kennedy survived the slide , chabot said .
it did n’t take long to see that hayden , on his first el cap route , was the future of climbing .
“ just like hayden was someone i looked up to , you were , too , ” professional climber chelsea rude wrote on facebook , close get email notifications on whitney bermes daily !
kennedy ’s family released a statement saying that they sorrowfully respected hayden ’s decision and praised their son ’s openness to the world while he was alive .
when i was in high school , when i met you , on saturday , october 7 , 27 - year - old alpinist hayden kennedy was skiing with his girlfriend , inge perkins , 23 , on imp peak south of bozeman , montana .
then hayden and i drove out to yosemite that may , he pointed out towers that he ’d climbed long before he “ officially became a climber , ” when he began taking the sport seriously at age 13 or 14 .
here was a kid ticking off 5.14s at rifle every few weeks , with a solid lead head , and miles and miles of hard and varied climbing under his belt .
“ i grew up climbing with my dad when i was super young .
may 2008 : 17 - year - old hayden kennedy , jonas waterman , and i were a few pitches up el cap ’s el niño ( vi 5.13 b c a0 ) , a notoriously runout , nearly - free route on el cap ’s steep southeast face .