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Will Gadd climbing into the night during his Endless Ascent in Ouray. Photo by James Beissel. See more photos of the Endless Ascent at ColoradoMountainJournal.com.

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Wharton on the way to victory at the 2009 Ouray Ice Festival. Photo by Joe Skalsky

News Link: Josh Wharton won the mixed-climbing competition at the 15th annual Ouray Ice Festival in southwestern Colorado for the second year in a row. Wharton and Sam Elias both topped out on the complex, overhanging route, with Wharton’s five-minute speed advantage giving him the edge. Germany’s Ines Papert won the women’s competition, with a performance that would have put her in sixth place among the men.

In a competition of one, Will Gadd from Canada completed an astonishing 194 laps of the 40-meter Pick O’ the Vic (WI4) during his “Endless Ascent.” In this 24-hour ultra-marathon of ice climbing, a fund-raiser for the dZi Foundation, Gadd climbed about 25,500 feet of near-vertical ice — surely a Guinness-worthy record.

Alpinist.com has a good wrap-up story about the competition.

Men
1. Josh Wharton
2. Sam Elias
3. Will Mayo
4. Bryan Gilmore
5. Josh Worley

Women
1. Ines Papert
2. Audrey Gariepy
3. Dawn Glanc
4. Zoe Hart
5. Majka Burhardt

Date of Competition: January 9, 2010

Sources: Ourayicefestival.com, Facebook.com/Endlessascent

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