Vertical Life’s Simon Madden reviews the Hoka One One Arkali I don’t even know what a ‘hiking’ shoe is anymore and to be honest I’m not really sure it matters. It’s hard to decide what to wear on those long hikes to the crag nowadays; my co-editor wears canvas street shoes unless he is on a four-day death march. Personally, I am a help-the-aged approach shoe kinda guy, every little bit of assistance helps. You also see people kicking it…
VALHALLA is the latest climbing film to be distributed by Adventure Entertainment. The film follows a climbing party that attempts a route of the same name. It is a remarkable film carefully crafting the story of a father and son climbing team that weaves its way across the longest and hardest roof to date in an exotic location in Getu, China. The key climber is Edu Marin. Edu was raised in a climbing family with his father, Francisco, who has passed…
I Gonzo on the Paradox of Popularity and is Fun Just for Losers? A review of the film Gripped: Climbing the Killer Pillar. Choose life. Choose to quit your job. Choose a panting romance at 1200 feet, choose expressive homogeneity, choose Extreme, choose a Patagonia puffer, choose putting on make up in your tent in the morning, choose a fetishised water-bottle, some scroggin and tattoos. Remember that time you told your mate that this crag was secret? Yeah man, screw…
In the wake of the closure of Taipan Wall – one of the best climbing cliffs in the world – and the much-loved Bundaleer, VL speaks to the Gariwerd Wimmera Reconciliation Network (GWRN) who have been working to build a dialogue with the Traditional Owners of Gariwerd. GWRN has been in the news due the recent Taipan and Bundaleer closures because GWRN representatives were invited along to the Taipan Wall cultural heritage assessment. For many climbers it may be the…
Dean Scarff on bringing AI to climbing grades It’s some time in The Future; the bushfire smoke has cleared, you’re out of coronavirus lockdown and you’re psyched to finally climb outdoors again. Flicking through the guidebook you spot it; a climb that’s at your grade, and it’s even got two stars. The onsight awaits. Several hours later you’re thrutching up a section of the route that feels like it must be at least two grades harder than what the guidebook…
Dr. Teagan Westendorf writes about her call to change the obscene route names at crags in Nowra and elsewhere Trigger warning – violence/sexual assault/homophobia/racism Being a woman, I feel the violence and threat of route names referencing rape and violence against women. Routes like Rape Machine, Rape and Carnage, Violently Silence Me, Slut’s Have no Honour (and many other ‘slut’ references. Being a ‘slut’ implies that a woman has no worth, and so can be used at will by others…
