only that we climb too much. With three hours to complete four hours of studying, we climb and do not study. Only the man who climbs six days a week can call himself obsessed. Only when you have callus so thick you can no longer straighten your fingers are you at peace with yourself.

FINISH HOLD - #35 - IT COULD BE…
It could be about . . . . . . one small move being big progress. . . . ripped flesh, broken bones, and broken hearts. . . . falling over and over again, to later realize that the failures showed us more about who we are than the successes ever did. . . . people breathing life into us, inspiring us, showing us a better way to live in the world. . . . us breathing life into other people, inspiring them, showing them a better way to live in the world.

FINISH HOLD - #34 - THE CLIMBING SHOE
Behold, the climbing shoe: so rough and tattered from use; memories of blood, sweat, and tears fused deep into its worn rubber — rubber torn bit by bit by all those times it saved your ass … from a bad hand placement, or that time you tried to clip, pumped with fear. . . . The rubber was the lifeline. Sure, you can climb barefoot, and ropes and pads are important, too

FINISH HOLD - #33 - NEVER QUIT
“You could lose your leg, your foot.” “You’re lucky to be alive.” “You’re out for the season.” “You might never climb again.” NEVER QUIT. For some, it takes only telling them; for others, being close to death — to get back to the basics, appreciate every day, know who’s always been there and want to love them well, to climb for more than grades, to live purely, without fears.

FINISH HOLD - #31 - LOVE, PAIN, AND CLIMBING
Last summer, I broke the first metacarpal in my right hand, chipping the ball clean off in a fall. A few months later, I saw an orthopedic surgeon. A two-hour surgery left me with three pins, an artificial tendon, a gigantic cast, and bottle of painkillers . . . and something else — fear. Fear of not climbing, and of not achieving my goals. My doctor said, “Your hand might not work quite as well as before. And there’s a minuscule chance that the artifi cial tendon might tear.” In short, climbing could undo everything I’d gone through to fix my hand.

FINISH HOLD - #30 - ONE LAST CLIMB
It's all about those last four feet on your final climb of the day, when you're so pumped a strong breeze could peel you off. You don't care about anything for those final seconds when you dig in and exhaust your last ounce of energy. You nail that final hold and hang like a wet towel, basking in the sun until your hands just give out.

FINISH HOLD - #29 - In Teddy’s Words
As an ex-competitive fighter, a new climber, and a CrossFitter, I hold on to the following words as a mantra for why I do what I do — because when it comes down to it, it’s all about the effort. I can't claim these words to be mine — Theodore Roosevelt said this:

FINISH HOLD - #27 - Only When…
When you spend your time in a place that few will venture to
When you take the time to venture out
When you ask of your self everything and nothing
When you are your only adversary
When it’s never too cold, or cold enough

FINISH HOLD - #26
“Climbing far transcends some recreational activity that bides my time. It’s a lifestyle that unites my mind, body and soul in a beautiful, chaotic melody.” —Mark Mellette

FINISH HOLD - #25 - Good Friction
A cold wind whips through Prescott, Arizona, howling as it weaves past trees and my house. Out in the driveway the wind is so strong it’s hard to stand. I unlock my truck and climb in. With a turn of the key, it gives a whine of protest before starting. As I drive through downtown an unseen force pushes me from side to side.

FINISH HOLD - #24 - Alex is #1
Small-town girl Alex Johnson, 19, of Hudson, Wisconsin, took first for the women in the bouldering World Cup this June, at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. She climbed with confidence and determination to beat out the reigning world champ, Anna Stöhr and 13th-ranked Katharina Saurwein, both of Austria. Alex’s win helped answer the question, “Can American competitors hold their own on the world stage?”

FINISH HOLD - #23 - Homesick
WORDS AND PHOTO BY TIFFANY HENSLEY - A wide-angle panorama of drastic and dark mountains underscoring toothily the bronze, dawning sky—voluptuous clouds slothed over these mountains with hypnotizing rhythm; a slow, single, continuous heartbeat. Rusty boulders with pock-marked faces look up at these clouds, a light darkness moving across their bulky bodies in abstract patches.

FINISH HOLD - #22 - The Fence on Carter Lake
By Matt Samet - Sometimes they blow up the boulders quietly, sneaking in at night to unroll their fences. And sometimes the heavy machinery moves under your nose, the dynamite seated by expert, brutish hands. Since matter can neither be created nor destroyed, lamenting lost rocks is a cosmic mistake. A two-foot hunk of stone has neither more nor less intrinsic value than a 20-foot one. Tell yourself that, no matter what might come.

FINISH HOLD - #21 - Chalkcloud
Chalkcloud of thoughts/Irregular breathing beating against/The heart expanding/Gripping the palms/Fist of energy released like flicking/Water to dry ground/Squeeze the mind/The tension pushing out/Worry and wish/While sweat pellets reflect/Blue-grey/The sky and rock unified in mirror/As chalked fingertips/ Ground white magnesium carbonate/Consume the body’s watery origin/The first touch on stone/Carefully sensitive/Conserves the energy for this tactile task

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