Cameron Hörst Declares ‘Martial Law,’ New 5.15a on Mt. Charleston
This article originally appeared on Climbing
With his FA of Martial Law (5.15a), Cameron Horst has ticked what is likely the hardest line of his burgeoning career, simultaneously adding a new entry to the USA's relatively slim list of 5.15s (14, at last count).
The powerful limestone cave route at Mt. Charleston, just outside of Las Vegas, was bolted by Andy Raether several years ago. Joe Kinder cleaned and prepped it last year, and he and a few Vegas locals tried it in the process, but it wasn't until June 12 that Martial Law finally fell to the 22-year-old Horst.
Martial Law is a 22-move direct start to Ethan Pringle's Arrested Development (5.14c/d). Horst came to Vegas in mid-May guns blazing, and put the direct line down in eight sessions over two weeks. But it isn't his first foray into the 5.15 grade. In May 2021 he made an early repeat of Joe Kinder's Bone Tomahawk in St. George, Utah, however that route has since been amended to a slash grade of 5.14d/15a. In the two years since that ascent Horst has repeated nearly a dozen 5.14d's, no doubt informing his proposal of Martial Law's grade.
Cameron, the son of famed climbing trainer Eric Horst, has always been a strong climber. He'd ticked several 5.14s by the time he was 11. But unlike many of his contemporaries in the bouldering and sport climbing scene (and despite his parentage), he wasn't a pro climber as a kid or teen. In fact, he only started climbing full-time three years ago, aged 19.
In this interview, we spoke with Horst about his hardest route to date, giving back to the community as a personal trainer and route developer, and where his sights are set for the future.
Climbing: When did Martial Law get on your radar?
Horst: I was in Vegas last summer while Joe [Kinder] was cleaning it, and I got psyched to make a return this year. Joe and I were in Europe in April and early May this year, and during that trip he encouraged me to go down to Vegas and try it. So after the World Cup in Salt Lake, I drove down with my brother for two weeks... and yeah, I did the route.
Climbing: Were you on it last year at all? Did you get a sense of the line back then?
Horst: Actually, I never got on it last year. There's a 5.14d to the right of Martial Law [Resisting Arrest], and Joe and I got the first and second ascent of that back-to-back last summer. During that time he was also fooling around with Martial Law.
This May was my first time on it, although I did do Arrested Development three years ago. The new section of climbing was about the first third of the climb. So the hard part was figuring out the beta [for Martial Law], and then getting it dialed enough to get to the crux of Arrested Development and not be totally redlined.
Climbing: On Instagram, you wrote that Martial Law is "exactly the kind of hard climb" you've been looking for, that it "suits [your] preferred style." Can you elaborate?
Horst: A lot of the hardest climbing in the western United States are in limestone caves, and most of the hardest routes in these caves are endurance, resistance-oriented climbs. There are boulder problems, but nothing really hard. The flow is resistance-oriented as opposed to power-endurance.
But on Martial Law the intro section is a hustle, this steep, bouldery thing which you have to fly through to a bad rest. Then you recover, and you're into Arrested Development and you have a big shutdown boulder problem: huge moves between bad pockets. You get through that, then another bad rest, and another boulder problem right afterward. That last one's the redpoint crux.
So it's a much more unique style of cave climb, one you don't really get in the States. You have these incredibly hard boulder problems scattered throughout the route. [Unlike other climbs at the grade, Martial Law] isn't just about being able to climb fast and not get pumped out.
Climbing: It's the hardest route of your career, but from the time you stepped on the wall 'til you clipped the chains it was only two weeks... What did those two weeks look like? How many sessions did it take, and what ended up being the crux of the process for you?
Horst: I didn't climb on it every day, I probably put seven or eight sessions on the route total. But I only tried Martial Law until I got it, which was different for me.
Usually on trips I'll have a project for day one that's a harder project, then a side project that's easier on day two. I'll swap projects and move around to not get burnt out. But I only had a couple of weeks in Vegas, and I really wanted to do this route in particular. Also, I already had part of it figured out, because I'd done Arrested Development in the past.
So I invested a ton of energy on day one to get the bottom dialed. Day two was for fitness burns on the top to get that redialed. After doing that a couple of times, I felt I could do redpoint burns. And within four or five days of redpointing, I sent the route.
