Landers Gaydosh

Landers has been climbing all his life. Introduced to the sport at the age of three by his father who worked in a climbing gym in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Landers was hanging around on holds early. He liked it instantly and joined local youth teams as soon as he was able. Once old enough to travel and climb outside, family climbing trips got him hooked on real rock and from here he’s gone from strength to strength.

What sets Landers apart from many of his peers is that he does it all: competition, trad, sport, bouldering, mixed and ice climbing. In the competition realm he has podium positions in national bouldering and route climbing competitions, including the top spot of Youth C National Champion for lead/top rope in 2022. While for ice climbing, Landers was the U16 Ice Climbing North American Champion and U16 Ice Climbing World Champion in 2022, at just 12 years old and after only starting to ice climb a few months prior.

His accomplishments outdoors are equally inspiring. Since relocating with his family to Salt Lake City, Utah, he’s been tearing up blocs and lines both in state and further afield. This includes boulders up to V11, such as Fingerhut (V10) in Joe’s Valley, Baggins Low Start (V11) in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and a flash of Spiral Helix (V10) in Moe’s Valley; Sport routes up to 5.14a (8b+) including Sniffing Glue (5.13c) and The Present (5.14a) in St. George, Little G (5.13c) in American Fork Canyon, an onsight of Narrow Minded (5.13a) in South Willow Canyon and a tick of Buffalo (5.13d) at Wild Iris, Wyoming; not to mention trad lines up to 5.12a, such as Way Rambo (5.12a) and Jupiter Crack (5.11) in Indian Creek and Electric Avenue (5.12a) at City of Rocks in Idaho. He’s also ticked mixed routes up to M8+ in difficulty, like Bombs Over Baghdad (M8+) and Gimlet (M7+) in Santaquin Canyon.

And all of this in time for his 13^th birthday.

With such an extraordinary climbing résumé, there’s little doubt that Landers is one to watch in the coming years.

Q&A

What do you like most about climbing as a sport? 
I do enjoy competition climbing and like the challenge of pushing myself to perform at my best. I love being with teammates and the connecting with my coaches. I think however, my passion has always been outdoor climbing. I just love the adventure of being outside, seeking out locations, getting on different kinds of rock, challenging myself and pushing my limits. 

What do you like most about the climbing community? 
I like the friends that I make in the climbing community. It is fun to hang at the crag and meet new people. For me, it’s fun to encourage others when they are trying hard. It feels like I can celebrate with them. Its motivating for me to hear others cheer me on as well.

Do you have any long-term goals for climbing?
I want to travel and experience different places and climbing locations like Yosemite, Patagonia and Ben Nevis to climb routes like The Nose, Psycho Vertical and Fear Factory. I’m looking forward to days ahead when I can commit good lengths of time to travel and really projecting and connecting with the locations.  I have always enjoyed rope climbing and bouldering. I have been doing more trad climbing and crack climbing. I have enjoyed continuing to learn from mentors in the climbing community on gear placement and multi-pitch routes in awesome locations. This past year, I have been spending a good bit of time dry tooling and ice climbing as well. I’m really looking forward to gaining more experiences in all areas of climbing and using all the skills I am developing and use them to climb bigger walls and mountains.

Do you have any general goals for the future?
I’m committed to making good grades as a student. I’m learning French currently and one day I would love to travel, climb and live in France. I think the discipline and problem solving of climbing has really helped me in other areas of life, like school and being a teenager.