2014 Copp-Dash Inspire Award Grant Recipients Announced

The Copp-Dash Inspire Award, sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear and Patagonia (and with in-kind support from Adventure Film Festival, the American Alpine Club, Jonny Copp Foundation and Sender Films), announced the 2014 winners of the climbing grant established in memory of American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash who were killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009, along with filmmaker Wade Johnson. In addition to providing financial support to perspective expedition teams, the goal of the Copp-Dash Inspire Award is to provide mentoring before and after the expedition to help the climbers bring back and share inspiring multimedia stories of their adventures.

“The Inspire Award is not just a climbing expedition grant,” says Black Diamond Equipment’s Global Sports Marketing Director, Jonathan Thesenga. “One thing we all learned from Jonny and Micah is that it’s as much about the stories and experiences that we take away from our climbs, as the climb itself. This award has been designed to support small teams with big goals in the high mountains and empower them to bring their adventures back and share their stories of inspiration.

The 2014 Copp-Dash Inspire Award winners and their objectives are:

• Austin Siadak with Chris Kalman, Matthew Van Biene and Tad McCrea. Ground-up first ascent on 3,000-foot east face of Cerro Catedral in Torres del Paine National Park, Chilean Patagonia.
• Jessa Goebel with Pat Goodman. Free climbing first ascents on the 1500- to 1800-foot walls of North Moraine Hill Glacier in the Ragged Range of Canada’s Northwest Territories.
• Erik Bonnett with Max Fisher. First ascent of 2100-foot spire that forms the southern summit of Kooshdakhaa in the eastern Alaska/northern Yukon Coast Mountains.
• Graham Zimmerman with Clint Helander and Jens Holsten. First ascent of the central buttress of Titanic Peak’s 3600-foot northwest face in the Revelation Mountains of Alaska.

For more information on the Copp-Dash Inspire Award, go to http://coppdashinspireaward.com/ or http://www.americanalpineclub.org/grants/g/5/Copp-Dash-Inspire-Award.

About the Copp-Dash Inspire Award: Sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear and Patagonia, the Copp-Dash Inspire Award helps support small teams tackling difficult climbs in the great mountains of the world who plan to personally document and share their ascents through a multimedia blend of storytelling elements. Proposed trips or climbs should be focused on unclimbed objectives in distant ranges and regions, requiring a high level of skill and commitment and climbed in a fast, light and clean style that stays true to the progression of expedition climbing. Proposed documentation styles should be innovative and unique, and can include any creative mix of photos, video or writing that will vividly capture the essence and adventure of the trip or climb. Proposed sharing of these storytelling elements could aspire to involve slideshows, viral film clips, magazine articles, multimedia presentations, art presentations, etc. The Copp-Dash Inspire Award is supported with in-kind support from Adventure Film Festival, American Alpine Club, Sender Films, and the Jonny Copp Foundation.