Chicks Climbing is excited to announce the 2011 lineup of Chicks with Picks clinics! New to the program is a clinic for our more experienced climbers who are looking to “graduate” to a new challenge in their ice climbing – on multi-pitch routes in the backcountry! We are also now offering special “dirtbag” pricing – available for all our Chicks with Picks clinic offerings – for chicks who want to pay for guided instruction only and handle food and lodging expenses on their own. Here’s what we’ve got to offer for the winter of 2011:

• - The Graduate, Jan. 14-17 – Are you ready to graduate to a new level of ice climbing? This clinic is for intermediate ice climbers and offers a 2-to-1 ratio for Chicks to develop advanced skills outside the ice park in backcountry climbing. Our graduates will focus on avalanche awareness, terrain assessment, and efficient transitions in multi-pitch climbing on some classic San Juan backcountry climbs.

• - The Sampler, Jan 14-17 – There’s a  little something for everyone with the Sampler! This clinic focuses on the technical skills any self-sufficient chick needs in her ice climbing tool kit. There will be three days of climbing during this 4-to-1 ratio clinic at the Ouray Ice Park and the opportunity to try out some sample gear, meet new climbing partners and improve of course improve ice climbing skills!

• - The Complete, Jan. 25-29 – The backbone of the Chicks program, the Complete is our most popular and longest-running clinic! Within the four days of ice climbing at the Ouray Ice Park we also pack in yoga, workshops and a skills day for specific instruction in rescue techniques, mixed climbing, alpine skills and more, all at a 4-to-1 ratio.

• - The Quickie, Jan. 30-Feb. 1 – This clinic is a great option for Chicks without a lot of time or money! Just like it sounds, the Quickie is a fast and packed two days of climbing at a 4-to-1 ratio. For those who want to cautiously test their ability to ice climb (or just the cold temps), this is the perfect clinic with very little commitment but still the high-quality instruction, demo gear, and networking events that are part of our longer clinics.

About Chicks Climbing
Chicks Climbing is the premier provider of women’s ice and rock climbing clinics in the U.S., teaching women of all abilities how to rock and ice climb. Chicks Climbing is entering its twelfth year of hosting Chicks with Picks ice-climbing clinics in Ouray, Colo., and its second year of hosting Chicks Rock! rock-climbing clinics in Devil’s Lake, Wisc., and Red Rocks, Nev.

For more information please contact Kim Reynolds at kim@chickswithpicks.net or call 970-626-4424.

Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! We apologize for the downtime on our site earlier this week – we know lots of you are gearing up your plans for the winter and need to check out the different Chicks with Picks clinics we’ve got going on

Last week on the blog we reported on two different winter mountain giveaways we came across last week – so check out how you can win a weekend in Ouray or a 5 day ski trip to Jackson Hole here!

We also posted a guest blog from Girly Guide Caroline George, who is finally back in the states after spending her summer guiding in the Alps. One of her last trips of the season in Europe had her summiting Les Drus from the North couloir which meant some ice climbing as well! You can check it all out here.

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 Clicks 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
- What are your options when you drop your belay device? Find out here —> http://ht.ly/2WqGT
- A Rational Discussion about Controversies Surrounding Self-Arrest w/ Crampons from @alpineinstitute http://ht.ly/2XNx5
- The Case for Secret Crags http://ht.ly/30dmt from @splitterchoss
- Sibling Rivalry – Mount Adams vs. Mount Hood: http://tinyurl.com/29vabcq
- Women supporting each other in climbing it’s the heart of chicks, and captured in a new blog @pembaserves: Climbing while pregnant, motherhood & other living influences http://bit.ly/cYWlWU
- Battling fear in climbing – a perspective from @lstefurak http://ht.ly/2WQP1

Gear
- Review of ice climbing dry tool training aids from Amy, aka @TheGearcaster http://bit.ly/a94jQq
- More indoor ice training tools reviewed from @TheGearJunkie: Indoor ‘Ice’ Climbing IceHoldz that can take an ice axe http://ht.ly/2WyYf
- Review of the monopoint, stainless steel CAMP Vector nanotech from @rockandice http://ht.ly/2VrVD
- Check out the newest in scarves – down scarves that is from @TheGearcaster http://bit.ly/a0dIM3
- Some leather-free ice-climbing glove options uncovered by @highsteph http://ht.ly/30dNs
- Get your gear fix! BackCountry.com announces unlimited free shipping w/no minimum on certain brands http://bit.ly/9TvOSU

