Welcome from Your New Climbing Guide Stewart Green

Photo right: Stewart Green on the upper belay ledge on Otto’s Route in Colorado National Monument. Photo © Stewart M. Green Collection.

Welcome to the new Climbing site at About.com!

I am Stewart Green, your new Guide to Climbing at About.com. I’m a long-time climber, writer, and photographer from Colorado. The climbing is so varied and excellent out here in the Rocky Mountains and the Utah Canyon Country that I continue to live in my hometown of Colorado Springs. I never get tired of looking out the window every morning at our local skyscraper—14,115-foot Pikes Peak—and charting its moods and weather.

Climbing and a love of high places and the wild are my passions. I get outside climbing every chance I get. Already this year I’ve logged 76 pitches on the rocks, mostly at the lower-elevation, snow-free crags at Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon, and Shelf Road.

Whether you're a beginner climber venturing out to the climbing gym for the first time or a seasoned Yosemite veteran, I hope you'll join me on this great adventure here at About.com. You'll learn how to use hands and feet to scale vertical cliffs; how to climb safe so you'll head home at the end of the day; and some of the best places to go climbing in this wide wonderful world. Climbing is a way to connect with the natural world, to venture away from city and street and find a new home in the mountains and the desert.

Come discover the magic of climbing with me on About.com, turn off your television, unplug from work and cell phone, and head out to the cliffs and mountains. Make your life a grand adventure. And just remember: Climbing may be hard, but it's easier than growing up!