Many of the comments from other climbers related to their injury, how they’ve been treating it, and where to go for additional advice.

Since these posts live forever via search engines, I thought it may be useful to simply have a post where anyone can comment on what doctors or other medical professionals they’ve found to be helpful in dealing with climbing related injuries.

I’ll start things off by listing some I recommend:

Kim Raupp, certified hand therapist, Lafayette, CO – She worked on my partially torn A2, helped me with an excellent rehab path, and I’m getting close to being fully healed.

Dr. Jeremy Rodgers, sports medicine/chiropractic care, Boulder, CO – He helped me with my elbow tendinitis.

Dr. Stephen Gunther, orthopedic surgeon, Washington, DC, – Diagnosed recurring shoulder issue (”loose” shoulder) and provided resources for rehabbing a separated shoulder.

Please add yours in the comments and hopefully we can compile a nice resource for all our fellow injured climbers.

I’m going to get real blunt here: If you want to be a better climber then damn well go climbing. Especially a better rock climber. I would bet any amount of money that if a person spent, say, 20 hours a week training and climbing hard in a structured climbing program (rock gym and outdoors) and an identical person spent 20 hours a week in a weight gym (even one promising some sort of climbing-specific program) that the actual climbing effort would destroy the gym program. Absolutely destroy it, as in 5.12 vs. 5.9, as in sending like a fiend and falling off before the first bolt on the same route. I guarantee this.

UKClimbing has an extensive overview of Yosemite climbing.

Dead Point Magazine interviews Big Up Productions.

Tommy Caldwell and Jeremy Collins win the fourth annual 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell in Arkansas.

Alexander and Thomas Huber became the first to redpoint Eternal Flame (5.13a) on the south face of Trango Tower in Pakistan (Climbing Magazine, Alpinist, TheLowDown)

Patagonia Terminates Relationship with SIGG Water Bottles

Statue of bare-bottom climber causes stir in western Colorado

Progression – Climbing Magazine

Petzl Reverso 3 belay device, Mountain Hardwear Runout climbing pants, Mammut Infinity 9.5mm rope, Black Diamond C3 cams – The Mountain World

La Sportiva Speedsters – straight outta bedlam

SuperTopo Guides To Zion and Tuolumne – Climbing Narc

Five Ten Team rock shoes – Sicky Gnar Gnar, Climbing Narc, Paul Robinson

Black Diamond Aura Harness, La Sportiva Mantis – Rock Climber Girl

Sterling Ice Thong 7.7mm twin rope – Colorado Mountain School

Patagonia Alpine Wind Jacket – SplitterChoss

Five Ten Copperhead – GetOutdoors

Black Diamond C3 and Oz and Petzl Reverso 3 – Dream in Vertical

In order to progress, you need to continually push your limits, both mentally and physically. I have always worked up the grades one letter at a time, sticking with the grade pyramid. Yet what is the worst that could happen if you push the bar and you get in “over your head”? You fall? You might as well just go for it.

(via Life in a Hippy Van: Stepping out of the comfort zone)

Each $25 donation gives you a chance a winning one of five historic Kor climbs:

Castleton Tower with Steph Davis, The Cruise with Jimmie Dunn, Kor’s Flake with Tommy Caldwell, Kor pitches at the Gunks with Eric Horst, or Washington Column with Conrad Anker…. Each time you donate, we’ll toss your name in a hat. As a thank you, we’ll give back to you what we’re able to give: these climbing days and some amazing gear bundles donated by prAna, Five Ten, Mammut, Marmot, North Face, MSR/Therm-a-Rest, Clif Bar and Backcountry.com, every month.

Full details at http://laytonkorclimbing.com/ and Stewart Green’s blog.

Phil Schaal Does 5th Ascent Of Jade (V15)

Steve McClure repeats Hubble

13 year old summits Carstensz Pyramid

Italian Climber Riccardo Cassin Dies at Age 100

Rock & Ice interviews Adam Ondra

Whether learning how to jam cracks or cruising 5.13 testpieces, tape gloves will prevent the back of your hands from turning into hamburger. Not only will this help you avoid needless suffering, it will allow you to climb exponentially more than the haughty non-taper who is sidelined by shredded skin.

