RMNP

RMNP

Posted on 15. Sep, 2008 by B3 in RMNP

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Several weeks ago I was searching for new boulder problems. In Upper Chaos I stumbled upon a majestic dihedral, one worthy of a strong effort. Putting up new problems is hard work and often takes alot of time and effort. The first day I felt like this problem would go I scrubbed and cleaned the lower holds and figured out the sequence. This took up the majority of my climbing day. In preparation for the next day, I got a nice new static line to rappel down and thoroughly cleaned the upper sections of the dihedral and try and clean and figure a sequence for the top out. This again took up a good chunk of my day but by the time I was finished I had a sequence down for the top section. With a good effort in fading light I made it through the lower section of finger-y and tension-y climbing but fell on the upper part. The third day I decided to at least climb the stand start. This starts matched on an obvious flat hold. It climbs some really nice moves on classic Chaos Canyon rock to a heady and commiting, but easy topout. I felt that this problem would be popular in its own right and called it The Pterodactyl V8 or V9.

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Pterodactyl

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Pterodactyl FA

I tried several times to do the full upward rising traverse into the start but kept falling on the punchy end.

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Yesterday, I came back ready to see my vision come to fruition. Andre DeFelice, who was on his way up to Jade, happen to stop by, and with all the beta sussed out did the moves quickly. He fell a few times on the upper section but was determined to do the FA, and with the light fading he fired it, just moments after a near send on my part. I was tired and my final attempt was a lackluster one.

Sunday I came back and after several burns from the start and a key change of beta, I managed the second ascent. I think this problem is one of the best new lines in Colorado and it has been nice to see it come to be. There hasn’t been too much talk of a grade but after talking to several strong climbers my suggestion is V12. The stand start has been repeated several times (Nic Oklubja, Brian Camp, Andre DeFelice and flashed by Tommy Caldwell) and everyone seems very psyched. I got some nice footage from the send. Thanks to everyone who came by, gave encouragement and spotted! The problem lies just before Riddles in the Park in Upper Chaos. Enjoy!

Check out Hayden Miller’s blog for more nice pictures.

25 Responses to “RMNP”

  1. Lee

    15. Sep, 2008

    Given the amount of work you put in to prepping it, would have been nice for you to get the FA.

  2. sock hands

    15. Sep, 2008

    treacherous youth sealin’ projects!!!!! i know you prolly gave andre the go-ahead and i like andre a bunch, but we must not let such sentiments blind us the treachery of the strong youth and we must unite to crush it down with fists of iron. i suggest raising the driving age to 28. that’s the first move. next, photo IDs for energy drinks. 28 as well. then, antipropaganda commercials on the tele explaining how much better video games are than rock climbing. you can already make more as a pro videogamer, so we can use that to distract these devious youths. word.

  3. sock hands

    15. Sep, 2008

    AND NICE JOB JEMERSON ON THE SEND!

  4. Matt

    15. Sep, 2008

    Beautiful line Jamie…. really awesome looking. What a beautiful feature. And good luck to Andre on Jade, would be sick to see a fourth ascent.

  5. AP

    15. Sep, 2008

    Nice vision, Jamie. Pretty awesome to see a line get put up in a high-traffic area of Upper Chaos. Going to have to agree with Lee… would have been nice for your hard work in preparing the problem to be respected. Great job, anyhow. Awesome boulder!

  6. hayden

    15. Sep, 2008

    nice job jamie, way to come back and crush it after being so close all day on saturday. i put a few pictures up on my blog of you and andre. find anything interesting after you departed up canyon?

  7. Nick

    15. Sep, 2008

    Am I the only one that gets this post? I guess Lee does too.

  8. Carlo

    15. Sep, 2008

    swiped…

  9. Frank

    15. Sep, 2008

    nice man! great send. i iknow you wanted to dedicate this line to me. i accept it proudly.

  10. MTE

    15. Sep, 2008

    Sometimes the climbing community chooses to remember the person who scouted, cleaned, worked and sent a project as the true first ascentionist …

  11. JD

    16. Sep, 2008

    Well, no, thats usually not the case. But in a perfect world it probably would be. Nice thought though.

