Comments on: Hard, Unrepeated American Routes

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:28:56 +0000

Bump for update – Psychedelic

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:20:02 +0000

Maybe the reason is the traditional American style/ethic of ground up ascents and the stigma of rap-bolting in many crags. The European style is a bit more permissive (head-point, rap-bolt, via-ferrata…) but without that style we wouldn’t get to discuss how freakishly strong those damn Europeans are.

By: J V

J V — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:17:37 +0000

I think Ghetto Booty is supposed to be 14.b.

By: Chris Sharma Sends Clark Mountain Super Project | Climbing Narcissist

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:00:36 +0000

[...] mention of a grade or name right now, but this route is clearly a contender for one of the hardest routes in the U.S. You have to give a lot of credit to Randy Leavitt for having the vision to bolt this route over [...]

By: cam

cam — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:58:14 +0000

I am from the Rumney area and have gone up to it to stare in awe. Imagine Jade like holds, (Woods RMNP) and then try and clip off them. impossible at the moment. So you have two choices TR or boulder. It cant be classified as a sport route since you cant clip it as a normal redpoint, unless some new phenom wants to try. Its a scary as hell boulder is what I would say and for some it isnt worth broken bones since the landing is a jumble of granite blocs and moss. by the way, i love the ladder next to it. makes us all feel so weak.

By: peter

peter — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:57:40 +0000

Kehl has climbed a bunch of v12′s (or basically 5.13d’s?) including Evilution and Straight outta squampton, so he definitely has the head for a death landing. He made the first ascent of the unrepeated “The New Zero” at the holy boulders in Southern illinois, speculating that it might be around v13. Subsequent access issues suggest that this grade might always be in question. He’s also climbed Black Lung, which is speculated to be around v12/13. I believe he also made the second ascent of Lamiche’s “The Shield” (hard v12) in LRC during Sportiva’s solution team tour.Basically, I can see how Kehl, in good shape, on the right problem for him, could climb v14.

By: Climbing Narcissist

Climbing Narcissist — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:59:52 +0000

Yeah, if they had the approach hike of Rifle things would be a bit different.

It is especially amazing when you consider the weather at these U.S. crags compared to the weather at UK crags!

By: Tims

Tims — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:56:59 +0000

Exactly – If Fortress of Solitude and Clarke Mountain were both 10 minute hikes I’m sure they would have seen more action and even some repeats. It still seems pretty crazy that the number of routes in the grade range here in the little old UK is comparable to that in the U.S!

By: Climbing Narcissist

Climbing Narcissist — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:24:45 +0000

Thanks for the article Tim, that was a great write-up! It does seem as though most futuristic sport crags in the U.S. require incredible amounts of effort just to get to them, let alone equip and work projects.

By: TimS

TimS — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:15:15 +0000

This article http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=854 gives a good idea of the quality of crags available virtually roadside in Spain. It’s the same in France too, in areas like Gorges Du Tarn there’s amazing cliffs that haven’t been climbed on at all because they’re more than 20 minutes walk from the road.