Big Wall Climbing

The April Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Luke Laeser entitled “Big Wall ‘Sport’ Climbing in Mexico”, on Tuesday evening, April 27.

In 2002 Luke Laeser, Peter Baumeister and Bert Van Lint traveled to Basaseachic National Park in northern Mexico to establish on rappel, a giant fully bolted route on an El Cap sized formation called El Gigante. After two months of work the international team created the 28 pitch Logical Progression (VI 5.13) one of the longest fully bolted “sport” climbs of its kind in the world. Much controversy and criticism from well-know climbers originally surrounded the route, since the ascent was not made ground up. After nearly 20 years and after many ascents the route is considered a masterpiece.

Mountaineers’ meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. When held in person, they take place in the planetarium of the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC), 2600 Canyon Rd, Los Alamos, NM 87544. Recent meetings have been held electronically starting at 7:00 PM. Registration details for this meeting can be found at https://peecnature.org/events/details/?id=36798.

Watch the video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=705I6OK4jR4