News
- Climber’s daughter creates film on America’s first rock-climbing generations, with the first screening of the film being held Nov. 16! http://bit.ly/9biAuM
- Outdoor and climbing news from @alpineinstitute http://tinyurl.com/29665ja

Training
- How is it for you when you have a break from climbing and get back into it? @getfitchicks reports on her progress: Getting back into climbing…scary how fast your skills leave you http://bit.ly/aKcNXu
- Weight training for climbing http://ow.ly/2Wdya
- More good training tips for Chicks at sea level coming to Ouray for Chicks with Picks this winter! http://ht.ly/30h0u
- Super interesting fitness discussion on Will Gadd’s blog about core strength http://ht.ly/30eCs

Inspiration
- Jenn Fields (@jennfields) examines the crucial moment of commitment in outdoor sports: http://ow.ly/2YWoJ
- What’s your go-to strength mantra? “Failing means not trying” from @katiebeth http://bit.ly/cpPyMk
- This chick is obviously an awesome aunt! (Looking at you @rockgrrl!)  http://ht.ly/30dc2

Fun Stuff
- Sara, @theclimbergirl, writes a little love letter to her puffy coat http://bit.ly/aVzaBt
- Get inspired every day of the year with the Women of Climbing 2011 calendar: http://ow.ly/2W5SD
- Ever wonder how climbing ropes are made? Check out this cool video of the Sterling Rope factory… and watch some…http://fb.me/I8ZJXH3a
- Extreme climbing wall! So You Think Your Gym’s 5m-Tall Climbing Wall is Difficult?  http://gizmo.do/bqXnVm

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!

Chicks Rock! at Red Rocks took place this past weekend, Oct 1-5. The clinic was held by myself, Dawn Glanc, and my fellow Girly Guide Kitty Calhoun. The goal was to have fun and help the women become confident and competent climbers. I believe we met the goal.

The climbing clinic itself was three days long, with a final optional multi-pitch day. Of all the participants in the clinic, only one woman chose not to do the multi-pitch day. All the clinic participants had prior climbing experience, but their abilities varied. We broke into two small groups so that we could have more focused goals. Despite the iffy weather, we got three full days of climbing.

Day one we went to the Mass Production wall to work on face climbing techniques. The routes varied from 5.8-5.11b. Everyone surprised themselves with the grades they climbed. Day two we went to the Flight Path area to work on crack climbing techniques. Everyone experience the pain and joys of crack climbing. A few women even completed the 5.9+ OW crack that we had set up. Day three we went to the Willow Springs area to bring crack techniques and face climbing techniques together. That day Kitty and I saw that our work had paid off. Each woman showed incredible gains in their confidence and climbing techniques. It was awesome to see the success that each woman achieved.

The optional multi-pitch day was a great way to wrap up the clinic. Two women went with Kitty to climb Wholesome Fullback and Our Father. I climbed with two women for their first ever multi-pitch experience. We climbed Geronimo with style. It was an amazing and powerful weekend. It is always great to meet strong women who enjoy climbing. We are all walking away from this weekend as friends and climbing partners.

- Girly Guide Dawn Glanc

The following is a guest post from Chicks alumna Sarah Goldman who has spent the last couple of months climbing all the epic rock she can get her hands on. She’s graciously allowed us to re-post her Yosemite photo blog here, and we’re looking forward to hearing more from her latest trip to Canada!

Back in August, me and some of my homies, yeah these guys are some of them, went to Yosemite….and got SCHOOLED! There is just too much to say about this trip so Im just going to throw up some photos.  All in all…battleing frigid and scorching temps, mind blowing runouts, and some really long approaches we had a great time and major learning occurred! This trip represented my official full-on return to climbing and while my climbing wasn’t where I wanted it to be, I’m psyched I went and was super lucky to have wonderfully patient and fun partners.