Doing it like this was a tactical move because the route's a big, tiring climb. It's nice to focus on certain parts, doing one section one day, one another day, instead of doing it all in one day and then resting. Since the climb fit my style, and I already had the beta for the top of the route, that process was sped up. This let me get into doing big links faster, and helped [me send it quickly].
Climbing: How does Law compare to Bone Tomahawk?
Horst: To me, they're objectively very different climbs. Bone Tomahawk has a super-hard boulder problem right off the ground, then you have powerful resistance climbing with no rest until the hard stuff's over.
Martial Law is a longer climb that has a different flow and story through its three different sections. The intro is super bouldery; you have to fly without a rest until you hit the eighth bolt of the climb. Then you get that bad rest, recover as much as you can for a hard boulder problem, then sprint through to the next rest at this big pod, then you have the redpoint crux right after it.
In my opinion, it's harder than Bone Tomahawk. It's much more complex. You probably have to be a better overall sport climber to do a route like Martial Law.
Climbing: So you feel pretty confident it's the hardest route of your career?
Horst: Totally. Besides those two, I've done like 10 other 5.14d sport climbs. So I think I have a solid base of what .14d feels like. This is a step up from that.
Climbing: Sending 5.15a in just a few sessions seems pretty major, especially when you're not a climber with several other .15s under your belt already. Did this make you reconsider your goals and abilities? Maybe setting your sights a bit higher?
Horst: I mean, the route took me like eight sessions, and I'd say that's a good amount for me. I've never had a project that I've put like 50 sessions into, at least not yet. The majority of the hard routes I do go down within four to eight sessions. There have been ones that have taken longer, where I'm falling at the last move and I get into a mental struggle and I just have to keep pushing it.
But yeah, it does [make me reconsider my abilities]. I want to try harder routes, and I do have some on my mind. But in the United States, there aren't many options for established 5.15b routes. I've been on a few [other 5.15s], and I'm not going to name them, but they're not super stellar.
Martial Law is a stellar climb. Bone Tomahawk is a stellar climb. A lot of the 5.14d’s across the United States are five-star climbs. But as far as 5.15, they are few and far between, and I haven't found many that are super inspiring. Jumbo Love [5.15b] obviously is a king line and a route I want to invest time in. That would be the logical next step for me, as someone pursuing high-end sport climbing in the United States.
Also, hopefully next year I can also do an extended trip to Europe and work something that's quite hard. I've done a few trips to Europe for three to five weeks at a time, but I've always bounced around so I've never had the opportunity to invest time in a hard route there.
Climbing: So let's talk life. What's your setup right now? You're in Salt Lake, what are you up to there?
Horst: I moved to Salt Lake City from Pennsylvania, where I grew up, in the summer of 2022 to pursue climbing. I'm in school at the University of Utah right now for exercise physiology, after doing my first year and a half at Penn State. I moved out here mainly because being in Salt Lake will help me progress as a climber. Being in Pennsylvania, there's no gym scene, no climbing scene in general. I kind of maxed out my growth potential there.
I climb full-time ... well, because I'm a pro climber [laughs] but I've also started a personal-training brand. I have quite a few clients that I work with on a monthly basis. Sports science and human performance motivate me. Obviously, growing up around my dad I was exposed to it, but as an athlete, performance and exercise physiology is also a huge part of my life. I think I have a lot of knowledge and wisdom in that topic, although I'm only 22 years old.
I want to give back to the climbing community, and being a coach is a great way to do that. It's super fulfilling, and a lot of fun to work with people who are just as psyched on climbing as I am, but they need just a little bit of help, just some guidance, to get them over that hump.
Climbing: That's interesting, because obviously your dad's a legend, and it seems like a lot of people who grow up with famous parents want to do whatever they can to get out of their parents' shadow. But you're on a very similar track. Did growing up with him influence your goals, the way you climb and train? Has it ever been a negative, maybe an added pressure?
Horst: I don't think it's ever been a negative. It's a unique case, having your dad as a coach, especially as a kid athlete. It's rare. But it was amazing. My dad was very invested in my brother and me. I was never able to fully appreciate the access I had to him until I moved out and started living on my own. I'm so thankful to have had him as a mentor, guiding and stewarding my progress over the years.
