Celebrating 50 Issues of Vertical Life and the Passion of Climbers
Happy birthday (sort of) to us! The fiftieth issue of a print magazine is quite a milestone in today’s increasingly online world. And at VL, we’re always beyond grateful to our readers—and subscribers!—who buy the mag, keeping us in ink and paper, and letting us pay our dedicated contributors a few dollars.
I came onboard in late 2022, joining Coz, Sule, and Jo, who had taken over from the OG team of Simon Madden and Ross Taylor a year earlier. By the end of 2023, Coz and Jo had moved on, I was editor (gulp!), and Sule was Australia’s most accomplished climbing gear reviewer (I assume).
It has been a journey of excitement, self-doubt, late nights, and meeting deadlines by a whisper. I’ve interviewed climbers I’d long admired from afar (hello Beth Rodden!); I’ve anxiously wondered if my inability to lead anything above a 22 should disqualify me from editing a climbing mag; I’ve stayed up drinking coffee into the wee hours to get an article ‘just right’; and I’ve smashed out the occasional editor’s note (not this one, I promise) with just minutes to spare.
And the journey, of course, started long before I was anywhere near VL. To that end, we have the honour of hearing from Simon Madden in this edition as he reflects on how it all began and what has changed along the way.
Something that I think runs through the entire history of VL, though, is the passion that all our contributors have. Very few of them are professional writers. Instead, our pages are filled with tales from climbers with an adventure to share, a favourite crag to tell you about, and thoughts and ideas they want to get out into the world.
For this issue, we’ve brought together some stories from climbers who’ve spent decades at Dyuritte/Arapiles and had their lives shaped by the rock and the community there. At the time of writing, the proposed climbing bans are set to go ahead, but there remains hope that strong community advocacy (and, dare I say, common sense) may prevail. As always, the latest news on that front is best found online, but we hope that VL can play a small part in remembering and recording the history of one of the world’s renowned climbing destinations.
As well as stories from stalwarts of Arapiles, we have a selection of historical images courtesy of Keith “Noddy” Lockwood for a Gallery special, and Kate Proctor tells us how she got the shot during a “rest day” at The Pines.
With Reel Rock 19 headed our way from March, we get behind the scenes and chat with two of the stars of the show, Kai Lightner and Siebe Vanhee. If you’re from the south and it’s getting too cold to climb as autumn sets in, Cal Mathers has a guide to Barron Gorge—the best bouldering north of Brisbane. We get to know two-time Olympian Oceana Mackenzie and hear how she keeps climbing fun, despite the intense competition.
Grab a copy of the 50th issue of Vertical Life, including an article from one of Vertical Life’s founders, Simon Madden.
