24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell – Scott Bennett

On the last weekend of September, Edelweiss athlete Scott Bennett teamed up with Cody Scarpella for a unique climbing objective…to be the team and individuals that climb the most routes and accumulate the most points at the 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (24HHH) competition. Back for their second year, Scott and Cody dominated the competition and took the podium in the team and individual divisions. Here is there story—by Scott Bennett.

Things To Consider For Alpine Climbing

Beal athlete, Jewell Lund shares some tips on making any alpine experience a better one.

Base camp was a smorgasbord of gear: cams, ice screws, ropes and harnesses set out.  My clothing that I had ‘washed’ was hanging up to dry on a piece of cord strung between my skis.  This was a move for morale: I couldn’t do another long day in those long johns without trying to wash some of the sweat out.  Time now to decide what food to bring, and then fit it all into a pack.

A base camp smorgasbord. What to bring?
Photo by Chantel Astorga

First Ascent: Thicker Than Thieves

Edelweiss athlete, Angela VanWiemeersch shares her first-hand report of her recent ascent of a new 15,000’ traverse on Mt Hayes in Alaska called Thicker Than Thieves (VI 5.8R M5 AI4, 7300').

Scott Adamson Takes 2nd in Vail

In February I got invited to the Winter Mountain Games in Vail, CO to compete in their mixed climbing event. At first I was a bit skeptical about the whole event. I’ve never really been a competitive climber. Most of my climbing is in the hills with nobody around. My buddy told me, "Just show up and climb you will enjoy it. Its a fun event with fun people." So instead of heading up to climb in the famous amphitheater cave, which was the initial plan, I headed into town to test my abilities on an artificial wall.

©Ryan Vachon

Frozen Assets

This trip report comes from Nate Walsh, a Buyer at Liberty Mountain. Photos by Nathan Smith.

It takes a bit of work to locate the exposure and solitude needed for a true alpine experience in the Wasatch Range. Luckily there is no shortage of adventurous climber at Liberty Mountain. On a recent excursion to try out some remote ice routes in the Wasatch, I teamed up with our Marketing Director, Nathan Smith, to tackle the project of climbing the somewhat unreliable alpine ice route, Frozen Assets near Mount Nebo. When fully formed this route offers 10 pitches and 1,000 vertical feet of moderate ice and mountain climbing in an environment far removed from the comforts of home that destination climbing like Ouray, Bozeman or even Maple Canyon can offer. Frozen Assets is one of the many classic ice lines in the Wasatch.

A Great Year for Edelweiss

2012 was a very good year for team Edelweiss U.S.A. Over the internet and in the pages of our favorite climbing magazines, we read the names of Hayden Kennedy, Kyle Dempster, Cheyne Lempe, and Pamela Pack for their over the edge style of climbing. Photos and videos generated quick applause from us, the weekend warriors, as we were able to visualize their phenomenal feats. Thanks to technology and the dedicated members of the climbing media, their amazing accomplishments did not go unseen.

Pamela Pack’s first ascent of the hardest off-width crack in Vedawoo left everyone amazed by her tenacious efforts to tackle a beast of a climb. Pack defeated The Forever War after she allowed the 5.13c/d R monster to swallow her legs and torso while dangling her upside down.

Edelweiss Athlete Establish New Speed Record on the Diamond's D7

On February 4, Edelweiss athletes Joe Mills and Scott Bennett, established a new speed record for a winter ascent of D7, the Diamond’s most popular winter route in Rocky Mountain National Park. D7 is also a multi-star free route as well, although it is mostly done on aid.  Joe Mills reported that "RMNP got about 8-12in of new snow prior to our mission which gave the mission a solid alpine feel."

They topped out after 12 hours and 31 minutes, shaving off around 1 hour and 45 mins to the previous record held by Josh Wharton and Jonny Copp.

Read the report on Climbing.com

The Cypher Code Breaker

The following trip report is by Benjamin Eaton, Liberty Mountain’s Communications Specialist.

"Indy and Fisher Eaton, your mission, shall you accept it, is to scale an insurmountable amount of cliffs and boulders. We have issued you a pair of Cypher Code Breaker climbing shoes to make your mission successful. Wear them with pride. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds..."

