It was 1994 in central Wyoming and a small crew of climbers had discovered something special. Crags of prime pocketed dolomite — a type of rock well-suited for their sport — jutted skyward near Lander in abundance.
The climbers had spent a few years climbing and developing routes at an area atop Limestone Mountain known as Wild Iris and in nearby Sinks Canyon. Amy Skinner, one of those Wild Iris pioneers, said she and her friends wanted to establish more than just climbs. The community of Lander was always welcoming, she said, but back then, people had questions about this climbing business: What were the climbers up to, exactly?
Answering that question was a big part of the impetus for the International Climbers’ Festival, Skinner said. It could be a way to celebrate and welcome folks into the climbing world — and at the same time invite the larger climbing world to experience Wyoming.
“We wanted to show Lander that we chose this community not only because the climbing was awesome, but because we wanted to be a part of this awesome town,” Skinner said. She and her husband, Todd Skinner, had opened a sporting goods store on Main Street that still exists.
Conversations around the campfire catalyzed the first festival that July. The scrappy affair consisted of slideshows at the community center and silly games in City Park, along with lots of climbing.
The festival, which convened for the 30th time last week, has become a July staple with street dances, trail work days, climbing competitions, keynote speakers and those signature games — in which participants do things like stack and climb increasingly unsteady towers of milk crates or coil ropes as fast as they can.
As it aged, the festival also matured, adding an advocacy emphasis and achieving non-profit status. This year’s event drew roughly 1,000 people to everything from pull-up competitions to film screenings, climbing clinics and meditations.
Today, there are more than 1,000 established sport-climbing routes in the Lander area, and climbers pump an estimated $4.5 million annually into the local economy. The festival contributed to that, Skinner said. Reflecting on the 30-year landmark, she said the original intent of strengthening community endures.
“My favorite thing about the festival is the people,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter whether it’s friends that I’ve known for 30 years, 40 years, or the people I [just] met.”
She has the luxury of hanging out with those people, she noted, while directors and volunteers do the hard work of obtaining sponsors, scheduling events and ordering T-shirts. Which brings Skinner back to year one. Along with Paul Piana, Jacob Valdez and Todd Skinner, Skinner said she dreamed about a festival. But it was the fifth founder, Heidi Badaracco, who actually made it happen.
“I’m convinced that if it had been up to me and Paul and Todd, we’d still be talking about it. Like, ‘wouldn’t that be cool?’” Skinner said.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Heidi Badaracco’s name. -Ed.
These folks have real muscles!