There were some hilariously quirky people, and ROUGH roads, so seeing which cars made it was fun

So this weekend, Jen and I were lucky enough to experience one of Arkansas' most unique annual events: 24 hours in Horseshoe Hell.
What's funny about it is this is a world-famous event for Rock Climbers, but very few other people have heard of it, even in Arkansas.
In a nutshell, 2-4 Hell, or 24HH is a Rock Climbing event where teams compete to see who can climb the most "Routes" in 12 or 24 hours. The people who compete are teams of 2, with both alternating between climbing and belaying.
Where it gets crazy is that folks who want to compete have to climb at least 1 route every hour for the entire time to qualify - so no sleep. This takes incredible dedication and endurance, and the folks who do it take great pride in doing it. Rightly so too, because for anyone to do that at all is amazing, but these folks vied for a limited number of slots in a lottery system just to compete.

Now obviously Jen and I didn't do that. She's not a Climber (yet!) and while I am, I'm nowhere near that level. But that's the secret magic of 24 Hell - it's a three-day event (ish, people come early and leave late, so it can be up to five), and people come just to come.

Our view from our camp, the car on the lower-left

There's a crew of volunteers, but then also big-name Rock Climbing vendors, local breweries, and it's all hosted by Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, which is a simply jaw-dropping place for anyone, even someone who knows nothing about climbing.
We came out just to see it, to cheer on some friends (like many folks who attended) and just to camp and enjoy the Climber community for a few days. The area is spectacular, the climbing is amazing - you can get some climbing in, especially Bouldering, and some top-rope climbing once the competitions are over. There's also a Climbing movie night, a big rally for the start of the competition, a late-night Boulder Party in the woods, a climbing gear-swap, a huge awards event for competitors (and others who want to get in on some quirky fun contests), a big communal pasta dinner, an epic blow-out dance party on the final night and another communal pancake breakfast on the final day.

I first heard about 2-4 Hell right after it was over three years ago, from the couple we bought our house from. It's one of their favorite events of the year, and they were really excited to tell us about it!

One of the biggest draws for me is that Climbers are simply the coolest people. They're hikers, campers, yogis, and athletes as zen as they are outlandish and almost comically fit. And this was an event of Climbers, for Climbers, and by Climbers.


Part of the joy of the event was to get out and camp and not think about anything else for a few days, but we took the time to hike the ranch from one end to the other and snap some photos before we turned our phones off.

The photo above shows just a small piece of the ranch. Behind me on this photo was an area called the North 40, which has the most dense coverage of routes, including the easier ones. In the distance on the right you can see one of the parking areas and the main lodge where check-in was. Uphill to the right of that is the main "loud" camping area, and uphill from that is the western group of climbing routes. In the far, far distance on the left you can see the "quiet" camp, and the road behind it leading up into the woods where the East Side offers some of the most dramatic walls.


In a stroke of luck, the first people we ran into were the ones who'd told us about the event in the first place! Brooke competed in the 12-hour event, and Thomas competed in the 24-hour (!). That's him in the blue here, climbing one of the starter-routes in the North 40.
Hilariously, Thomas and his partner decided to call it quits around 8 hours in - which is still an *insane* amount of climbing for anyone. But in doing so, they accidentally won a quirky award for "Teams that climbed the fewest routes" and got to take home a trophy anyway ;)


The rock faces in Horseshoe Canyon are incredible, and there are so many, it's no wonder it's a place people travel from all over the world to climb. And where an event like this one can actually happen.


This photo includes most kinds of attendees: a team of climbers, one on the wall, one belaying. Then sitting down is a cheering section, who can also call up to teams while they're climbing and point out hand or foot holds that they may not be seeing. Or just yell how awesome they are up at them :)
Then finally on the right there is a volunteer staff member in one of the official 2-4 Hell shirts. These folks were all over the ranch, on-point whenever help was needed, and wonderfully friendly and supportive. Most of them are past or present Climbers as well who have competed in the past, or plan to in the future. They were terrific people all weekend long


One of the trails from North 40 back towards the camping area, this also is a big piece of the Disc Golf course on the ranch.


Some creative mounting for a raised bridge!


Please forgive the washed out photos, it was a gorgeous weekend, but that meant bright sun nearly everywhere for the whole three days.




This is a downhill shot of the quiet camp ground on the East side, after we'd crossed all the way over. We passed a 30-foot slackline and a jazz band jamming in the woods, you could hear the saxophone through the entire valley while they were at it. Oh, also goats, horses, and a HUGE zipline.


Here is a belayer keeping an eagle-eye watch on his climbing partner :D


...for obvious reasons. This guy was amazing to watch for a bit. I learned a ton about proper technique for climbing raw rocks like this.


Power naps are always an option, especially for observers. And it was really hot, but felt really nice in the shade, so there were a ton of people napping in the rocks. I'm not sure if these two were competing or not, but they were definitely enjoying the short rest either way.


Again, really enjoyed watching this guy climb. Great spot, very cool route, and a really friendly, laid-back dude too.


I mean, how can you not catch this photo?


We hit a big crowd up in the trees a bit on the East side, with a whole crew in folding chairs and the professional videographer/photographer for the event.


There were a ton of kooky costumes (and there was a contest for that as well) and a whole lot of spandex


Here's that cheering section, right before a very large drone went up to follow one of the climbers up the wall


Lizard break! That's a spectacular blue-tailed skink, one of the lizards that graces the covers of most lizard guides, and one of my favorites from early childhood. I never get tired of seeing these in the wild :)


The far approach, heading back from the East side. You can see the West side and our camp waaaay in the distance. Even hiking from one set of routes to another was no joke, and we got plenty of exercise just exploring.

One thing that we really enjoyed was that every hour, on the hour, while the contest is going, people would start up a cheer. And it would echo from one side of the canyon to the other, with thousands of people picking it up. A combination of celebration, fun, and encouragement for the competitors. Also one of the only times that it became entirely clear just how many people where there and how spread out they were.


And back! At this point the last member of our crew arrived, and we all turned off our phones :)

I never got any photos of our amazing camp, which naturally became the largest and coolest group for the next few days. I also didn't get any shots of our afternoon at Steel Creek, the Boulder-Rave, or any of the parties or award ceremonies - you'll just have to come out next year to see those!

Or, you know, there are some snapshots of the hilarity from 2016 on the main website:
https://www.twofourhell.com/