Bernhard Schwaiger has made the second ascent of Momento V16, put up several years ago by Bernd Zangerl. Momento is in Silvretta, Austria. The problem climbs out a steep overhang on some crimps with a huge dyno off a terrible hold to finish. It is featured in the movie Momento. Check out the video at www.schwaigerbrothers.com.
Ethan Pringle has made the 5th ascent of Realization 5.15a in Ceuse. Very nice effort.
Update: Paul Robinson has made the 4th ascent of Ode to the Modern Man V14 at Mt. Evans.
Start your Tuesday off right with a little send from Saturday.
Wildcat V12 Upper Chaos
Saturday I felt like it was time to get serious about trying hard problems again and my first objective was to go up and finish off Wildcat V12. I had worked out all the moves over several days, always seeming to end up there at the end of the day. This time I wanted to be fresh and put in a strong effort. We left Boulder at 730 AM in hopes to get good temps. Unfortunately I didnt sleep very well Friday night and woke up feeling unmotivated. I spotted Angela on her project until about 12. We slowly worked our way up to the Green 45. I got warmed up on a gorgeous slab I had never done before. I would certainly recommend this problem to anyone.
Slab behind European Human Being
We finally made it to the Green Wall and I felt more ready to take a nap than rock climb. The wind picked up however and the cool breeze seemed to wake me up a bit. I warmed up and on my first go from the start I fell off the very last move. I was really upset with myself because I wasn’t concentrating and I fell where I shouldn’t have. My lack of focus continued as I proceeded to fall off just about every move. I decided I needed a break, take some time out to reset. We had also run out of chalk and this only added to my growing frustration.
Olson “crimping” on Wildcat V12
After a few more tries with horribly greasy hands (and resorting to gather spilled chalk off the ground) I decided to walk around and see if I could find anyone who could help me out. Sure enough Adam Strong comes rolling up with a full bag. I felt psyched again and ready to go. In fact a whole crew of people showed up and the motivation flowed freely.
Carlo Traversi
This time with properly chalked hands, I thrutched my way to the end and held on. I was psyched to finish Wildcat because it really does not fit me at all. The technical drop knees, the hard openhanded pinches and the shouldery nature of the climbing are pretty much opposite of my style. It’s really nice for my personal progression that I can climb a problem of this difficulty so different from what I am used to. I am feeling more and more ready to do something in the 8B/8B+ range for this fall.
Afterwords, in the darkness, I went down to Ty’s problem Bulgin Out V9 on the Veritas Boulder. I flashed it to the jug, and then fell off the V1 top out when I missed a big crimp out left. I did it next go, and then again in my tennies for Olson. It was a fun way to end the day.
My brother is in town for the weekend so Sat. was my only day out. Congrats to Brian Camp who recently also did Wildcat, his first V12. Brian has been climbing well lately and I am sure he will send some more hard things before the season is out. Of course I got some video footage of Wildcat and as soon as I can I will get that up for your viewing enjoyment.