Instagram — David Allfrey

Jet lag in babies is a terrible thing, only made up for by endless 40 meter limestone rock climbs. Spain has been good to us so far. Dean hasn’t cried out the crag, that’s where he shows his best side, he saves the jet lag for midnight to 2am. Either way, you can’t suffocate this dads stoke for the little gremlin (or the endless rock climbs). We’re over the jet lag though! @thenorthface @thenorthface_climb

Magical moments don’t last long. Cold temperatures in the desert create those ephemeral formations of ice. I never like to think of myself as a specific type of climber because that would leave out all the other ways of going up. I encourage you to look for all the ways to explore the vertical too. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining @thedreadedclimber @nikkik_smith and @austinschmitzphoto in @zionnps. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on friends, new and old, lost but not forgotten, all of them very special. Thanks for letting me tag along. 🙏🏼🤙🏼🤘🏼 @thenorthface_climb

Ride hard (because they do). Sometimes just keeping up is plenty satisfying. Great tour with amazing guys @mreverest7x #jimzellers @gbeards @thenorthface #futurelight @julboeyewearna

Every winter for the last 5 years I’ve hunted for ice around #LasVegas. People always like to tell you “It’s not in”. I’ve learned you should always go look for yourself. One disclaimer: Desert ice is a finicky, ephemeral thing. It appears and disappears quickly. I’ll never forget @jessehuey telling me about Zion Ice falling down as he and @adamsonalpinist finished climbing it. That’s a scary thing. Every year I’ve hiked to the hose monster to look at it and I check a pinpoint forecast for temperatures morning, noon and night to make sure things haven’t been too warm. While temps in Vegas might be quite cold, weird inversions can lead to warm temps on Mt. Charleston. Yesterday we climbed the Hose Monster but also found some pretty scary conditions towards the top. Ice was bonded to the wall at the edges but there was a tube with a good amount of water rushing behind. Since the flow is only 5 feet wide that’s not ideal, so if you are interested in the Hose Monster I’d recommend carefully watching the temps and waiting for a few days into our next very cold spell. Have fun. Be safe. @thenorthface @thenorthface_climb #maximropes 📸 @alexhonnold

The past few months have sped and crept by. They’ve been the sleepiest and most joyous I’ve ever had. Having a bad case of Creativity and Curiosity Disorder, or what the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders refers to as ADD, the only way I could stay in place would be through having a baby. Little Dean demanded that I stay in the present, a hard thing to do with a world of big walls and a bad case of CCS. But it’s changed my life and taught me important lessons. . Instead of pounding pins, I prioritized training. Both Dean and my Moonboard have taught me invaluable lessons. You don’t raise a baby, or get stronger, overnight. . Dean and I stayed home today. He held his head up by himself and almost rolled over. As Dean tossed about, I crushed six V6 benchmarks I’d never tried. At the end of my session, I stared at the F12 sloping crimp thinking about what I want from climbing, what climbing has given me, who it’s taken and if it is all worth it. I’ve envisioned climbing the biggest walls, the smallest boulders, too many friends lost and so many friends made, and all the places and people I would like to meet on the path. . I’ve realized that life and climbing are full of distant goals buried deep under complex layers. But each one I peel back brings the next closer. Life might speed by but there is still so much time to see it all through. @thenorthface @thenorthface_climb #neverstopexploring 📸 @james_lucas

As a guy who loves to climb up anything, in any form, bouldering always eluded me. I have always just wanted to spend my climbing time exploring out in wild places and climbing the biggest things i possibly could on any given day I had to climb. But my love of climbing has grown, and I love the specific climbing challenge that bouldering provides. The minutia of every aspect of your body on the stone. The simplicity of it, no pitons, portaledges or widgets. I also love the potential for improvement. I see a whole new door that i can open in my free climbing. I’ve always strived to be as good as i possibly can at all forms of climbing, the ultimate all arounder. I’m sorry I skipped by bouldering over the years, I have some catching up to do. 📸 by @kalenglenn

Red Rocks has a way. What seems impossible will suddenly become possible. Like this gigantic roof or those wide stems. 📸by @planetkauffman @thenorthface_climb @maximropes @totemmt

I haven’t been out for that many days since Dean was born, I’ve been keeping my eyes on the prize and trying to put in some hard work to get in better free climbing shape while being around to enjoy some serious tiny baby cuteness. But a couple weeks back @planetkauffman and I had a few days exploring some obscure routes in Black Velvet Canyon. 12a or 12d Geriatrics will keep you young. This route is full of wildly technical, thin and difficult face climbing, its got bolts, does that make it a sport route? Just be ready to climb, this is some of the best hard, technical, thin face climbing that Red Rocks can offer. I have to admit I was happy to have a little chalk on the grips, until the previous attempt bailed halfway up the pitch and things went blank! 💪🏼🤘🏼@thenorthface @thenorthface_climb #maximropes

‘Errybody wants to hold that little bugger. A good weekend, despite sadness there’s a lot of joy around here. Anyone feeling down about life or loss, come on through Vegas and we will get you a little joy-bomb 🥰😍😎

Oh Brad...I’m going to miss our hour and half political discussions on the way to the VRG. Covering the price (beyond the 8$ you would have spent at chipotle) to get you a real steak at a real restaurant. Laughing at your breakfast donuts. Climbing El Cap fast as fuck with you. Getting burned off on the board by you. And just so many great laughs with you. You were one of the most (younger) brother like friends I had, I feel like I saw you change from a climbing obsessed goof ball to an incredible young man who wasn’t even that goofy anymore. I’m going to miss you dearly my friend. Everyone in Vegas will, a day out or a gym session was always more fun with you around. . @samuelcrossley photo.

