Darren Hansen

D and I also met in middle school playing soccer...and yes all three of us (Darren, Dan, and myself) played through middle school and then in high school together.  The thing I remember most about D in high school is he was always reading, which could have lead to why he was so good at debate and eventually went on to be lawyer.

D finished up high school, went to college, finished college, decided to enslave himself, went to law school, graduated law school, and is now a climbing bum at a gym on the East coast.  Though he is aspiring to a more lucrative business I think he is enjoying himself for now.

D and I started climbing together, and once again I am not sure how it all came about, but it did.  I think we meshed well since D was new to climbing and crazy enough to tag along with me early in the morning or on some really fun trips.  If you every meet the guy, I think you would quickly see why it was so enjoyable to spend time with him.  He really has a super fun personality.

Cheesin' for the camera

Chels met him for the first time when we went down to St. George for spring break to go climbing.  Darren was crammed in the front seat sitting indian style for over five hours, since the car was that packed.  Not even all the way to our destination and the car died.  But fear not, that did not hamper our climbing down there.

Darren sitting Indian-style in the front seat

Climbing a sweet chimney in St. George, Huckberry Wash, don't worry it's only a 5.4

D, Chels, and I were climbing pretty much every day we could during the summers, and it was tons of fun.

D practicing his rope soloing skills, sans the Grigri or autolocking belay device, on the Wall of Jericho

Blocking the hot sun with his rope bag while belaying up at Utopia

A fun experience climbing with D was when he saved my life after sallying out on a climb and then forcing myself to take a whipper (a really long fall).  Well we ended up about 10' off the ground and I was close enough to him to give him a high five.  D then promptly finished the route and we were done for the day.  The climb was Pet Piranha at the Cliffs of Insanity for those who care about details.

Another fun experience was climbing for my b-day.  D was willing to come and his brothers were in town and they also wanted to come along.  If life wasn't good enough with one Hansen, trying having three of them at once.  It was a hoot!

So I had to put all three of these photos in here

We caught all three of them in the same position on the climb looking out

For those that know Logan Canyon this is T.X. at Fucodile, fun climb!

The final story I will share is on the third pitch of an amazing trad climb up Logan Canyon called Five Minutes for Fighting (careful of the rattlers if you go there).  We were climbing with my brother Brandon, and D was last up.  Well D wandered slightly from the route because he wanted to sequence the face moves rather than sticking to the crack.

Suffice it to say that D pulled off a boulder the size of his entire torso in a fall.  He walked away a little shookin' up with a scraped leg and a bleeding hand.  It was pretty intense.  Thanks to Chelsea I carried a first aid kit in my bag.  So, once we got back to my bag, we put a band-aid on it and climbed another day.

Wrapping stuff up after climbing Bath Rock in The City

Also, just super excited to have another great adventure with D!