Live Free Climbing

Live Free Climbing

Home
Archive
About
#31: Lessons
Red point 5.12 by August 31st ✅ Eat only food that comes from my property ✅ Write daily (stories published on Substack) ✅ Jettison, for one month, my…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#30: 🧗‍♂️ Fifth attempt: sent it
Flesh for Lulu went down today. It was my first ever 5.12, and it was glorious. And yet, for a solid half hour, I seriously wondered whether I was…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
1
#29: A lingering question
The pandemic and the Trump administration have changed my relationship to government, as a citizen and as a climber
 • 
Russell Max Simon
3
#28: Frustrated
Last night I got out of the car after driving for 13 hours, and I felt a sharp, shooting nerve pain in my left arm, shoulder, and under my armpit. I…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#27: Ode to the potato
Plus: my "use case" for why I did what I did
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#26: Third attempt
California is on fire, Wisconsin is in protest, Texas and Louisiana are bracing for a hurricane, and the Trump administration is quite content, through…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#25: Food blues
I didn’t do anything climbing-related today. Nor do I have any deep insights into my diet, except to say that food is a wonderful, God-given joy to…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#24: Humility
I’m typing this with fingertips that feel shredded and tendons that feel stiff, like my brain doesn’t quite register full control over which keys on the…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
1
#23: Send date
I honestly don’t know how to pick a send date — or even if I should. If yesterday was a PSA, today is an RFP. As of three days ago, I had done all the…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#22: PSA — How to make a climbing harness out of webbing and rope
Or, what to do when you forget your harness at home
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#21: A cross-post: on hunger and equanimity
Today I ran out of potatoes, which meant I donned my garden clothes and went to rummage through another potato patch. This got me thinking about hunger…
 • 
Russell Max Simon
#20: Internal motivation
Adam Ondra loves the crowd.
 • 
Russell Max Simon
© 2025 Russell Max Simon
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture