Nov 08 2016

Pregnancy Climbing Harnesses

Climbing, Motherhood, Pregnancy
by Beth

  Hi Beth!   Your blog is awesome and I have read through several of your posts on climbing through pregnancy. I also follow you on Instagram and love your mama-climbing lifestyle. ?   Meanwhile, X-Men and With Love, Simon star Alexandra Shipp spoke about her sexuality for the first time in an emotional instagram post this week. I'm not afraid anymore," she wrote. I'm proud of who I am and what I do on this planet. Shipp, who is 28, also said she regrets not being part of the LGBTQ+ community sooner. It's...

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Nov 02 2016

Balancing a pregnant body with a climbing mind

Climbing, Motherhood, Pregnancy
by Beth

  Hi Beth! I've followed you as a climber for a long time and recently came across your blog when I was looking for information about climbing while pregnant. As you know, there is hardly any! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and starting a dialogue about climbing and pregnancy.   I am around 4.5 months pregnant and have been able to keep climbing at least one or two days a week so far. My husband and I agreed I would only top-rope and we would climb primarily in the gym...

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Aug 09 2016

Thoughts and Struggles with Pregnancy by Melissa Strong

Climbing, Interviews, Pregnancy
by Beth

I first met Melissa when I started living in Estes Park in 2000 . I'd see her hiking to and from the bouldering in Chaos Canyon, a relatively novel and new area at the time. She had a huge smile, an infectious laugh, and a welcoming attitude. Always one to want to climb together, open her home to people and make the community. A handful of years later, she and her husband Adam opened their arms and home in Heuco Tanks to me. I was in the midst of separating...

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Apr 06 2016

The Cycle of Passion

Climbing, Motherhood
by Beth

Maya Angelou once said, "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."   Maya really says it all right there, doesn't she? For me, and probably most people reading this blog, my passion is climbing. I found it the first moment of the first day I ever went to a climbing gym. It was a feeling of being alive, and energized. I wasn't sure how climbing-which, at first, was simply a matter of moving...

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Mar 30 2016

Climbing Pregnant: Medical Study Results

Climbing, Motherhood, Pregnancy
by Beth

There are two types of people: those who do their homework, and those who fly by the seat of their pants. It’ll come as no shock to any reader of this blog that I’m very much a do-my-homework kind of gal.   During pregnancy I wanted to do as much homework as possible to make sure I was doing everything "correctly." Unfortunately, the Internet is a horrible place to visit when you’re pregnant, with all of its worst-case-scenario prognoses on every site—especially if you have anxiety issues.   But what was even worse than...

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Dec 01 2015

Climbing with Kids: Hilaree O’Neill Interview

Climbing, Interviews, Kids, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Travel
by Beth

Hilaree O'Neill is one of the most well rounded mountain athletes out there. She is the first woman to climb two 8000 meter peaks in 24 hours and has continued to push the envelope with big mountain expeditions for decades. Along with being a truly inspirational athlete, she is also the mother of two young boys. She recently returned from an expedition to Makalu, where her boys joined her on the trek to basecamp. She was super kind to do an incredible and open interview on the life of a...

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Nov 19 2015

Climbing Pregnant: Pregnant thoughts by Janet Wilkinson

Climbing, Interviews, Kids, Motherhood, Pregnancy
by Beth

I am extremely honored to share Janet's story on this blog. She has an incredible climbing resume from alpine, to big walls to boulders. She was kind enough to share her journey and thoughts about pregnancy in an incredibly open way. I hope that you draw strength and inspiration from her words as much as I have. For several nights I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable, until I remembered it: the u-shaped human-sized pillow passed down from one of my done-with-pregnancy friends. I'd laughed when I saw...

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Oct 28 2015

Climbing, Motherhood and Body Image

Climbing, Motherhood
by Beth

When I was 16, I wanted to get breast-reduction surgery. Yes, you read that correctly. I remember sitting in the waiting room of the doctor’s office for my annual exam with my mom. “I’m going to ask the doctor to schedule the procedure," I said. My mom looked at me, smiled, and with a perfectly calm voice she said, “Okay, we’ll see what she says.”   Contrary to how it might sound, I wasn’t packing DDD breasts or had some medical condition that I needed fixed. I only had a B or...

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Oct 08 2015

Climbing With Kids: Zoe Hart Interview

Climbing, Interviews, Kids, Motherhood, Pregnancy
by Beth

I met Zoe Hart and her two adorable boys last fall in El Cap Meadow. I was just embarking my journey of being solo with a four-month Theo in Yosemite for the next few months - nervous, anxious, excited and a little bit proud of myself. Zoe was on a long road trip across the United States with both of her kids, solo, living in a rented camper van. They had thought of getting their own camper van, but when they looked at the fact that they would need...

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Sep 11 2015

Climbing With Kids: Climbing in Fontainebleau

Climbing, Kids, Motherhood, Travel
by Beth

I always envisioned myself becoming one of those “cool” parents. You know, the kind of parent who takes her child everywhere. The kind of parent whose child has visited more foreign countries than you can count. The kind of parent who, at the drop of a hat, could buy a ticket online, pack everything into an impossibly small duffle, and zip off on a light and fast adventure around the world. To me, those kinds of parents always seemed like the cool, groovy, relaxed people that, surely, I would be.   Being...

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