(Lander, WY) – Lander once again transformed into the epicenter of the climbing world last weekend as the 33rd annual International Climbers’ Festival brought hundreds of climbers, artists, and locals together for four days of comps, clinics, parties, and community. Founded in 1994 by Lander climbers Todd and Amy Skinner, Paul Piana, Jacob Valdez, and Heidi Badarocco, the festival remains the longest-running gathering of its kind. This year, the festival also served as a moment to remember Todd Skinner, whose legacy still shapes the event 20 years after his 2006 passing in Yosemite Valley.
Climbers browsed art during the Art Crawl on Main Street to kick off the Climbers’ Fest. h/t Carl Cote The Eagle Spirit Dancers performed in Centennial Park Thursday night before the pull-up comp. h/t Carl Cote Jenna Balinski and Michael Koenig showed off their art crawl finds Thursday on Main Street in Lander. h/t Carl Cote Jaden Ferris shows off her hoop dance to a crowd of Climbers’ Fest Participants. h/t Carl Cote Eagle Spirit Dancers held hands with Climbers’ Fest Participants during a group round dance at the end of the performance Thursday in Lander. h/t Carl Cote
The festivities kicked off Thursday with the Art Crawl down Main Street, where vendors set up shop for climbers and locals alike to browse. Pottery, clothing, paintings, sculptures, photography, magazines, books, magnets, and stickers filled the sidewalks as the crowd settled into festival mode.
That evening brought one of the weekend’s most meaningful additions: a performance by the Eagle Spirit Singers and Dancers, honoring the region’s Tribal communities. For festival director Lana Stigura, it was the highlight of her first year running the show.
“The one thing I think I would say I’m most excited about that I incorporated into the festival this year was the performance by the Eagle Spirit Singers and Dancers on Thursday during the Art Crawl,” she said. “It blows my mind that it took us 33 years to invite them to be a part of something to do with the festival. That was probably my proudest moment, and I can’t take credit for it. It’s all them. I simply asked, but I’m really glad they showed up and put on that performance for us.”
The night closed out with the pull-up competition on the Gannett Grill patio, packed shoulder to shoulder as usual. Charlie Manganiello returned as host for the first time in five years, and in comparison to recent years, the show ran flawlessly.
Friday was built around a full slate of clinics led by local Lander climbers. Ty Vineyard held a clinic on top-rope soloing techniques, Alex Bridgewater was there with a mindfulness clinic in City Park focused on controlling your headspace to climb better, and Nate Liles taught a group of climbers the finer points of rebolting routes. Those sessions were bookended by the annual Dyno Comp, which drew a kids’ division alongside adult men’s and womens’ divisions loaded with fierce competition from elite climbers.
Local climber Hannah Jochem held on for a completed dyno Friday night at the Climbers’ Fest. h/t Carl Cote Dyno Comp em cee Leif Gasch tossed out free gear Friday at the comp. h/t Carl Cote Route Setter Sean McNamara tightens a screw during the comp Friday. h/t Carl Cote Fumie Hiromitsu and Prerna Dangi discuss the rules before the Dyno Comp. h/t Carl Cote A young dyno comp competitior held on for points Friday night in Lander. h/t Carl Cote Mikey Castillon reaches the top of the Orange boulder during her showing at the Dyno Comp Friday night at the Climbers’ Fest. h/t Carl Cote 
A climber holds onto a pink pinch at the top of a route Friday night. h/t Carl Cote Gage Heinfling (right) jumps for a free t-shirt Friday night at the Dyno Comp. h/t Carl Cote Climbers’ Festival goers dance the night away at Lincoln St. Bakery Friday night. Djs Derv and Jonathan Siegrist played a selection of house and techno into the early hours of Saturday morning. h/t Carl Cote
As evening fell, the Film Festival took over the City Park stage with a lineup of climbing shorts and features pulled together from sponsors and the wider climbing community, featuring films from Kentucky, Colorado, the Italian Alps, Mexico, and France, screened under the stars. From there, the crowd rolled into a late-night rave at Lincoln Street Bakery, with DJs Jonathan Siegrist and Derv spinning melodic house and techno deep into the night.
