6th Annual Climb4Life^SM Salt Lake

Pro Athletes

Noah Bigwood

Age:37
Years Climbing:30  

Resides: Salt Lake City

Occupation: Climber & Carpenter

Sponsors: Five Ten, Sterling Ropes, Metolius, Ropegun

I Started climbing at age seven with my step father in Colorado. I have always loved it and have pursued climbing with a  passion since I began. My adventures on the rocks have taken me all around the U.S. as well as abroad to Europe. I have experienced success at competition climbing, enjoyed the athleticism of bouldering, and am always intrigued by the endurance and excitement of both sport and traditional climbing. I helped to start a successful guide service "Moab Desert Adventures" in Moab, Utah and find that teaching people how to safely enjoy the vertical realm of the rocks brings me a great deal of satisfaction. I currently live in Salt Lake City and I am enjoying getting to know the local terrain of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

Katie Brown

Danika Eldo

Nancy Feagin

Stephanie Forte

An unlikely candidate to become a rock climber, in 1992 Stephanie Forte decided to take a break from the fast pace of New York City's fashion word and spend a winter in Aspen, CO before moving to Los Angeles. Falling in love with the mountains and snowboarding, several years later she reluctantly tried rock climbing. Much to her surprise, she fell in love.

She never made it to LA, but after dumping over 100 pairs of shoes, she did spend nearly two years climbing on the road, living out of the back of her pick-up truck. Settling in Las Vegas, NV in 1998, she discovered her talent for multi-tasking and redpointed several routes of 5.13+ while working full-time in public relations and developing her freelance writing career. This included the first female ascent of Ghetto Boys, 5.13c, redpointing Screaming Target, 5.13c, and Soul Train, 5.13d, all at Mt. Charleston. v Now a full-time freelance writer / publicist, Stephanie writes and is a regional reporter for Glamour Magazine, a contributing editor for Climbing, and a contributor to Las Vegas and Cerca Magazines. She coordinates the HERA Climb for Life Las Vegas and handles the HERA Foundation's public relations. In her spare time - and when her voice message says she's in a meeting - she goes climbing.

Lisa Gnade

Lisa Gnade is considered one of the country's most accomplished crack climbers. She has many 5.13 ascents to her credit including the ultrathin finger crack "Ruby's Cafe" in Utah's Canyonlands. She is also one of a handful of people in the world to do Colorado's "Sphinx Crack" 5.13C, considered one of the most difficult crack climbs in the US.

Lisa currently splits her time between climbing and working as a sales rep for DMM/Excalibur. She is married to fellow climber Steve Petro and lives in Salt Lake City. Lisa will be on hand to climb with participants at the HERA Ovca Climb for Life.

Photo: Taken in Little Cottonwood Canyon by Chris Noble

Nate Gold

Nate Gold (AKA Biggie Smooth) lives in New Paltz, New York, where he works in a coffee shop and a rock climbing gym while training to get strong for the American bouldering competition circuit. Primarily an indoor climber, Gold jumped at the chance to travel to India with the two greatest climbers of his generation, Chris Sharma and Katie Brown, to be part of climbing filmmaker Josh Lowell's Pilgrimage, which premiered at the 2003 Climb for Life event. This is Gold's fourth year attending the Climb for Life.

Brittany Griffith



Brittany has climbed big walls in Yosemite, red-pointed 5.13b, competed on the NORBA pro downhill circuit and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Never one for complacency, Brittany's climbing prowess has seen her on-sight 5.12c and saunter up such notable Smith Rock routes as Oxygen (13b), The Backbone (13a), Darkness at Noon (13a) and Taco Chips (12d). Always humble, Brittany is quick to dismiss her amazing grace, insisting she loves gravity sports too much to limit herself to just one. Brittany's three state championships in three different disciplines speak to a balanced approach to excellence that resonates with Patagonia's core values and commitments. Last winter, Brittany spent another season getting to know the Fitz Roy and looks forward to returning for more rain.

