Short people problems. It’s a thing. Today, using an auto-belay my first time climbing with ropes — save the proper belay course I took two days ago — I felt entitled to complain. Inside my mind. Because, yes, I know, in the words of that belay course instructor, bouldering is “very different” from rope climbing….
Category: Climbing
“What if He Had Fallen?” Yeah. But He Didn’t.
A few weeks back, as the Grouse Grind was opening for the season, I mentioned to someone that maybe I’d do it again this year. It had been awhile. I was feeling fit. A few days later, when she checked up to see if I’d gone, I said, “No!” With a laugh, like, “of course…
Amy’s Horrific ‘Big Bang Theory’ Makeover, Climbing, and Fear
I wouldn’t say Mayim Bialik is my hero like, say, Alex Honnold is my hero. But I admire her tremendously. She is unabashedly herself in an industry that pushes an alarming degree of conformity. She’s ballsy. Vegan. Openly religious. And you know she must have cringed when she learned how Amy Farrah Fowler’s story was…
Sunday
A woman I don’t know well was talking to me about her university-bound son the other day. She was concerned about his choice of schools, since he was only 18 and had never lived away from home. So she wanted him to opt for the smaller, less prestigious college in lieu of the monolith that…
Let’s Talk ‘Free Solo’ And The Editorial Spin Put on Alex Honnold and Sanni McCandless’ Relationship
Update December 2019: They’re getting married! Good on ya, Sanni and Alex. ❤ Originally posted March 17, 2019 “Why do you want to do this? It’s a Totally. Crazy. Goal.” — Sanni McCandless Today I saw Free Solo for the umpteenth time. I use the word “umpteenth,” because the actual number is somewhat embarrassing. I…
‘Free Solo’ Shows Alex Honnold’s Extreme Difference
There’s a scene in Free Solo, the documentary about Alex Honnold’s phenomenal feat of scaling El Capitan without the aid of climbing ropes, where the audience gets a telling glimpse of his difference. It is a scene that seems to have nothing to do with climbing. Honnold and his girlfriend have just bought a new home…
Sarah Field 