The Climbers’ Festival held its first volleyball tournament this year on the baseball fields in City Park. h/t Carl Cote Bryce Newman was buckled into a crash pad by Hailey Penningnton for some “Sumo Wrestling”. h/t Carl Cote “Sumo” wrestlers battled it out in the volleyball court ring in City Park Friday. h/t Carl Cote A sumo wrestler was helped out of the bouldering pad, helpless on the ground after defeat Saturday in City Park. h/t Carl Cote Stacy Wells runs around the Trade Fair Friday in a dinasaur suit. h/t Carl Cote Climbers play hackysack Friday in City Park. h/t Carl Cote Louisa Wesley explored all the trade fair had to offer with her mother Hannah Friday evening. h/t Carl Cote
Climbers were up early Saturday for the Limestone Rodeo, where teams of two headed out to Wild Iris to rack up points by climbing as many routes as possible within the day. Beyond the standard scoring bonuses, the team that climbed the most difficult twelve routes walked away with the top prize of $500 in gift cards to Wild Iris.
Back in town, the Trade Fair ran from Thursday to Friday in City Park, giving vendors and climbing companies a chance to show off new gear to a curious crowd. The fair also hosted a run of contests throughout the week, including crash pad “sumo wrestling,” table bouldering, and the ever-popular crate stacking, where a climber on top-rope tries to stack as many milk crates as possible while ascending, with the best competitors typically topping out around nine or ten crates high. New this year was a volleyball tournament, which pulled a strong turnout in its debut.
Limestone Rodeo winner Tony Stark flows through a climb at the Rodeo Wave Saturday morning during the competition. h/t Carl Cote Chris Smallwood and Hannah Jochem and their dog Kaya hang out beneath a climb in the shade during the Limestone Rodeo Saturday at Wild Iris. h/t Carl Cote Rodeo winner Brandon Fourthman cuts feet on ‘Atomic Cow’ Saturday morning as he earns a huge amount of points for completing a 5.13d rated route during the climbing competition. h/t Carl Cote
Saturday evening brought the closing ceremony, headlined by what Stigura says may have been the biggest raffle in festival history, with climbing bags, ropes, shoes, quickdraws, clothing, and coolers all given away free to the crowd. Just before the raffle, professional climbers Jordan Cannon and Mark Hudon delivered the keynote presentation. The pair, almost 40 years apart in age, partnered to free-climb Freerider on El Capitan, with Hudon, a pioneer of free climbing in Yosemite Valley who had never freed the wall himself, freeing every pitch except roughly 15 feet of the notoriously difficult Teflon Corner.
Their talk touched on what it meant to climb together across generations, and they paid tribute to Todd Skinner in the same breath, on the 20th anniversary of his passing. The night wrapped, fittingly, with a second Climbers Fest rave that ran until the early hours, one last sweaty, strong-smelling dance to close out the weekend.
Climbers’ Festival attendees stand for a photo under the cottonwoods in City Park for a group photo during the closing ceremony. h/t Carl Cote Limestone Rodeo placers stood with their prizes in front of City park Stage Saturday. h/t Carl Cote Lander’s own Cody Kaemmerlen em cee’d the ending ceremony and raffle Saturday in City Park. nh/t Carl Cote
Stigura stepped into the combined role of WyoClimbers and festival director this past January, inheriting the job without much groundwork already laid.
“Since I just took the job in January and there wasn’t really anything rolling already in terms of planning, I feel like I had a little bit of a late start,” she said. “Next year is going to be easier because I’m going to reach out to sponsors before the end of this year.” She’s already committed to running it back in 2027.
By the numbers, Stigura estimates roughly 350 tickets sold, not counting comps, volunteers, and brand reps, pushing overall turnout toward her target of around 500 for the weekend. Of the 500 swag bags ordered, fewer than 50 were left by the end. Several clinics sold out entirely, a direct result of what she called her guiding motto this year: “do less, but do it better.”
Asked what the festival means for Lander itself, Stigura pointed to the town’s unmatched summer climbing conditions, including reasonable temperatures, low humidity, and fewer bugs than back East, that make it, alongside Ten Sleep, one of the premier climbing destinations in the country.
“Lander is just so gracious to host us, not just the festival but the influx of climbers every summer,” she said. “It’s bringing a lot of business to local businesses and boosts our economy in the summer, the way tourism does in general.”
Feedback from attendees, vendors, and longtime sponsors was overwhelmingly positive, with many telling Stigura it was one of the more smoothly run years in recent memory. As she put it, “As long as people are having a good time, that’s all I cared about. So I’m really happy.”
