NEWS

Hallucinogen Wall blitzed in record time

Inspired by the recent first one-day ascent of the Hallucinogen Wall in Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Ryan Nelson and Mammut athlete Jared Ogden smashed the speed record for the route, topping out in just under nine hours. On may 12th, the two climbed in blocks and used short-fixing techniques to keep one climber continuously leading, and they free-climbed or “French-freed” most of the climb. Last year, Nelson and Ogden freed 15 of the 16 pitches of the Hallucinogen Wall at up to 5.13a with some dangerous runouts, and Nelson free climbed the remaining pitch using modified ice tools in his hands and rock shoes on his feet. “We knew we could free climb a lot of the route making for a really fast time and had the route dialed from our free ascent last year. ” Ogden said. During the speed ascent, Nelson led the first block through pitch seven, then Ogden led pitches eight through 14, the crux aid and free pitches, and then Nelson climbed the final two 5.9 pitches to the top. “It only took about two hours to get up to pitch 8, where the hard pitches start so we felt like we were really flying. The next five pitches slowed us down a bit because of the big runouts and hard free climbing, but it was amazing to blast up the route so fast.” Ogden said.