While the concentration of climbers in Boulder is obviously quite high, I’ve wondered on the sustainability of all the gyms.

I just read an interesting post from the BRC (which is located literally one block away from Movement) in which they describe their new pricing changes. The summary: they’ve reduced all their prices.

When Movement opened, the lowest monthly rate for the BRC was $60 while Movement was $62. Two dollars extra a month for a shiny new gym and all their extras (full fitness center, yoga classes) was an easy decision for me to check it out for a few months. Now, the BRC’s lowest monthly rate is $55, about 8% less. But comparing apples to apples, that rate is for a 12 month commitment. The comparable rate to Movement’s $62 is now $58. While officially lower, for most people that’s a wash. And while this was more expensive than The Spot, the added fitness center justifies the price in my opinion.

These moves were obviously made to counter the new gym’s presence. The question for the BRC is will it be enough? I’ve heard a few rumors (likely just pure speculation) that Movement’s goal is to put the BRC out of business and then raise their rates. Personally, I find this hard to believe as it wouldn’t necessarily be the best business idea.

My membership to The Spot is ending soon and I’ve decided to switch over to Movement for now mainly because I need to be climbing more routes with my finger injury. I felt quite limited at my rehab efforts in a bouldering-only gym (yes, I know, nice problem to have). But if Movement eventually raises their rates too high, I would quickly go back to The Spot no questions asked.

Competition in all industries in good – it promotes innovation, better service, and a competitive price structure. For Boulder climbers, let’s hope all the gyms can continue to coexist and thrive.

So far, I’ve enjoyed climbing at Movement, but I’ve been limited in my climbing due to the finger injury rehabbing. Peter Beal has a good review from the perspective of someone who can hit the hard stuff there.

If you’ve been to the new gym, what were your thoughts?

Alex Puccio – Trice V12 from Brian Solano on Vimeo.

Honnold in Tuolumne from Tim Kemple on Vimeo.

New S10 Black Diamond Products – TetonAT.com

Five Ten’s Prisms – The Mountain World

DMM Dragon Cams – UKclimbing.com

La Sportiva Exum Pro – Colorado Mountain School

Arc’Teryx Alpha LT jacket and the CAMP USA Alp 95 harness – GearFlogger

Chaco Pro Series Sandals – Trailspace.com

New dual axel cam from DMM – Carabiner development blog

New Petzl Tikka and Zipka headlamps – trailrunningSoul.com

If you’ve seen any good climbing gear reviews recently, please link them in the comments.

In just a couple weeks, the 2009 Reel Rock Film Tour will kick off in Boulder on September 10. There are two main attractions for this fourth installment of the tour. Big UP will present Progression featuring Chris Sharma, Kevin Jorgeson, and Tommy Caldwell.

Sender Films and Nat Geo Adventure Channel will preview First Ascent: The Series, a new TV series set to air in January 2010.

The Reel Rock Filmmaking contest is also back this year. Last years entries were quite good, so don’t forget to vote by August 31.

Here’s a link to the trailer on the Big UP site and the full tour schedule can be found here.

Alex Honnold free solos Half Dome from Hennie vJ on Vimeo.

(via Rock and Ice, ClimbingNarc)

As your main points of weighted contact, your feet matter. Placing them silently forces you to be deliberate and aware with your choice, placement, and movement onto and off each foothold.

The awesome power of Silent Feet

Back in 2002, I had a business trip to Silicon Valley and took a long weekend to head to Yosemite for some bouldering. There was only a smallish guidebook to the Valley bouldering at the time, but it was enough to get around and for me to sample the bouldering.

Since it was the middle of July, I was wise enough to head up to Tuolumne Meadows and avoid the 100+ degree temperatures and hordes of tourists. Unfortunately, there was no guidebook, but several climbers gave me rough direction to The Knobs.

As I was trying to figure out the correct parking pulloff, I saw what appeared to be an obvious looking climber. I pulled over, asked for directions, and was given tons of enthusiastic beta for the area. As I parked and gathered my gear, I kept thinking that guy looked really familiar. Then it hit me. It was Ron Kauk. He and Sterling Johnson were filming for their newest climbing video at the time.

