This episode features Victor Copeland who is an attorney in Salt Lake City and enjoys thinking deeply about climbing while sharing many philosophical insights. Victor is best known for developing boulders in Bishop, California and in Utah's Wasatch backcountry.
Victor Copeland was born in Iowa and grew up in California. Victor was drawn to climbing at an early age after being completely enamored by Boreal Firé climbing shoes at an REI store. Victor's climbing quickly progressed and he travelled internationally to France at 13 years old, in addition to climbing in the western United States (Bishop, Yosemite, Rifle, Joe's Valley, Hueco Tanks). While in high school, he became a "weekend warrior" and started developing new boulders in Bishop, which evolved into a brief stint climbing fulltime. Victor went on a few sponsored climbing trips before making a pivotal decision to skip a North Face trip to focus on his studies and eventually attend law school. While a student, Victor recounts buildering on UC Davis' campus and multiple interactions with campus police. After a break from climbing, a poor competition performance motivated him to focus on climbing again with the goal of making finals at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO (he didn't make finals, but managed to do an uncontrived figure four in the qualifying round and make a pilgrimage to a legendary John Gill boulder). During his last semester of law school, Victor broke his leg after being hit by a car while skateboarding. During his recovery, Victor focused intensely on free soloing in the Lake Tahoe area. Around 2009, Victor moved to Salt Lake City with his wife and began establishing new boulders in Little Cottonwood Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon, specifically in the backcountry and on taller, headpoint-style highball bouldering lines. Victor recounts a life-changing highball boulder fall where Wasatch Search & Rescue had to bring him out of the backcountry on a "big wheel" to get him to the hospital. Even after the injuries, Victor continues to share his excitement for bouldering and writing about climbing. In part two, Victor shares the materials he donated to the Marriott Library's Special Collections and the significance to him. Victor concludes with his dream of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
View Victor Copeland's Oral History in the Marriott Digital Library