Whitefish Pilot

In rock climbing lingo, to crank is to pull on a climbing hold as hard as possible. This month, climbers from all over the northwest are getting pumped for the return of the Koocanusa Krank, a climbing competition at Stone Hill in Rexford.

It’s been 30 years since the last Koocanusa Krank was held and on Sept. 23, it makes an epic return to the quartzite routes at Stone Hill. The Northwest Montana Climbers Coalition in association with the Access Fund, The American Alpine Club and the Kootenai National Forest, will host the first revival.

The event is this year’s annual fundraiser for the Climbers Coalition, but the primary goal of the day is fun.

“We’re just trying to get the climbers together and throw this event that hasn’t been put on for 30 years… and make it a yearly event,” said Climbers Coalition president Jake Frerk. “If we do make money, it’ll go toward the things we’ve been doing at Stone Hill – trail projects and bolting projects. If we break even, we’re going to be psyched.”

Participants are encouraged to attend a meeting on Saturday at 8 a.m. at The Gathering Place Coffee Shop in Eureka to register, pay the $30 fee and sign a liability waiver. People arriving later to the crags will be able to do the paperwork at Hold Up Bluffs but will need to bring cash.

Climbers of all ages and abilities are welcome at the event and encouraged to register and enjoy a fun day at the crags. There will be divisions for young and old, men and women, and the way the competition is organized, everyone can earn points by going from the bottom of a route to the top without falling.

“We will have top ropes on the roadside at Hold Up Bluffs,” Frerk said. “The real difference in this competition is that you can score points on every climb at Stone Hill. You and a partner could team up and go explore new crags or strategize.”

Each one of the over 600 routes at Stone Hill is open for the event which is a quantity competition, wherein harder climbs are worth more points. Participants can only get points on each route once and scoring will be done on the honor system.

It is best to bring a partner but there will be some volunteer belayers on site.

“Obviously you can’t just grab one of these volunteers and spend your whole day with them, getting belays, but they’re going to take turns and give anybody a catch who needs one,” said Joel Handley, founding member of the Climbers Coalition and principal organizer of the event. “We’ll also have ropes set up for people who don’t necessarily know how to lead. So we’re going to try to make it as accessible for everybody as possible.”

Everyone is welcome to the after party at Camp 32, a nearby Forest Service campground that has been reserved for the event. There will be music, games, food and drink.

“We should have a good night of fun there, along with a raffle and awards ceremony,” Frerk said. “We are encouraging folks to camp at the Camp 32 because we have that whole site there, so bring tents, spend the night and climb the following day.”

ROCKY MOUNTAIN Outfitters in Kalispell is sponsoring the event and has supplied prizes, including ropes, helmets, tents, chairs and hardware for competitors, belayers, and even spectators.

The owner of RMO, Jandy Cox, has fond memories of the early days of the competition. In 1989, he was driving through the area while on a road trip and came upon the Koocanusa Krank.

“I participated in it and, in some ways, it was one of the reasons I ended up moving here,” Cox said. “It was a very fun sense of the climbing community. It was a great group of people and they were having a really good time.

“It was a pretty grassroots group of friends that called themselves Team Fish and there were climbing festivals going on in other parts of the country,” Cox added. “And the Koocanusa Krank started, probably with about 15-20 people and it grew exponentially.”

There were nearly 200 people in attendance at the final year of the Krank, which was likely 1993. In the early events, the goal was to climb the ten hardest routes possible at Stone Hill.

“At that time, it wasn’t a permitted event, it wasn’t an insured event,” Cox said. “It happened organically.”

IT IS NO LONGER 1993 and events like the Krank now have certain requirements. Frerk said the American Alpine Club, who is covering the insurance costs for the event, and the Access Fund have been great partners. Handley obtained needed permits from the Forest Service and said they have been very helpful and are excited about the event.

While the Climbers Coalition had been thinking about reviving the Koocanusa Krank for years, they had been too busy with other projects. This January, they decided it was time. This year’s Krank could be considered Handley’s going-away gift to area climbers, before he moves to Ohio.