Ben Rueck

Mayan Smith-Gobat and Ben Rueck teamed up with China’s renowned climbers Liu Yongbang and Xiao Ting for an expedition to explore the Qingfeng Valley, at the boundary of Zhangjiajie, China’s first and largest national park.

After his historic first free ascent of the Dawn Wall, on El Capitan, Kevin Jorgeson needed another project - out of the limelight. He found it on Higher Cathedral Spire.

Mayan Smith-Gobat, Ben Rueck und die chinesischen Kletterer Liu Yongbang (Abond) und Xiao Ting erhielten als erste Kletterer die Erlaubnis, im Qingfeng Valley, im Umland von Chinas größtem Nationalpark Zhangjiajie, neue Routen zu erschließen.

"I don't need no stinkin' bolts!" Adidas Outdoor athlete Ben Rueck decides to get his trad on for a vicious desert finger crack, and discovers what it means to get maxed.

Be part of Mayan Smith-Gobat's and Ben Rueck's experience on the Totem Pole in Tasmania. It is an extraordinary sea stick and about 60 meters high. Check out how the ocean is crashing onto the cliffs right next to Mayan. Ben has the best description for it: Adventure climbing.

The wintery conditions were actually perfect. Well, maybe not for Ben – but definitely for the shoot. The thick buffer of clouds diffused the intense Colorado sun, providing us with soft, even light. As it turned out, this high mountain weather painfully echoed the same conditions Ben endured when he finally sent Gutless in 2014, so the agony you see in this video is quite authentic.