Cara Liberatore

Chris Lindner



I began climbing in 1987 at the age of three. By the age of six, I was red-pointing 5.12's, competing very successfully, and earned my first climbing shoe sponsorship. At the age of nine, I red-pointed my first 5.13a, by 14, I red-pointed my first 5.14a, and by 16, I did the first ascent of a 5.14c. I have climbed in several states of the U.S. including California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and Kentucky, as well as internationally including Mexico, Spain, England, France, and Germany. I have recently started my full-time professional rock climbing career with the goal of becoming the best rock climber in the world.

Media Appearances
Climbing Videos: Inertia 1, Inertia 2 (Focus), Move on Up (Swedish) and others

Climbing Magazine
Rock and Ice (Cover photo)
Details Magazine (modeling)
Multiple Newspapers, Catalogs, Web sites - Etc

Current Sponsors
EVOLV (climbing shoes) since 2003
PETZL (Harnesses, Draws) since 2003
BLUE WATER (Ropes) since 1999
SICKLE (clothing) since 2003
ASANA (pads) since 2004
BALANCE BAR (energy bars) since 2004

Emma Medara

From the moment I did my first rock climb 16 years ago, climbing was in my blood, and has shaped the way I live my life ever since. Climbing has taken me from my home country, England to many places around the world to climb, until ultimately it brought me to my new home in Moab, Utah, where I now regularly sink my hands, feet and fingers deep into the never ending sandstone cracks. The excitement of climbing hasn ’t paled one bit since that first climb, the passion runs strong. My favourite climbing is to climb above the sea – the power of the ocean beneath your feet is immense. One day it can be a fierce some boiling cauldron, another it can be an endless deep blue covered in sparkling diamonds. I highly recommend it followed by a refreshing pint of “proper” English Cider in the pub.

Climbing inspired me to give up my full time job to climb and travel full time, taking me to many wonderful and amazing places. Climbing has ultimately brought me to my new home in Moab where I have become a rock climbing guide, and a part owner, with my husband, of Moab Desert Adventures, Moab’s rock climbing guide service. Teaching people to climb, and seeing how psyched they are when they get to the top of their first ever rock climb, or stand on top of their first Desert Tower really is a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. I also run an all women’s climbing event called Chicks on Cracks.

http://www.moabdesertadventures.com

Portia Menlove

Years Climbing: 9
20 years old
Salt Lake City, UT

Sponsors: Sportiva, Blurr, BlueWater Ropes

Favorite place to climb: squamish

I really enjoy guiding others in climbing and helping them reach their goals. Everyone is out having fun for a very good cause. The Hera Foundation means a lot to me personally and I get excited for this weekend every year once a year in Salt Lake City.

Lisa Rands

Lisa Rands is one of the most accomplished women climbers in the world. She is famed for her groundbreaking achievements in bouldering, traditional free climbing, and in the competitive arena. Lisa is an inspiration to a new generation of women climbers with her dynamic style, and her bold, gutsy ascents of climbs previously regarded as only "for the guys."

Lisa blasted to public attention with her phenomenal bouldering prowess, pulling v11 and v12 boulder problems. The only American woman to win an international bouldering event, Lisa took two first-place finishes in her first year on the international circuit attaining the rank of number one in the world. She also blitzed outdoor climbing competitions such as the Phoenix BoulderBlast and the Triple Crown with comprehensive wins.

Looking beyond the competition circuit, Lisa's quest for adventure has taken her around the world. Amid the towering granite spires of Patagonia she made a super-fast all-free ascent of Saint Exupery Spire’s Clara De Luna (2800ft, 5.11). On the revered gritstone cliffs of England, Lisa threw herself into the death-defying mental challenge of "hard grit" climbing, completing the terrifying and spectacular End of the Affair (E8) in October 2004. With this ascent she became the first woman ever to climb a traditional E8, a grade of difficulty previously the domain of the male elite. She followed this up with her even more daring on-camera ascent of Gaia (E8), as seen on the Dosage IV video from Big Up Productions.

In 2007 Lisa pushed women’s bouldering to new heights by climbing the super-highball This Side of Paradise (v10, Bishop area), seen across the US on NBC TV. Known throughout the world for her exceptional talent, Lisa is also recognized for her modest personality and friendly demeanor off the rock – truly an inspiration to everyone she meets.

