One year ago the Climbing Narcissist blog was born out of a combination of boredom, frustration and extreme obsession with climbing. Since then the site has grown and evolved through more than a few changes and redesigns. Overall the reaction to my efforts to compile and expand upon the latest climbing news interspersed with personal climbing experiences has been very positive with only a few complaints.
Over the course of the year the number of people visiting here and joining in the discussion has certainly grown. There was a point early on where I wondered if maybe I was the only one reading what I was writing. However, for some reason people started to stop by and then come back so I have been pleasantly surprised with how it has gone. A big thanks to everyone that has visited this past year and made this endeavor (seem) worthwhile. Hopefully the next year will be just as exciting, and I will be able to give away more free stuff to bribe you to keep coming back. Here are a few stats for those that might care
- Posts: 340
- Comments (since 8/16ish): 700+
- Money raised & donated to Access Issues: $ 200
- Visits: 36K+ people viewed 73K+ pages
After the first 6 months of existence the Climbing Narc blog moved to its current home at http://climbingnarc.com. Due to this and other factors I think there are several posts that might have slipped under people’s radars. Below are two lists of posts that I think are worth a second look, some more recent than others. Many of the posts in the first category were written when the audience for this blog was much smaller and not much discussion took place. Due to the change in blogging platforms in August, all comments from before that time were lost and do not appear on the posts which was an unfortunate sacrifice. Take your time, check them out, and feel free to leave a comment now.
Posts to check out
- Addict – A list I adapted from drug addicts to better fit those of us that are addicted to climbing
- To 8a Or Not to 8a – The pros and cons of having an 8a.nu spraysheet
- Disturbing Trend of Failure – A list of climbs that I had come close to sending that I was hoping to do last year. I estimated I would do at least 3…regrettably I didn’t even try a single one of them…
- Sock Hands – Praise for possibly the funniest blogger on the whole world wide intardweb
- Anatomy of a V13 Flash – A look at what it really takes to flash a V13
- Momentum Video Magazine Premium Section – An in depth review of what you get when you subscribe to MVM
- The Learning Curve – A story I wrote about the learning process one undergoes during the arc of a climbing lifetime
- Petzl Roctrip RRG Wrap Up – A summary of the October 2007 Roctrip that took place at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky
- Pad Stashing in RMNP – This summer the issue of pad stashing in RMNP came to the forefront with heated opinions on both sides
- Jim Holloway – Andy Mann’s climbing cover piece that would lead to a resurgence in interest in Trice later in the year – There were some helpful responses to this on the old blog but they were lost in the transition
- Climbers Behind The Lense – Those that excel at both climbing and filmmaking
- Michael Reardon – In July 2007, famed free soloist Michael Reardon was tragically swept out to Sea standing on a ledge on the coast of Ireland. Below are a series of posts that I had on the subject at the time:
Trips/Outings
- A Few From Governor Dodge – A post Thanksgiving day trip to the Dodge with Tony and Nate
- Devil’s Lake in the Fall – Probably the most perfect day of climbing at the Lake with Danny
- HP40 Day 1, HP40 Day 2 – A long weekend trip to HP40 with the climbing team kids
- The Gunks – A fantastic trip to the Gunks with the fellas
- Gunks Bouldering – A few pictures of a couple of famous Gunks boulders
- ABS 9 Adventure Rock Wrap Up – Report and pictures from the ABS 9 local comp held at my gym
- More Devil’s Lake Pictures – Pictures from the team trip to Devil’s Lake
- Devil’s Lake – 9/22-23/2007 – A weekend of bouldering and trad climbing
- Devil’s Lake – 9/16/07 – A day at the Lake with Amy and Chris
- Devil’s Lake: John Cow Edition – An edition of Devil’s Lake pictures dedicated to my mentor, Old School aka John Cow
- Roadside Attraction – Over Labor Day I was fortunate enough to climb Roadside Attraction at the Red
- Creature Feature – Pictures of the RRG classic Creature Feature (5.9)
- NOLS Alaska – A writeup on my NOLS Alaska trip from 2004
- Devil’s Lake Trad – Photos from my first trad lead
- Pulldown & Hoedown – RRG ’07 – Full write-up from the team trip
- Summertime At The Red – A few pictures from the climbing team trip to the RRG
- Wild Iowa – In June we took the kids sport climbing in Iowa
- Wisconsin Bouldering – In March I set out to do some exploring at Devil’s Lake and I documented some of the harder lines here
