Brief History of Climb

Calling something "unclimable," will lead any self respecting climber to wonder whether that statement is accurate. In the 1800's, half dome was deemed unclimbable...and these days more than 50,000 people make it to the summit every year. Words are powerful. Put in front of the right audience, they get people to find ways to achieve the impossible. Today we look at the history of an entire mountai...

It's fair to say that for the majority of the history of rock climbing, men have hogged the spotlight. Climbing has a particular "macho" bend to it, and women throughout the past hundreds of years have faced sexism and discrimination in almost every way possible while trying to participate on the rock. Despite this unfortunate truth, many women have continually defied convention and worked incredi...

The early 80's was a time of immense change in the climbing world. Sport climbing and bolting on rappel had just started to spread from Europe to America, and the ethics that had ruled the previous decades started to be questioned. John Bachar - arguably the greatest climber in the world at the time - hated the idea of these new ethics changing the sport. In July of  1981, after attending an inter...

The early 80's was a time of immense change in the climbing world. Sport climbing and bolting on rappel had just started to spread from Europe to America, and the ethics that had ruled the previous decades started to be questioned. John Bachar - arguably the greatest climber in the world at the time - hated the idea of these new ethics changing the sport. In July of  1981, after attending an inter...

Today, dynamic climbing - lunging, dyno's, deadpoint's etc. - is considered a mainstream climbing style. But that hasn't always been the case. On today's episode we trace to the origin on dynamic climbing to an exact time, place, and even a specific route. From there we look at how this style of climbing spread from its early origins. SOURCES Ament, Pat - "John Gill: Master of Stone" 1979. Sherman...

In the 1980’s the small town of Buoux in Southern France suddenly became the centre of the hard sport climbing universe. Climbing on bolts was still in its infancy, and Buoux saw grades explode, new moves like the “Figure 4” invented, and controversies brew. Everyone in the climbing world wanted to go to Buoux to try the hardest routes in the world. Then, just as quickly as Buoux became the hottes...

Coming soon - The Brief History of Climb Podcast! Plus, a short story about the origin of the sit-start. Music by Slip.stream - "Gnarly Man" / "Back In your Town"