So the picture above is taken in Tuolumne….we spent a few days up there trying to get used to the rock and the weather…9,000 feet and full on snow, hail, rain, etc.

As a result of the temps and us getting our bearings we went out to do some top roping for a bit and even that proved to be difficult!  Colleen busted out all of her SPI magic although my favorite quote from this day was uttered just after I was lowered over the edge: “Oh, this is never going to work.” Pretty sure this picture was taken just following what never worked.

It was warm for a second, and I got bored…so, well push ups seemed like a good idea.

This is Ana topping out on Holdless Horror, a sweet 4 pitch 5.6 in Tuolume that we swapped leads on. Ana got the business pitches and did an awesome job. Super fun day on Dozier Dome.

This is Dozier Dome….Holdess Horror and Bull Dozier routes are to the right of center.

After a few really cold, but clear days in Tuolumne, we were all ready to head to the Valley where we heard it was still summer. We had dreams of climbing in capris, (yes, the boys too!) and tank tops and generally feeling our extremities again.  Our drive down into the Valley was spectacular and our first glimpse of the great ones was awesome….

Unless you live under a rock instead of on one, you probably recognize these guys…the jewels of the Valley El Capitan and Half Dome.

On the major list of “donts” that we learned about the hard way was Curry Village. On paper, err,  I guess on line it seemed like a good idea at the time. Little tent cabins and amenities near by.  Sure, there were little tent cabins, and they were cute, but there were 900 little tent cabins and this isnt my usual hyperbole.  We had just come from a nice quiet campsite up in the meadows and we all experience major culture shock when we rejoined “the people” and the American LARGESS in Curry Village.

These rows of tents went on and on and on…..we got lost numerous times trying to find our shanty.  They were though warm and comfortable with nice beds and linens.  I had the extreme pleasure of having the next door bathhouse light in my face each night which added extra charm.

In an effort to get on one of the major classics, Colleen and I opted to share a guide for the 16 pitch 5.7 A0 Royal Arches.  It was a long long meandering day but definitely worth the time and energy…even if it meant 10 rappels in blazing hot sun.

On the last climbing day of our trip, three of us, Colleen, Edwin and myself went after another classic, this time the 5.7 on Half Dome.  With a daunting six mile approach, a million pitches of runout slab, and a nine mile descent, we were successful in making it a complete epic that took 22 hours including wandering around on top of Half Dome in the super dark looking for the descent cables, some granite steps, and trying desperately to quite literally not walk off a cliff.  I hate to say it, but if Colleen hadn’t been able to pull up some much needed beta on her iPhone, we might still be up there.

Snake Dike follows the left horizon…forever….and tops out with 2000 feet of Class 3 slabs to nowhere.

Better get out the flag while we still have sunlight…the summit was at least another hour away at this point, but it still made for a good picture! Thanks Edwin and Colls for a helluva a day!

It was a great trip full of interesting surprises, challenging moments, loads of laughter, singing and the occasional speeding ticket. We encountered nearly every weather condition imaginable and definitely got ourselves into climbing that got our attention.  Ill look forward to going back a little bit stronger and a whole lot wiser!

Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! We were busy last week with Chicks Rock! Devil’s Lake, which was a HUGE success. The Head Chick wrote a blog post about the weekend skills clinic held Sept. 11-12, as well as Kitty Calhoun’s slide show at the University of Wisconsin Sept. 12. Check out that report here. Kim is working hard at writing up a blog post about the full women’s clinic, which she needs to get done ASAP because she will be heading out to New River Gorge this week for our Girly Gathering this weekend! If you still want to sign up you can! For those in the area, don’t miss out on this quick, informative, and fun short-format clinic Sept. 24-26 at NRG! We’ve also got one more Chicks Rock! before we get pack up the tank tops and get ready for the ice season, which will be Oct. 1-5 at Red Rocks!

We’ll be posting the Head Chick’s blog later this week, but in the meantime you can catch up with the new photos we’ve got in our Flickr pool from the clinic (and Devil’s Lake ladies please add yours too!). Of course, we ALWAYS want to see your new photos, so send ‘em when you get ‘em!

