Meet Congaree National Park. It’s a peaceful marshland in South Carolina boasting old-growth floodplain forests, tranquil fishing spots, and a 50-mile paddling trail for canoeists and kayakers.
But as of August, Congaree had only gotten about 63,000 visitors in 2009. Compare that to the 3.5 million Yosemite gets each year and we’re left thinking: where’s the love?
Don’t get us wrong – we adore the heavy hitters on our national park lineup. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and others of the in-crowd have rightfully earned our affection. But there’s a whole realm of overlooked parks packed with prime hiking, camping, and paddling opportunities. Visit them, and you can expect fewer gift shops and more chances to connect with nature.
Accomplishment is nothing new for Katie Brown. She began sport climbing in Kentucky at the age of 13, and today is heralded as one of the world’s best, achieving in 14 years more than many climbers do during their entire careers. This includes winning the X Games and a climbing World Cup. She’s also completed an onsight (free-climbing without knowledge of the route) of the northwest face of Yosemite’s Half Dome, and, along with climber Lynn Hill, the first female free ascent of the Leaning Tower.
Brown moved to Berkeley from San Diego last year, in part because of its proximity to Yosemite. “It’s so vast, so awe-inspiring,” she says. “You could climb there your entire life and never get bored.” And while El Cap was part of the reason for her relocation, she also moved to attend the Fashion Institute, with plans to eventually work in the outdoor industry as an apparel designer. “Being a climber is all I’ve ever known,” Brown explains. “It’s wonderful, and I love it, but it leaves you ungrounded. I want a more rooted lifestyle.”
Though it’s hard for mere mortals to imagine an athlete retiring at the top of her game, for Brown there’s no heartache about her decision to make climbing a hobby rather than a profession. “Right now I’m pretty content,” she says. “I’ve climbed where I wanted to climb. I’ve done what I wanted to do. Not everyone can say that.”
Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration – set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.
We noticed our most recent post on Dean’s freesolo at Taft Point <LINK> had a lot of readers concerned and a few skeptical. We asked Dean to share with us a little about his training on the line, and dug up a prior video clip from a video feature on Dean in the New York Times earlier last year. In his own words, here’s what Dean had to share:
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I rarely read blogs and am kind of an old fashioned guy who likes writing letters or talking to people face to face. Most of the time I do literally live in a cave or under trees and forget that the public sees or cares about what I do. It’s come to my attention that a few of the prAna blog readers are a bit concerned about me falling off of highlines while I’m solo walking. Even though this last freesolo crossing at Taft Point was a distance record of 100 feet I assure you I was in total control. In fact I soloed it five times in a row. Here are a few ideas that might calm things down. Usually I don’t divulge my secrets but maybe it’s helpful in this case.
For a long time now I’ve been interested in the martial arts. I’m fascinated with the Aikido and strategy expert Miyamoto Musashi and have learned from his book, ‘Go Rin No Sho’ (A Book of Five Rings) and teachings over the years. Though he lived in the 13th century his values and openness to new ideas drove him to the forefront of swordsmanship simply by disregarding others’ rules. In his most famous dual he struck down a stronger opponent with a wooden oar that he spontaneously carved into a sword, simply because he wielded a longer blade. Read the rest of this entry »
Photographer Jeff Cunningham <LINK> sent us these shots on Dean’s most recent solo walk at Taft Point in Yosemite.
In Jeff’s, words, “it was a beautiful day in Yosemite. Dean had a high line set up there that he measured as somewhere between 99 to 100 feet. He had walked the line leashed a few times when I saw him untying from the tether. I figured he was just taking a break. Instead, he stepped up to the line and started walking it with confidence and determination. It’s hard to imagine what it must feel like walking across a rope with over a thousand feet of air below, but it was obvious to me that Dean was exactly where he was supposed to be…”
***PERFORMED BY A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL, DO NOT ATTEMPT***
***ALWAYS EXERCISE CAUTION, CLIMB WITHIN YOUR LIMITS***
On Sunday October 12th, prAna sponsored athlete Natasha Barnes made the first female ascent of The Force (V11) in Yosemite Valley’s Camp 4 originally put up by Jerry Moffat in 1991. Barnes began working the problem last season after ticking the Yosemite test piece Thriller (V10) in late March of 2008 but the weather got too hot for the small crimps on The Force. She went back this October and nabbed the FFA of the 20′ tall boulder problem. The Force is notorious for having huge moves on credit card sized crimps which makes this ascent a proud one for someone like Barnes who is 5’2′.
‘When I first started trying the The Force it seemed almost impossible. Two of the reaches were huge off tiny crimps and I didn’t know how I would do it. My friend Mark gave me some key beta, a heel hook that makes the first big reach static for me, but I still had the last big move out left to the ‘jug’ crimp. That ended up being the crux for me.’
Barnes has recently been ticking off many of the Valley’s classic lines as well as some of the harder test pieces including; The Force (V11), Thriller (V10), Lifeline sit start (V10), also a FFA, Tombstone (V9), Rubix Revenge low (V9), King Cobra (V8), Bruce Lee (V8), Flatline (V8 R), The King (V8, flash), Torque (V7 R), and Blue Suede Shoes (V5) among others.
prAna sponsored athlete Katie Brown has onsighted the Regular Northwest Face (VI 5.12) of Half Dome, completing the 23-pitch route in about nine hours. Brown’s partner was Alex Honnold, who belayed and carried a pack. The two simul-climbed “a bunch of the easy stuff,” but Brown led every pitch above 5.9. She had never been on the route before.
Brown said the first Zig-Zag Pitch (5.11d) and the crux final slab were the most difficult passages for her. “Of course, the gods who created Half Dome decided to make the last pitch the hardest, and that after climbing some 20 pitches below,” she wrote on her blog. “On top of that, it was slab, my nemesis. I really think the only thing that kept me from falling was the desire to not have to climb the pitch again.”
Brown made a free attempt on the west face of Leaning Tower in 2005 and recently free-climbed the west face of El Capitan, but she considers Half Dome her first true big-wall free-climb. Though she came to prominence in the 1990s as a teenage sport climber, Brown has spent several seasons in the Utah desert and has completed numerous remarkable crack climbs, including a repeat of the four-pitch 5.13 Playing Hooky and an onsight of Tricks are for Kids (5.13a). After finishing Half Dome, she started up Zodiac on El Capitan to support Alex Honnold, who recently free-soloed Half Dome’s northwest face and now hopes to free-climb Zodiac (5.13d).
“It was too hot for him to free it, but I’m sure he’ll try it again in the winter,” Brown said. “I free-climbed as much of it as I could, but there are some pretty big sideways moves that would be REALLY hard for small people.
“I might look into freeing something else on El Cap to start with, though,” Brown added. “We’ll see.”
prAna - “Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.” These qualities infuse not only our name, but also our aspirations, the things we make and how we make them. Welcome to mindfully designed, built to last products – born from the experience.
Meet Congaree National Park. It’s a peaceful marshland in South Carolina boasting old-growth floodplain forests, tranquil fishing spots, and a 50-mile paddling trail for canoeists and kayakers.