In what was a completely random event, I and a few other climbers had the great pleasure of spending the afternoon bouldering with Ron and watching him climb some Tuolumne boulders as part of their filming. The combination of the beautiful scenery and spending the afternoon with a climbing legend will always hold a special place in my climbing memories.

So when Chris McNamara of SuperTopo asked me if I was interested in reviewing their new Tuolumne Bouldering guidebook, I excitedly accepted the offer.

If you’re familiar with other guidebooks from SuperTopo, then you’ll know what to expect as this guide follows their tried and true format. If you’re new to any of their guides, then you’re in for a great surprise.

This is the first edition of the guide, just released this July 2009. What I love about SuperTopo’s business model is when you buy the ebook, you receive three years worth of updates.

With tons of full color pictures, the Tuolumne Bouldering guidebook by Chris Summit is an excellent resource for over 20 Tuolumne bouldering areas. This thin book is only 72 pages in length but covers everything you need for each area including:

• number of problems
• best time of day
• difficulty range
• driving directions
• the approach

I particularly liked the blend of problem guide pictures with climber action shots of many areas. I believe the trend toward full color guidebooks is excellent as it can solve the old problem of not being able to see the routes on black and white images (anyone remember the old Seneca Rocks, WV guidebook?). The photos of problems in Tuolumne Bouldering use a picture of the boulder (with no climber) superimposed with a red line outlined by white and a problem number corresponding to the text. Very visible and easy to follow.

The guide’s introduction also includes everything you need to plan a trip to Tuolumne Meadows especially the all-important weather and lodging information.

For each bouldering area, Chris Summit (yes, he says that’s his real name!) provides an overview plus some historical context where applicable. There’s also two mini articles by John Bachar and Ron Kauk.

I was also pleased to see a star rating for each bouldering problem. I’ve been seeing too many guidebooks moving away from this and it really disappoints me. I understand that placing a quality rating on a climb or boulder problem is subjective, but regardless it gives the reader a baseline to see what stands out above the rest. Chris uses a star rating of one to four where every problem gets at least one star. I would have liked to have seen what this meant. Is one star worthwhile or just so-so? A legend/guide to the star rating system would have been useful.

But looking at the star rating system leads me to a question. Are there problems with zero stars and if so, were they not included in the book? The back of the guide says it includes the best boulder problems in Tuolumne so I’m assuming the crummy ones were left out. This can be good and bad.

I’d say that while Tuolumne Bouldering covers over 275 boulder problems, I’m always a bit wary of “best of” or “highlights of” guidebooks for an area. Mainly becuase I end up needing to warm up on a bunch of problems and they occasionally are less than stellar. Are these then not included? I’m usually more inclined to see everything and then make my own decisions about what to avoid based on star ratings. My apprehension was completely appeased though with an appendix in the back of the book that lists other areas worth exploring and possibly not completely developed yet. The obvious advantages to a best of guide are the smaller size and a conciseness that allows you to focus on hitting the best problems.

If you’re interested in checking out the format of the guidebook, SuperTopo offers a free PDF chapter for the Tamarack Boulders.

Overall, this guidebook is a must have for any climber planning to visit the area and do some bouldering in Tuolumne Meadows. I wish this was available for my first trip years ago. Even if you only have eyes for the classic routes, take an afternoon to sample the bouldering and I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.

I’ve been complaining about this for a while, but unfortunately they’re not quite there yet. You can’t just click on a link for the PDF download. Instead, you have to load up the entire online magazine seeing page-by-page thumbnails and once the process is complete, you can then save the mag as PDF.

Part of the way there is better than nothing I guess…

If the goal of a free magazine is wide distribution, then why are they making hard for as many people as possible to read it?

My advice: publish straight to PDF. Put it on Amazon S3 or a CDN and allow us to link straight to it. Immediately more distribution that costs less than printing a paper magazine that will increase revenue from advertisers.

via Matt Wilder and @jmccartie