Every year Petzl run a RocTrip that involves inviting their big name climbers (see list below) to a crag to climb, run courses and have fun. This October Petzl made the trip to the USA and the Red River Gorge in Kentuckey. The Red River Gorge is one of America´s premier sport crags but also one thats access has been hard won by local activists and the American Access Fund. In 2004, a coalition of climbers came together to purchase over 900 acres of prime sport climbing land from development by oil companies but with this purchase came quite a cost – each year the coalition has to meet a $30,000 mortage to secure access. The Petzl Roctrip therefore had another angle to it. Petzl promised to meet each dollar raised right up to $10,000. On top of that, they would give $500 each time a ´designated open project´ was sent. Impressive ascents that raised cash for the fund included a very impressive 8c flash and 8b onsight by Canadian Sean McColl. Also raising cash was Emily Harrington, redpointing an 8b and raising $1,000 in the process.
The Warm up wall (??) at the Motherlode. Photo: Petzl |
The competition format was a little different from previous RocTrips with this years a ´flash rally´, basically how many routes can you flash in a day. In the mens category Steve McClure & Said Belhaj teamed up for the day, climbing 10+ routes with steve climbing a 7c+ & 8a in the process.Their impressive tally (all before 4pm) gave them the win keeping up Steve´s impressive form at Petzl RocTrips. Some of the climbers in attendance included: Daniel Woods, Emily Harrington, Sean McColl, Mickael Fuselier, Martina Cufar, Marietta Uhden, Daniel Du Lac, Liv Sansoz, Lynn Hill, Tony Lamiche, Chris Sharma, San Yo Ku, Sonnie Trotter, Chris Linder, Lev Pinter, Steve McClure, Said Belhaj, Kasia Pietras, Dani Andrada, Dave Graham, Future Roden, Joe Kinder, Cedar Wright, Mica Dash, Katie Brown, Timy Fairfield, Abbey Smith, Chris Sierzant, Mike Doyle… The event was a major success with the Red River Climbers Coalition fundraising surpassing all expectations and meeting 2008´s mortage payment. Who says big corporations & climbers don´t give anything back to the sport? Read Steve McClures report on Kalymnos Petzl RocTrip here>> Source: Climbing.com & Petzl blog>>