Skills: Climbing

Your Challenge: Set a goal to climb a higher rating.

Timeframe: 3 months

Who’s Done It:

Freya Rasmussen
Revelstoke, British Columbia The best way to improve is to find some partners who climb at higher grades than you and throw yourself on routes that are beyond your level. It builds strength and technique as you try to work out the sequences. This of course is best saved for single pitch sport climbing. It feels amazing to just go try out something really hard and actually make it to the top!

Types of Climbing Plus Suggested Destinations for Each

For help discovering what and where to climb this fall, we asked around. Former Rock & Ice editor Nancy Prichard Bouchard and pro climbers Ally Rainey and Lizzy Scully divulge their favorite stashes and why they frequent each.

Traditional (trad) climbing requires you practice route finding, carry all the gear you need to protect the route, and secure the rope (i.e., slings, carabiners, and protection pieces), plus make belay anchors at the top of pitches. Shwangunk Ridge (a.k.a. “The Gunks”) in New Paltz, N.Y., received a unanimous recommendation. But Yosemite’s big cracks, which are perfect for beginner and intermediate climbers, came in a close second. Colorado’s conglomerate sandstone walls at Eldorado Canyon earned honorable mention. Another New England favorite: Cathedral Ledge in New Hampshire. For a game of hide-and-seek, though, stay out West. “Your whole body fits into the huge wide cracks at Vedauwoo outside Laramie, Wyo.,” Nancy says.

Sport climbing is following preset bolts up a route. “I love sport climbing in the fall because you can really try hard with less sweaty hands,” says Lizzy. “The rock also feels like it has more grip when temps are cooler.” Try it on one of the 1,800 routes at Oregon’s Smith Rock State Park or on sandstone in the southeast. Both Ally and Lizzy recommend the challenging overhanging routes at West Virginia’s New River Gorge and Kentucky’s Red River Gorge.

Bouldering is working on short climbs without ropes but over a crash pad. “Everyone has boulders in her own backyard,” Nancy says. But when you want to get away, try Hueco Tanks State Park near El Paso, Texas. Hueco, which means “hollow” in Spanish, denotes the area boulders’ abundant pocket holds. Ally defaults to Cody, Wyo.’s sandstone bouldering, while Nancy’s go-to is Colorado’s Mt. Evans.

Alpine climbing—essentially ultra-lightweight, self-sufficient mountaineering—is a way to swiftly ascend to a summit carrying only food rations and the bare minimum amount of gear, which actually includes whatever slings, carabiners, crampons, ice axes, and harness the peak requires. “Stick with rock climbing and bouldering in fall,” Nancy says. “You can still bag some Colorado 14ers before snow hits, but places like the Sierras are too snowy.”

Gear Basics

“If it’s safety equipment, don’t buy it on the cheap,” says Nancy Prichard Bouchard, former Rock & Ice editor. “Consider it an investment like insurance. Getting it 80 percent off is not necessarily a good idea.” Show off your individuality instead with items like your chalk bag, which is less crucial to your safety.

Black Diamond Primrose SA, $54.95; blackdiamond-equipment.com
This all-new women’s-specific harness takes the cake as a comfy, functional all-arounder. The bullhorn-shaped OpenAir waistbelt has a speed-adjust buckle combined with four pressure-molded gear loops and a 12kN-rated haul loop. Added bonuses include an adjustable, releasable elastic rear riser and patent-pending trackFIT adjustable leg loops.

Metolius Yosemite Chalk Bag, $17.95; metoliusclimbing.com
This classic cylinder-style bag is host to must-have features like a stiff rim for easy access, a brush holder, an easy-clip belt, and a plush fleece lining. Comes in a wide assortment of colors and patterns.

Five Ten Arrowhead, $165; fiveten.com
This snug and supple shoe features a downturned toe complemented by a high arch and a heel cup that hugs the foot. A durable, high-friction rubber at the toe rand and Onyxx outsoles add to this fits-like-a-glove shoe’s top-notch performance.

Petzl GRIGRI 2, $95; petzl.com
This assisted-braking belay device is 20 percent lighter and 25 percent smaller than its predecessor, which revolutionized belaying when Petzl introduced it 20 years ago. More versatile than ever—it works with single-rope diameters ranging between 8.9 and 11mm—the updated GRIGRI 2 also features a two-stage progressive descent control handle that aids smooth, controlled lowering.

Armour Lady Blue, Camp USA helmet, $60; camp-usa.com
Ideal for mountaineering and rock or ice climbing, this headlamp-compatible brain bucket is sized for a woman but includes all the great features from the men’s version, such as a rotating adjustment wheel, hybrid construction, and a comfy chin strap. Plus, it weighs just 10.9 oz.

Fitness Moves

(All photos by Casie Zalud)

Taking your climbing to the metaphorical next level could be as simple as learning a few moves. Pro Five Ten-sponsored climber Angie Payne—whose competitive climbing resume includes indoor wins, such as three ABS National Championships, and outdoor successes, marked by her first female ascent of a confirmed V13—demonstrates three moves that will up your skill level and take you higher.

Campusing: This requires moving over—or under—terrain using only your hands, without touching your feet to the wall or the rock, so it’s great training for upper body strength. “You rely solely on your arms, like you do on monkey bars,” Angie says. “Try this move when using your feet is impossible or when it is easier to use only your hands.”

A With one arm holding on, use other hand to reach for the next hold.

B Swing from hold to hold using your body’s momentum.

Heel hook: This move is a way to advance up and relieve your arms of some weight for a moment. Place your heel on a big hold and use it to push you up toward a hold above. “Instead of using the toe of your shoe, you’re using the heel, and that’s why climbing shoes are tight,” Angie explains. “You want them to be tight enough that your shoe doesn’t slip off.”

A With straight arms, swing your foot onto a large hold and hook the crook near your Achilles over it.

B Push yourself with your heel and reach up with the hand on the same side to the next hold.

Drop knee: Typically used to move straight up rather than sideways, the drop knee enables a climber to reach farther than if facing flat against the wall. “This move really just brings your hip closer to the wall so that side of your body has more length than it would otherwise,” Angie says.

A Face square to the wall with your body parallel to it and your knees bent.

B Bring your hip closer to the wall and point one knee in and down. “Like an Egyptian figure,” Angie says, “extend and reach up with your arm on the side you’ve twisted toward the wall.”