For us, our climbing started just like it did for many others.
Not at climbing gyms or outdoor routes, but at the local playparks and climbing frames of our childhood.
We consider what we do to be nothing more than an evolution of that. It’s not that we took up climbing in adulthood, it’s that we never quite dropped it. We were always climbers before we even knew it, and that childlike sense of adventure in us has never left our hearts.
That’s me on the left. I’m Jake Traynor.
Other than the whole climbing thing, I’ve been a life coach since late 2013 and a martial artist since the age of 7, which is the earliest I was allowed to begin training in the hard-hitting Karate style known as Shūkōkai, at the local dojo.
I’ve since moved on to Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and generally swinging jo and bo staves around in an aggressive manner for fun.
Jake also has a website called Unbound by Convention, where he writes guides and reviews on non-climbing stuff.
That’s Jamie on the right. Jamie Taylor.
He’s a climbing machine. Literally nothing comes between him and his climbing.
I think he practically lives on climbing routes now. These days you’ll see up in the air more often than on the ground, hanging from one rock or another.
The only explanation would be that he’s evolved to a higher lifeform. He has adapted to his vertical, rocky habitat in ways which are far beyond our levels of understanding.
To contact us, check out our contact page.
FAQ
You Write Weird. Why is That?
We believe that writing should be like climbing.
No, not "with a harness on, hands plastered with chalk, and a person down below ready to catch you."
More like, "completely transparent in its attempt to grasp at an experience that is ultimately beyond words."
We don't pretend to report in a balanced, objective way that cherishes all opinions and theories equally. We try to get as close as possible to how it is, or, at least, how it is to us, and that can only be done by drawing from our own frame of expertise and from the experiences of both ourselves and others.
With our writing, we try to capture the messiness, the movements, and the gritty details of actual experience as closely as possible. We're heavily influenced by the writing style of New Journalism, as well as the storytelling, investigative reporting style of Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich of Radiolab.
What’s So Fun About Climbing?
What’s Your Favorite Climbing Discipline?
Bouldering. We love bouldering.
There's something so special about bouldering, and anyone who gives it a try immediately realizes what it really is: It's just pure climbing.
None of that distracting "safety" nonsense. That's all taken care of before you climb and after you fall.
I'm talking about bouldering mats and proper falling technique here. You can't use them for any other climbing discipline, because of... you know... gravity. It's for this very reason that bouldering is so unique.
And let's not forget how similar bouldering is to the adventures we had in the playparks and climbing frames of our childhood.
We didn't use safety equipment like harnesses and ropes. We were free and boundless to climb as we pleased, because the safety was already taken care of by landing properly on that squishy safety tarmac that was always there to catch us.
What Other Projects Have You Been Working On?
We also have a sister site called "Start a Food Forest."
Food forests are amazing. As Bill Mollison once put it: it takes you 40 minutes to plant all your vegetables for the year. How long does it take you to go to Walmart?
Food forests require no digging, no pulling out weeds, no fertilizer, no pesticides or anything like that. It's like "infinite food for free" one you get it going.
You can check it out if you click here.