Climbing

Join the adventure on Friday June 21st and make a small adventure big!We've teamed up with Al Humphreys and our friends at Trek, Howies and Osprey for the #Microadventure 2013 Challenge.Adventure? A spirit of trying something new, pushing your boundaries, going somewhere different, leaving your comfort zone? It could be one of many things, but above all, adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity.Some may see an adventure as being something big, expensive or time consuming, but it need not be. Adventure isn’t all about rowing oceans, climbing mountains or cycling around the world; by simply entering the 2013 Microadventure Competition you could soon be out there on an adventure of your very own. So what is a microadventure? Well in simple terms, it’s an adventure on your doorstep. Having a 9 to 5 job need not prevent you from having an adventure, what about your 5pm to 9am? Those 16 hours of freedom are crying out for a #microadventure! Get out there & explore the beauty and wilderness at a minimal cost and close to home. Do it alone, with friends & family or even with your work colleagues, it’s totally up to you. The choice is yours when it comes to a #microadventure!(heres a video of Al and the team from Trek on their recent Microadventure)Wherever you might be, however busy you are, sign up to the competition and commit to a #microadventure, you will soon be asleep under the stars, wrapped up in your bivvy enjoying the local surroundings of the great outdoors.The #Microadventure 2013 Challenge: June 21stThe aim is to get as many people as possible having an overnight summer solstice #microadventure on the evening of June 21st. The summer solstice will be in midsummer, a Friday night, and there will be an almost full moon (which this month also happens to be a "super moon"). After work, instead of going home, head out into the countryside with your chosen #microadventure crew and cycle, run, walk, kayak, scrap the tent if you dare, and spend a night under the stars. It’s a simple idea but full of fun.Enter the CompetitionIt’s important to note that anyone can take part in the #microadventure, but to be in with a chance of winning, whilst on your adventure or when you arrive home, you must choose to do one of the following: • Twitter - Drop a tweet/pic about your expedition and #microadventure• Facebook – ‘Like’ us on Facebook and post your pic:http://on.fb.me/11RLCJE• Instagram - Upload your micro adventure snap and #microadventure• Flickr – Submit an image and tag microadventure.• Vine Video - Submit your video and #microadventure, check out the example: https://vine.co/v/brJ5BOr10tH• Vimeo - Add video to group Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/groups/microadventuresBy entering the competition you will automatically be entered into a prize draw, and as an added extra, if you make a movie of your adventure and share it, you could be in with a chance of winning big! There are no set rules because that would be boring; we just offer guidance, asking you to stay safe, have fun and be wild. Oh and don’t forget to submit your media to any of the above – make your adventure seen and be in with a chance of winning. Explore it, climb it, ride it, experience it… remember, adventure is only a state of mind, go create!You can check out more Microadventures at - www.alastairhumphreys.comPhotos: Geoff Waugh & Al Humphreys

We are very excited to sponsor the 2013 LUNA Chix Pro Bike Team, which is the most successful, longest-running team in the history of professional Mountain biking and XTERRA racing. LUNA Chix Pros have been in the Olympics, won world championships in MTB and XTERRA; the overall UCI MTB World Cup title three times; five U.S. National XTERRA Championships; and countless national MTB and cyclo-cross championships in the United States, Canada, and the Czech Republic. Enjoy some recent pictures of the ladies having fun… .new-royalslider-5 .rsThumbsVer { width:80px; } .new-royalslider-5 .rsThumb { width: 80px; height: 65px; } prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (9) prAna-sponsors-the-Luna-Chix-2013-(2) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (5) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (18) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (1) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (7) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (15) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (35) prAna-sponsors-the-Luna-Chix-2013-(8) prAna-sponsors-the-Luna-Chix-2013-(13) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (20) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (14) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (23) prAna-sponsors-the-Luna-Chix-2013-(25) prAna sponsors the Luna Chix 2013 (17) Learn more about the Luna Chix at http://teamlunachix.com/proteam/

