It’s been a while since my last post!  I’m sorry about the lack of posts, I’ve been busy 24/7 with school and trying to train, so it’s been hard to find time to do just about anything else.  Since my last post I have been training hard for rope season, and I went to two more comps, one at a local gym called New Jersey Rock Gym, and regionals three weeks later in Maryland. 

The current Speed Climbing Champion of Europe is fighting to get back to health. Injured over three weeks ago, Edyta Ropek underwent an ACL reconstruction surgery, and a few days later started her rehabilitation, now thinking about coming back to regular training.

Two days of epics in the Ozarks. Who would have thought so much adventure could happen in such a short amount of time? After all this was just a spur of the moment kind of thing. At least for me it was. After the Capital City Crux competition in Austin some of the Dallas crew were talking about Arkansas. I was excited about my weekend of nothing when they invited me to come with them. Going to Arkansas to test myself against that sweet sandstone sounded much more fun than doing nothing at home. After convincing...

Sasha DiGiulian’s name is bound to ring a bell with just about anyone who has grazed the edges of the climbing scene in the past two years. With her groundbreaking tick-list of 5.14d redpoints and 5.14 onsights, coupled by a brutal competition year (for her competitors that is), Sasha’s last years in the climbing arena has put her pro-climbing career in full swing. Her poster girl image has gone beyond the climbing mags and graced the pages of more traditional media outlets like Vogue Magazine and The Washington Post. Sasha graciously “took five” with me amidst her new and...

Andrea Cartas is 30 years old and has lived in Madrid for seven years, though she is originally from Andalucía, where she started climbing at age 15. Andrea is involved with many facets of climbing from the competition realm, to outdoor climbing. In 2009 and 2010 she won the Gané la Copa de España and came in 2nd in 2012. Last year she ticked her hardest red-point White Zombie, 8c (14b) in the Baltzola Cave in Basque Country in Spain. To add to her already impressive tick-list, Andrea has racked up 13 routes rated 8b (13d) and harder,...

Our first week in Spain quickly fell into a comfortable rhythm. We’d sleep in late and then spend an hour or more drinking coffee, checking the slow internet, discuss our plans for climbing and enjoying the company of Joe and Colette.We managed to climb five of our first seven days in Spain. We visited a crag in St. Lloranc that was steep and super fun. We spent several days at Santa Linya, and we even made the voyage down to Margalef.Each crag we visited had it’s own feel and it’s own style. Perhaps my favorite thing about visiting a...