What do you do when your rope is in great shape, but it gets worn near the end? If you’re not ready to repurpose or retire your climbing rope, you can shorten it, clean it, and make a new middle marker and you’ll have a nice spiffy rope with a lot more miles on it! My favorite rope is the Mammut We Care, partly because it’s made with remnant yarns and keeps them out of landfills. My old ropes get used for other things for literally decades and will probably never make it to the landfill, but I really like to keep them going as long as I can! Here are my tips to give your rope a refresh and a n ..read more

Hi Steph, please could you give me some advice as far as eating as a vegan for energy. I am vegan but seem to battle with sustainable energy levels. Could you possibly send me your daily meal plan? Thank you kindly, Jean Hi Jean, Thank you for writing to me! It’s great to hear you’re giving a lot of thought to your eating system and your performance, because they are so powerfully linked. Without knowing details about your current diet, I would suggest cutting out refined sugar completely, and keeping natural added sugars to a minimum. I’d also suggest avoiding processed foods and grains. An ..read more

Hi Steph, I read your backyard wall post and also saw that you got an additional grasshopper master wall. I was curious how you weatherproofed the wiring for the LED and t nuts for this set up (and I suppose the wall itself?) for your outdoor walls? Thanks! Fanny Hi Fanny, Thanks for your question: a lot of people have been asking me about what I’ve done to manage weather for my outdoor walls, so it’s definitely time to share some of these ideas! First, keep in mind that outdoor construction does pretty well in Moab due to the dry environment, and I can climb on my walls year round if I man ..read more

Dear Steph, I write you because I need some words from a woman that has chosen to live for climbing. I am 34 years old and I am a biomedical engineer unhappy. I say unhappy because at 29 years old I started climbing and my thoughts changed. I was really focused on career in the past and I studied a lot. Sport has been always part of my life, but I have never fall in love such as for climbing. It makes me feel the real Giulia, happy, free, concentrated, full of life and some other feelings that you know for sure. I am taking the decision to find a work that gives me more time for my passion, b ..read more

Hi Steph, I just learned about you from a movie “Fine Lines.” I cannot even express how inspiring your story was. I used to do mountaineering, lost my best friend and my husband within last 2 years….and never went back into mountains. In fact I live in IL now….go figure…I listened to you and your connection to just a simple life…the life that I used to have and this made me think why not go back…so thank you for this inspiring message. It is time to turn the page. I hope you are doing well out there…connecting to the nature…life…people…sending you warm thoughts. Agnieszka  Dear Agnie ..read more

Hi Steph, I just wanted to give a big thank you for this post: https://stephdavis.co/blog/how-i-fixed-my-knee-pain/ I’m 54 and I started off as a teenager being someone who loved the outdoors and adventure and I gravitated into rock climbing. The last couple of decades with family and work that’s become sport climbing. Then I’ve had a lot of knee pain and slowly without realizing it I’ve dropped all the things that I love: long days out hiking, adventure climbing, even trad climbing, skiing, and dreaming of mountains. And with it I’ve lost enthusiasm and drive. I realized this lately and that ..read more

Good for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner 1 cup plain unsweetened almond or soy milk 2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar 1/3 cup safflower or canola oil 1/2 cup dry sweetener (I like coconut palm sugar, but my favorite is half maple sugar and half coconut palm sugar) 1 tsp vanilla extract a little bit of lemon zest (optional) 1 1/3 cups organic unbleached flour 1 tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup blueberries Put the vinegar into the soymilk and let it sit a few minutes to curdle. Meanwhile, stir the oil and sugar together, add the vanilla and zest. Stir the wet things in ..read more