Last week we received word that a new women’s climbing magazine for the woman alpinist called My Vertical Woman, will be launching Oct. 1! This magazine will be launched under the direction of Genevieve Hathaway and Jessie Rowe, who will be hosting a launch party at the Seattle Outdoor Research store Oct. 1 from 7-9 p.m. The new Web site (not live yet) will be http://www.theverticalwoman.com. We will provide more information on this as we get it!

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 Clicks 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
- The Euro Death Knot: What is this thing and what is it good for?  http://ow.ly/2E5zK
- The importance of angles and their relation to force in an anchor cannot be overstated!  http://ow.ly/2GYpQ
- Climbers unhappy about proposed fee increases on Denali and Mount Rainier:  http://tinyurl.com/2fk9ezw
- The Cirque ladies explain the rating on The Original Women-At-Work Line, VI 5.12 R they conquered this summer:  http://ow.ly/2FkCk
- September newsletter from the Ouray Ice Park (Only about 3 months until it opens!!!)  http://conta.cc/btl78h
- Be a responsible belayer, belaying a leader with a GriGri – video  http://dai.ly/cWyDhV
- 10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t know about Knots  http://bit.ly/bFIot2
- Great article on perception and reality when it comes to climbing and SAR  http://ow.ly/2FkeH

Gear
- Sara (@theclimbergirl) breaks down how to fly with climbing gear.  http://bit.ly/ayDxTT
- Sara (@theclimbergirl) gets after the questions many new climbers have with climbing gear in this blog post:  http://ow.ly/2EKea
- From the Rock & Ice TNB eBlast: The Unforgettable Climb by Alison Osius (what have you forgotten or lost at the crag?)  http://fb.me/zUD3pO8Z
- Ouray Mountain Sports has discounted their inventory Petzl’s Nomics and Quarks from last year!  http://tinyurl.com/24lolpt

News
- September and October Climbing and Outdoor Events:  http://ow.ly/2Gylb
- Alex Honnold interviewed by Outside Magazine’s Blog on his epic climbs this summer:   http://ow.ly/2FZqP

Trip Reports
- @rockgrrl shares Part 2 of her Tuolumne/Yosemite climbing trip, where changing plans was lucky  http://bit.ly/aIMtlG
- Alex Johnson reports on her recent climbing trip to Yosemite & Tuolumne in the High Sierras  http://ow.ly/2FlWO
- Sterling Rope team members Kate Rutherford and Jasmin Caton share their Greenland trip report  http://ow.ly/2G3Nz

Training & Nutrition
- Cookies under nutrition? Well where else were we going to put it! Tali, aka @cupcakemafia came across what sounds like an amazing recipe for Pumpkin Chai Cookies  http://ht.ly/2GUER

Fun Stuff
- Climbing Scenes in Non-Climbing Movies  http://ow.ly/2Dvuo
- Film Review from AAI of The Wildest Dream  http://ow.ly/2FRu9
- The AAC has posted the winners of the Summer 2010 Ad Photo contest! So many great shots!  http://ow.ly/2FZWJ

Inspiration
- Great story about Paradox Sports athlete, Christa Brelsford  http://bit.ly/ceQPHI
- List of some of the greatest female athletes in modern history (compiled in 2000); did any of these ladies inspire you? If not, who is your inspiration?  http://culturemob.com/blog/great-female-athletes-who-paved-the-way-for-women-in-sports
- Jenn Fields’ “Field Notes” is a bit more somber than usual, but is – as always – a total must read. Lucky to let go — the fear you choose:  http://ow.ly/2GTYH

Other
- Anyone interested on getting in on a group house rental in Ouray during the ice season? A Chick (Lisa Nelson) has a house set up as a vacation rental just outside Ouray and is looking for about six people who could come and go throughout the season for a pretty reasonable price! Here’s a link to some pictures: http://www.elkhorncabins.com/hill_house.php ; it would probably be about $250 pp per month. Anyone interested?

Something we pride ourselves in at Chicks Climbing is not being afraid to try something new; after all,  it’s something we ask our participants to do at our clinics.

