Early April

Spring is in full swing here in New England, the boulders are dry, the landings are muddy, and the bugs are coming out. It has been amazing to have the freedom of nice weather again, being able to climb whenever I want, and I have slowly started feeling my body getting used to the rock again. Lets see.. i've been climbing outside A LOT lately, a few times a week, and I have been training on rock, trying to gain some fitness for my projects. After a few weeks of just bouldering around, repeating old lines around Farley, I went up to Rumney for a day to try out some sport climbing, or in my case, boulder problems on ropes. The first thing I tried was Riviera, and I managed to do the crux move after a couple tries, but never got back on it, instead walked back down to Monsters and tried Feeding Frenzy 13c/d which looked like it'd suit me well. The climb starts on two crimps high up, which you grab really hard, and explode off of up to an incut crimp gaston. The first move is probably v8 or 9 by itself, and then you have to do another nine move v7 up to a big jug rest, followed by v3 to the top. After falling a few times on the first move, I wanted nothing to do with the climb. My skin was trashed from competing in a comp the day before, so I lay down on a rock for half an hour, pretty sure I was done climbing. After resting a while, I figured I may as well give it a couple more goes, since I had nothing better to do. I pulled on and vastly undershot the gaston, instead coming down on a worse little crimper, and somehow managed to hold on to it. I death crimped my way through the next three moves, cutting my feet wildly, but somehow staying on the wall. I then did the next move out to a big sharp undercling, and cut feet again, somehow pinching as hard as I could and staying on the wall. I matched it, took a breath, and did the last two moves of the v7, cutting my feet on the final move to the jug, which, according to Liam, probably would have resulted in hitting the ground if I fell. Anyways, I rested for a minute, and somehow managed the upper moves to the lip, being pumped out of my mind, and managed to clip the chains. It was funny, and I was happy, it was my first sport climb harder than 12a, but I kind of wish that I had done it in better style because I know it was way under my ability as a climber, and I think it would have been a different story if I hadn't been so exhausted.

Post send success! 

The next day, back in western mass, was beautiful, 65 degrees and blue skies, with a cool breeze. Despite the trashed skin, I couldn't resist going back outside, so after school I went out to Hermits Mountain, down the road from Farley, where my buddy Tucker had put up a bunch of hard climbs on perfect Farley-style rock. The goal for the day was Fixation, a short and powerful v10 that I had tried for a day last fall. The climb starts on two incut crimps, with a left foot toe-cammed in a crack, and the right foot in a violent drop-knee toe hook on a flat shelf. You have to pull on, and while twisting your body into the drop knee, do a tremendous lock off to this crazy pyramid-shaped four-finger mini pinch. 

The first move of Fixation v10

Once you stick that you have to move your left foot up to an okay foot hold, and bring the toe cam up into a heel hook. From this position, you have to generate really hard and bump your right hand to a sloper at the lip, which is the crux move. Once matched on the lip, a very blank and desperate mantle gets you to a jug. My first three tries of the day I fell on the big move to the lip, but each go I felt my left shoulder getting more and more tired from the first move. I wasn't sure how many tries it would be before I started falling on the first move, so I forced myself to just try as hard as I could. On my forth try I hit the lip, and my left hand popped off the crimp, and I somehow managed to hold the sloper as a one arm swing. After matching the lip, and telling myself 'dont screw it up now,' I flopped my way up the sketchy mantle to the top! 

A few days later I went out to Charlemont with my friend Finn to try my project down by the river. I have been working on this one on and off for three years, so I was excited to come back to it after a ten month break from trying. We gave it a few tries in the sun, but it felt absolutely impossible. The rock is very dark and very polished, so it gets extremely hot in the sun, and since the whole nature of the climb revolves around friction and precision, we decided to wait until it went into the shade. Instead we drove about a quarter mile downstream to a boulder I had seen a few years back, but never really though of as much. Finn had gone out and cleaned it recently, and said it was really cool, so I was convinced to go give it another shot. It turned out to be completely different from how I remembered it, and it was amazing! The landing was a little patchy, so we spent a few minutes filling it in with rocks and sticks before throwing chalk on the holds and giving it some goes. The wall itself is amazing, most of it sticking out over the water, but with the steepest side coming out left over dry land. The wall starts at maybe 20 degrees overhung, and quickly curves to near horizontal until turning the lip. You start the climb sitting on two sloping pinches, and immediately do a long left hand move to a flat sloper with a nice divot in it. After that you throw in a perfect heel-toe cam and grab an amazing one pad pinch directly above your left hand. Keeping the heel toe cam in, you roll out of the pinch out left to a very incut, but glassy hold. Then you get your right foot up on the starting hold and do a long, but controlled move straight out the lip to another incut hold. The first crux involves holding the tension on these two down-pulling holds, so you can move your right foot up to the first sloper in the roof. Then comes my favorite part, you get a really hard back-flag, and do a daniel woods style lock off out left to an incredible quartz two pad flat edge, followed by the crux move, a right hand slap to an incredibly polished, giant sloper at the lip, which you stick, and then bump a foot to the left to another perfect sloper. 

The Bends v8 

Upon sticking the furthest left sloper, you so a couple easy moves to a sloping edge over the lip, and then a hard, blank mantle, that I fell on a few times before figuring out how to do it using a palm press. After maybe half an hour of working it out, I managed to make the first ascent, calling it The Bends, v7/8 ish depending on conditions, since I could see it feeling pretty casual on a cold, cloudy day, but felt quite desperate to do while baking in the sun. 

After doing this thing, we drove back to the project to find it in the shade! And I sent it!!! I could write pages and pages on this thing, but instead i'm just going to make a video about the whole experience, so wait for that! I can say though, that this was my most memorable and proud send for me in climbing thus far, and I couldn't be happier about it. As for a grade I think v10 seems fair, though it is so impossible to tell on a first ascent you've put 17+ days into over many years, Maybe instead I should just say v8+ to v12-, but like the other one, insanely condition dependent. Nobody will be calling it v10 in any of the summer months, thats for sure. 

Riding the wave of psych and motivation for climbing, I went out to the Hideaway/Happy Valley for the first time this year, and it felt nice to get back on projects, and train myself on some of the lines i've already done. No sends, but I tried Brothers Keeper a bit, which felt nice.. I definitely need to train my fingers before getting back to being close on that one. I fell on the last moves of big ole debbie, and millenium traverse, the two link up lines I STILL haven't done, which kind of sucked, but they're bad climbs so it doesn't really matter. 

I'm resting today, but this weekend looks beautiful for climbing! I'm hoping to go back to GB for the first time this year, and then go up to Rumney again and do some ropes but also try some boulders there like Satan's Choice! Psyched! 

Kai