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Here’s a study from the online magazine Quirkology. Obviously, I think its findings are extremely meaningful and important.
Quirkology teamed up with fitness expert Sam Murphy to explore the relationship between sport and attraction. Are men more impressed by women who play soccer or climb mountains? Do women go for body builders or yoga fanatics?
The work involved over 6,000 people indicating which sporting activities would make a member of the opposite sex more attractive. Results revealed that 57% of women found climbing attractive, making it the sexiest sport from a female perspective. This was closely followed by extreme sports (56%), soccer (52%), and hiking (51%). Bottom of their list came aerobics and golf, with just 9% and 13% of the vote respectively.
 Hey, those guys are sexy! In contrast, men were most attracted to women into aerobics (70%), followed by yoga (65%), and going to the gym (64%). Bottom of their list came bodybuilding (5%), rugby (6%), and golf (18%).
Women’s choices appear to reflect the type of psychological qualities that they find attractive – such as bravery and a willingness to take on challenges – whilst men are more shallow, looking for a woman who is physically fit but not challenging their ego by being overly strong.
The findings also reveal that both men and women have little insight into what sports the opposite sex find attractive. 56% of men believe that women are attracted to male bodybuilders, whereas only 19% actually are. Likewise, 73% of women think that men find female runners attractive, whereas in reality 55% do.
‘Our findings suggest that women who’ve been pounding the pavements in search of love would do better taking up aerobics, while men seeking women need to ditch the weights and get on the climbing wall,’ said Murphy. ‘That said, the best way to find happiness – not to mention a long-lasting fitness regime – is to do what you love. Unless, that is, it’s golf!’
Full results
Everyone was asked to indicate whether they would find a member of the opposite sex more attractive if they engaged in one of 15 sporting/physical activities (response options ‘yes’, ‘uncertain’, and ‘no’). The percentage of men giving the ‘yes’ option to each option is as follows:
Men
Bodybuilding: 5
Rugby: 6
Golf: 18
Rowing: 20
Soccer: 30
Extreme sports: 32
Martial arts: 35
Cycling: 39
Climbing: 41
Hiking: 41
Skiing: 53
Running: 55
Going to the gym: 64
Yoga/Pilates: 65
Aerobics: 70
Here’s the breakdown for the women:
Aerobics: 9
Golf: 13
Bodybuilding: 19
Yoga/Pilates: 20
Cycling: 37
Rowing: 43
Martial arts: 44
Rugby: 44
Running: 44
Skiing: 46
Going to the gym: 50
Hiking: 51
Soccer: 52
Extreme sports: 56
Climbing 57.
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MILL VALLEY, CA, June 17, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ — SuperTopo.com, one of the most popular climbing web sites in the world, revealed today the results of the SuperTopo 2010 Editors Choice Awards for Rock Climbing Belay Device category, listing this year s best climbing belay devices and best value for climbing belay devices. The SuperTopo.com staff chose the following winners after extensive field testing in Yosemite, Colorado, and Utah. Each nut tool underwent extensive side by side tests to evaluate key performance metrics such as lowering, sport climbing belay, rappelling with two ropes, lock off, belaying the second and other factors. The complete belay device review test results for 2010 are available on SuperTopo.com at The winners are:
Petzl GriGri – http://www.supertopo.com/review/Petzl-GriGri winner of the Editor’s Choice Award for 2010 for auto-assist belay device. According to gear tester Chris McNamara, “The Petzl GriGri is Editors’ Choice because it is simply awesome in most climbing situations. Seriously. What device do you think Chris Sharma was belayed on when he fired Jumbo Love? What device do you think Ammon McNeely is belayed on when he smashes El Cap records?”
Black Diamond ATC XP http://www.supertopo.com/review/Black-Diamond-ATC-XP – winner of the Editor’s Choice Award for 2010 for manual belay device. According to gear tester Chris McNamara, “This was one of the best devices for paying out rope to a leader. It is versatile and solid and its friction grooves add stopping power confidence.”