I've been setting routes for nearly 7 years. It's something that interested me from early on in my climbing. Something about the symphony of mechanical knowledge necessary, physical demands, creativity and logistical considerations makes it a strangely satisfying work. Over the years I've set for a plethora of comps, set for big recreational gyms, for elite climbers and just for fun. I've always felt that it made me a better climber, and helped me to envision sequences and be imaginative with my climbing. My favorite form of setting is certainly comps. You slave for days, making the best routes you can and also (more accurately) making the routes as specific as possible to challenge the competitors and create separation in the field. There's so much mystery when the morning of the comp arrives... you've forerun everything countless times, tried to think outside the box, tweak this, tweak that... but you'll never know who exactly will show up, how they will feel and ultimately, what the outcome will be. It's always something of a nerve-racking event to watch, but also super satisfying. Last week I set for Youth Regionals over the course of 3 long days. We built some really rad routes, and the turn out was awesome. Seth Lytton is a great friend of mine and he was the head setter for the event. He's done tons of setting for the last decade, and is super skilled at what he does. However, he's also strong well beyond his own beliefs, and I've been called a sandbagger a fair number of times as well -- I think our routes ended up perhaps a touch too hard..(?).. but there were no ties so that's what matters. It was awesome to see the Team BRC take the Regional Champion as well. This is a very burly region, and the kids fought hard to secure this huge victory. Very impressive work kiddos !!!I am super stoked to be part of the event. Thanks for the invite to set! Shortly after finishing up the comp I was off for Vancouver, BC to attend the Arc'Teryx Global Sales Meeting. Over a action packed and rapid two and a half days I watched presentations, hung out with the crew, explored Vancouver and peered into the numbers, into the money, into the business. Athletes rarely see this side of the operation and I think it is important. The backbone of any functioning business is the bottom line, no matter how rad the products are or how cool the vision is - businesses need money to survive - and it was eye opening to see how the sales side of things function. Hats off to the hard working Reps out there... and big thanks to Arc for bringing me out to be part of the program!I did a couple awesome runs through downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park during my stay -- it really made me reconsider Van.. it's a pretty damn cool place. Overflowing with life.. beauty of the maritime business and harbor.. skyline in reflections on the water.. snow-capped mountains in the background.. maybe I could live here? not while I care this much about climbing though, the weather (although it was briefly acceptable) usually sucks. I'm aware. RT Beak Peak Mission.... For a few years, running was mostly painful, but I was addicted to cardio activity after racing bikes for so long. I've grown to love trail running now. Behind climbing and music it's becoming one of my favorite things in life. My runs are usual short and brutal, but this last week I took it up a notch and developed a running goal. I've hiked Bear Peak from the convenience of my parents home many times. Mostly at a brisk pace, but also just for fun. I always thought a quick time would be fun to go after. Originally I was stoked to go for a summit time of sub 45 minutes, but after my first attempt last week went quite well, I decided to up the ante considerably. On my first attempt last week I made the summit from my parents house in about 46 minutes, and I hauled ass back-down to make a RT time of under 1:15 from my folks house which is maybe ~.6 miles from the trailhead. On this attempt I stopped on top for

Warning: Adult Language… Eddie Stern interviews comedian and actor Russell Brand about his transformation through yoga. Brand discusses how yoga helps him deal with his sex and substance addiction, and how yoga has changed the tempo of his life. [yt]

Jan Hojer (6) GER - Juliane Wurm (3) GER Dima Sharafutdinov (5) RUS - Anna St?hr (1) AUT Kilian Fischhuber (3) AUT - Akiyo Noguchi (6) JPN The fifth Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck was a great show on nice problems. Jan started first as he was sixth in the semifinal and secured the gold even if five climbers remained to try the last boulder. The same thing happened for the result of Dima and Juliane. It can be noted that during 2013, 40 % of the winners have actually started first in the final as his/her semi final results were the worst of all finalist. This relatively good results for the last ranked guys coming into the final, we have seen since 2007 and especially in the four last world championships.

