Josh Gross

Date of Birth:
May 28, 1976

Hometown:
Louisville, CO

What is your primary means of adventure, AKA what gets you most psyched?
Equipping new climbing routes 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? My dream adventure would be establishing a rock route ground up on a one-of-a-kind wall in a high desert climate. The wall would consist of gently overhanging limestone for the first half like that in the Verdon Gorge or the Dolomites. A rare granite layer would cap off the wall’s upper half, like on Argentina’s Fitz Roy. The route would follow mostly natural systems for pro, but there would be an occasional sport pitch for variety! I would then put on skis and skin up to a distinct summit and make a ski descent!

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

Being called a lifer by Russ Clune after skipping my third day of high school in one week in the Gunks (NY).
Learning to establish new routes from Rusty Baillie in Prescott (AZ) in the mid-1990s and writing a guide book to Verde Basalt.
Establishing more than 400 first ascents of rock climbs, from adventure routes in the Black Canyon, to first summits of desert towers, to beginner crags at Lower Sullivan’s Canyon (AZ), Independence Pass (CO) and in Moab (UT)
Serving as a board member of the Friends of Indian Creek
Learning the art of rebolting established climbs in Moab (UT) from Sam Lightner, Jr.

Describe your most memorable night in the mountains:
My most memorable night was definitely hanging out under the stars at the Old Polacos Camp, realizing how fortunate I was to have just climbed in the Torre Valley.

What has scared or intimidated you as a mountain athlete?
Avalanches, choss and lightning scare me!

What would your adventure partners be most surprised to learn about you from before the time when they met you?
My first concert was seeing Michael Jackson.

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

Why are you a CAMP athlete?
Having never been a cutting-edge climber, I suppose my association with CAMP is through my love of climbing. This amazing sport has given me everything important in my life, including my wife, my ability to travel and explore, my ability to establish new routes, and my profession of mountain guiding and being a climbing ranger.

Tick List:

Accomplishments:
400+ first ascents of rock climbs in North and South America, including the following:

FFA: Artibelleza, 5.11, IV, Torre Valley, Patagonia
FA: Don’t Panic It’s Organic, 5.10+, IV, C1, Cirque of the Unclimbables, Yukon
FA: Requiem, 5.12+ , II A0, PG13, Moab Rim Tower
FA: The Mission, 5.11, III, PG13, Mission Tower, Moab, UT
FA: Behind the Curtain, 5.12b, III, PG13, Grizzly Creek Wall, Glenwood Canyon, CO
FA: Woke up Punk, 5.12-, IV, North Chasm View Wall, Black Canyon, CO
FA: Aging Salesman, 5.11+, III, PG13, Bridger Jacks, Indian Creek, UT
FA: Adrenaline Circus, 5.11, III, Podunk Mesa Tower, Moab, UT
FA: Wrong Side of the Tracks, 5.13-, Independence Pass, CO
FA: Transformation, 5.11, III, Monitor, Independence Pass, CO
FA: King Me, 5.10, II, Black Canyon, CO
FA: Alberta Falls Wall, 5.11 II, RMNP, CO
FA: Butterfly, 5.13, The Scar, Moab, UT
FA: Chemistry, 5.12, Wallstreet, Moab, UT
FA: My Little Friend, 5.12+, Indian Creek, UT
FA: The Judge, 5.12, Indian Creek, UT
FA: Nukanator, 5.12, Indian Creek, UT
FA: 100 Proof, 5.13c, Distillery, CO
FA: Abracadabra, 5.13, Hogwarts, CO
FA: The Wand, 5.12d, Hogwarts, CO
FA: Boxelder, 5.12, Burro Wall, CO
FA: Wild Kingdom, 5.12 R, II, Lower Mill Creek, UT
FA: Petrified Feline, 5.11, II, Lower Mill Creek, UT
FA: Fox Trot, 5.11, II, Lower Mill Creek, UT
FA: Genetic Denial, 5.12c, Lower Mill Creek, UT
FA: Multiple, 5.11- to 5.12+, II, Rim Routes, Mill Creek, UT
FA: Epidemic, 5.11R, II, Kane Creek, Moab, UT
FA: Act of God, 5.12c, Clear Creek, CO
FA: Kleptocracy, 5.13, Quarry Wall, CO

The adventure, route or race I had to train the hardest for was:
100 Proof, an amazing 5.13+ at the Distillery, which took me the better part of a summer to equip and redpoint.

The adventure, route or race that wrecked me the most was:
Running out of water climbing Zoraster Temple and Brahma in the Grand Canyon and putting an agave cactus through the sidewall of my tire on the way into El Gran Trono Blanco in Baja Mexico.

I most want an all-expenses-paid trip to:
Sicily to climb more multi pitch adventure routes!

My short list of climbing or adventure goals this year:

Climb more internationally.
Establish more new routes throughout the West.
Send White Lighting, a multi-year project.
Rebolt more climbs and replace more anchors to benefit all climbers.