With excited smiles my two little boys received a pair of Cypher Code Breaker climbing shoes for beta testing. They couldn't wait to try them out. We first took them to an indoor climbing wall where they were able to get familiar with them and break them in. Then we headed out on a four-day trip to Red Rocks, Nevada to exploit the shoe’s performance on varnished sandstone.

Shortest Straw Speed Record

The following trip report is from Edelweiss athlete, Cheyne Lempe.

At 4 a.m. my alarm went off... I'm nervously sweating. This climb would be epic blah blah blah.

I’m not going that start his post with a generic starting that sets an eerie mood for my tale of swimming in a sea of granite uncertainty. To be honest, I'm over it. I've climbed more than ten big walls this season, carried way too many haul bags, and don't want to suffer any more.

After Work Cragging

One of the mantras that we go by here at Liberty Mountain is "We use the gear that we sell." In order to round up the best gear to distribute to gear shops, we are constantly testing new gear to prove its quality.

A few of Liberty Mountain's employees started a weekly climbing tradition of going out to a nearby crag right after work to test gear, shoot photos, and to obviously have fun and stay in shape. Their canyon of choice so far has been Big Cottonwood Canyon. With its numerous quartzite crags that are easily accessible, BCC is a great place to climb right after work before the darkness quickly sets in.

Michael Portanda is Liberty Mountain's Digital Assets Manager, A.K.A. Mr. Photographer. When he packs for climbing, it's like he's packing for a weeklong vacation, rolling suitcase and all. He bounces back and forth from climbing to shooting photos...so all the extra equipment is really needed. No extra shoes in those bags, just extra lenses.

Michael Portanda, Digital Assets Manager at Liberty Mountain, heading up Rebel Yell in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Photo by Benjamin Eaton.

Employee Climbing Night in PA

The crew from Liberty Mountain's Montoursville, PA warehouse held an Employee Climbing Night at the Milton Rock Climbing Gym on Tuesday October 23. Employees had the opportunity to go and experience climbing first hand in a gym setting. The event was attended by roughly 30 employees and family members of all ages. 

The Cheyne Lempe Slideshow

During the ninth annual Yosemite Facelift, Edelweiss athlete Cheyne Lempe was one of the headlining athletes presenting a slide show during the evening entertainment. With his slideshow called "Viva Patagonia," Cheyne dived into his story of adventure during the impressive first ascent of The North Pillar Sit Start in Patagonia.

The room went dark, a single spot light illuminated me, and I began to sweat with nervousness. It felt like 110 degrees due to the room being full of people that would surely rip into me for the potentially embarrassing slideshow. I took a deep breath, stumbled over my words, and attempted to express how traveling to Patagonia was one of the most influential experiences of my life.

A Quick Trip To The New River Gorge

The following trip report is from Westley Shaffer, Customer Service Rep at Liberty Mountain.

I was privileged to take a recent trip to the New River Gorge for some climbing with a few friends on mine. The weather tried to swat us away and the routes even bucked us off, but we had fun nonetheless.

Our trip to the New River Gorge began with a 6-hour drive that would take us south through rural Pennsylvania and west across Maryland and finally south through West Virginia. Reaching our campsite at 10:30pm we set up our tent and headed to bed for what would be a long day of climbing ahead! The combined excitement of three avid climbers in the “New” was sky-high. Our plans were ambitious to say the least.

Weather decided not to cooperate, it never does for the three of us. Put myself, Mike, and Broc in the same spot and its guaranteed to rain or snow. And it did. After the hike in it started to pour rain, luckily our prospective route was severely over hung and stays dry in adverse weather.

Our Trip To The Idaho Mountain Festival

Last weekend, the inaugural Idaho Mountain Festival took place in Castle Rocks State Park, near Almo, ID. During this 4-day climbing and trail running party, 175+ people were in attendance and 6 of those were our very own Liberty Mountain employees. For our crew it was only a 3-hour drive to get there. There was no way that we’d pass up this type of outdoor event.

The Idaho Mountain Festival provided all the attendees with free tent camping in a luscious grass field that surrounded the Castle Rocks Lodge. You could definitely tell where we were tenting it because we had our  matching Peregrine Radama tents lined up in a row.

