Locker vom Hocker: A Foray into Legend All good stories contain legendary characters and this one is no different.
Once upon time, there were two influences in the world of climbing known as Kurt Albert and Wolfgang Gullich, unique to the times they pushed the limits of possibility. The two made quite the partnership with their greatest legacy being the myriad of routes they opened together, taking their experience and strength far beyond the local cliffs and into the mountains and alpine, leaving a legacy of routes for the rest of us to follow. On a February morning in 2016 as Eddie Bauer Athlete Katie Lambert (@katiebirdlambert) rummaged through the contents of a box of her husband and fellow EB Athlete, Ben Ditto’s (@benjaminbditto) old climbing media from the 90’s she came across an image of Heinz Zak climbing a beautiful line of alpine limestone titled, “Locker vom Hocker.” Her interest was piqued and when she discovered it was established by Albert and Gullich, making it the first German grade VIII in the Wetterstein (limestone alps) of Austria, she knew the two of them had to climb it. Several months later, inspired by a photograph, and with tickets in hand, Ditto and Lambert ventured into Bavaria to seek an adventure and what they found was the stuff legends are made of.
KATIE LAMBERT
Eddie Bauer Rock Climbing Guide
A free climber with a maximum strength-to-stature ratio, Katie Lambert has crushed big walls around the globe, from Yosemite and Zion to Picos de Europa and the Cirque of the Unclimbables. Trading short sport routes for legendary big walls, in 2006 Lambert migrated west to Yosemite National Park and since then has established herself as one of the world’s premier female free climbers
BEN DITTO
Eddie Bauer Rock Climbing Guide
After three decades of itinerant van residence, Ben Ditto is now living in the climbing epicenter of Bishop, CA. From Baffin Island and the Patagonian Andes to the high Himalayas, the talented photographer has climbed with and captured the world’s best rock stars at the very limits of their discipline. His images have appeared in Climbing, Rock and Ice, and Alpinist, among other places.
