When Kelsey Gray first started rock climbing, the sport changed his life. The Anchorage-born author was living a sedentary lifestyle when he was first introduced to climbing at the University of Alaska. Now, he’s written multiple climbing guidebooks and established hundreds of new routes around Alaska and the world.
“I was really unhealthy,” Gray recalls of his college days. But he enrolled in the first rock climbing class the school ever offered, and the sport provided instant motivation. “That was it,” he says, “I got fully hooked.” Gray continued climbing at the Alaska Rock Gym, where he further developed his skills. But he says his biggest progression as a climber came around 2008, when he agreed to write and publish a rock climbing guide for Alaskans.
“I was standing behind the counter and people were like, ‘We need a new rock climbing guide,’” Gray recalls. He quickly agreed to write one, without any prior experience. Only a year later, he had a book in hand. In one summer, his research included climbing roughly 340 routes around Hatcher Pass, Winer Lake, and other Alaskan crags.
Gray quickly noticed that the biggest barrier to climbing in Alaska was the old, unsafe hardware he would find on established climbs. “There are a fair amount of bolts I pulled out by hand,” he says, “in Hatcher Pass, everything was very scary.” By 2011, he was replacing hundreds of bolts a summer around Alaska with hardware provided by the American Safe Climbing Association.
Before long, Gray began establishing new climbs, a process that involves meticulous work over the course of a few days. “It’s about nine hours of cleaning per pitch,” he says. That work includes “scrubbing the rock with a wire brush, pulling out all the dirt in all the cracks, and putting in all of the equipment,” he explains.
His motivation to work on climbing routes stemmed from a desire to grow the climbing community. “I develop routes with the idea that I want to make them for other people,” he explains. “That means making a really clean route, because so many more people will climb it. The real goal is just contributing to the climbing community,” he says.
Gray has also given back to the climbing community by teaching courses and offering mentorship to developing climbers. “Mentorship is super lacking in Alaska,” he says, “So I always try to bring people out, to show them how to clean routes.”
Gray also feels compelled to increase representation and visibility for climbers of color. “I really believe that you will feel more comfortable when you see people who look like you,” he says. As a person of mixed race, Gray often noticed that there were few people of color at the rock gym, especially in his early days of climbing there. “I’ve always been very cognizant of that, but nobody around me really noticed,” he says, “so my last few guidebooks have been centered around trying to have people of color or women in the photos.”
As Gray continues developing routes, he travels internationally most of the year. He has established new climbs in Mexico, Iraq, Thailand and more. But his summers remain focused on Alaska. “I’m excited to try to grow these areas, trying to get people to realize that Hatcher Pass is good… and a safe place to climb,” he says. In his efforts to increase awareness about climbing in Hatcher Pass, he created stickers and map posters, which are for sale at the Hoarding Marmot. And his list of contributions to the Alaska climbing community continues to grow. He says that seeing groups of climbers enjoy the routes he has established is enough to motivate him to continue the work.
Emily Sullivan is a photographer and writer focused on outdoor recreation, environmental wellness, and community empowerment. She is based on Dena’ina lands, where she can usually be found skiing, packrafting, or berry picking.
