Five hours of ascent roped together to reach the summit of their love. This is the image that Christian and Dawn wanted to give of their couple on their wedding day.
Former airwoman in the army, Dawn LeBlond, 35, is not recovering from her divorce, which occurred three years earlier. Yet always optimistic, this sportswoman and outdoor enthusiast has lost her bearings. So one evening, she lets herself be convinced to join a group of old comrades in a climbing gym. “It’ll take my mind off things,” she thought to herself. And that’s the click. The young woman becomes addicted to this sport which clears her head and gives her some teeth.
“Dawn trained like a brute and took it very seriously, confirms a friend from the club. She yelled at me like a drill sergeant: “You call that doing push-ups? me. She was hardcore!” This intensity and this rage attract the attention of Christian Lopez, a 44-year-old business manager, a regular in the room. “I had noticed her for a while. Like everyone else. As beautiful as it is noisy, it’s rare,” laughs the forties.
“We wanted the peaks of these mountains to form the backdrop for our ceremony”
Dawn too noticed this powerful climber always nestled on the most technical climbing blocks in the gym. After a few weeks of observation, Christian dares to approach him. Without success. Dawn is still scarred by her failed marriage. The room is her haven of peace and it will no longer be so if she goes out with Christian. But the pandemic is coming, and the gyms are closing. It’s Instagram that will allow you to keep in touch. “It literally slipped into my DMs, my direct messages, remembers the pretty blonde. After long complicit exchanges, they see each other and start dating.
Christian knows how to allay Dawn’s fears. They really like each other. So when, three months later, he him asks for her hand, she enthusiastically accepts. And how better to celebrate their union than by practicing the climbing that allowed them to meet? Our lovebirds decide to get married on one of the peaks of Seneca Rocks, a jagged mountain in West Virginia that they have always dreamed of climbing. “We wanted the ridges of these mountains to form the backdrop for our ceremony,” says the bride-to-be.
The lovers climbed dressed in wedding clothes suitable for climbing!
They then train to climb along the Pleasant Overhangs route, 275 m above sea level. Ready, on August 22, 2021, the lovers begin their nuptial ascent. Their guests, also good climbers, join them by a simpler and less dangerous route. For five hours, lovers rise, dressed in wedding clothes suitable for climbing, smart climbing pants, stretchy shirt and suit vest for him, and white dress for her.
“When we arrived at the top, we could see the clouds dissipate, revealing the green mountains that stretched around us”, evokes Christian, under the spell. Dawn, she “had the impression of being blessed by the gods from the top of this Olympus climbed together“. Let’s hope their love stays on top forever!