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Functional Apparel for the Unconventional Spirit

Check out the prAna Ambassadors

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Functional Apparel for the Unconventional Spirit

Check out our Ambassadors

Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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For those of you who could not make the OR show, prAna has saved three of the limited edition 20th Anniversary chalk bags that we made  for the Access Fund. Chris Sharma has generously agreed to personalize them just for you! There is a $30 minimum donation and all proceeds will go to the Access Fund. First 3 folks that contact us and make payment may choose what they would like Chris to write on their chalk bag!

Email info@prAna.com with Access Fund Chalk Bag as your subject line…

Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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Climbing is many things to me. Passion. Obsession. Desire. Drive. Beauty. Climbing is a reason to be outside and experience the world. But more than that, climbing is travel and people.

Being a climber has taken me places I’d never dreamed of going and allowed me to meet people I’d never have met. What other sport takes you across the ocean to an obscure location, usually in the middle of the woods, where you’ll meet amazing like-minded people from all walks of life.

In what other sport do you get to “play” side-by-side with your heroes? Good luck ever playing basketball with Michael Jordan, or throwing a football around with one of the Manning brothers. But climbing a route at the same crag as Chris Sharma, Dave Graham, or Lynn Hill, that can happen to anyone, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

Who knows, you might even end up having a beer with your idol at the end of the day.

The right place this spring was Catalunya, Spain. Here you will find the some of the best climbers in the world climbing the hardest sport climbs in the world, everyday. It’s truly amazing and inspiring to watch and be a part of.

For two weeks this spring Andrew Bisharat, senior editor at Rock and Ice and also my boyfriend, Keith Ladzinski, photographer extraordinaire, Elly Stewart, Keith’s intern, and I had the opportunity to live and climb with Chris Sharma and Daila Ojeda in their home region of Catalunya, Spain.

Spain is basically a country made of limestone and tufas. World class climbing sits just off the road and is abundant to say the least.

Ours days quickly took on the comfortable routine of Chris and Daila, which I now refer to as “Spain style”. Wake up around 10:00am, or 11:00am, or noon, whenever you’re body decides it’s had enough.

Drink coffee, read a book, relax, deal with things around the house, and talk about the days plans. When the time feels right and the sun is sure to be off the wall, motivate and head to the crag. Once at the crag the amount of climbing tended to be minimal, but the amount of effort put into each climb was huge. A muerte, to the death, as the Spanish say. Short spurts of everything you had with chill, tranquilo, moments in between.

I learned a lot about the type of life I’d like to lead from watching Chris and Daila. Of course they are great climbers, but more than that, they are great people. Caring, kind, welcoming, thoughtful, and tranquilo. . . except when climbing, then it’s a muerte.

~Jen Vennon, prAna Ambassador

Andrew Bisharat and Keith Ladzinski tell the story of our trip to Spain in the new Rock and Ice, issue 196. It should be on the newsstands next week. Look for the amazing cover of Daila Ojeda on Mind Control, 5.14c.

Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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Next stop for Chris is Mesa Rim Climbing and Fitness Center TONIGHT at 6:30pm! See you then…

Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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During the two main event days, climbers went out climbing on their own, participated in an outdoor climbing competition, or attended event clinics. Clif Bar donated hundreds of Clif products for clinic participants, enabling everyone to grab some to take along on their way out to the crags – really cool. The clinic topics ranged from improving a variety of sport climbing or trad climbing skills to wilderness first aid, among others.

Kevin and I taught prAna/Petzl – sponsored Fall-Safe clinics on both Friday and Saturday. These clinics aimed to help climbers with some previous lead climbing/belaying experience to overcome the fear of falling by learning how to fall safely, as well as how to catch a lead fall safely while sport climbing. We started each day with a thorough talk about the safety inherent in climbing equipment, as well as sharing some basic pointers about belaying and falling, followed by a lead-falling/lead-belaying demonstration.

After that, it was on to having the participants start falling and belaying each other. We backed them up with a loose top-rope to inspire confidence, while still keeping the feeling of lead-falling real. They started out with small falls under or just at the bolt, and gradually progressed so that everyone was able to take much bigger falls from above the bolt confidently and safely – and able to belay these bigger falls confidently and safely as well.

Our clinic participants proved to be avid learners who were excited to work toward mastering their fears and challenging themselves. Seeing people’s confidence in the equipment, themselves, and each other grow throughout the day was awesome. I’ve honestly never had so much fun watching so many whippers taken, or seen so many smiles and laughter from falling climbers and their belayers. As one of the clinic participants put it, “It’s sort of a different approach, climbing up and just knowing that you’re going to purposely fall off.” By the end of each day, we saw safer belaying skills and more confident leaders. Hopefully everyone who participated will now be able to enjoy their future climbing experiences with much less risk of injury or being overcome by joy-robbing fear.

Every night after climbing, competing, or clinics, climbers congregated back at the event venue. Vendor booths offered freebies galore, including yoga classes and massages from prAna (for which the list filled up to the max in about five minutes) and poster signings by prAna Ambassadors Chris Sharma and Paul Robinson, among many others. Climbers could also sate their thirst either at the beer tent or at prAna’s no-booze bar, which offered bubble tea and other fruity nonalcoholic beverages. Crowd-pleasing events kept spirits high and interest engaged, from the sumo crash pad contest to the dyno comp, as well as the mysterious Crouching Clowny, Hidden Monster, which left people shaking their heads and wondering exactly what they’d just seen take place (guess you’ll have to wait until next year to find out if you missed it this time).

Kevin and I showed up not knowing quite what to expect, having never attended the event before, but we left already stoked to be a part of next year’s New River Rendezvous.

~Alli Rainey, prAna Ambassador

Be sure to check out all the pictures at http://ow.ly/51XIs and Tag yourself and your friends!

Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.

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