Taking calculated risks is part of our business and it’s part of what makes life interesting and alive. So this year we offered very affordable Skills Clinics over the weekend and we even invited men.

Well, the men didn’t show up but a small group of women did. What we offered were ground schools that will elevate climbers to new heights: anchor building, multi-pitch transitions, placing gear or making sense of the head games when working a project. The women loved it and learned more than they ever would have imagined without even leaving the ground.

To top off the weekend, Kitty Calhoun gave a free slideshow on Sunday night at the University of Wisconsin about her “Epics on Big Walls” – her disclaimer was that an epic is simply an experience and a journey that the “hero” brings back to tell. She said “not that I’m a hero or anything, I’ve just simply returned to tell you about it.”

Kitty has a way of captivating an audience with her southern charm and infectious laughter, plus she can spin-a-yarn better than anyone I know.

With that behind us, today we launched our three day Chicks Rock! women’s intensive rock climbing course where the women will get a lot of vertical and experience off the ground. Check out our Twitter feed, Flickr Pool, and Facebook page for regular updates from Chicks at Devil’s Lake!

Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! The Head Chick is up in Madison, Wisconsin all week for our Chicks Rock! full intensive clinic (which starts TODAY) after a successful weekend of skills clinics and slide show from Kitty Calhoun on big wall climbing last night. Keep an eye on our social networking sites as we post updates of the Chicks getting their climb on at Devil’s Lake in some beautiful fall weather this week.

We had a very eye-opening submission to the Chicks Climbing blog this week from Michelle Smith, who also recently contributed a piece on her climb of the Northwest Couloir on the Middle Teton in July. This submission was very different – it was a video of the rescue effort to get Michelle off the Valhalla Traverse on the northwest side of the Grand Teton after a 30+ foot fall crushed Michelle’s leg, ultimately requiring a surgery involving 24 screws and other metallic accoutrements to be put into her leg. Michelle shared the video with us to post in order to show how important it is to stay calm when things get scary in the mountains, and is definitely worth watching the whole way through.

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 safety videos like Michelle’s. We want to share your resources with the community – much like we do with the Gossip Report!

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 Clicks 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
- The dangers of using Daisy chains inappropriately: http://ow.ly/2ADZp
- The 16th annual Ouray Ice Festival will be held January 6-9, 2011 (just before Chicks with Picks!) Events: http://ow.ly/2AEPf
- Editorial on the Stangl Faked K2 Ascent: What Are We Climbing For?http://j.mp/dgBfSn
- Climbers unhappy about proposed fee increases on Rainier and McKinley: http://tinyurl.com/2fk9ezw

Gear
- New ice climbing tools from Petzl! http://tinyurl.com/37ngfom
-  Lizzy (@lizzy_t) reports that she comfortably wore the Mammut Togir Light harness on a long (18-hour) climb and says it was “AMAZING.”  http://bit.ly/9up71s
- How to handle stinky climbing shoes: http://fb.me/IXMvlG5z

News
- September 2010 News from Ouray Ice Park (will be opening in about three months!!!):  http://conta.cc/btl78h

Trip Reports
- Great trip report (and display of girl power) from Lizzy (@lizzy_t) on Clyde Minaret: girl power + baked goods = clyde minaret http://bit.ly/91lqtm
- Inspiring trip report from Aleya (@Blueskeyes207) on her recent climb of the epic Devil’s Tower: http://ht.ly/2C6ks

Training & Nutrition
- Katie (@k8tlevy) talks about what happens when you take three months off from rock climbing (interesting perspective given that she took time off to train for Rainier): http://bit.ly/cQ331P
- How to incorporate rock climbing training exercises into your daily routine: http://ow.ly/2D2Za

Fun Stuff
- Jenn Fields breaks down what makes tick-listers tick: http://ow.ly/2AxEV (On high points, fourteeners…& more)
- The REEL ROCK TOUR 2010 trailer! http://ht.ly/2ASdE
- Climbing Scenes in Non-Climbing Movies: http://ow.ly/2Dvuo

Inspiration
- More photos from the three amazing Cirque Ladies on their recent climb of Mount Proboscis – very inspiring! http://ow.ly/2BoQE