Introducing The Vertical

Yvon Chouinard ate cat food for an entire summer, Lynn Hill tackled gender stereotypes, Jeff Johnson hustled as a flight attendant, and Timmy O’Neill rallied disabled heroes up unthinkable heights. These inspiring athletes all have one thing in common—they’ve stopped at nothing to pursue their true passion: climbing. In their nonlinear paths to the top, they’ve broken rules, been in the position to make the rules, then broken them all over again to innovate the field.

As Lynn Hill says we do it to “have more fun.” We do it to be a part of something larger—that awe inspiring feeling of being in nature, grounded (and by grounded we mean clinging on by two fingertips at 2,000 ft) to Earth. We also do it to connect with others, relying on a trusted crew to help us ascend peaks and then journey back down them. It’s in that spirit of community and connection to the outdoors that we created this publication. Whether you boulder, sport climb, lead trad rock or ice, prefer high alpine routes, or just like being in nature, we hope you enjoy this publication as much as we enjoyed traveling down the unmarked path to create it. And if not, looks like you’ve got your toilet paper alternative when you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere.