Press and Sponsorship

Press and Sponsorship during the 1990s

During the 1990s I transformed from part-time climbing-bum to full-time sponsored athlete. During my transition into a sponsored climber, I created relationships with companies that represented the products I felt were the best for the dangerous environments I was in and the intense beatings I would put them through. I had absolutely no interest in “Free” gear. I needed to feel like I earned my equipment. And if the company that had the best gear could not afford to sponsor me I would just buy their equipment with my own money. But for the companies that could sponsor me, I bent over backward to highlight their gear as often as possible. I wrote articles for national and international publications that I could either express in the article or showing through images my sponsors’ gear in use in the most extreme environments. I did slideshow tours through Canada and the United States sharing my adventures while always showing off and crediting my sponsors for their amazing equipment. It was stated, yet obvious, that no one would go into the adventures that I did with anything but the best of the best of gear. For my sponsors, I wrote testimonials and reviews, gave them rights to some of my best imagery whether it highlighted their gear or was a signature shot of the climb itself. And I was sometimes integral in helping to make tweaks to an existing product line to improve the gear.

Even 20 years after a fall broke my back and ended my climbing career my attitude towards sponsorship remains the same. I’m not interested in “Free” gear. What I am looking for is a mutual relationship with companies that I believe offer the best equipment for the new adventures and environments that I will push this equipment to the limits through. There are so many more tools at my disposal now to showcase my sponsors’ gear, from social media and Youtube channels to my website (Lifeintraining.com) and podcast interviews. I feel confident I can better give back to my sponsors than ever before.

A Few Previous Sponsors.

  • The Northface
  • Black Diamond
  • Lowa Boots
  • Five Ten (5.10 climbing shoes)
  • Sterling Ropes
  • Megalith
  • A5 (which was bought by the NF)
  • Buffalo Clothing

Below you will find a small selection of articles, advertisements, and imagery I was in internationally to give you an idea of where I have come from.

Selected articles I was in or I wrote during my heyday of climbing in the 1990s

Images taken right after First Ascent of new El Capitan Route 1998. Rock & Ice Magazine September, 1998.

My first-person account of the First Ascent of a new route (Wall Fiction) on the North Face of the Nameless Tower, Karakoram, Pakistan.
Rock & Ice June 1998.
Images from the above article.
More images from above article.
Our 39 days of climbing the First Ascent of the North Face of the Polar Sun Spire in Baffin Island was ranked as one of the top 10 climbs of 2016 by Climbing Magazine, February 2017.
Climbing the First Ascent of the North Face of the Polar Sun Spire – Baffin Island. Article for Climbing Magazine 1997.
Article Written by Mark Synnott.
Images from Second Semester article.
Images from Second Semester article.
Climbing Magazine, December 2016.
Rock & Ice Magazine November 2016.
From our first trip to Baffin Island with 2 new First Ascents. Article for Climbing Magazine, March 1996 by Mark Synnott.
The cover of the American Alpine Journal 1996. Warren Hollinger and Jerry Gore after completion of a new route (Crossfire) on the 3,000 foot Great Cross Pillar.
Photo by Mark Synnott
Images from 1996 AAJ article.
Struck by Lightning completing a new First ascent on the North Howser Tower. On the Edge Magazine February 1995.
Article and photos by Jerry Gore.
Images from the above article.

The aftermath of a lightning strike. My back and Jerry’s thigh – from above article.

First Ascent of a new route (Young Men on Fire) on the North Howser Tower. Climbing Magazine Article June 1995.
First Ascent of a new route (Eye Shadow) on the 2,000-foot face of Mountain of the Sun – Zion National Park. With Cam Burns 1996.
The article was written by Cam Burns for Climber Magazine July 1999
An Interview with Backpacker Magazine – August 1998
Various articles written in papers promoting the slideshow tours I would do.
A North Face Promo of a slideshow tour I was doing. The cover shot I took for Apex magazine during a First Ascent on El Capitan.

A few of the advertisements where I was in or took photos for my sponsors.

There were many more but here were the few that I found.

Various Advertisements I was in.
Image from our First Ascent of a new route (Wall Fiction) on the North Face of the Nameless Tower – Karakoram, Pakistan. Image used for a Tech Wear Article.

Links to Online Articles

It’s been many years so there are not many links left. Below are the ones I found or downloaded.

  • Article about our first trip out to Baffin Island and 2 new first ascents. From the British Alpine Journal 1997 by Jerry Gore. (Download PDF here)
  • The article I wrote for the Americal Alpine Journal 1997. The First Ascent of the North Face of the Polar Sun Spire climbed in May/June 1996. (Download PDF here)
  • “Young Men on Fire” writeup. An abbreviated account by Jerry Gore of the two of us climbing the 3,000-foot west face of the North Howser Tower and being struck by lightning. (Link to article here).
  • My account of climbing the North Face of the Nameless Tower in the Karakoram Pakistan. For the Canadian Alpine Journal 1998. (Link to article here)
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