Welcome to Hell.

One for the ages. Once upon a time a little Kimchee and a Super Hero (here's to you Marion!) decided to go boldly where…few had gone before. Scaling some rock down in Arkansas for 24 hours, non stop. Crazy…insane…impossible… NOOOO little Kimchee and Super Hero were in denial, it was going to be FUN, F-U-N! Team Breaking Wind Under My Sheets was going to…break wind indeed!

They left on a beautiful Friday morning, driven by sherpa Tenzing Sophie, only to arrive in the normally quiet canyon of HCR and find it under siege by a very strange breed: marathon climbers. And some of these are strange indeed: lame pants, mullets, 1970s bright color tights…a real fashion show.
Later on more came from the North. More crazy climbers, more supporters, and volunteers... Angie, Alex, Peter, Sarah, Yusuf, Hannah, Jared, Jeremiah, John, Russel, Jason, Albert, Jeremy, Keith.... and so many others.

One would think that before a 24 hours marathon of climbing, most people would call it an early night. Right. We were but the rest of the 200/300 people present did not. This was to be a party from the get-go. Great! Sleep depravation was starting now for our favorite team! Surrounded by cars coming and going, people with one to many beer trying to find their tent… The night was short lived. The sun rose on a bunch of exhausted people, us. But little kimchee and super hero were psyched. Sleeping? Oh well they would think about it later on… On Sunday would be good.

And there they went. Team Breaking winds started to tear them down. One after the other. 5.10, 5.8 warm ups and then on to a true rampage on a series of 12. These guys were on a roll.

After 7 some hours at the North Forties, it was on across the Canyon to the Roman Wall and the Far East, where Super Hero decided he wanted his spine to be tingled a bit, and it did (Spine Tingler a tough 5.12a), but as super heroes do…he held on! Kimchee cruised another 12 twice (Dirty Sanchez) and super hero followed suit.
Sherpa Sophie played with her camera and the tripod first trying to catch the ghosts of these crazy climbers with long exposures and then pointed to the sky as it was offering an extraordinary blanket of stars.
Yes the night.... it was coming and with it fatigue. By midnight Sherpa Sophie had left the team for a “nap”. See you guys in the morning. Enjoy the night. Have FUN. Right.
The camp was quieter and after making coffee for Sarah and Angie volunteering through the hard 10:00/4:00 am shift, Sherpa Sophie retired in her tent already covered with dew.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
3:45 am. A little tap on the tent. Kimchee and Super Hero are on their way to the Forties. Great see you in a few hours. Rolling over.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
6:00 am. Red light pointing on the horizon beyond the Roman wall. Sherpa Sophie wakes up. Time to go check on the boys.

Fresh! They looked (almost) fresh! Amazing! And they were still going strong. A couple more 11s...
9:45 am 40 routes each (including a dozen of 11s and 12s). CRAZY.
Sherpa Sophie was humbled and proud to have been a little part of that feat.
Next year...?
More photos here.