Speed climbing extraordinaire and Diablo Rock Gym manager Hans Florine took a nasty fall on El Capitan on May 3rd. We caught up with him to hear more about his death-defying experience and learn how to get back up from the best. You’re something of a legend in the climbing world! Can you tell us […]
Tooling around on top rope is great, but for those of you who’ve been dreaming about the sharp end, now is your chance to learn what it takes to be a leader. The Master Track is the program for climbers wanting to learn the full range of skills needed to get outside on real rock. The […]
The plan was to drive to the Valley Thursday night, climb Friday through Sunday, and come down Monday. Casey and I had decided six months ago to attempt Freerider this year. We wrote up a training outline, picked some routes to do in preparation, and got down to work. Preparation For a bit things went […]
Driving home from our climbing trip up the Snake Dyke on Half Dome, I was asked to summarize our trip in one word. Runout. We left camp at 6am to start our epic day of hiking, bushwhacking, trail-hunting, worse bushwhacking, climbing, and eventually more hiking by moonlight. In our early morning grogginess, we decided to […]
Have you been thinking about coughing up $612.62 for the Romance Package at the Ahwahnee Hotel? Now that the name of the famed hotel in Yosemite National Park may change, you might have lost your chance. On March 1st of 2016, Aramark, which holds nine contracts with the National Park Service (NPS), will replace Delaware […]
In the past few years, Yosemite has become a mecca, not for the enormous walls, but for the immaculate granite boulders. Midnight Lighting, Thriller, and Dominator are names thrown around any crashpad-filled campfire in the world. And while these classics were established in the late seventies to early nineties, the history of Yosemite bouldering extends […]
By Jayme Moye On Saturday September 12, Hans Florine climbed the Nose route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park for the 100th time. The Nose, one of the most challenging climbs in the world, follows the massive prow of El Cap, a 3,000-foot sheer granite monolith. Florine’s accomplishment is a new world record in […]
This summer MetalMark Climbing desk staffer Michelle left her house in Clovis, California, and ended up in Bishop! “It took 9 days, and when I finished the ride through Yosemite I didn’t really want to stop,” said Michelle. “I loved the feeling of just being able to go and do what ever. Even if that means […]
Touchstone employee James Lucas recently free climbed Yosemite’s El Capitan in a day. The Touchstone Blog reports on his ascent. At 6:10pm on May 6, James Lucas dry-heaved into some bushes on the top of El Capitan. He had just finished climbing his first route on the iconic monolith, and he had done it in […]
The longer days of spring have arrived. The last few storms are rolling through the Valley and El Capitan is coming into prime shape for climbing. Making an ascent of one of the world’s biggest granite monoliths requires a fair bit of motivation. There are two main ways to climb El Capitan: slow and heavy […]
