Sending Begins in Hueco

Posted December 26, 2007 at 4:50 pm · Comments { 10 } ·

In what is surely a sign of things to come, the season at Hueco Tanks, TX has gotten into full swing with the arrival of Paul Robinson. Since his arrival about a week ago, Paul has sent Esperanza (V14), Algerita (V13), Slashface (V13), Right Martini (V12), Sôl Adûnâmentum (recently opened by Nick Duttle who suggested a grade of V14, Paul suggests V12) along with a couple V9s. Some discussion has been raised as to the way in which Paul comments on his sends. For example his comments for Slashface include “1 hour, 1 day” when apparently he had tried it previously. I suspect Paul doesn’t really place as much stock in the comments as online observers, but it will be interesting to see what he has to say.

Also in Hueco:

  • Josh Haynes has repeated Esperanza, Nagual (V13) and Flamignon (V13)
  • Patrick Luther has done 4 V12s so far this season and his first V13 can’t be far off.
  • You can read more on Nick Duttle’s thoughts on his recent FA of Sôl Adûnâmentum at MVM.
  • Jamie Emerson has some thoughts on future potential at Hueco and he will be heading there sometime early next year.
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  • Karma

    Paul is a super strong mofo, a nice kid, and I’m sure he will continue to destroy Hueco during his trip.

    That said, why would he post comments detailing how long it took him to send problem X if he didn’t put some stock in it?

    Just a thought.

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  • peter

    I think that he does put stock in it. I don’t know the backstory on slashface but the biz regarding the swarm was that he tried it for about half an hour three years before he did it. the day that he did it, he sent second go. he didn’t even take the extra two points or whatever for logging his ascent in 8a as second go. but honestly, three years later, something is bound to feel like a flash attempt and having the beta (if you remember it) is somewhat irrelevant on a problem as straightforward and oft documented as the swarm.

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  • http://climbingnarc.com Climbing Narcissist

    I’m sure he places stock in it otherwise he wouldn’t do it as you say. However, I don’t think he is making precise calculations as to the time and as Peter pointed out, climbers often try a problem briefly when they are not strong enough to do it and when they return years later it can often feel like they are starting over. You could argue that because he has such a high profile that he should be more careful but in the end the whole area of counting attempts and all that is somewhat of a grey area.

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  • peter

    agreed, brian. at the same time, i don’t think that him trying it for half an hour a while back really makes him doing the problem “second go” or “in an hour” any less impressive. it seems like arguing semantics. as Tim Keenan pointed out in 8a “who cares? he sent 8B+. ITS HARD. HE’S STRONG. END OF STORY.” anyway, this is all kinda irrelevant now that he flashed nagual….let’s start talking about how he dabbed his way up that ;) . cuz no one, let alone an American, can be THAT strong….

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  • jamie

    I don’t think that counting attempts really is grey at all. Its actually quite black and white. If you pull off the ground, that should count as an attempt. It doesn’t matter if you were “just warming up” or that it “was like 3 years ago” It may feel like a flash or you may not have the beta, but if you are going to count attempts, and use that number to prop yourself up, then you should be as honest about the time it took you as possible, especially if people are paying you to do so.

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  • http://climbingnarc.com Climbing Narcissist

    I think that is where you have a point Jamie. When your accomplishments are used (intentionally or not) for sponsorship and gaining mad props in the mags then it might be more important to be precise in what you say/take credit for having done.

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  • http://climbingnarc.com Climbing Narcissist

    Here is what Paul said on 8a, basically what I figured:

    first off i will start with slashface – 3 years ago i pulled off the ground one time in the middle of the climb could barely pull off slapped for a hold and fell off. i then went back to climbing on at that time something that i atleast had a chance of doing. i did not go into climbing slashface this year telling anyone that i could flash it because i had “tried” it once previously one try 3 years ago. so this year i considered it my first day of actual attempts which in my mind i see as being completely legit. I sent the climb in one hour in good form – from the start holds to the top of the boulder.

    second off the mandala sit start- 4 years ago when in bishop i sent the mandala regular start. when i came back this year (2007) for the sit start i climbed the swarm previously that morninng on the 2nd day of my trip and then went directly to mandala sit start in the buttermilks. since i had previously done the mandala i yet again knew that i could not flash and did not even attempt. the mandala sit is considered a whole different boulder problem with a new crux than the actual mandala. my 1 day ascent of this is taking into considerationt that the bottom adds in a new crux that is much harder than the upper crux. and im not trying to hide that i did the mandala in the past, it is on my scorecard! when i did the mandala it took me 3 or 4 days and im not hiding any of this i dont really care im just writing how long it took me to do this specific problem for my records.

    finally the swarm- yes, i did try this boulder problem on a previous trip, about 3 years ago. after having sent the form destroyer (a boulder quite close to the swarm) i decided to walk to the swarm to take a look at it. at this time i had a severly sprained ankle and knew that i had no chance of sending as i was not nearly that strong yet but was very intrigued by the line so i attempted the first move a few tries but never managed to get anywhere on the actual climb. i came back this year, 2007, and gave it a good attempt because at this point in time i thought i had a legit chance of sending. my first attempt i slammed my elbow into the wall on the second move on my first day in bishop. after nursing my elbow for a while i decided that trying again would be a bad idea because the sun was peaking this hill and it was getting to warm. the next day i came back i fired it off first try (2 tries total) and then as stated before went down to the mandala sit start. since i had tried it briefly in the past i did not select (2:go) on my scorecard for the extra points but rather for myself wrote that i had done it in two tries. since to some it seemed some what ambiguos, i then wrote in that i had tried it on a previous trip to clarify for anyone that did not understand.

    does that help… cuz i sure as hell can’t right all of this on my scorecard comments. i dont understand how people can make so many judegements about me having never met me or seen me on any of the climbs that they claim i did in bad form.

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  • peter

    the real question now is on how many of these problems (and now nagual, you’re falling behind on the news, brian) he was wearing the v10′s?

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  • http://climbingnarc.com Climbing Narcissist

    hah, I was wondering the same thing…nagual news is on the site, you just have to look farther down on the right side for it…I have seen a photo from the nagual flash and the V10s are present

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  • peter

    i see it now, my mistake.

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