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 • WINTER 2023

THE POWER OF Awe • A SHOT OF THE AURORA BOREALIS IN TALKEETNA, ALASKA (DGHELAY TEHT’ANA ANCESTRAL LANDS) THAT MITCHELL SCANLAN-BLOOR FOUGHT PRETTY HARD TO GET, AND ONE OF MY MOST VIVID MEMORIES OF SHARED AWE. HONESTLY, THE STORY BEHIND IT IS WILD, YOU SHOULD ASK ME TO RE-TELL IT OVER A BEER SOMETIME, I PROMISE IT’S DRAMATIC!

Read • LIFE LIVED WILD: ADVENTURES AT THE EDGE OF THE MAP BY RICK RIDGEWAY, PATAGONIA BOOKS

Listen • WINTER IN PAKISTAN: FOR THE LOVE OF CLIMBING

Watch • THE NUTCRACKER: MATT CORNELL & CONRAD ANKER

TAKING THE KIDS OUT: DADS TALK CLIMBING • The camaraderie of the crag is a highlight of many a climbing day out, connecting with our chums as we cheer each other on. But it’s not just our buddies we bond with; it’s family too. In honour of the upcoming Hallmark holiday of Fathers’ Day, we reached out to some of our favourite crag dads to hear why they love climbing with their little ones.

HOW I GOT THE SHOT

CLIMBING AND CONSULTATIONS IN THE RED CENTRE • WHEN HETTY MOVED TO MPARNTWE, SHE WANTED TO KEEP CLIMBING, BUT WITHOUT CLEAR PERMISSION FROM TRADITIONAL OWNERS, OR RECORDS OF PAST CONVERSATIONS, SHE WAS UNSURE HOW TO PROCEED. SO SHE ESTABLISHED THE FIRST FORMAL GROUP TO BEGIN A GENUINE CONSULTATION PROCESS.

Maddy WHITTAKER • (SHE/HER) DUNEDIN, OTAGO

TO SCALE A MOUNTAIN

ON THIN ICE MOUNTAINEERING IN A WARMING WORLD • New Zealand mountaineer and glaciologist Dr Heather Purdie has been researching and teaching students about snow, ice, glaciers, and climate change for more than 15 years. An Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury / Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Heather draws upon both her climbing and her research to explore how mountains are changing as the planet warms in this edited extract of her story “Revisiting the Nun’s Veil”. The full story appears in the anthology Adventures in Climate Science: Scientists’ Tales From the Frontiers of Climate Change, 2023, Woodslane Press.

PUSHING Boundaries WITH ALLIE PEPPER

JOURNEY TO WEEPING WALL • WANTING TO BROADEN HER CLIMBING HORIZONS, CASSIE WANGLED A JOB SECONDMENT TO THE US IN 2020, THEN MOVED TO CANADA—AND THERE SHE HAS STAYED. FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS ICE-CLIMBING NSW’S CHERISHED BLUE LAKE (WORLD-CLASS IT IS NOT, BUT WE LOVE IT!), SHE’S NOW TAKING ON THE BIG WALLS.

GALLERY

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Mountaineering for the Preservation of Youth and Beauty • A WOMAN ALPINIST MAKES A GOOD WIFE AND A GOOD CHUM. SHE’S NEVER GOSSIPY, HYSTERICAL OR MEAN.

FROM ROCKS TO THE MOUNTAINS

Tale OF WOAH • RISK AND RESCUE IN THE MOUNTAINS

NEW GEAR

FROM THE Field • TRIED & TESTED: NUPTSE MULES

ALPINE COFFEE (CIVILISED VERSION)

Miscellaneous Hut Soup