Resistance Climbing + Climbs That Fall Apart
A look into my most recent interview for our Dirtbag State of Mind podcast, and a piece that I'm working on for Volume 24 of The Climbing Zine
“We go round and round, life is just a moment in time” —Pharcyde
This last month or so of life has been full of ups and downs. I’ve spent time at the Children’s Hospitals in Colorado Springs and in Denver, visited my family in Illinois, and I’ve had peaceful moments on cliffs in Colorado and Utah. I’ve felt life and love; and read in newspapers about the devastation of death war. And, I’ve continued to create, working on my podcast and the next issue of The Zine.
As I wrote about a little in my last post, my dear friends Shaun Matusewicz and Amy Stevens’s daughter Zinnia was injured in an terrible accident on September 10th. The experience has obviously been extremely traumatic for the family, and the recovery has been far from straightforward. I’ll leave a link at the end of this story with more information on what happened.
It’s hard to put any of this into words, but I will say that the experience has highlighted for me that at the end of the day our loved ones are the most important things in our lives, and that life is delicate and precious. I know so many people are praying for Zinnia, Shaun, and Amy, and I know that means the world to them.
There is also a Go Fund Me campaign that was started for Zinnia.
I wanted to write a little bit about two different pieces of content that I’ve worked on recently. The first is a conversation with Andrew Bisharat that I recorded for my Dirtbag State of Mind podcast. Andrew is a fellow writer and podcaster, and he’s also a main character in the film Resistance Climbing, which documents the vibrant climbing community in Palestine.
The film was a favorite from the annual Reel Rock series. I got to see it at Mountainfilm in Telluride, and also meet one of the Palestinian climbers from the film, Asia Zughaiar.
I recorded this conversation in September, and obviously it would have been a much different conversation if we recorded it now. But, I hope with both the film, and this interview that it highlights the beautiful climbing community of Palestine, and their spirit. The episode, “Resistance Climbing and Evening Sends” is live in the podcast feeds.
I’ve also been working on a story called “Climbs Fall Apart” for Volume 24 of The Zine. The essay is about some climbs that have either fallen down, or have had major sections that have collapsed.
When I first started climbing I used to believe these rocks were permanent. But over the years I’ve learned that, obviously, they are not. To quote the Jimi Hendrix tune, “castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually”.
Here’s an excerpt from the piece, and some photos. Volume 24 is set for publication late this year, and is now available to preorder.
The Cave Wall was also the site of the most mysterious and spooky rockfall incidents I’d ever come across. Tim Foulkes and I had stumbled upon the undeveloped wall in 2015, and for three plus years our crew of friends became obsessed with the zone, establishing nearly 80 routes on what became one of the most stacked, and definitely the most remote wall in The Creek.
As with many walls in The Creek there were five star lines—yes, I prefer the five star system, especially in five star areas—and there were two star lines. One day Dave Marcinowski was establishing a two star line, right next to his five star mega 185 foot dihedral To The Moon. The climb went relatively straightforward, except for a foot slip that caused him to take a small fall and he hit his junk on a protruding flake. After the experience he thought he’d name the climb Cock Block.
A week later he came back to do the climb again. When he reached the section past where we had his little fall the climb suddenly seemed different, as if the crack that he’d climbed previously was mysteriously missing. After analyzing the situation some more he realized the crack was missing!
When he lowered off to the ground he closely looked at the base of the climb, and sure enough, there were several blocks that looked like they’d recently fallen off the cliff. In the few days between the first ascent and when he’d returned a ten foot section of the climb had fallen down.
After some deliberation together we decided to move the anchors down, and make the climb shorter, only going up a small, boot shaped flake; giving it a new name as well: Moon Boot.
Climbs fall apart. And from my perspective the ones the features that look like they are going to come crashing down rarely do.
Here’s a recap of of links and content I mentioned in this piece:
Zinnia’s story on Caringbridge (please do not donate on this page as the money does not benefit Zinnia)
Go Fund Me for Zinnia (the place to donate)
Trailer for Resistance Climbing
“Resistance Climbing and Evening Sends” Episode 8 of Season 5, Dirtbag State of Mind podcast