But one thing that always allowed me the space to continue to love climbing was that I was never a full-time climber until I was 19 years old. I played football for over a decade growing up and through high school. I never only pursued climbing until a few years ago. I was a well-rounded teenager and an athlete in different domains. I think a lot of who I am as a climber is from experience I had climbing, but also a blend of other athletics and endeavors, and I think I'm in a good place because of that.
Climbing: So your dad wasn't one of those telling you, “Alright, you're gonna be a climber whether you like it or not, you gotta train every day...”
Horst: No, no not at all [laughs]. Sure, my dad always wanted to facilitate the strengths we had, but he was never pressing for Jon [Cameron’s 20-year-old brother] or me to become pro climbers or coaches or whatever. But because I luckily did want to become one, it worked out well because I had a good mentor close by. I'm incredibly thankful for that.
Climbing: On Instagram, you mentioned that after Martial Law, instead of chasing another goal, you want to "take a little time away" and focus on "exploring some other important personal areas" in your life. Can you elaborate?
Horst: Well, I did my last year of school online after moving to Salt Lake. I moved here because it's a good place to be for my career, but also because I have friends and other things I've always wanted to explore here. But because I did school online last year, I ended up traveling for climbing basically the whole year, since I had the freedom to and I had so many things I wanted to accomplish around the Western United States. I wanted to take advantage of the flexibility online school offered.
Especially this spring, I was just moving nonstop. I was in Vegas in January and February, came back, then went to the Red River Gorge, came back, then went to Europe for five weeks, came back, then was in Vegas again... I've been flooring the gas pedal. As a result, I've had my most successful year of climbing to date, so I'm glad I did what I did.
But after traveling a lot, and it being summer, when there's not as much potential, I think it's a good time for me to train but not be super stressed about a "next project."
One thing I want to tap into is bouldering. I haven't done much at all. If I want to become the best sport climber I can be, it's tactically smart to invest time in bouldering. As sport routes get harder, cruxes get harder, and you need to know how to try hard, like boulderers do. There's a ton of good bouldering near Salt Lake. I've been going up and seshing Grand Illusion [V16] a little bit, and have been making some progress... that's one I hope to do in the future.
But yeah, I just want to try some new things in climbing, and maybe enjoy some of the finer things in life for a while [laughs] before diving back into sport climbing this fall.
Climbing: Anything else you want to say about Martial Law or where you're headed in climbing?
Horst: Yeah. So, Joe Kinder is one of my really good friends. Since I moved out West we've climbed together a lot. He's obviously a historic and innovative figure in modern American sport climbing. A lot of the hardest routes in the country are his. His career, although he climbed hard, was also focused on development... adding quality stuff to our sport. That's something he got a lot of value from.
Being around Joe a lot over the last few years, I was exposed to a different way of looking at climbing. A lot of pro climbers are so focused on their next project, their next hardest send. That's how I've been as a young pro, too. But Joe, although he has that, he wants to be a part of the addition to the climbing community.
That’s something I've always been intrigued by, but never really had facilitated, because I've never been around route developers. Being around him has catalyzed that in me. Then also when I was in Spain I spent some time with Chris Sharma because he and Joe are good friends. Joe and Chris have a very similar mindset, always looking for the next project, but also one that's new and can challenge them creatively and be an addition to our sport.
Being around them and then coming back from Europe and getting to try an unknown project [Martial Law] was a cool experience, because it's been a thought that's been brewing in my mind for a couple of years now. It's changed the way I look at my future in the sport. That's where I want to go.
Climbing: So you're saying that, when developing, it's equally as important to leave something unique and meaningful behind for others as it is to get on virgin rock and climb something that's hard and inspiring for you, personally?
Horst: Yeah. It's about wanting to pursue your own path, but also wanting to contribute to a sport you love. I'm not saying everyone should have that mindset. Not everyone's destined to be a big route developer, and you don't need to be one.
But for me, being around people who have that mindset is very inspiring. I can relate to it. It's made me mature in the way I think about my future. Both what I want to get from climbing, and what I want to give to climbing.
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