The following articles may give you some ideas some have dealt with the constant struggle rock climbers face between work and play, climbing and doing anything but:

• A San Mateo woman designs elaborate play structures for kids, including climbing walls. They range from $4,000 - $22,000. Playing for a paycheck
• A profile of climber, sculptor Lawrence LaBianca. He guided for many years, designed climbing walls, and now has an exhibit in downtown San Francisco. Sculptor-rock climber Lawrence LaBianca retools nature
• Sadly, a climbing gym in Wisconsin closes down. The owner said it became a baby-sitting business and said climbing gyms are down 12% (number of them, profits, not sure). Probably don’t need to read it, but here’s the article: Closed

Tags: climbing,, gym,, fun,, business,, art

Dave MacLeod climbs the 130 ft E11 rated (possibly 8c+) route called Rhapsody, The 10-minute climb that took two years”. The Telegraph article details a bit about his training, while you can
read the Planet Fear article about the same feat to see great photos, including broken gear: Rhapsody - E11 7a. The climb includes a final stretch of 35 ft that’s unprotectable. You can watch some of the falls in the trailer for E11 and hear a few screams too.`

Tags: climbing, hardest route, Rhapsody

‘Lost’ Actress Nearly Died While Mountain Climbing This Year retells a story Evangeline Lilly reveals on The Ellen Degeneres show. She was climbing Mount Baker and while sliding down the descent, partially fell in a crevice. Does that climbing safety study help put things in perspective?

Tags: climbing, Evangeline Lilly,

A press release got picked up by a number of sources publicizing the results of a study by the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, which claims that Indoor rock climbing safer than soccer. They studied the rate of injuries at the 2005 World Championships in rock climbing in Munich. The climbers had an injury rate of 3.1 per 1,000 hours. Soccer players at a national soccer competition (not detailed in the article) were injured at a rate ten times that amount — 30.3 per 1,000 hours. I don’t know how rough the soccer games were, but my climbing buddies always tell me to stay away from basketball, running, etc. People in the other sports never tell me the reverse!

Tags: climbing, injury

Sorry, not much in the news that’s interesting lately, but here’s a new video on YouTube of Dean Potter free-soloing a 40-foot overhanging crack in Yosemite called Heaven (5.12d/13a). It’s a pretty mellow video, but wait until he finishes. So look:

Tags: dean potter, climbing, yosemite, free solo, crack