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Destinations, athlete stories, and field reports from every corner of the globe.
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El Chorro: The Most Practical Sport Climbing Destination in Spain
El Chorro is not Spain's most famous climbing destination, but for athletes arriving from Northern Europe in the depths of winter, it may be the most logical: 60 kilometres from Málaga airport, accessible by commuter train, and climbable through November to April when everything north of the Pyrenees is under frost.
By ZealZag Team
Switzerland's Bouldering Trinity: Magic Wood, Cresciano, Chironico
The three Alpine valleys that turned Switzerland into the world's outdoor bouldering capital — and how to plan a trip around the boulders while the World Climbing Series runs in Bern.
By ZealZag Team
World Climbing Series Bern Opens at Festhalle as New Era Begins
The rebranded World Climbing Series opened in Bern on May 22 with bouldering qualifications at Festhalle — the same competition the sport called the IFSC World Cup last year, and one of the most stacked qualification fields in recent memory.
By ZealZag Team
Bern Bouldering Day 1: Sanders, McNeice, Zhang Share the Top of Women's Qualification
Annie Sanders (USA) topped the women's Boulder qualification at the World Climbing Series Bern with 124.9 points — tied with Erin McNeice (GB) and Yuetong Zhang (China) in a split-group format that set up a wide-open semi-final on Saturday.
By ZealZag TeamWhere the Cordillera Holds You: Athletic Life in Northern Luzon
Northern Luzon is not the beach-and-resort Philippines of the postcards, but a vertical country of cloud-draped ridges, limestone caves, and highland villages where mornings arrive at 10 degrees.
By ZealZag Team
Where the Sea Gives You Back to Yourself: Athletes in Palawan and the Visayas
There is a moment, somewhere between the limestone towers of El Nido and the open channel beyond, when the water goes from turquoise to a blue so deep it seems to hum.
By ZealZag Team
Java in the Dry Season: Where the Island Tests You
Java disorients you. Not in the way of jetlag or language — in the way of scale. You are looking up at a chain of active volcanoes that runs its entire spine like vertebrae.
By ZealZag Team
Where the Sky Is Not a Ceiling
Wyoming stops feeling like a place you are visiting and starts feeling like a place that is judging you. The sky sits on the mountains and the sagebrush flats with the same indifferent weight.
By ZealZag Team
Where the Glaciers Begin: Washington State's Summer Mountains
Washington's summer is short and violent in the best sense. The snowpack holds deep into June in the Cascades. Wildflowers explode at elevation when the melt finally comes.
By ZealZag Team
Where the Sky Comes Down to Meet You: Montana in Summer
Montana in summer is not a vacation. It is a test administered by geography. The passes are long, the climbs unrelenting, the water cold enough to reset something in you.
By ZealZag Team
Once You Commit, There Is No Way Back
The Aonach Eagach is the narrowest and most exposed ridge scramble on the British mainland. It is ten kilometres long. Once you reach the point of no return — and there is a point of no return — the only option is forward. This is what that means. By ZealZag Editor
By ZealZag Team
Krabi and Railay: Limestone Climbing Above the Andaman Sea
Krabi's limestone karsts rise straight from turquoise water, offering world-class sport climbing, deep water soloing, and beach bouldering in tropical Thailand.
By ZealZag Team
Yosemite Valley: Big Walls, Waterfall Trails, and the Climber's Cathedral
Yosemite Valley in May delivers peak waterfall flow, legendary granite walls, and trail running through one of the most iconic landscapes on Earth.
By ZealZag Team
New Mexico: The Land That Demands Everything
There is a particular quality to New Mexico light that no photograph has ever captured honestly. It arrives sideways in the early morning, hitting red rock faces at an angle that makes everything look slightly more real than real.
By ZealZag Team
Northern California: Where the Wilderness Goes All the Way Down
The redwoods do not care that you are fit. They were here two thousand years before you started training. Walking beneath coast redwoods for the first time produces a specific kind of humility that no mountain range can quite replicate.
By ZealZag TeamNorth Carolina: The Blue Ridge in Full Bloom
The Southern Appalachians in late spring. The rhododendrons are going off in great pink detonations along every switchback. The rivers run fast and clear. And the trails are waiting in a state of almost obscene perfection.
By ZealZag Team
Lake Garda, Italy — Europe's Multi-Sport Adventure Hub
Climbing in Arco, windsurfing at Torbole, mountain biking above the lake — Lake Garda is where Europe's adventure sports converge in one stunning Alpine setting.
By ZealZag Team
Oman — Desert Canyons, Mountain Trails, and Fjord Kayaking
Oman shatters expectations with mountain trails above 2,000 meters, slot canyon swims through turquoise pools, and fjord kayaking on the Arabian Peninsula’s dramatic northern tip.
By ZealZag Team
Fontainebleau, France — The World's Greatest Bouldering Forest
Thousands of sandstone boulders scattered through an ancient forest just south of Paris — Fontainebleau is the birthplace of bouldering and still its greatest arena.
By ZealZag Team
Kalymnos, Greece — Sport Climbing Paradise
With over 3,500 routes on limestone sea cliffs and crystal-clear waters below, Kalymnos is the ultimate sport climbing destination — and April is the perfect time to go.
By ZealZag Team