Earth Treks, located in Englewood, Colorado, is a climbing gym that is preparing to take indoor climbing to another level of intensity. On June 18, from 5 to 9:30 p.m., Earth Treks, alongside Outdoor Retailer, will be hosting a climbing event called “The Hang” that’s part festival and part competition.
The competition side of the event will be strictly bouldering, and will feature three separate categories that are divided by gender that are classified as pro, advanced and recreational. “Pro” has the highest entry fee at $55, but those who are in the running will have a shot at a $5,000 grand prize. Both advanced and recreational still have some incentive to put it all out there because of the possibility of winning raffle and product prizes. On the flipside, the festival will include free beer from Avery Brewing Co., a massive outdoor gear raffle, food trucks, hang contests and meet and greets with climbing “legends.”
To make this epic climbing event even more epic, one of the climbing “legends” in attendance will be free soloist Alex Honnold who is the star of the Academy Award winning documentary, “Free Solo.” Honnold’s most recent climbing achievement is his biggest. The world-renowned climber ascended one of America’s most daunting climbs, El Capitan, without ropes. This granite rock face is 3,000 feet of vertical and is located in the gorgeous Yosemite National Park. In a mere 3 hours and 56 minutes Honnold made history and gained as much clout as you possibly can in any sport.
In terms of the location of the event, Earth Treks is a behemoth of a rock climbing facility. It’s home to 53,000 square feet of climbing that is plenty more than purely bouldering. During this five-hour event, Earth Treks is also hosting a speed climbing showcase, which will be one of three disciplines that will be featured in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
If all this doesn’t get you excited enough for the event, maybe where the profits will be ending up will. All profits of the event will be supporting climbing initiatives for the Access Fund, which is a non-profit focused on creating climbing advocacy.
For more details on the event, click here.
Photos courtesy of The Hang Climbing Festival and alexhonnold.com.
Mitchell is an outdoor photographer and writer. His photography focuses on adventure sports in the mountains and ocean and also landscape. His writing encompasses anything within the outdoor sphere and takes the form of personal essay, reporting, environmental activism and gear review. When not behind the lens or writing Mitchell can be found snowboarding, climbing or surfing. His work can be found at mitchellmilbauer.com and on Instagram @mitch_milbs.
