Reel Rock 11

(A view from the top during the show. Photo taken by Justin Hang)

We stood in front of our drawing board, next on the list... REEL ROCK TOUR! This amazing film was founded in 2006 by filmmakers Josh Lowell (Big UP Productions) and Peter Mortimer (Sender Films). It’s a collection of the best climbing and adventure films produced every year and every year I wait patiently to watch the next! Justin Ridgely (owner of VRG) has introduced and hosted several Reel Rock Tours in the past and decided to take a break from hosting it this year. That presented an opportunity for us, we decided to carry on the torch and help continue to not only bring the Reel Rock to Honolulu but also to fundraise for our annual Thanksgiving Feed the Homeless event (an event Nate had started 3 years ago), which meant applying for the show liscencing (check), finding a venue (Agora Kaka'ako, check), followed with promoting it (and check)! Along with the event we also wanted to raise awareness about the safety of climbing and stewardship by bringing on guest speakers Mike Richardson (owner of Climb Aloha and founder/president of Hawaii Climbing Coalition) and Debbie Halbert (treasurer of Hawaii Climbing Coalition) who discussed climbing safety and Timy Fairfield (pro climber) who shared what stewardship meant to him.

(Guess speaker and pro climber Timy Fairfield smiling for the camera. Photo taken by Phil Langford)

Like a lot of Reel Rock Tours and fundraisers, there were drinks, food and raffle tickets (which meant amazing door prizes) and a salmon ladder comp! Thanks to our sponsors Timy Fairfield, VRG, Climb Aloha, Juice’d Life, Johnson Brother Liquor Co., Uncles Seafood Restaurant and an anonymous donor, we had over 2,000 dollars in value of door prizes consisting of climbing shoes, chalk bags, rope, gym membership, gift cards and many more! It was a much more generous donation than we anticipated from all our sponsors that we could not raffle them off fast enough and I sure wish I was amongst the crowd with raffle tickets!

(Here we are next to the abundance of door prizes waiting to go to raffle winners. Photo by Justin Hang)

Because of the support from the climbing community who came out to watch Reel Rock 11 and made donations to our bar, food and bought raffel tickets we raised about 2,000 dollars in proceeds that will be put towards buying grocery to feed the homeless for our Thanksgiving event. We are especially grateful for our friends who volunteered their time to help us make that successful night happen, we could have not done it without you. We also could have not done it without our sponsors, and especially the climbing community! With out all of you The Arch Project woud not exist! Until next year Reel Rock!

(Below are more pictures from the event taken by talented photographers, Phillip Langford and Justin Hang)