Wild Country VC Pro 2 Belay Device http://www.supertopo.com/review/Wild-Country-VC-Pro-2 – winner of the Best Buy award for 2010. This award is given to a product that balances an extremely high score in our tests and a very reasonable price. According to Chris McNamara, “Wild Country packs more features into the VC Pro 2 for $15 than competitors give you in their base model manual belay device. The VC Pro 2 is a great, compact, belay/rappel device and earns the medal as our Best Buy.”
Petzl Reverso 3 http://www.supertopo.com/review/Petzl-Reverso-3 – winner of the Recommended award for 2010. This award is given to products that scored very highly, and offered unique capabilities. According to Chris McNamara, “Its like a sports car. It has sleek curves, excellent handling and is smooth to use. Nine times out of 10 we belay directly off the anchor when multipitch climbing so we need a great auto-block device. On big Yosemite free routes, we found our arms stayed fresher with the Reverso 3 as long as the rope was skinnier than 10m”
Trango Cinch http://www.supertopo.com/review/Trango-Cinch – winner of the Recommended award for 2010. This award is given to products that scored very highly, and offered unique capabilities. According to Chris McNamara, “This is a great auto-locking (or “auto assist”) belay device that we liked more and more the longer we spent with it. It has a simple design that reduces its weight and bulk compared to the GriGri. It also pays out rope exceptionally smoothly once you figure it out. Overall, it is a great value and is recommended down to 9.4mm ropes, something the GriGri is not.”
Here’s a great link to a video of some new boulder routes being put up by friends Levi Parchen and Dean Towarnicki.
http://climbidaho.com/?p=1190
Knocked one off the bucket list on Sunday.
I’ve rock-climbed on and off over 25 years, and I’ve taken part in what may have been first ascents on some traditional routes.
Trad routes are those where you place your own protective gear, which a second climber removes as she follows you up.
I say “may have been” because unless you drill a bolted anchor at the top, it’s often hard to know whether another climber’s been there before you.
In any case, on Sunday I finished bolting a new sport route at the North Rim of Mill Creek, in the Bitterroot just west of Pinesdale.
Sport routes are climbs that depend on bolts for protection, and they generally are found on walls without significant crack systems in which to place your own protection.
That means drilling holes and placing bolts. It’s the sort of thing you do only in places whether both climbing ethics and regulations allow it, and you do it in the most respectful and safe manner.
 Michael Moore climbing Sabertooth, 5.10b/c If you’ve been following the paper, you know I recently wrote a long Outdoors page story about a new climbing area being developed in Mill Creek. My friends Dane Scott and Ken Turley have done most of the work, but they’ve opened the door to several others, including me.
Over the past couple of weeks, my daughter Kate and I got a rope up and started scouting a new line up a steep face called the Tiger Stripe Wall.
After climbing a variety of paths up the wall, we finally settled on one last week and set ourselves to bolting. But no sooner than we got all the equipment up the wall, we got chased down by some very serious lightning.
On Sunday, I got back to the wall with my friend Brett Klassen Van Ooschot to finish the job. It took us a couple of hours to drill and bolt,but we had the route finished by early evening.
Obviously, a climb isn’t something that’s created in the same we think of creating, say, a painting or music. But as I scouted and climbed the line up the rock, I found that the same part of my brain that goes off while playing the guitar was again firing on all cylinders.
I’ve felt that musical sense on a few other climbs set by others. Even from the bottom, you could sense the beauty of the path.
In this case, that sense was heightened by my role in finding the line. No one can rightly say they created a climb. Nature does that.
On the other hand, I think it’s fair to say that you found it, that you pioneered it, enabled it.
Whatever you want to call it, what it sparked in me was a feeling of musical creativity.
And that was a very rewarding feeling.
The climb is called Sabertooth and is tentatively rated 5.10b/c. It’s on the new Tiger Stripe Wall, just above the Tick Farm Wall on Mill Creek’s North Rim.
Michael Moore
 Climbing in Valle Orco. Image courtesy of www.tradclimbing.it
The AAC can nominate two US climbers to take part in the First International “Trad” Climbing Meeting, organized by the Club Alpino Accademico Italiano (CAAI, a national section of Club Alpino Italiano). The deadline is June 13, so we need you to act quickly to represent the AAC in Italy. The meeting will take place in Valle Orco, Western Alps (province of Torino), from the 19th to the 25th of September 2010. This valley is a historic place for the development of modern climbing in Italy. Climbing style is typical of granite, with face and crack climbing. “Trad” climbing skill is required on many routes, though face climbs generally have fixed gear.
