Adventure
Swapping leads
In 1964, as fall began a chilly dissolve into winter, Dave Rearick and I drove the 11-plus miles up Boulder Canyon and made a...
Climbing Colorado’s couloirs
By definition, a couloir is a steep gorge cut into the side of a mountain. Couloirs constitute the artistry of the hills, carving out massive grooves that often define the character of a mountain. Some peaks are lined with sheer vertical streaks, capped off with ...
Cold-weather crags
Let’s be honest. Being comfortable has never been one of the selling points of rock climbing. Between the ever-present ache of tight shoes, the exposure to the elements and the occasional torn and bloody fingertip, climbers are used to enduring a fair amount of ...
From rescue to recovery
In 1997, Tom Wood sold everything he owned and cruised the long, flat road from Ohio to Colorado. He had no job, no place...
Bike-packing The Maze
It’s late morning, and the temperature’s already in the 80s — typical autumn weather for Utah. I cram enough food for a small Boy...
Climbing fever
About two-thirds into the recent Oscar-nominated documentary Free Solo, Alex Honnold is balancing between two tiny rock nubs more than 1,000 feet above Yosemite’s...
Mountains to climb
Driving up to Independence Pass for a day of climbing this past September, I gripped the steering wheel with a sense of nervous anticipation....
Hometown Hero: Nell Rojas
One morning in March, low clouds hung heavy over the springy rubber track behind Boulder’s Manhattan Middle School of Arts. It was a perfect...
Let’s ride, people
What do you do when you’ve got a couple of weeks to kill, you speak Spanish fluently and you bike like cars were never...
Rooted in place
Rising from the foothills, a geometric sandstone building sits alone atop a mesa like a specter over Boulder.
The edifice is difficult to capture in...
Learning to fall
When you fall from something taller than a door frame, don’t tense up, don’t get rigid. As airy nothingness swoops in, however suddenly, and...
