Brian Dunnohew
My name is Brian Dunnohew, I’m 25 years old, and I am heavily addicted to climbing. I am from and currently residing in Wyoming. I have lived In Idaho, Nevada, and Colorado, but always end up back in Wyoming, probably because it is so wild, open, and free here.
I got into climbing when I was 12 years old. My brother and father hiked and did some alpine climbing. They had an old John Long book (for the knots); I would read it before bed. I would play around on rocks around town. I spend my first year of climbing making my own harness out of webbing, used water shoes, a sleeping pad, and an 8mm rope. I even made my own quickdraws. I was desperate.
I finally met some real climbers and started learning more about gear, technique, training, and other types of climbing. I stayed around the same grade...v7 and 5.12+ through high school. I started climbing with people like Jesse Brown, Victor Blanco, Steve Bechtel, BJ Tilden, and Leif and Lindsay Gasch…and watching videos like West Coast Pimp of course! I learned so much more about climbing by watching and climbing with these people. You can never know everything about climbing, which makes it so fascinating.
I love to use climbing a vehicle for traveling, seeing new things, meeting new people, seeing other life styles and learning more about myself.
Who has impressed you most in this last year? (Climber or non climber)
A: Climber- Would be Victor Blanco. He is so psyched on climbing and is always putting up routes, even if they aren’t always the most attractive lines, they are always fun. He deals with a lot of life challenges and still makes time to climb and share climbing with others.
Non-Climber would be my girlfriend Hannah for staying with me for so long when I am always leaving her for climbing, pretty much didn’t spend any time with her in 2010. I am a very lucky guy.
Describe a time when someone helped your climbing.
A: My Dad supported my climbing a lot. He would drive me to the gym, bouldering, and even to Rifle when I was a kid. He was mainly a backpacker and mountain guy, but made time to take me out rock climbing. Glad he exposed us to nature.
What do you see as the biggest myth out there about being famous?
A: There is not a lot of bling or grills or “icing” myself going on. My dream car is not a Rolls-Royce for some reason. It is actually a Chevy Astro, Toyota Matrix, or maybe 4Runner.
Where do you see your climbing going?
A: Hopefully up! I would like to travel to more places for bouldering. I really want to go back to Europe and check out Switzerland and Austria, and visit more areas in Fontainebleau. Need to go back to Joe’s, Moe’s, and Hueco. I have tentative plans to go to Squamish with some of my nomadic friends and do some bouldering and attempt the Black Dyke. There is so much to develop and visit right here in Wyoming. So many walls and boulders that need to climbed.
Describe what you think climbing could do for the World if everyone climbed.
A: I think that on one hand it would bring more people together and people would be more open minded to other cultures and ideas. People would get outside more often and learn to respect nature. More kids would be out climbing rather than sitting in front of the tv or Facebook. Come on people, take your kids outside!
But on the other hand, I like that climbing isn’t mainstream yet. Keeps it adventurous, bold, extreme, and real!
Posts by Brian:
The Flaming Gorge is a great bouldering area about an hour south of I-80. There are about 10 or more sectors all near the Flaming Gorge Dam. I have been probably climbing/establishing things here since I was in middle school, about 14 years ago. It didn’t see much attention until a friend of my Jesse Brown moved to Wyoming for school. It then went from probably 60 problems to somewhere around 300+. The rock is a metamorphosed sandstone and it is very solid and has a lot of friction. Its mainly bouldering, but there is some sport, trad, and deep water soloing. There are valleys and ridges full of unclimbed rock. There is so much potential down there.
Back in the beginning of 2009 I went on a bouldering hiatus because of a wrist/tendon surgery. I spent the next couple years mainly sport climbing and I kind of forgot about the Gorge. Lately, I have been taking some new friends and people from the college climbing class down there to check it out. It has been great for me to rediscover the areas around the Gorge and see all the things that still need to be done. I hope to spend more time there climbing and exploring this and next year. Hopefully there will be a guidebook coming out the next few years so others can come and visit.
