Edelweiss Athlete: Angela VanWiemeersch

Angela VanWiemeersch joins the Edelweiss USA Team.

Angela VanWiemeersch grew up as a competitive ice skater in Detroit, Michigan where she danced across the horizontal ice until her late-teens. Following a few years as a fashion design major in college, Angela embarked on a life-changing bike tour that recalibrated her life. After selling all her fashion supplies, Angela hitchhiked, paddled, and sailed her way through all of North America from the Arctic Ocean to the Panama Canal.

While hitchhiking through California, Angela heard of a place called Ouray, where people wore spikes on their feet and held axes in their hands to climb frozen waterfalls. She was enamored. She took every last dollar she had and spent it on a month-worth of rent in Ouray and a bag full of used climbing gear. Angela found the happiness and inspiration she was looking and is now fueled by the beauty and challenge that ice climbing offers.

From the Ouray Ice Park to virgin ice in Zion to amazing alpine adventures in Alaska, Angela is once again dancing on ice, only this time she’s moving upward on vertical icefalls.

Notable Accomplishments:

• Free solo of Ham and Eggs (WI4+ M4, 3,000’) on the Mooses Tooth in the Central Alaska Range.
• Ascent of Southwest ridge of Mt.Francis (IV, 5.8, 60’, 3,600’) in the Central Alaska Range
• Ascent of California Ice (WI4-5, 3,000') in the Beartooth Range of Montana
• 11 first ascents in and around Zion National Park ranging from WI 3-WI-6 with heights up to 400’
• Ascent of The Talisman (WI 5-6 M6, 3 pitches) in Ouray, Colorado
• Ascent of Bridal Veil Falls (WI 5+, 3 pitches) in Telluride, Colorado
• Bird Brain Blvd (WI 5-M5, 1200’) in Ouray,Colorado
• Aims Ice Hose (WI5-M5, 520’) in Telluride, Colorado
• The Good Looking One (WI5 M4, 150') in Hyalite Canyon, Montana

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