Climbers in Quarantine: The Weekly Stoke (5)

April 28, 2020

Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around (actually don’t...it’s not sanitary), ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall. Sigh…. Yep, we’re still climbing the walls, but we’re also still feeling good about doing our part to flatten the curve. Ya’ll hanging in there?

Climbers Stuck at Home: Photo of the Week

New challenge: change a lightbulb without falling on your quarantine partner. Thanks for the inspiration @patrickstutts!

Indoor Training Freebies

Remember all those training links we’ve been sharing over the last four weeks? Keep going back for more. They’re all still rolling.

Got kids? If you do, we’re willing to bet they’re driving you insane right about now. Keep them busy for 30 minutes with this PE class from pro climber Dave MacLeod and his daughter Freida. (Note, that amazing home climbing wall is not required.)
Join Erik Hörst, author of the international bestseller Training for Climbing, during his free livestream Training Cafe most Mondays and Thursdays at 12:00pm ET.
Is it a rest day yet? Give your abs a break and check out the Nikon photography school—they are offering every single class for free. Hurray for no more butt shots!

Entertaining Tidbits

Not ones to be outdone, climbers have taken the #handstandshirtchallenge to new heights with the #hangdress challenge. Gym Climber Magazine is even giving away prizes for the best efforts. We really wanted to show you a photo of this ridiculousness, but the boss says photos of people in their underwear don’t fit our “brand image” <insert eye roll here>. But, you’re only one click away...
Remember e-cards? Yeah, neither do we. But apparently they used to be a thing back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Mid-Atlantic Climbers has given the e-card a cool COVID-19 + climbing makeover so that you can show your climbing partners how much you miss them.
Remember when those Bavarian Huber brothers came over and took El Cap free climbing by storm, complete with Fabio hair and tights? Well, they are older now, but they're still going for it (and yes, they still have luscious hair). Check out their attempt at the 1,000-meter high south wall of Canada's Mount Asgard, which had never seen a free ascent.

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Learn what happens when you combine two favorite quarantine activities—training and baking. What could possibly go wrong?
Climbers have been gathering in the mountain town of Telluride, Colorado each Memorial Day since 1979 for a weekend of film, art, and ideas celebrating the indomitable mountain spirit. This year, the Mountainfilm festival has gone virtual, taking place May 15 - 25. Learn more and get your pass at mountainfilm.org.

What Keeps You Stoked?

This week, "retired" pro climber and regular Climb the Hill advocate Libby Sauter shares: “I’m so stoked to see climbers reaching out to their communities and helping during the Coronavirus pandemic. In my circle, at least four of my climbing friends with nursing backgrounds have taken the skills they learned climbing and applied them directly to the outbreak." Check out these climbing heroes!

Jason Lakey, a nurse from Bishop headed to NYC emergency rooms and found himself having to quickly adapt to new terrain—very sick patients in the ICU.

Sako Hirata an ICU nurse formerly of YOSAR, spent nearly every day in March helping a hospital in Washington state combat their severe outbreak. She has since gone on to do a Washington-NYC link-up where she is putting her hard-earned COVID experience to good use in a different ICU.

Sandra Horna, a crusher operating room nurse in Mammoth, CA has had to dig deep, shifting to bedside nursing where help is needed most after elective surgeries (her specialty) have been put on hold.

Anna Pfaff has chosen to prioritize team safety and pause her pro climbing career with The North Face to return to her roots and take up a nursing job in her local ER in Colorado.

Now that is some inspiring sh**!