Here on the Chicks Climbing Gossip Report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about over the past week at Chicks Climbing! This past weekend was the 16th annual Ouray Ice Fest. Girly Guide Dawn Glanc won the women’s division of the mixed climbing competition, followed closely by NEW Girly Guide Jen Olson. Congratulations to both of you! The Head Chick was out at the festivities – did you see her? If you did, or saw any other Chicks out and about at the Ouray Ice Fest, please share your pictures with us! We love a good Chicks sighting after all 
So please post them on our Facebook wall, send them to us on Twitter, through e-mail to info(at)chickswithpicks.net, or post them in our Flickr Pool so we can feature you at Chicks!
We had a few Chicks sightings we reported over the last week including Amy J. and Cheryl W. who did some backcountry climbing together in Ouray before the Ice Fest started last week! The two ran into Girly Guide Danika Gilbert and the Head Chick down in the Schoolroom and sent us this great picture as well. The Head Chick spotted Heather Piper Musmanno in the treadwall competition! Thanks so much ladies for the photos and please keep sharing! It is so fun to see Chicks climbing together and having a great time!!
Also on the blog last week we posted a blog from Girly Guide Caroline George about her experience at the Bozeman Ice Fest last month where she got the opportunity to teach some awesome ladies. Caroline won’t be joining us at Chicks with Picks this year as she is on an expedition to Antarctica with First Ascent to climb Mount Vinson! You can follow her progress in Antarctica here on the First Ascent blog.
We also had a guest post from Krysia on how she experienced some “instant karma” while climbing and how it taught her to not rely solely on beta and lose situational awareness. Check it out here on the Chicks blog!
We announced our Chicks with Picks slideshow and auction dates this week – we have ski mountaineering extraordinaire Hilaree O’Neill who will be taking you around the world on skis Friday, Jan. 28 at the Ouray Community Center, and Girly Guide Danika Gilbert on Monday, Jan. 31 talking about her summer trip doing first ascents in Southern Greenland.
Finally, we cleared up some questions folks had about the number of women in the Ouray Ice Festival competition, which raised questions of why there aren’t more women climbing at the M9 level. This is a GREAT topic and discussion to have, one which we’ll be following up with in the future getting input from our Girly Guides on why they choose to compete in competitions like the Ice Fest – or opt to not do so at all.
All of the other articles we linked to this past week through either the Chicks Climbing Twitter account, or on the Chicks Climbing Facebook fan page (and some on both!).
We provide this wrap-up because we come across a TON of great resources each week, but understand that not everyone is online all the time, or even on both (or either) of these social media platforms. So you can check here each and every week for the latest and greatest in Chicks Climbing resources here on the blog.
However, we know WE may have also missed some cool stuff this week, so if there is something of interest we missed that you came across this week please, let us know so we can share with everyone else!
Climbing
- Excellent Ouray Comp coverage stories by Alpinist http://bit.ly/f5Q4h5 and Rock and Ice (@rockandice) http://bit.ly/dUXddu
- Good info. for lead climbers from the American Alpine Institute (@AlpineInstitute) on the dangers of backclipping http://ht.ly/3xETa
- Check out this great ice climbing resource from Petzl (@Petzl): Ice climbing event schedule (all around the world) and info./links 2011 http://ow.ly/3zicB
- Cross-file this one under inspiration! Video of Portia Menlove sending the V11 Sunshine at Hueco Tanks http://ht.ly/3zzEn
- Great resource for ice climbers in the Catskills – do you know of any others for East Coast chicks? http://ht.ly/3AfzK
- Elizabeth (@eliz_rocks) talks about how she worked on managing her fear of heights during multi-pitch climbing this past summer: http://ht.ly/3B6L9
- More work on the mental head game from Jenn Fields (@jennfields) who talks about knowing your own competition (you), something she discovered during a climbing competition this weekend: http://ow.ly/3Bdyy
- Krysia (@ventrsomekrysia) writes a reminder for why you should ALWAYS do your safety checks before climbing! http://ht.ly/3yHJv
- The @splitterchoss guide to climbing etiquette: “Don’t be an asshole” http://ht.ly/3A9dT
- Great tips from Peter West Carey (@pwcarey) on taking better rock climbing photos http://bit.ly/ePj29t
News
- Interesting and newly announced partnership will have Mammut (@mammut) atheletes wearing 5.10 (@5ten) shoes http://ht.ly/3yoXa
- AAI (@AlpineInstitute) shares this week’s outdoor and climbing news: http://ht.ly/3zu6n
Gear
- A very cool way to clean your climbing ropes from a recent NOLS (@nolsedu) graduate: http://ht.ly/3y78Y
- Great review of the Evolv (@evolvclimbing) Rock Star shoe from @geargals http://ht.ly/3yE4E
- Gear review from @thegearcaster on the new Inov-8 minimalist road and barefoot running lines http://bit.ly/ebqUm4
- Great review of the new Elektra 12 Series by Sara (@theclimbergirl) on Pemba Serves (@pembaserves) http://goo.gl/fb/BwWiB
- A very informative post on Ice Climbing Gear 101 http://ht.ly/3ztNa
- Yet more information from Petzl (@petzl) on the proper use of the griprest on 2010 Nomic and Ergo ice climbing tools http://ht.ly/3yNJw
Training and Nutrition
- Great write-up on periodized training and how it can work in your climbing regimen: http://ht.ly/3zWZf
Fun Stuff
- Even the Narc! @climbingarc explains why you should “Give Ice Climbing A Try” http://ht.ly/3ztFS
- Rock and Ice (@rockandice) on “Climbing’s Hardest Job” (I think many will agree they hit the nail right on the head – especially in ice season!) http://ht.ly/3yILP
- Mariel Hemingway has recently taken up climbing – see why she loves to do it: http://on.fb.me/glhrQX
Inspiration
- Very good write-up by Katie Levy (@k8tlevy) on perspective & the value in trip reports of all kinds – big and small: http://bit.ly/hYglzR
Other useful stuff!
- Great post by @alpineinstitute giving an overview of Wilderness Navigation: http://ht.ly/3A4rK
If you have a blog entry that you think would be of interest to the women of Chicks Climbing please let us know! We love getting contributed content from other women – anything from trip reports, nutrition and training tips, to videos. We want to share your resources with the community – much like we do with the Gossip Report and are more than happy to re-publish and share links on behalf of the women’s climbing community!
The latest buzz