Edelweiss Athlete - Hayden Kennedy

Hayden Kennedy has done it all. From boulders, to bolts, to gear he likes it all. In fact, Kennedy spent his childhood exploring the mountain-west. As a young lad he found a nice balance between climbing, hiking, skiing, and kayaking. It wasn’t until he was 13 when his preference for outdoor sports got very lopsided...meaning that it went super-heavy on the climbing side.

Kennedy became obsessed with climbing after he and his father, Michael Kennedy, took a lap up Castleton Tower. He was sketched out and was placing gnarly gear at the time, but the adventure sold him on the sport that he is now making it his full-time gig.

It’s an honest assumption to say that every climber has heard of Kayden Kennedy. He’s been ticking off a lot of routes and big ascents in the last couple of years and has been appearing is some pretty sweet climbing videos lately. Although he boulders and sport climbs, it is apparent that most of his time is spent plugging gear, sleeping on a port-a-ledge, and being in the mountains for months at a time.

Kennedy’s basecamp is stationed in the quaint mountain town of Carbondale, CO where his backyard playground is made of granite and limestone. It isn’t a rare thing to see him in Indian Creek, UT where he has raised the bar with the first ascent of the hardest climb there.

Accomplishments:

• Made the first ascent of Carbondale Short Bus, 5.14- in Indian Creek, UT
• Made the first fair-means ascent of the Southeast Ridge of Cerro Torre
• Made the first ascent of Pakistan’s Hassan Peak
• Made the first ascent of Deep in the Alaskan Bush, 5.11+ X in Alaska’s Arrigetch Peaks

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