Dancing With The Queen: the first ascent of The Queen in Indian Creek, Utah. Bears Ears.

One persons project is another’s warmup. As climbing grows to be more competitive, I think we should all keep that in mind. In other words, I don’t really care that much about your project, and you shouldn’t care that much about mine.

However if we can use the story of our hardest climbs to inspire others, I believe that is where the magic lies. The second pitch of this climb, The Queen, located in Indian Creek, Bears Ears National Monument, took Dave Marcinowski and myself four and five years, respectively, to complete.

Dave went on to later link the first and second pitch. It is nearly 40 meters of .5 purple Camalots, and the second pitch gently overhangs. It was an honor to work on the climb so long with Dave. It was a pleasure to film with Jake Burchmore. We hope it inspires you all on whatever your project in life might be.

peace, Luke Mehall

The Videos

Dancing With The Queen: the first ascent of The Queen in Indian Creek, Utah. Bears Ears.

One persons project is another’s warmup. As climbing grows to be more competitive, I think we should all keep that in mind. In other words, I don’t really care that much about your project, and you shouldn’t care that much about mine.

However if we can use the story of our hardest climbs to inspire others, I believe that is where the magic lies. The second pitch of this climb, The Queen, located in Indian Creek, Bears Ears National Monument, took Dave Marcinowski and myself four and five years, respectively, to complete.

Dave went on to later link the first and second pitch. It is nearly 40 meters of .5 purple Camalots, and the second pitch gently overhangs. It was an honor to work on the climb so long with Dave. It was a pleasure to film with Jake Burchmore. We hope it inspires you all on whatever your project in life might be.

peace, Luke Mehall

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Grateful Hussle

For 20 years Luke Mehall, publisher of The Climbing Zine has been writing climbing poems. In 2020 he’s decided to give the writers who inspired him a tribute. Dedicated to Robert Hunter, who was Jerry Garcia’s lyricist, and Nipsey Hussle, the rapper and entrepreneur, who both died last year, Grateful Hussle blends hip-hop and hippie, all while set in Indian Creek, within Bears Ears National Monument; an area that is highly endangered with recent cuts by the Trump administration. Filmed and edited by Jake Burchmore.

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Last Thoughts On The Dirtbag

Words by: Luke Mehall
Director: Greg Cairns

Mehall is the author of five books, including The Desert, a dirtbag climbing book. He is also the publisher of The Climbing Zine.

You can score one of his books and/or zines here:
https://squareup.com/store/the-climbi…

Greg Cairns of Cairns Film is a filmmaker, storyteller, and river guide. Check out more of his material here:

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Two years ago I pitched an idea about a film I really had nothing more than a spark of an idea for to Greg Cairns. I’d seen Cedar Wright and James Lucas’s “The Last Dirtbag” and felt compelled to offer something of my own to this conversation about dirtbags and whether or not any real ones exist anymore.

Of course the question is bullshit, people still live in the dirt, out of bags, we have just entered a new era, one where technology can take away a lot of the mystery of climbing, and it is getting harder and harder to make extended stays on public land.

In the end the question did not matter. What mattered was how I felt about my time as a dirtbag. I ended up structuring the piece I wrote to go with the film similarly to how Bob Dylan structured “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie“. Climbing and the characters I’ve met along the way mean everything.

In the end I don’t care about the word dirtbag, it’s just a word. And our film, it’s just a film, but we labored over it in love, and I have a lot of love for our community. And I wrote this piece from the heart, and as a writer that is all I can aim for. I hope you enjoy it, as much as we enjoyed making it.

-Luke Mehall

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Just A Climber For Bears Ears by Luke Mehall and Greg Cairns

Just A Climber (For Bears Ears) is the result of 20 years of thinking and recreating in Indian Creek. When the new protections are threatened by the Trump administration Luke Mehall sharpens his tools from his rucksack of poetry, and prepares for the battle to save Bears Ears.
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Climber Gratitude (I MISS + I AM GRATEFUL 4) by Luke Mehall and Jake Burchmore

Dedicated to Mehall’s fiancee Amber DeHerrera and all the medical professionals out there fighting COVID (and everything else).

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Just A Climber, For Bears Ears…BLOOPER reel

Greg Cairns and Luke Mehall joke that it took them 2 years to create the 3 minute film, Just A Climber, For Bears Ears. Here’s a few outtakes that capture that process.

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13 Seconds of Try Hard in Indian Creek

Footage shot by Jake Burchmore, an outtake from Grateful Hussle

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