The Horsetooth Hang

The 12th Neptune Mountaineering Horsetooth Hang Climbing Festival was another enormous success this year!
Held on Saturday, September 29th, the event raised over $1,000 for the Access Fund, gathered over 300 lbs of trash from Horsetooth climbing areas, and brought the community together for a day of camaraderie, stewardship and climbing. Check out our photo gallery, or view photos from Nick Weinstock , a photographer from Boulder who covered the event. Complete results from the competition are listed on our results page and the 2007 Educational Grant winner will be announced soon.

There were vendor booths, art displays and shoe demos set up for the first part of the morning until gusty winds threatened to blow any unanchored items off into Nebraska. Climbing wasn't affected, however, and the turnout was great, with over 250 participants in total. Just to make things a little more fun, volunteers had a "formal" competition of their own, dressing up in 70's or 80's formal wear for the amusement of competitors and media folks alike.

Tons of strong climbers like Paul Robinson (who gave the slideshow at the afterparty), Jamie Emerson, Ryan Olsen, Ian Dory, and others came out to enjoy great climbs and the super fun atmosphere. A few folks tried Meathook, but no one repeated the famous problem. Lots of other hard climbs went down however, including the Moon Arete, Mammen Traverse, Lower Punk Rock Traverse and more.

The day was a great opportunity for people to try out climbing. Even if they didn't own equipment, many participants took advantage of the demos by La Sportiva, Five-Ten and Scarpa to test out the newest models of great shoes on Horsetooth classics. Craig Luebben also gave an excellent self-rescue clinic at the Piano Boulders.

Participants helped make the trash clean-up be wildly successful again this year. Lots of people took part in our scavenger hunt, finding items like tape, water bottles, ratty webbing, and crash pads that are commonly forgotten at climbing areas, but are considered to be trash by land managers.

Aside from the scavenger hunt, participants collected tons of trash from the Horsetooth climbing areas. Most notably, Tina Charland found the front quarter panel off a car and Buster Jesik rounded up a pair of women's underwear, a dead mouse in a bottle and a random assortment of other trash treasures. Christopher Bair and Tina Charland also got awarded a brand new pair of Chaco sandals each for winning the "Most trash collected" award for male and female respectively. In total, over 300 pounds of trash were collected and participants helped not only keep our local climbing areas clean, but also improved the relationship between the climbing community and Horsetooth Reservoir land managers.

The afterparty was awesome, as always. New Belgium donated lots of free beer that flowed into the night, Uncle's Pizzeria of Fort Collins supplied excellent pies, and Hodi's Half Note provided a great, climber friendly venue. Paul Robinson gave a slideshow about his latest endeavors, including a hysterical section about recent adventures in Japan with a translator that didn't speak any English.

In addition to recognizing the winners of the climbing competition, a variety of awards were given. Most notably, Amy Carden, Stephanie Marvez and Sarah Marvez received the 2007 Activism and Stewardship award for their efforts to improve the relationship between the climbing community and land managers through pad clean-up days at Mt. Evans and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Participants also got a shot at winning a part of over $8,000 worth of raffle prizes, including pads, ropes, shoes and other outdoor gear donated by all of our great sponsors.

We would like to say thanks to everyone that attended or volunteered their time. In addition, we would like to express our gratitude to Neptune Mountaineering, Hodi's Half Note, The Spot Gym, Miramont Lifestyle Fitness, La Sportiva, New Belgium Brewing, Sterling Ropes, Urban Climber and all the other companies that make event possible. The event was a great success and we are already looking forward to next year!

Check out the following link to see some of the media coverage about the Hang: Collegian Article and Video Clip