After a disappointing finish in the World Cup in Boulder, Ramon Julian Puigblanque made the drive west to Rifle for a short trip and things went just a little better for him there:
On day two, Julian onsighted Living in Fear (5.13d), shaking out in the worst possible places, and making the super-sustained testpiece look like 5.10, according to witnesses. After onsighting Living, Julian returned to the Wicked Cave, and surprised himself by onsighting The Crew (5.14c), one of the hardest routes in the canyon. The performance surprised even Julian, who said that it was a true “a muerte” fight to the end. Some of the hardest moves on the route are right at the top, and are said to be especially hard if you’re short.
So Sick.
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What a punt though. I mean, why didn’t he satch up that onsight of Zulu?? Oh wait…
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hmmm…according to a recent facebook post sam elias begs to differ…
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Oh yeah? Not so much of an onsight?
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not so much of the right start. sounds like, according to sam’s analysis of the photos posted online, ramonet started on the easier start of girl talk and linked into the crew via a recently-added bolt. i’m sure it’ll all be cleared up shortly. either way, very impressive.
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Girl Talk is on an entirely different section of the cliff. That’d entail a mile long traverse to link those guys……
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sorry, i meant bad girl’s club…
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I quickly removed that post because it didn’t actually prove anything. I have since learned directly from their coach Tony, that he tried both routes on that day, and that one photo was just mis-captioned. He went to the 3rd bolt on Bad Girls Club, and it was wet, and he came down. Then, he tried and on-sighted The Crew. I didn’t mean to cast doubt or start a controversy. Given the incredible nature of the achievement, I just saw an inconsistency and pointed it out. We warmed up with them at The Project wall that morning, and watched him on-sight Living in Fear. He’s a really impressive climber with a great attitude. The 3 of them – Ramon, Edu, and Tony – had nothing but good things to say about the World Cup in Boulder, the American people, as well as the climbing in Rifle. It was an honor to meet and climb near them.
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Cool, thanks for clearing that up Sam
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makes sense. thanks for clearing up!
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See, this is why I like the internet and climbing media. When I’m not psyched to go to the gym tonight and totally bummed about not getting to climb outside this weekend, I see shit like this and I’m like “RAWR! TRAINING! MUST CRUSH!@”
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