Kevin Lange sprouts his wings and heads full-bore into the American West as often as possible. Sometimes it’s on assignment; other times it’s simply for the call of the road, that capricious and life-giving siren. Either way, he spends as much time as possible chasing sunsets and partaking of the world outside concrete walls. Whether it be climbing, backpacking, mountain biking, or any other outdoor endeavor, his propensity for discovering unrevealed depth in his subject matter drives him always to new territory...photographically, spiritually, and geographically. He’ll happily beat the intensity of his experience into any willing ear, though his photography and writing speak for themselves, as you’ll see in his photo essay, Big Block Howl, in this issue of UC.
Most days, "Laeserguns" is balancing responsibilities as the Online Editor for Climbing.com in Chattanooga, TN, with making snacks before a bouldering session with his seventeen-month-old son. Inspired by climbing mags, Rocks Around the World, and 50 Classic Climbs, he got started in Los Alamos, NM, about 18-years-ago. The full-time family guy spends most of his time with wife Melissa, son Layton, dog Priscilla, and cat Death Monkey. Laeserguns also enjoys racing a Subaru WRX at RallyCross events, falling off a limestone cliff above the Tennessee River, and planning the next big adventure. His only regret about partaking in every climbing discipline is that he’s not very good at any of them. "It just makes sense to try and climb everything from mountains to boulders,” he says. “It keeps things interesting and gets you outside climbing in all weather conditions."
Melissa, like her subjects in this issue of UC, is also becoming a “Woman of Hueco.” She’s getting ready to head there for her third season of climbing; having fun; and getting acquainted with the ins, the outs, and the challenges Hueco Tanks offers. She says: “My husband Adam and I are lucky enough to spend our winters in a blue-striped camper on Wagon Wheel Road, where we own land with our friends, Heather and Glenn Johnson. We’re also co-owners of our own guiding concession, The Wagon Wheel Co-op — so we will see you in Hueco!”
When not in Hueco or traveling, Melissa and Adam live in Estes Park, CO where they work and climb in Rocky Mountain National Park every second they can. Well, until the snow flies — then it’s back to Hueco.
Rob has been a So Cal “local” boulderer for nearly 20 years and is responsible for putting up hundreds of problems in the region. He single-handedly found and developed the Underground of Joshua Tree, and, after years of cruising every inch of the area, Rob released “A Complete Guide to Joshua Tree National Park,” his first published book.
Eager to branch out, he decided to explore the mountain retreat of Tramway, high above the desert town of Palm Springs, and was immediately blown away by the quality and quantity of the climbing it offered. There was very little information offered about the area, so he decided to do a guide for Tram, too. For this project, Rob spent five years exploring and developing Tram…leading to the release of the Tram bouldering guidebook.
With the Tram guide completed, Rob spends a lot of time working on his website, socalbouldering.com, which he hopes will become the premier source of bouldering information for Southern California.
In an unrelated past life, Rob enjoyed a fixation on Skydiving, entering many competitions — including two world championships — and was ranked 5th and 6th, (in 1995 and 96) in the world in Freestyle (acrobatic) Skydiving.
Russ Clune has pulled in the Gunks and surrounding environs since he was 18 years old — trad climbing, bouldering, soloing, and generally going up. During the winter months, he spends much of his time bringing things down, either by bow or gun, filling freezers town-wide.
During his 30-year career (and it ain’t over yet), Clune has climbed on every continent except Antarctica, and in just about every state in the U.S. He has been lucky enough to participate in the various phases the sport has gone through: from scary trad leading, to the advent of sport climbing and hot lycra, to the current surge of bouldering. Clune was the first American climber to participate in an international competition at Bardonecchia, Italy, in 1985, and competed on the U.S. team at the World Speed-Climbing Championships in Soviet Georgia in 1986.
He is currently completing the last few remaining climbs in his Gunks guidebook, and wishes he could get strong enough to tick Terminator.
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