The staff and sponsors at the festival definitely kept our stomachs full and our mouths happy with all the free breakfasts and dinners for the all-inclusive attendees. The food was made from scratch and tasted delicious. Our Warehouse Supervisor, Todd Cordery, had this to say about the food, “The Food was really good, We had the breakfast on Saturday morning witch was super healthy, well at least it looked and tasted really good. The Tacos for dinner were even better. There is nothing better then a full day of good climbing and good food.”

Liberty Mountain was actually a high level partner with the festival through some of our core brands, e.g., Beal, Singing Rock, Cypher, Grivel, Peregrine, and Pieps. Beal, Singing Rock and Cypher were exclusive product-line sponsors while Grivel sponsored the Saturday Night Taco Bar. Peregrine and Pieps, along with the other brands, supported the many raffles with a load of great gear.

Employee BBQ and Climbing Night

Enjoy the photos from our Employee/Family BBQ-Climbing Night in Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT.

We gathered the Utah employees at Liberty Mountain, along with some of their family members, and monopolized at least 6 routes at the Storm Mountain Picnic Area in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We also hiked in the grill and fired up some burgers and dogs. Evenings like these allow us all to relax, get to know each other better, climb, and feast.

A Service to El Cap

A gnarled mess of static ropes dangling on the East Ledges descent of Yosemite's El Cap has been a common avenue for those looking to return to the ground from their vertical trek on one of the world's most iconic cliffs.

Edelweiss Athlete Is The Youngest To Solo The Nose In A Day

In 1958, after 47 days, Warren Harding and his team stood on top of Yosemite's El Cap by means of climbing The Nose. This tall and technical route was first thought to be unclimbable, but Harding's team opened a "flood gate" that has now made The Nose to be "The Route of Accomplishment." Many climbers set out to be the first or the fastest to climb The Nose in a certain way.

The Nose is a 31 pitch route on a massive 2,900 foot granite prow and it beacons to be climbed. The first rope-solo climb of The Nose was made by Tom Bauman in 1969. It was Lynn Hill that finally made the first free ascent in 1993, taking her just 4 days to do so. Hill also nabbed the first free ascent in a day in 1994. Even to this day the battle of the male and female speed records continues.

Just recently we received word that one of our Edelweiss Athletes positioned himself as the 9th and youngest person to solo The Nose in a day.

Cheyne Lempe, age 21, spent a total of 19 hours on the route by himself. With a grigri for his solo device, 4 liters of water, and his iPod he rocked his way to the top. Lempe used the 70M Edelweiss Performance 9.2mm rope as he linked the 31 pitches into only 16 pitches.

Liberty Mountain Employee Climbing Night - June

The end of June was upon us and the hot temperatures outside were getting to be unbearable. We needed shade and we needed it fast. The idea of trying to pinch a rock in 100º F weather when you are 30 feet off the ground is almost insane. But that didn't stop us.

Sheltered by the position of the cliffs and the denseness of the trees, we were able to evade the rays of the late-afternoon sun. It was after 5pm and one-by-one our group grew larger at the crag as employees emerged from their offices. On this evening we traded in our computers and desk-chairs for a harness and climbing rope and enjoyed an evening of camaraderie.

K7 and The Ogre or bust!

Good luck to Edelweiss USA athletes Kyle Dempster and Hayden Kennedy on their attempts on K7 and the Ogre!

They are headed out the door to Pakistan and knowing them, they are out to climb something new or really tough.

Liberty Mountain Employee Climbing Night - May

With perfect temps, the foliage a rich spring green and the rush of running water in the many streams and creeks in the canyons surrounding us we thought it was a perfect time to get everyone out of the office and on the rock. The Challenge Buttress in Big Cottonwood is a great spot with a range of fun lines, sport, trad and mixed from 5.5 to 5.11 perfect for a group of climbers of all abilities. So far this spring, weather has foiled our plans to get everyone together but last night everything worked out perfectly and our first employee climbing night of 2012 was a good time with great company.

Thanks to all those who came out.

The start of the quick hike to the Challenge Buttress