Ivan Cataluña is a 27-year old trad, bigwall, and alpine climber from Mindanao, the southmost major island in the Philippines. Kind, humble, and hardworking, he works and goes to school in St George, Utah. Zion is where he spends his weekends.

Ivan's IG: @ivangino

💪🏽 Some of Ivan’s climbs in 2023

• Silmaril, a 10 pitch route with the hardest route being 5.12a. In Zion National Park
• Tricks of the Trade, a 19 pitch route C2 if can trad lead up to 5.10d. Also in Zion
• Lurking Fear on El Capitan, 5.7 C2, 19 pitches
• Climbed Half Dome in Yosemite in a day
• Led two classics at the Incredible Hulk in High Sierra: Positive Vibrations, 12 pitches, 5.11a and Red Dihedral 12 pitches, 5.10

🏜️ Land Acknowledgement

The Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) are the peoples who lived on the land that we now know as St George. The term Paiute comes from paa Ute meaning water, and refers to their preference for living near water sources.

🧗🏽‍♀️Climbing Terms We Use

• Dihedral  — a <90 degree angle formed by two faces. A corner! 
• Offwidth — a crack too wide for fist jams and too narrow to be a chimney.
• Chimney — think: Santa clause going up the chimney. . You can fit your whole body in this crack.
• Incut crimps — tiny holds that you crimp on. They’re “incut” — the holds trend downward for your fingers to hold onto.
• 3’s and 4’s — these are sizes of trad gear.
• Alpine Climbing is when you climb a mountain that’s in a remote area. You can use techniques from rock climbing, ice climbing, and even mixed climbing.
• C1, C2, C3, A1 — these are aid climbing ratings.
  • A1 least dangerous, in theory, while A5 is total death.
  • C is the clean aid grading system, where you don’t need to hammer in gear.
  • C1 is the least dangerous, while C3 is a lil more risky than C1. For example, The Nose is 5.9 C2, meaning if you can lead 5.9 on trad, it’s a C2 aid climb.

🔗 Links

• Born in Manila. Lived in Midsayap, Cotobato, Mindanao, then to General Trial, Cavite (back near Manila!). Then moved to St George, Utah.
• He started sport climbing in Zion at Namaste Wall.
• One of his favorite routes in Zion? Shune's Buttress.  People say it’s like “The Rostrum” of Zion.
• Kuya Gerry (you heard him in episode 3!) did pitch 3 on Shune’s super different from Ivan. He kept his torso out of the crack as much as possible. And knee barred it until he got a hand jam.
• Arturo Calvo is a climbing hero of Ivan’s. From Mexico and now lives in St George. He’s done a lot of hard routes and took him to Incredible Hulk.

🗓️ Next episode comes out in two weeks! May 24.