Sweet Success

Climbing involves lots of failure. Ninety nine percent of the time we flail and struggle just for a fleeting moment of triumph. For most of us, this process yeilds no rewards or fame, we do it simply because we love the sport. Well for some reason, I have been having a lot of success lately. Two weeks ago, I completed the first ascent of The Holdup .13d. This 35 foot arete spanked me around for almost 2 years, until it finally let me redpoint it on April 27, 2008. Ben Collet showed me this obscure line in late 2006, and I immediately fell in love with the demanding moves, and technical nature of the route. Unfortunately, I found it hard to find parteners, appropriate weather, and the motivation to slog up the hill. Even on the victorious attempt The Holdup pushed me to my limit. A huge thanks to Mark Rolofson for cleaning and equipping this route way back in 2001.

I also recently finished Hardboiled V11. This overlooked boulder problem has great rock, intricate moves, and offers a nice independent line. Plus, being right off the road, it's super convenient as an after work project. This thing teased me for over 2 years- allowing me to get all the way to the final moves only to have my foot pop off while standing up for the finishing hold. Thankfully, my epic saga with this thing is over.

So thanks to the climbing gods for smiling upon me for a breif period of time. I will continue to be persistent, train hard, stay positive, and try my hardest. Hopefully they will notice my efforts, and allow me to taste sweet success again.

Unfinished Boulder Canyon Projects

I was up at the Cage Free Boulder in Boulder Canyon yesterday and realized that there is a great unfinished line on the Cage Free Boulder. Basically, the line traverses left into Cage Free from the starting hueco of Surface Tension. With all the very strong talent that has visited this boulder, I am very surprised that this very logical linkup hasn't been polished off. The canyon could certainly use another V13. Any takers? Of course a discussion about uncompleted lines in Boulder Canyon wouldn't be complete without mentioning the huge roof that sits below cob rock. As one of the most obvious features in the canyon, this thing screams to be climbed! It seems crazy that such an amazing, unchipped, roadside project isn't teeming with people trying to send it. The center line looks like it has V14 potential, and a left start which links into the end of the center line looks like it would easily hit V12. So let's get busy people!