It’s easy to forget how hard climbing is. But, it’s probably not as hard as creating a baby, which @martinazandophotography was doing 7 months ago! But you can see it, try hard (photo 1), joy of success (photo 2) and I think we’re all a little addicted to that feeling. We did a quick dual fam trip to @joshuatreenps, had a sweet retro Airbnb with a great vinyl collection that catered right to Deans needs. @thenorthface_climb #neverstopexploring

Stars. Grades. Whatever. Another great day out in the canyons. @planetkauffman following tough. @thenorthface_climb #maximropes

If you happen to be able to get a Las Vegas Weekly or Las Vegas Sun, check out the article about me and Desert Vista Window Washing in there. Or check the link in my profile! I’m really proud of this article because over the last year I have put a lot of effort into my business, and it’s going really well! I always tell my customers that I am also a ‘professional rock climber’ too, this leads to the obvious comments about heights and ladders. But the climbing world isn’t the NBA or MLB so we gotta make ends meet somehow, for me it’s proving to be with window washing. . In the climbing world we always value the vagabond lifestyle, I still love it. But 15 years into it and sometimes you just need a little $$$ to keep the wheels turning. Learning to balance work, climbing, and life is tough but this has actually helped me as it’s removed some crappy financial stress and actually helping me have more freedom to travel (big trips ain’t cheap!). I still have some balancing to learn but so far it’s alright.. @thenorthface @lasvegasweekly @lasvegassun @dvwwlv

Big buildings in NYC got me really thinking about big granite across the globe. I always try to stay focused on free climbing and training, on the one hand I want to be a stronger free climber, but my mind always returns to big walls and adventure. I think it’s time for a quick mish then back to the board! 🤘🏼 📸s by @ericbissell and I. @thenorthface @thenorthface_climb

There are two halves to my life lately. Climbing and window cleaning. A year ago After spending too many years really stressed about money, I did something about it and started my own company Desert Vista Window Washing, @dvwwlv. I grew up washing windows with my father, he had a similar small company. I was never really cut out to have a boss, regular schedules, or sedentary jobs. So I return to the super fitness trainer that started it all for me: busting my ass washing windows followed by climbing sessions. It’s been amazing to curate my own schedule and set my own parameters to the climbing working balance. Check out the article by @cmoonreed in the @lasvegasweekly about me, life, work, climbing, and even babies. @thenorthface_climb @thenorthface

we came from down there but where the hell do we go?! Always hard to know where to sail in the sea of big granite. @ericbissell always finds the way though! #neverstopexploring @thenorthface_climb

It’s that time of the year when all I can think about is Yosemite and I get so jealous when I think of all the fun happening there. I look forward to raging a season there in the near future with Carmen and Dean along for the ride! . This from the Zodiac when @alexhonnold, my belayer in this shot, climbed an El Cap route a day for a week. #7n7 I recently found a summit photo from every day of the event. This was an unofficial record day, as the Zodiac got done by the Hubers in 1:49, but before 2003 rumor has it, it was so heavily fixed it was almost like a via Ferrata. I’ve done it 6 times now and would say it was not very fixed on this particular outing, but the tick marks never will go away under that roof, so free climbers, scrub those off post session! 📸 @gabrielrmann @thenorthface_climb @scarpana @camp_usa @totemmt @grade7equipment

Carmen and I had started to wobble on our feelings about having children. Fears of climate change, politics, and general apocalyptic feelings about the world had started to sink in. Finally we set that aside and made a baby. We’re 34, it was time. It was a human experience we just didn’t want to miss. . Last week we welcomed a tiny little creature, Dean Cross, into the world through the insane process of birth and in one of those ‘can’t-know-till-you-know’ moments it felt more than obvious we made the right choice. . A lot of my friends aren’t going to have kids. I don’t blame them, the world can be pretty harsh, our future on Earth seems, questionable and the freedom of life without is intoxicating. And as climbers, especially one who isn’t going to stop climbing or expeditioning or traveling, who am I to have a baby? Over the last three years I’ve seen so many friends lost how could I walk that path. But I’ve come to realize that fears of the future can’t dictate our lives of now, that’s no way to live, we have to fly free. So cheers to this little dude, a future scientist, environmentalist, feminist, climber, alpinist, or whatever he wants to be and do. Fly free through this life my little son.

Welcome to Kyrgyzstan, meet ‘The Kyrgy Monster’. A pitch you will never forget. Whether you free climb it or wrestle a single six up it with some aid ladders in a snow storm like Indid at first, it’s going to leave you bruised. One of the many amazing 5.12 pitches we found on The America Way. #maximropes . Pic by Brent

#neverstopapproaching - 1 day delayed, 35 hours of flights, 8hr Drive, 3 day hike. Lots of waiting in between. @thenorthface #neverstopexploring. Photos by @ericbissell.