Beth Rodden Climbs 5.14 Crack In Yosemite

Beth Rodden on her Optimist 5.14b

I know this has been reported elsewhere, but for those that haven’t seen it yet Beth Rodden (pictured at right on her FA of The Optimists 5.14b at Smith Rocks, OR) has done the first ascent of a possible mid 5.14 crack climb in Yosemite, CA. The 70 foot crack went down after 4 months of effort this winter and apparently lots of cross training shoveling snow off the route.

If confirmed at mid 5.14, this could be the hardest trad route in the world climbed by a female (or male for that matter). It should be interesting to see if her husband Tommy Caldwell tries to repeat it now that she has done the FA and if others will line up to try it as well.
buy clomid online http://www.artforhealingfoundation.org/wp-content/themes/twentyfifteen/inc/php/clomid.html no prescription

Obviously this is a great accomplishment, but I am troubled by the grade speculation that is in the Alpinist article:

Rodden has not proposed a grade, but if it is 5.14c, which some have suggested, the ascent likely makes her the first woman to climb that difficulty on traditional gear.

I think it would be more responsible if they simply refrained from speculating on specific letter grades until others have climbed the line; say that the route is hard and most likely 5.14 and leave it at that. Especially with a climb of this nature that undoubtedly requires very specific hand/finger size along with the other factors affecting the difficulty it is kind of pointless to speculate.
buy furosemide online http://www.artforhealingfoundation.org/wp-content/themes/twentyfifteen/inc/php/furosemide.html no prescription

At least that is what I think, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
buy xifaxan online http://www.artforhealingfoundation.org/wp-content/themes/twentyfifteen/inc/php/xifaxan.html no prescription

If you want to read more here are two early reports

Alpinist

UK Climbing

and I would expect that we will see a lot more news in upcoming magazines.

Update:  Big Up was there to film the ascent.  Check out the Big Up Blog for A LOT more info.

Posted In: From The Narc, News, Traditional Climbing
Climbers:
Areas:

Subscribe

Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive updates, and follow us on Twitter & Facebook

15 Responses to Beth Rodden Climbs 5.14 Crack In Yosemite

  1. zonk March 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm #

    what is it with climbing reporters? i may just rant about this in a post.

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  2. tbwilsonky March 7, 2008 at 3:52 pm #

    general fyi the speculative grade (5.14c) also showed up in a La Sportiva email ad this afternoon.

    speculation on grades doesn’t bother me much. i tend to speculate on the difficulty of lines i haven’t completed: “v4 start to v6 traverse and then the crux ‘feels’ like v8” . in fact, i think my speculative grades tend to be closer to the ‘real’ (lol) grade because most problems feel substantially easier when everything clicks and you find yourself on top of the boulder. and if we’re honest about how grades get cemented, quite a bit of it is the sum total of multiple speculations. by that i mean it’s hard for me to grade a problem (especially a project) without considering prior speculation. in fact, MY opinion (after having sent) is a sort of ex-post-facto speculation in and of itself.

    in the case of the climbing media, they almost HAVE to speculate on the grade lest their content lack the ‘OMFG NO WAY!-ishness’ required to sell their rag. plus, tracking pro spray without numbers is…well… not tracking pro-spray.

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  3. eddie March 7, 2008 at 4:34 pm #

    i think the community should move to the +/- rating…letter grades are too subjective and often just the ammunition many spraymasters shouldn’t have at their disposal.

    i smell a poll…..

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  4. Tony March 7, 2008 at 5:30 pm #

    I don’t think that the line will be repeated anytime soon, because the article certainly didn’t make the line sound that appealing, with the wetness and all.

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  5. Zonk March 7, 2008 at 6:13 pm #

    i don’t mind grade speculation per se. this case isn’t so bad.

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  6. scrappyv14 March 7, 2008 at 11:09 pm #

    Hey eddie, if we moved to the +/- system how would it affect my 8a.nu score? 🙂

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  7. rjtrials March 8, 2008 at 6:21 pm #

    I heard a rumor that this was a Kauk project. Evidently the next rig after Magic Line.

    Can anybody confirm/deny??

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  8. Tony March 8, 2008 at 7:49 pm #

    Alpinist says in their article that he had tried it after Magic Line but never got the redpoint.

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  9. Climbing Narcissist March 9, 2008 at 6:35 pm #

    yeah eddie…what would happen to your new scorecard 🙂

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  10. gabor March 9, 2008 at 6:49 pm #

    thats pretty crazy.. 8c+ trad. props to her. who cares if the route is 5.14c, 5.14b, 5.14+, 5.14-, either way its an incredible achievement

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  11. Luke March 10, 2008 at 1:37 pm #

    A bit more info and some photos from the Big UP Blog.

    http://bigupproductions.blogspot.com/2008/03/meltdown.html

    “Ron Kauk placed anchor bolts on the line about 10 years ago, but other than some efforts by him it was completely virgin – no other fixed gear, no pin scars, no evidence of ever having been aided.”

    “After about 10 sessions of working it on top-rope Tommy was never able to figure out the moves. I would say that means it’s nasty.”

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
  12. peter March 10, 2008 at 6:52 pm #

    interesting that the shoe designed to be the “solution to modern bouldering problems” is apparetly the “solution to futuristic trad climbs”

    GD Star Rating
    loading...

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Dosage 5 To Premier June 4th In Boulder | Climbing Narcissist - May 16, 2008

    […] in the upcoming Dosage 5 will be footage of Dave Graham bouldering in Arkansas, Beth Rodden climbing 5.14 trad, Yosemite bouldering, Paul Robinson bouldering hard out East and […]

  2. Exclusive Details On Contents Of Dosage 5 | Climbing Narcissist - May 29, 2008

    […] Rodden on Meltdown (5.14c) trad FA in Yosemite which would be awesome by itself. However, there will also be footage of her climbing […]

  3. Boulder Bloc» Blogarchiv » Dosage V Weltpremiere - May 29, 2008

    […] Rodden bei der Erstbegehung von “Meltdown” (5.14c trad) im Yosemite und Dokumentationen ihrer Begehungen von “The Phoenix” (5.13a), […]

Leave a Reply