Vertical Life

Vertical Life is a climbing magazine in Australasia, available in both digital and print options. Here at Vertical Life we love climbing, be it beanied bouldering, clip-up sportclimbing, old-school daddy-tradding, big-wall suffering, alpine extremism, spandex-clad competition climbing, desperate-times-call-for-desperate-measures buildering, the lot – if it involves monkey business we will cover it.

Vertical Life

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OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND-UP • TIGHT COMPETITION, COVID-19 AND OLYMPIC SELECTION ON THE LINE CREATED SOME EXTRA TENSION

DOLLARS MAKE SENSE • THERE IS A PAUCITY OF DATA ON THE ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION MADE BY AUSTRALIAN CLIMBERS TO LOCAL ECONOMIES AND COMMUNITIES. RECOGNISING THIS IMPORTANT PART WAS MISSING FROM ACCESS DISCUSSIONS, HYWEL ROWLANDS SET OUT TO CALCULATE THE ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF CLIMBING TO WESTERN VICTORIA. VL SPEAKS TO HIM ABOUT HIS FINDINGS.

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MAKING THE MOST OF IT • TOM O’HALLORAN ON PREPARING FOR THE OLYMPICS

OLYMPIC TRIVIA • TRADITIONALISTS AND CURMUDGEONS LOVE TO HATE NEW INCLUSIONS INTO THE OLYMPIC GAMES, BUT LIKE MOST CONSERVATIVES THEY ARE VALOURISING A FALSE PAST, IN SO DOING CREATING A PURE MOMENT THAT NEVER REALLY EXISTED. INSTEAD THE HISTORY OF THE OLYMPICS IS A WILD ONE OF ODDITIES, CURIOS AND BIZARRE EVENTS.

WADI RUM • CHRIS WARNER CLIMBS AND FLIES IN JORDAN

ACTION DIRECTE • REEL ROCK 15 IS SOON TO TOUR OZ, AND AMONGST ITS MANY HIGHLIGHTS IS THE SHORT FILM ACTION DIRECTE. THE FILM FOLLOWS THE SEVEN-YEAR ODYSSEY OF FRENCHWOMAN, MELISSA LE NEVÉ, TO CLIMB WOLFGANG GÜLLICH’S ICONIC ROUTE, ACTION DIRECTE, WHICH WAS THE WORLD’S FIRST 9A/35. RATHER THAN INTERVIEW MELISSA OURSELVES, WE ASKED BEN COSSEY, LONG-TIME GÜLLICH ÜBERFAN, ACTION DIRECTE ASPIRANT AND CONFESSED LOVER OF THE FRANKENJURA, TO INTERVIEW MELISSA ABOUT HER ASCENT.

REEL ROCK 15 • OF COURSE THIS YEAR’S REEL ROCK IS PACKED WITH ITS USUAL EXCITING AND INSPIRING SELECTION OF SHORT FILMS, BUT IT’S ALSO THE MOST DIVERSE SELECTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE TOUR.

CAMPFIRE STORIES • STEVE KELLY SPEAKS TO SAXON JOHNS, ONE OF THE BEST OZ CLIMBERS OF THE ‘90S AND EARLY 2000S

SNEAKY OLD FOX • WE’RE PROFILING ONE AUSTRALIAN ROUTE AT THE GRADE THAT CORRESPONDS WITH THE ISSUE NUMBER (UNTIL WE RUN OUT OF GRADES). THIS ISSUE ROSS TAYLOR PROFILES SNEAKY OLD FOX IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

BIGNESS & SMALLNESS • SIMON MADDEN ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WILD AND WYLD!

FitzRoy Hipster • ROSS TAYLOR SPEAKS TO SEAN VILLANUEVA O’DRISCOLL, WHO JUST ACCOMPLISHED THE BEST CLIMBING FEAT OF THE YEAR, BY FAR.

Carlie LeBreton • VL SPEAKS TO CARLIE LEBRETON, THE HEAD ROUTESETTER FOR THE OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS, THE EVENT IN DECEMBER THAT DECIDED WHICH CLIMBERS WOULD HEAD TO THE OLYMPICS

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT • SIMON MADDEN ON SHOOTING BIG

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT • MAX GORDON ON HIS ENCOUNTER WITH A MASSIVE BLOCK OF ROCK

BITING OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW • DENBY WELLER LEARNS TO TRAD CLIMB

F*@K THE FADS • AMANDA WATTS ON FOOD HABITS THAT WI LL MAKE YOU CLIMB HARD AND STAY HEALTHY

CONSISTENCY AMIDST CHAOS • DUNCAN BROWN ON BE ING ADAPTIVE

PETZL CONNECT ADJUST • PETZL CONNECT ADJUST RRP$99.95

THE NORTH FACE MEN'S HMLYN DOWN PARKA • THE NORTH FACE MEN'S HMLYN DOWN PARKA RRP$600.00

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DREAM INTERPRETATION + WWRD

AMANDA MORRISSEY KNEE-PADS