Dedicated and generous, Hayden has undergone hardship to keep doing the sport that guides his life. Alongside sending big walls, he’s a bedrock in his local climbing community, coaching the new generation and maintaining local sport routes.
Hayden is a dedicated full time climber from Bishop, California, currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a teen, he began climbing in the mountains of the Eastern Sierra Nevada under the watch of a few, very patient, mentors. After graduating from university in 2015, he dedicated himself to exploring far off cultures, boulders, crags, cuisine, and big walls around the world. Hayden feels at home free climbing big walls, but he’s just as comfortable at the sport crag or the boulder field.
In the summer of 2016, on his first international expedition to the Charakusa Valley in northern Pakistan, Hayden took an eight-meter ground fall while establishing a new route and severely shattered his heel, exposing 10 cm of bone. The rescue was extensive, as was the ensuing months of hospital time, surgeries, and rehabilitation. That time allowed Hayden to reflect on the potential consequences of some of these big wall endeavours.
Despite that traumatic experience, Hayden’s love for climbing has taken him back to exploring new places around the world and pushing his abilities to new limits. Hayden's embedded in his local climbing community as a coach for the Momentum Climbing Team and a committed volunteer to the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, having replaced hundreds of ageing bolts in his local climbing areas.
Notable Ascents
- Freerider (3,000’ 5.13a/7c+) Yosemite Valley, CA in a day
- Enter the Dragon 5.14-/8b+ R trad, The Fins, ID
- Rock Empire (1,600’ 5.13/8a R) flash, Wadi Rum, Jordan
- F’d in the A (5.14a/8b+) redpoint, Tensleep, WY
- Hilo de Plata ( 1,800’ 5.11+/7a) First Ascent Cochamo, Chile
- Skinny Boys Eating Camp (2,500’ 5.10+ C2) Charakusa Valley, Pakistan
- Winner of 2019 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell with Dalton Bunker (189 pitches each avg. 5.11a)
- Standing Kill Order (V11/8A) Bishop, CA