Ben Erdmann

Date of Birth:
August 5, 1987

Hometown:
Palmer, AK

What is your primary means of adventure, AKA what gets you most psyched?
I came from an upbringing of backpacking and lengthy canoe trips through Wilderness, these wild spaces are what light my excitement, and following them up‐valley to the steep peaks above is what inspires me. I actively pursue technical Alpine climbing.

Invent your dream adventure by combining five places, disciplines, pitches, peaks, environments, etc. and stacking them together into a combination. Why did you pick each part?
We would climb a remote wall deep inside the Alaska Range, flying into the glacier below in a single‐prop plane stocked well with provisions and pack‐rafts. After going for a huge new line we would load into the rafts and spend the following weeks navigating the braided river systems back to civilization.

Describe 5 climbs, trips, or moments that have defined you as a mountain athlete:

1. 1000 miles on the Yukon River‐ My first trip out, on my own and solo at 18. In the early Spring when the breakup of the river ice goes out, its in‐a‐day‐and catastrophically impressive as the Winters ice flushes downriver. I came in 11 days behind breakup and paddled north for a month through the Yukon Territories and into Alaska.
2. Wall Climbing El Cap in the Winter and getting slammed by wet Sierra storms, training for going far south.
3. Establishing the FA of a VI AI5+ M6+ A3 5.10R in Alpine Style on the East Face of the Citadel in the Kichatna Spires with Kris Szilas and Jess Roskelley.
4. Climbing the Fitz Roy from Chalten non‐stop with no tent/bag/bivy(so 15lb packs) in a 36 hour push.
5. The experience of new terrain in Patagonia‐ with the FA of D’Artagnan 400m 7a C1 M6 and the FA of Von Burgmesiter 400m 7a

Describe your most memorable night in the mountains:
An open bivy shared with legendary Mark Westman on top of the Goretta Pillar on the North Face of the Fitz Roy, the high pressure bubble illuminating the Southern Ice Cap westward into Chile and the Pacific Ocean.

What has scared or intimidated you as a mountain athlete?
Gaping crevasses and raging rivers

What would your adventure partners be most surprised to learn about you from before the time when they met you?
I was raised at a church camp hugging trees and singing campfire songs.

What are your top 5 all‐time favorite pieces of CAMP equipment?

1. X‐Dreams
2. Bladerunners
3. Universal Piton
4. Photon wire bent gate
5. Jasper CR3 light harness

Why are you a CAMP athlete?
Because we all get down so well‐

Tick List

It meant a lot to me when I climbed:

1. Supercaneleta, Fitz Roy (twice‐to the summit)
2. Affanasieffe Ridge, Fitz Roy
3. North Pillar, Fitz Roy
4. West Face, Cerro Torre
5. FA of the NE Face of Augustin, Kichatna Spires AK

The adventure, route or race that wrecked me the most was:
1000 mile bicycle traverse of Alaska north to south, half of it on dirt roads being chased by mosquitoes.

I most want an all‐expenses‐paid trip to:
Antarctica Wallin’

My short list of climbing or adventure goals this year:

1. Annapurna April and May
2. Kyrgyzstan August and September
3. Winter in Patagonia