CAAI will welcome the participation of both male and female representatives (a 50/50 share would be the best). Each climber must be able to lead 5.10, E2, or french 6b. Each country will be paired up with a local host climber with experience of the valley. Food and accommodation will be provided by the organization during the whole meeting. Assistance in transfer from main airports and railway stations will hopefully be possible. Participants will only have to pay a registration fee of 100 Euro upon acceptance, plus travel.
The number of foreign participants will be limited to a maximum of 60. Deadline for applications is June 13th!! It’s short notice, but please contact the AAC office (303-384-0110 or email) if interested. We can forward the application to you.
Draft program overview:
Sunday 9/19 – Climbers arrival. Opening ceremonies in Ceresole Reale (Valle Orco) by 7pm.
Monday 9/20 – Climbing day, evening slideshow on historic and modern climbs in the area.
Tuesday 9/21 – Climbing day, evening slideshow (Italian climber).
Wednesday 9/22 – Climbing day, evening slideshow on Gran Paradiso National Parc.
Thursday 9/23 – Climbing day, evening slideshow (International climber).
Friday 9/24 – Climbing day, demonstrations by top climbers. Evening concert.
Saturday 9/25 – Closing ceremonies. Transfer to airports.
More information is available on www.tradclimbing.it. Email inquiries to info@tradclimbing.it. For an application, email Dana Richardson at drichardson@americanalpineclub.org.
Here’s a cool, upcoming event:
Spend a night under the stars: The Great American Backyard Campout June 26th, 2010
Trade your website for a campsite and your screen time for green time! Join the National Wildlife Federation and Missoula Children and Nature for a family campout at Travelers’ Rest State Park in Lolo on June 26th – 27th. This fun, free event is offered in conjunction with the National Wildlife Federation’s sixth annual Great American Backyard Campout, a nationwide celebration of the great outdoors. More than 100,000 people from coast to coast are expected to participate in this year’s event.
The festivities kick off at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 26th at Travelers’ Rest State Park and continue through 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 27th. The campout features free food, camping gear, and lots of fun nature activities, including fly casting with Hellgate Hunters and Anglers, fish identification and biology with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wildlife track casting with Travelers’ Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, a special performance by wildlife entertainer Vince Yannone, and more! Gather around the campfire for s’mores and camp out under the stars where Lewis and Clark did 200 years ago.
This event is free and open to all Missoula area youth with their adult supervisors; however, participants must pre-register by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, June 18th. Registration forms are available at REI, Missoula Parks and Recreation headquarters at Currents, Travelers’ Rest State Park in Lolo, the Montana Natural History Center, or at the Missoula Children and Nature web site: www.missoulachildrenandnature.org. For more information contact Ian at 406-396-9562.
Camping out is fun, and it’s good for you, too! Studies show that spending time outdoors in nature can help children grow lean and strong, enhance creativity and attention span, decrease aggression, and boost classroom performance. The bottom line? Healthier, happier kids.
Event sponsor Missoula Children and Nature (MCN) is a network of organizations, agencies, businesses, and individuals committed to the goal of connecting youth with the natural world. Each month, MCN offers one or more free, family-oriented, nature-based events through the “Got Nature?” passport program. For more information on the Missoula Children and Nature and the “Got Nature?” passport program, visit www.missoulachildrenandnature.org.