Alli Rainey

Climbing since 1992, Harvard graduate Alli Rainey lasted for a single year working a real-world job before she chose to take a different route, becoming a rock climber and freelance writer. As a climber, Alli’s accomplishments range from redpoints of more than 30 5.13’s up to 5.13+ (including many unrepeated first ascents) and onsights of more than 150 5.12’s up to 5.12d, to bouldering V9, to winning and placing highly in numerous local, regional, and national bouldering competitions throughout her tenure as a climber. Alli’s climbing sponsors include Acopa, Clif Bar, Flashed, Native Eyewear, Petzl, prAna, Rocky Mountain Sunscreen, and Sterling Rope. As a writer, to date Alli has completed several full-length book projects, including Bouldering USA, as well as writing numerous articles for a variety of magazines and journals, including a monthly rock-climbing column she writes for Rocky Mountain Sports and articles published Men's Fitness, Rock & Ice, Climbing, Alpinist, Gripped, American Alpine News, and Boulder Magazine, among many others.

Lately, Alli’s focus in the climbing community at large has turned to public service, with her efforts in 2007 geared toward participating in as many community-oriented climbing events that she can fit into her traveling-climber lifestyle. You’ll find Alli at community-oriented happenings such as the Red Rocks Rendezvous, Sterling Rope Women’s Weekends, Petzl ROC Trip, HERA Climb for Life events, and more. Alli’s philosophy is simple: she believes that it’s these types of events—the unique opportunities to reach out to the climbing community and/or the community at large and to speak the language she knows best (the language of rock climbing)—that enable her to positively impact the world around her in the most effective way she can. In sharing her infectious passion for rock climbing, which has defined and shaped so much of her world, lifestyle, and core being, Alli has found a way to take her relationship with climbing onto the more meaningful level of benefiting others.

When she’s not climbing or writing, Alli enjoys spending her time exploring and playing in the woods and the desert with her friends and her dog, Jedi; cooking; reading; listening to and playing music; eating good food (good being a relative term, since anything tastes good if you’re hungry enough); running; and laughing.

Kate Rutherford

Kate started her wild adventure chipping ice out of the natural spring that her water came from in the rural Alaskan bush. From there she moved south to Vashon Island, Washington and then to The Colorado College where she finally learned to rock climb. Though still working as a biologist and fly fishing/raft guide occasionally, rock climbing is taking over. Kate has done 3 ascents of El Capitan, most recently an attempt to free the Freerider route. Cracks are her passion but adventure keeps her well rounded. Sport routes in Vietnam are just as fun as splitters in the Argentine Andes. Travel, art and work in the community are what climbing is inspiring for her future.

"Let the beauty you love be what you do." (-RUMI)

Paul "PABLO" Stein

ROCK / ICE / MIXED CLIMBER

Pablo currently lives in Utah and specializes in mixed climbing establishing first ascents ranging from M6 to M10-. Working as a guide for Exum in the winter in Utah gives him the chance to network with many climbers from all around the country. Ouray, Colorado is another favorite climbing area noted for diverse backcountry and farmed routes. Rock climbing face and crack in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming makes him a well rounded climber. Teaching rock climbing for a University gives him an opportunity to network with the next generation.

“I enjoy climbing on all mediums and am very goal oriented. My main focus is to push my difficulty level. I pursue traditional and sport rock climbing depending on the season and my inspiration. My attraction to mixed climbing comes from the blend of style and technique that make anything possible!"

Heidi Wirtz

Heidi’s love for adventure and exploration has been the driving force behind her climbing accomplishments. She enjoys all types of climbing, finding herself high on giant rock walls and frozen waterfalls throughout the world. She has been climbing in the U.S. as well as parts of Canada, Baja, Great Britain, South America, and India over the past twelve years and doesn’t plan to ease up on her globe-trotting any time soon, with plans to climb in Europe, Tazmania, and Greenland in the near future. While continually raising the bar for her personal performance and for women’s climbing in general, Heidi envisions a broader view for her role in the sport in the years ahead, hoping to do more work with people in need around the world and create opportunities to “give back, help and inspire.”