Until today, I thought the Russians, exemplified by Odintsov's "Russian Big Walls Project", were completely unstoppable. Even though Rocky did eventually beat Ivan Drago in the fourth installment of that regrettable series of films, I think we all sort of knew that in reality, the giant Russian would have kicked Stallone's ass. So, why did my belief in the unstoppable Russians end today? Let's read a few sentences from a recent trip report posted on mountain.ru.

I would like to announce the launch of IceClimbingUtah.com, a new resource that will aggregate ice conditions across Utah...

Present day. Angelino Wall, Zion National Park. This is our second present day, which is my bad, because that's pretty confusing. This is actually a present-er day than the first one, but I called that present day and I can't call this "three days in the future" because then how confused is everybody gonna be?

The Scottish West coast has been getting its usual flurries of early season mixed climbing conditions. I thought I would pop a post on here as I have some good pics that might get folks sharpening their picks!

The National Park Service has released its Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for Great Falls (VA) Park. The document is the culmination of a process that started in 2003, and contains specific rules for climbing at Great Falls. The document is available at parkplanning.nps.gov...

Just saw the notice about the fire. My stomach turns at the thought of all those back issues burning. I had just saved enough to buy that set of the first 10 issues, but my inconvenience pales in comparison to your very real material loss and the shock of seeing so much work go up in smoke. It also reminds me that the most important thing is to keep working at what you love and make your own adventures; no back issue or water bottle makes up for inhaling ice-crystals and grit at 3 am, wanting to puke while placing gear, or simply topping out with a good friend and splitting the last gulp of water.

"Squamish climber Matt Maddaloni rigged a 30-foot-diameter trapeze net, fashioned from fishing net and industrial-strength bungy cord, to protect his attempts to free-solo a 5.13a route."