Ethan Pringle
Favorite Memory from 2015:
Ok so my fondest memory/most meaningful accomplishment of 2015 is predictably, redpointing Jumbo Love… Kind of anticlimactic, but it really was like, the highlight of my climbing career. It was just a perfect day with good friends, and the culmination of an eight year dream/nightmare. A close second was redpointing La Reina Mora in Siurana on my last day in Spain. That was one that I really suffered for, and tortured myself over.
Resolution for 2016:
A few New Year’s resolutions (that I’m willing to share with a public audience) are, to write (a lot) more, and waste less time staring at my phone. And eat less sugar. And drink less alcohol. And watch less… never mind.
Mark Anderson
Favorite Memory from 2015:
Not a single thing, but the the fact that I did 24 first ascents/first free ascents in 2015, and I bolted 44 more routes (that I haven’t had a chance to try yet).
Resolution for 2016:
Obviously for next year the resolution is to finish what I started and send those 44 routes!
Skiy DeTray
Favorite Memory from 2015:
My favorite memory of 2015 is of standing on the summit plateau of the unclimbed 6500 meter North Buttress of Taboche in the Khumbu region of Nepal. My partner Justin Griffin and I had battled cold temperatures and serious technical climbing over the course of five consecutive days. It felt amazing to set such a hard and challenging goal and than through training, hard work, and perseverance accomplish the goal!
Resolution for 2016:
In 2016 my three major goals are to have fun, train every day, and climb over 7,000 meters on a highly technical face in Nepal!
Dan Brayack
Favorite Memory from 2015:
Seeing the benefits of training apply to bouldering here at the New River Gorge. I’m mostly a route climber, but took a break from that this year to wrestle some pebbles. I pushed new boundaries both in highball and in difficulty (for me.)
2016 Resolution:
My resolution for this year is to stretch more; to be more flexible. Also, to train harder and push through both bouldering and route plateaus as well as finishing up the Rumbling Bald guidebook that I’m publishing.
Erica Lineberry
Favorite Memory from 2015:
My main goal for 2015 was training for a 10 day family climbing trip to Wyoming this summer. My goal was to send as many classic 5.12’s as possible, and I surpassed all of my expectations by walking away with 10. (FYI the Rock Prodigy Training Method works!!!) My favorite moment of the trip was completing a “birthday challenge” on our last day in Ten Sleep – ticking my 35th lifetime 5.12 on my 35th birthday.
2016 Resolution:
I’ve got several routes on the tick list for 2016. Some are routes I’m looking forward to trying for the first time (Orange Juice 12c at the Red), others are routes that were left undone in 2015 (Jesus and Tequila 12b at the New). Regardless of what gets sent or not though, the main goal as always is to log as much family climb time as possible at our favorite crags.
Jason Haas
Favorite Memory from 2015:
2015 will be a year to remember for me. I took training seriously for the first time and saw the tremendous benefit of it on my trip to Yosemite. While weather prevented us from freeing El Capitan, it was quite special to be one of the last (maybe the last?) to do the Regular Route on Northwest Face of Half Dome before a major portion of it collapsed. On that trip, we also spent about a week in the Needles of California and I have never experienced a higher concentration of classic routes. Every time we tied in, that route or the next pitch became my favorite and I thought it couldn’t be topped. But with each subsequent pitch, each route that followed, spanning all grades, the next favorite just kept coming. If you’ve never been there, put it on your bucket list for sure.
Several proud sends occurred and many more climbing trips ensued throughout 2015, including another trip over Labor Day weekend that will become an all time favorite when we took our three-year old son and nine month old daughter to Vedauwoo for four days with four other couples that had similarly aged children. It’s become a whole new adventure trying to share this lifestyle with our kids and it’s been an incredible experience as we stumble along learning how to get all our gear to the crag, how to car camp in a very different way and so on.
But then in the fall, when conditions were best and psych and fitness was the highest, and I was ready to dispatch project after project, life took a very unexpected turn. After experiencing a mini-stroke while mowing the lawn landed me in the ER, an onslaught of tests began. The next several months became quite introspective and difficult as the doctors told me to “get my affairs in order.” Things didn’t look good and my wife and I had to seriously think about what the future would look like without me in it. I tried to maintain some semblance of normalcy during that period and was able to get out a few times during those months to rock climb but had difficulty with dizziness. I had to take or grab gear/draws unexpectedly at times when my head became to spin and I even took a massive fall off a boulder while hiking along a trail when I became disoriented. I resigned to toproping, and then, not climbing at all.
Resolution for 2016:
Now, as 2016 looms overhead, the dark cloud has dissipated and I am proud to say I will be a part of it. Even 2017 for that matter. I still have a long road ahead and my diagnosis has not been pinpointed, but it has no longer been classified as terminal and the cocktail of medications has allowed me to climb again. I even started ice climbing after a nine-year hiatus. Exercise seems to help more than the meds so my wife and I are working on creating a training schedule that works well with our lives and the kids lives and will be sustainable with family and adult life. I’m excited about some prospective trips in 2016 and hope to write a very different write up for next year’s blog – one with never ending stoke and a long list of sends, family adventures, and incredible memories.
Alex Johnson
Favorite Memory from 2015:
Branching out more into other elements of the sport.
Resolutions for 2016:
Not becoming complacent!
