Kevin Jorgeson

USA

I've been rock climbing for about 12 years now, but I've been climbing things since I was born. Despite liking to climb highball boulder problems, climbing is the safest thing I have taken up. Before I started climbing, I had skull surgery for sagittal craniosynostosis, a broken wrist, kidney surgery and a dog bite to the face that resulted in 60 stitches. Since I started climbing, I've only broken one bone, my right wrist, after falling off a wet top out in Rocky Mountain National Park. Little known facts: I have a hernia that pops out when I highstep with my left leg and my skull has all sorts of flat spots, ridges and bumps as a result from the surgery when I was 6 months old. I hope I don't go bald. In respect to climbing, I am motivated by big, independent, beautiful lines. This fact is the reason I have spent so much time in Bishop, CA. It is home to some of the most striking highballs I have ever seen. In January 2009, I completed my proudest climb, Ambrosia, a 45' highball/solo on the Grandpa Peabody boulder at the Buttermilks. Not limited to just bouldering, I have jumped straight into big wall free climbing with Tommy on his latest project: Mescalito/Dawn Wall. After spending two months on the project this fall, I can say that it's the most inspiring and daunting climb I have ever seen, but, I look forward to the process of making it a reality.

Birthday: October 7, 1984

Year you first started climbing? 1998

Three climbing achievements you are most proud of?

• Ambrosia, 5.14x first ascent in Bishop, CA

• First ever ground-up ascent of an E9 with Parthian Shot, in England

• Only breaking one bone since I started climbing.

Memory/story of the first time you ever went climbing? I’ve been climbing since before I can even remember. My parents tell me stories of me as an infant, scaring them silly by climbing anything and everything. I found rock climbing at age 12 and haven’t looked back since.

Favorite climbing area and why? Hands down: Bishop. 10 years ago I traveled to Bishop for the first time over a Thanksgiving break from school. Since that time, I have returned during Thanksgiving every year, slowly making my way through all the classics, developing my strength and technique, improving my highball head, and eventually, adding to the area classics with some first ascents of my own. Best climbing experience? My best climbing experience would have to be topping out the first ascent of The Beautiful and Damned in Bishop, CA. That climb represented the culmination of all my time spent in Bishop. There is just nothing like trying as hard as you possibly can, being more focused and scared than you’ve ever been, and topping out safely. Experiences like this are instantly welded into memory and last a lifetime.

Worst climbing experience? In the summer of 2008, I somehow managed to get horribly off-route on the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome, on the pitch that leads to Thank God Ledge. Instead of cruising on 5.9 hand cracks, I ended up in what looked like a 15’ section of offwidth. I had heard that you needed a #4 on this route and simply assumed that this is where you needed it. So, I crawled in and started making my way up, barely. When I reached that 15’ mark, what I thought was the end of the crack was really a change in the angle of the wall. In reality, the offwidth continued for another 40 feet! With no gear and no choice, I pushed on. Bloody. Grunting. Heaving. Scared for my life! When I reached the end, I was so delirious, I was surprised not to be on Thank God Ledge. Looking around, I finally spotted where I wanted to be, down and to the left about 30 feet. Luckily for me, a series of cracks and flakes allowed a safe down climb and relinquish of the lead.

What's your dream trip? Where? With who? Rocklands, South Africa for the endless supply of beautiful, tall, orange, unclimbed boulders…

Guilty pleasure? Coffee.

BD gear you use every time you go climbing? Bullet Pack

Something that annoys you while climbing? Unwanted beta spray

What/who inspires you in climbing? All the beautiful lines out there.

Favorite après-climb meal? Burger

Favorite climbing flick? Hard Grit

What's in your iPod? More movies than music…to help pass the time on the plane. Musicwise: Bonobo, Bob Dylan, DJ Shadow, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Modest Mouse, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, RJD2, Thievery Corporation, Tool, A Tribe Called Quest, Zion I

Three things you'd never roadtrip without? Shoes, chalk and a French press.

Superstitions? The sending breeze… I try to wait for it to come blowing by while I stand at the base of something. It tells me when it’s time to go.

What's your dream job? I’m living it.

How are you training when you are not climbing? Crossfit workouts

If you could steal one thing and not get caught, what would it be? Road trip money

Do you have any tattoos or piercings? No