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the nation’s conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. The organization focuses their efforts on finding solutions to global warming, protecting wildlife habitat, and connecting people to nature. For more information on NWF and the national Great American Backyard Campout, visit www.nwf.org. – END
This is taken from the National Park Service web site:
The remains of two Montana men who died while ice climbing a frozen waterfall in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone were successfully recovered Tuesday afternoon. The victims have been identified as Mark Ehrich, 28, and Michael Kellch, 29, of Bozeman, Montana. Both have immediate family members who live in Wyoming. The men reportedly had several years of ice and mountain climbing experience. One victim was removed from the canyon early Tuesday afternoon. Melting ice near the rock ledge where the two men were discovered 300 feet beneath the canyon rim threatened to halt the recovery effort until Wednesday morning. However, use of a helicopter permitted the safe recovery of the second victim late Tuesday afternoon. Friends of the two men contacted the park about 1:00 p.m. Monday afternoon to report the pair had left Sunday for a day hike from Artist Point and had not returned. It was later discovered the two men had actually arrived in the park Saturday, and intended to ice climb Silver Cord Cascade. This series of waterfalls begins at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, northeast of Artist Point, dropping several hundred feet to the canyon floor and into the Yellowstone River. Members of the park’s technical rescue team, the wildland fire crew, three climbing rangers from Grand Teton National Park, and a helicopter were all involved in the rescue and recovery effort. A rescue team member rappelled into the canyon as darkness fell Monday evening and found the two dead on a rock ledge. Initial observations of the scene and gear configuration indicate that the fall was likely due to collapse of the ice column during the men’s ascent. The accident remains under investigation. All hiking and climbing in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is prohibited from Brink of the Upper Falls downriver to, but not including, the Silver Cord Cascade drainage. Rangers believe climbers attempt Silver Cord Cascade one to three times a year. These are the first accident fatalities in Yellowstone since a drowning in the southwest corner of the park last September.
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By Stephen Regenold
Over the past few years, reviewing equipment for camping, hiking, biking, and other pursuits, a few products and a few ideas have stood out. These five innovations in gear have literally changed the way I do things outside.
 Merino Wool Base Layers: The fine wool of the merino sheep happens to make a perfect performance fabric for base-layer clothing. It doesn’t itch. It breathes. Merino is natural and durable, and it can be worn for days on end because the fabric has built-in antimicrobial properties. But the kicker for me is merino’s seemingly magical feature of regulating core body temperature no matter the weather outside. Wool base layers can keep you warm when it’s cold, and when you’re hot and sweaty, a merino shirt helps keep you cool. Companies such as Ibex, Icebreaker, and SmartWool are top brands and longtime adherents to merino. I applaud them–and other adopters now–for taking the leap with sheep.
 Barefoot-Style Running Shoes: Christopher McDougall’s best-selling book Born to Run has seriously ramped up interest in a trend that was already soaring quite high. The phenomenon of “barefoot-style” shoes–models that incorporate less padding and little or no arch support–allow the foot to flex and feel the ground as you go (just like if you were barefoot). About four years ago, the barefoot style completely changed the way I run. After switching from heavily-padded running shoes to more minimal models, I went from long strides and heel flops to shorter strides and midfoot strikes. My running style became faster, more efficient, and easier on my body as a result.
 Tasty Energy Food: Remember the energy bars of yore? Or were those hunks of cardboard disguised as food? As a category, energy food–including bars, gels, “blocks,” and other on-the-go options–have become substantially more palatable in recent years. Standouts include Clif Mojo bars (granola-type bars that are more salty than sweet); Clif SHOT Bloks (gummy fruit-flavor bites); ProBars (hefty, nutty, “whole food” bars); and new gel flavors from GU and Hammer (which make this category more edible than ever).
 Single-Speed Bikes: Simple solutions are sometimes the best ones. Thus is the case with single-speed bikes, which have taken off in the past five years for commuters and mountain bikers alike. For me, one gear is often all I need. These bikes–now sold by most all major cycling companies–have fewer parts to break (and thus less maintenance issues), are lighter weight, and–bonus!–often cost substantially less than their derailleur-and-gears-equipped cousins.
 Backpacks with Hip Pockets: It is a rare day outdoors that I will wear a backpack without a pair of zippered hip pockets on the belt. These small gear holsters–now seen on backpacks from a dozen or more major pack makers–are a no-brainer innovation and a logical use of wasted empty space on the side of a hip belt. On hikes, adventure races, backpacking trips, and mountain climbs, I stuff my hip pockets full with energy bars, sunscreen, lip balm, a lens cloth, and other essential items I need quick at hand.
–Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at www.gearjunkie.com.
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