Category: Climbing Chronicles

“You don’t say good luck, you say don’t give up…” – The Fire by The Roots “You should try the blue one. It’s just at your level. It’ll definitely be a project. But you can do it.” Little did the setter who said this to me know how much of a project it would be….

I started up the boulder problem and got to the spot where I kept getting stuck, unable to figure out the feet. When I fell off, one of my friends on the ground commented, “That was a weird way to start. I mean, it worked for you, but it was interesting.” He was not the…

For the most part, I’m not afraid of falling when I climb. Though Joshua Tree showed me that my outdoor bouldering head needs some work, in the gym, I don’t feel much fear. Of falling, at least. But I feel a lot of fear of failing. And in climbing, falling sure looks like failing. But what…

Some days you will fail on your project, even though you’d been making progress. Some days you will fall off problems that you know are well within your ability. Some days everything will be hard. It’s easy to get in your head and blame yourself on the days when you suck. But it’s not your…

Driving into Joshua Tree National Park is like crossing the threshold into another world – and into a place of world-class climbing. From trad towers to chalked-up boulders, you can find something to climb everywhere you look. Nestled amongst the rocks are plants and trees that are determined to thrive in this unforgiving desert. But could…

“Come on, you can do it! You got this!” The chorus of encouragement came from a group of awesome women sitting on the bouldering mats at BKB Somerville. Their shouts pushed me to make the move that I might have bailed on, saying “I can’t,” if I had been bouldering by myself. It’s always an…