Breakthrough

Yesterday I had one of those days when everything seems to go just right, the projects fall and you wonder why it had taken you so long to do them in the first place. I sent my two longest-term bouldering projects The Sheild and Busted at Leavenworth.

We headed out to Leavenworth with the car packed full of mats and camping stuff, ready for a two day climbing trip, I was looking forward to a chill trip and maybe getting on some routes at Leavenworth for a change. Things were going well, the free camping was open so we set up our tent next to where Whitey and his buddies were already set up. We then headed to Forestlands where we met up with one of Micah's friends from Evergreen, Greg. We warmed up on some easy stuff and I did some laps on the excellent Arested Development. I was feeling pretty good, so decided to slide the mats over to try The Shield (V7). If you've been following my Leavenworth blogs you'll know that The Shield is something I get on every time we're there and every time I throw myself at it only to get shut down time after time. I've probably tried it close to 100 times, no exaggeration, the first move is the crux so its easy to try it over and over. I've stuck the crux move once before, only to fall off on the big move to the lip, so I know I can do it, the problem for me was 90% mental. For some reason yesterday I felt a lot more confident trying it. On my first attempt I pulled on and got my hand fully on the hold. Pulling off the starting crimp with my left hand was a bit sore because of a lingering finger injury so I knew I shouldn't give it too many attempts. I knew on my next attempt I could stick it, so I went for it latched the hold perfectly and held the swing! This was it, I tried to keep my composure, but I couldn't remember exactly what to do next, but luckily I managed to stay on and grovel my way over. I had done it, I stood on top and thought to myself why had it taken me so long? It didn't even feel that hard.

Micah on Arrested Development

I was glad to be done with that project and I was riding on a wave of confidence, so I hopped on The Drill Sergeant a V8 to the right. I was climbing pretty strong on it, but I didn't quite have the reach for it. I wasn't too into doing that problem, besides I really had my eye on Busted. The saga of Busted is a long one so bear with me. On one of my early trips to Leavenworth I did The Rubb' Dyno (my first V8) then did Busted. It turns out after seeing videos of the problem and talking to others I didn't do it from the proper start, I started crouched on the flake rather than sitting on the holds below which adds considerable difficulty, so I took it off my scorecard. To make matters more complicated a few months later the loose flake busted off leaving small crimps making it even harder, it was still climbable though and V9 was suggested by other climbers on 8a. I had been trying it before and after the break, and it certainly feels harder, but certainly not V9 hard. I would say it is now solid V8 (Font 7B not 7B+, but thats a whole other can of worms) neither hard nor soft for the grade. I managed to refine my sequence, and just last week got really close to finishing it off, coming off the last hard move. So yesterday I worked on it methodically making sure I had the last move and the top out dialed, then went for the sit. After about half an hour of attempts I made it through the opening moves, set up for the big throw and SLAP! stuck the hold perfectly, I topped it out and ended a 18 month long project!

Me trying The Drill Sergeant

I was back climbing V8 a year and half after doing my last one, I was so happy I didn't care what happened during the rest of the trip. Luckily for me I finished off these project pretty quickly, cause soon afterward the sky's opened and it started pouring. It became apparent pretty quickly that everything was getting soaked and there was no point in hanging around, so we took down our tents and headed back. We stopped off at the Schist cave at Swiftwater on the way back, because it is so steep it stays dry even in a downpour. It was pretty fun monkeying around on the big holds in the steep cave, and I managed to link together all the moves on the right hand line in the cave, to below the lip, I couldn't top it out since its was soaking wet. It felt about V6 to here, but would probably add another grade to top out. Here is a video of the climb, its 2:45 in to the video.

All in all I can imagine the trip must have been a bit of a disappointment to Laura and Micah. But I don't think I would have changed a thing about it. These sends come at an important time for my psyche, I was starting to think I might be resigned to being a V6 climber. But now I know with a bit of confidence anything can happen.