  12. adam s

    16. Sep, 2008

    just call the sit silver platter.

  13. mervo

    16. Sep, 2008

    I’ll reserve my comments about vision, hard work, time, and what it means to some, and what it doesn’t mean to others.

    Nice job Jamie

  14. das bpc

    16. Sep, 2008

    i stand by my censored post to make light of the situation, and for its underlying moral… kinda like those segments on rocky and bullwinkle with the moral to a ridiculous story thing.

  15. das bpc

    16. Sep, 2008

    did angie send eating all the raspberries in upperchaos?

  16. das bpc

    16. Sep, 2008

    to give the benefit of the doubt, seems like the competitive race for FAs is becomming commonplace in rmnp and perhaps lil andre got caught up in that vibe? e.g. when dave found what would become ‘top notch’, it is my understanding that he worked it for a bit and then paul and ty descended upon it quickly to get the FA. it was a race, to be sure, though perhaps dave didn’t spend much time on the project or perhaps he was leaving to go spurt root climbing and said ‘have at it, kids.’ with that situation going on, perhaps standard ethics were lost in the shuffle… the cleaner wasn’t afforded the typical courtesy of a number of good sessions on a project before the others gave it a whirl and that became acceptable. if that’s true, perhaps it wasn’t clear that this situation was different, and so, if this comes down to a misunderstanding, then oh well… some missteps by friends is no big deal in the grand scheme. however, if there’s a malicous or competitive streak between good friends in the scene nowadays, then this bud needs to get nipped.

    i find it difficult to believe the latter is the case.

  17. sidepull

    16. Sep, 2008

    This is likely the best climbing blog. I really appreciate the attention to the process of bouldering/climbing as well as the concern for stewardship. I hope it’s required reading for noobs in CO.

  18. criz

    17. Sep, 2008

    OMG @ 8A.OLD TC WOOD HAVE D MOST POINTS

  19. campusmang

    17. Sep, 2008

    A Colorado dude that lives in Detroit sent this huge dyno in Grand Ledge. This was in 2005.
    He was climbing with Aaron Hager. Its a tight dyno, aaron never said he named it, I saw a crow after i did it and it knocked down some snow off a tree.
    The crow v8 Stiff, strong dynoers say that the feet are awkward.

  20. payne

    17. Sep, 2008

    who is lee? cause my only comment is that I showed this line to Jamie like 4 years ago…Vision, psh.

    Lee

  21. climbingnarc

    17. Sep, 2008

    don’t you know that Bob Horan sent that line 20 years ago??

  22. slabdyno

    18. Sep, 2008

    don’t post as me (criz) campusmang, its disrespectful , but ur right 8a.numberchaser.

  23. campusmang

    18. Sep, 2008

    dude, get with the program already!!!

  24. campusmang

    18. Sep, 2008

    i would like to formerly applogize to you slabdyno, i am sorry for making fun of and not showin any respect to you at all

    its just the internet though

  25. Eliott

    26. Jan, 2009

    You know .. I came home from CO psyched for hallball climbing only to find that my home boulders were relatively tiny. So I started cleaning and sussing out a tall arete that had stood trailside for years with no serious attempts to boulder it. After cleaning the loose holds and sussing out the beta a key foot broke while I was topping out putting me face first into the matt. So I decided to wait until I had a spotter and an extra mat to send. Unfortunately some chuffer named Adam Markert (you know who you are punk) told a friend of his about my proj, some young disrespectful punk, and it seems with a spotter and an extra pad he was able to top out. Of course he used an alternate jug start .. but I digress. The point is he SWEARS he thought that I had already sent, but in my heart I know what his true intentions were. Frankenstein is now Young Punk Arete. I’m not really bitter tho’. I haven’t climbed since loosing the FA and I have been drinking alot, but thats not the point. The point is, it’s just a damn rock.

    Or is it??

    I’m coming for you Adam!!!

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