Kunlong Cousin & Zac Poe—Climbing Denali

633 South Broadway,Boulder CO 80305

09 February, 2023

Description

Climbing in the Alaska range requires a great deal of preparation, solid climbing partners, and a whole lot of gear. We're here to share what we've learned from a cumulative five seasons of climbing on Denali. Kunlong Babatunde VonHebron Cousin was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and learned about climbing by watching his hero Steve Matous climb a route called Prodical Sun in Zion National Park on a sports show called Wide World of Sports. Many years later Kunlong started climbing indoors to get started, which transferred to ice climbing and mountaineering in the hills of New Hampshire, and he became a lover of climbing in all of aspects of the sport. Kunlong climbed Denali in1999 and 2000. Zac Poe grew up in Austin Texas, and knew nothing about the mountains until discovering climbing six years ago while studying at CSU. He first discovered climbing big mountains in 2018 on a trip to Ecuador. Following that, instead of attending his college graduation ceremony, he climbed the Upper West Rib of Denali. He has returned two more times since, skiing the West Buttress in 2021 and attempting the Cassin Ridge in 2022.