If you’re under 25 and keen to climb, join my friends Will Stanhope and Jen Olsen this July over a 5 day vertical extravaganza. Let them help you fall in love with the Rocky Mountians. My

I walked toward the back entrance of Chicago’s Cook County Jail, looking up at a seemingly endless stretch of sky-high chain-link fencing topped with spiraling barbed wire, punctuated by looming guard towers. And I had to admit to myself that yes, I did feel somewhat intimated. And that I couldn’t help wondering whether I’d been naïve to imagine that having a nice college-educated white girl like me teach yoga to a bunch of women locked up inside there was really, in fact, such a bright idea. I met up with Rachael Hudak, my fellow volunteer from the Chicago nonprofit, Yoga for Recovery (YFR), in front of the first checkpoint. Together, we walked up to several uniformed, armed guards manning the back gate. One opened the fencing and let us in. “Oh, you’re here for yoga!” He smiled at us. “Yeah, come on in!” We walked through and found ourselves standing in front of two female guards. As we pulled out our passes and IDs, one of them exclaimed to everyone at once and no one in particular, “I want to take some yoga classes, too!” Her voice sounded playful and half-joking, but also serious. I looked at her and smiled. What I saw in her eyes told me that she really would like to do it. “We’d love to have you sometime,” I replied. Rachael and I moved on to the indoor checkpoint. Showed our IDs and passes again. Placed our coats and car keys in plastic boxes and then onto the conveyor belt for x-ray scanning, just like at an airport. Took turns holding our arms out and getting wanded. Stepped through the metal detector, which seemed to beep every time, no matter what. Shuffled through a set of double doors with a synchronized locking mechanism. And walked down a long, institutional hallway into a huge gym. I spotted a set of black yoga mats neatly laid out in rows at the far end of the room. We walked over to them. Soon, a group of a dozen women dressed in orange jumpsuits came in and was led over to the mat area by a female guard who reminded me of a Chicago street cop. “OK! LISTEN UP!,” the guard boomed. ‘IT’S TIME TO DO YOGA! YOGA IS GREAT FOR INNER PEACE!” We all looked over at her, dutifully paying attention. I was finding the combination of her booming voice and sincere pro-yoga sentiments surprising, charming, and somewhat humorous. “I’M HAPPY THAT YA’LL HAVE A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING SPIRITUAL!,” she added. And then, after a few personal asides to some of the women (who seemed to like and respect her), she left. So far, none of this was unfolding according to my stereotypes – or fears. But there was no time to think about that. It was time to start class. So I did. And it flowed beautifully. Despite being temporarily distracted by a rather loud group of inmates who came in and assembled at the other end of the gym, our students managed to regroup and maintain focus. It was clear they were serious about this. They wanted to learn some yoga. The end of the class was graced with a sweet, still moment of silence. Then, the women spontaneously broke into applause. There was a quick peppering of comments and questions. “That was great!” “I feel good!” “Will you come back next week?” We assured them that while the teachers rotate, yoga classes will be offered every Thursday. And then the women lined up, got handcuffed, and were escorted out. Soon, the next group of inmates was led in. Rachael taught and I assisted. Once again, the energy was beautiful, and the women clapped at the end of the class. And that was my first experience teaching yoga in Division 4, which holds over 700 women of all security classifications in Chicago’s Cook County Jail. Expect the Unexpected The purpose of telling this story is not to suggest that teaching yoga in settings such as jails is necessarily going to be easy. On the contrary, I’m well aware that my surprisingly smooth experience was facilitated by years of preceding work on the part of the YFR leadership and several dedicated staffers in the jail system. And while I wasn’t involved with YFR when i

All the latest videos can be found here, but here are the top 5 highest rated videos from the past week: Verdon Dreaming: Monique Forestier Climbing Tom et je Ris (5.14a)On The ARk2013 Bouldering World Cup Highlights – KitzbühelMason Earle's FA Of Real Talk (5.13+), Lower Mill CreekThe Journey | Angie Payne In Greenland

Check back throughout the weekend for live coverage from the 2013 Bouldering World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria Men’s Qualifiers – Friday, 4 AM EDT Women’s Qualifiers – Friday, 10 AM EDT Semi-finals – Saturday, 6:30 AM EDT Finals – Saturday, 1:30 PM EDT

Adam Ondra is on a two week bolting trip to Flatanger where he during two weeks hopes to bolt another ten routes out of five are probably in the 9b range. He brought a 150 m static rope and hopes this wil make it possible to bolt from the top using hooks the master the overhang. If I feel in good shape I hope to also make some FAs but the plan is to go back home and train hard and return to Flatanger later this summer. Norway is amazing during the summer and in the cave you can also climb when it rains. I have not been climbing for a week and I am super psyked to rapell down and start projecting new amazing lines.