Whatsup Stokers!
Tryin to keep it simple this week. We have what could be an entire film festival right here in your inbox… grab a tall boy, and dig into the amazing films and sends that are flooding the airwaves.
I pulled down the best for your perusal and joy. Be a good friend, and pass it on.
Here’s a video from a random Tuesday, peak bagging in the La Sals, Moab’s alpine backyard.
Saludos amigos!
Nico
🧗 Brad Gobright only had one hairstyle: BOLD
📍 Eldorado Canyon, Colorado
Cedar Wright just pulled some incredible footage out of the archives: Brad Gobright free soloing Hairstyles and Attitude, the Eldorado Canyon 5.12b/c classic. It’s vintage Brad—casual and terrifyingly comfortable on terrain where falling simply isn’t an option. Gobright died in a rappelling accident in Mexico in 2019, making this newly released footage a good reminder of the brilliant and humble climber the community lost. RIP Brad.
⏱ 5 min
🏔️ 3 days on Ranrapalca
📍 Cordillera Blanca, Peru
The Pou brothers and Peruvian climber Micher Quito spent three days opening Bonus Track (WI7/M6/6c, 1,060m) on Ranrapalca (6162m)—a mixed line the Pous call the hardest and most exposed alpine climb of their careers. After a sketchy bivouac, brutal cold, and serious terrain, they found themselves lost in the fog near 6000m. Then a bird appeared and, improbably, seemed to guide them toward the summit. Awesome little film.
⏱ 10 min
🚵 The wrong direction is the right way
📍 Squamish, British Columbia
Gouranga is a steep, technical, double-black trail that gives plenty of riders the jitters. Braydon Bringhurst decided he wanted to ride up it. The project involves repeated failure, some improbable uphill riding—and Bringhurst getting hurt in the process. A torn muscle is just another data point when your idea of fun is trying something that seems impossible.
⏱ 12 min
🧗 In the bubble of highballing
📍 Bishop, California
We used to have to wait for Reel Rock or the Banff Film Festival to get climbing films like this. Ross Fulkerson takes on some of Bishop’s most committing lines, including A Little Life (v14) and Terminus (v13)—two legendary Keenan Takahashi FAs perched high above the Buttermilks—and gives a raw look at the mentality required to keep climbing when the pads start looking very, very small.
⏱ 9 min
⚡ Bonus News
⚒️ A Colorado father and son say they beat a mining company to 19.88 acres in La Plata Canyon by using the same 1872 mining law that allows companies to stake claims on federal land. They raced to mark and record the “Russell Reserve Claim” first—not to mine it, but to protect it.
🐻 A 300-pound black bear died after getting itself trapped in an unlocked car in Colorado Springs while searching for food. Inside temperatures climbing above 130°F, so the bear tore apart the vehicle trying to escape.
🏔️ Nepal has proposed renaming Annapurna I after Nirmal “Nims” Purja, who recently died on Broad Peak. The 8,091m peak would be called Nimsdai Annapurna, an unusually monumental tribute to one of its most famous and controversial mountaineers.
🏂 Freeride skiing and snowboarding are officially headed to the Winter Olympics in the French Alps. Natural, ungroomed terrain, with riders judged on line choice, control, technique, style and fluidity. What could go wrong?
🪂 Spanish climber and BASE jumper Carlos Suárez, 52, died in a wingsuit accident while performing a stunt for a film about his own life.
Check out Suárez and Leo Houlding on the outrageous conglomerate walls of Riglos in Spain, climbing and jumping La Visera and El Pisón.
!QEPD Fiera!
🧠 Long Reads & Watches
….take your time with these ones…
🚵 Freeride without the circus
Zink International is Cam Zink’s homegrown answer to what a freeride mountain-bike event can look like: huge riding, a grassroots atmosphere and the spotlight pointed at riders who deserve more of it. Catch the highlights from a Nevada weekend built around progression, community and sending very large bicycles through the air.
⏱ 30 min
🎿 Ever dream about becoming this guy?
Ever dream about packing your ski bags, buying a ticket south and showing up in the Andes just as the snow starts dumping? After years of dreaming about skiing Chile, the creator of Rise & Alpine finally pulls the trigger—and lands at Valle Nevado, El Colorado and La Parva at the beginning of a storm cycle. Powder to ski, barely enough Wi-Fi to upload the footage, and apparently nowhere else he needs to be. Funny story, he also melted the insoles of his ski boots. What a hoot!
⏱ 38 min
🌊 Watersports, life in Slingshot
There are plenty of ways to get wet in Oregon, and apparently the correct answer is to try as many of them as possible. Twenty-two minutes of cold water and questionable decisions. Oh yeah, and a lot of wind.
⏱ 22 min
😂 The greatest climbing prank ever published
In 1959 and 1960, two climbers successfully tricked Summit Magazine into publishing completely fabricated climbing stories. More than six decades later, people are still citing the hoaxes as real ascents, proving that climbing’s longest-running joke may still be fooling people today.
🔗 https://www.summitjournal.com/blogs/scree/the-rest-of-the-story
⏱️ 8 minute read
Have a great week! 💥 Stay Stoked. Stay Wild.
We leave you with some training inspiration from none other than Sean Villanueva, going at it to a Rocky Balboa soundtrack.
This is what it means when you climb like its your job!
See you on the next send!