Climbing Narcissist » Guest Post

Report From The 2011 Collegiate Climbing Series

Narc — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:33:19 +0000

On April 23rd the 3rd season of the USA Climbing-backed Collegiate Climbing Series came to an end at San Diego’s Mesa Rim Climbing Center. 105 competitors came out and Alex Borst was kind enough to put together this report from the event.

The Collegiate Climbing Series (CCS) has just ended its third season on April 23, 2011 at the Mesa Rim climbing gym in San Diego. The CCS series has now had three national level events with this year’s being twice as big as last. With continued support from USAC, CCS, and other sponsors the series has really grown and will hopefully continue to grow in these upcoming years. Props to John Myrick, the CCS president, for putting together an awesome competition and to the one of the best setting crews!!! You guys killed it this year.

Photo: David Hernandez

I competed this year with six others from Humboldt State University along with other universities across California and the country. It was awesome to see so many schools compete this year and to climb with fellow college students in such a friendly, yet competitive, environment. There was beta sharing galore and encouragement giving within teams and in-between, with people using their psyche to send people up a hard climb. Having competed as a youth climber in SCS and ABS competitions it was really special to see that as a college student I have the opportunity to compete in regional and national level competitions through CCS.

Photo: David Hernandez

The competition itself was well organized with two sessions of climbing, one in the morning and one in the evening. It worked out really well for the climbers because they capped the amount of people to each session at 50; this made the lines to get on a climb not too bad at all. Not once was I waiting for more than five minutes to give a burn on a problem or route.

The competition was split with routes and problems, and your top 3 scores from each field were totaled for a final score. Being a competitor, and talking to other climbers throughout the day, we agreed that strategy over straight burliness played a big part in how well you ranked. Divvying your time between boulder problems and sport routes took effort and getting 6 total high scores was no easy task. If you were more of a boulder climber it was easy to get caught up in all the amazing problems that were set for us, and as a rope climber myself, I was caught up with the amazing setting and walls at Mesa Rim. 65 ft tall!!!!! And lots of angles, absolutely gorgeous gym and a perfect venue for a competition like this.

Photo: David Hernandez

Results and awards were held after the competition with individual, team, and scholarships to be awarded.

2011 Collegiate Climbing Series Results
Men’s Difficulty	Women’s Difficulty
Dan Beall Alex Biale Mark Mercer	Kimberly Schreiber Vicky Sinnot Alex Hafer
Men’s Speed	Women’s Speed
Mark Mercer Kegan Minock Daniel Thueneman	Amanda Sutton Becca Saag Michelle Schrader
Team Results	Ambassador Scholarships
Central Florida – 3 time winners Humboldt State University	Kimberly Schreiber – $1,000 Nolan Kloer – $1,000 Libby Gilson – $500 Patrick Betts – $500

I can’t speak for the other schools teams, but as a competitor from HSU it was really awesome to hear that my fellow team/classmate Nolan Kloer won a scholarship based on his entry essay to the CCS. CCS is providing great opportunities to climbers to further their education and to continue being climbing ambassadors.

Men’s Difficulty winner Dan Beall

Photo: David Hernandez

Dan Beall crushed faces on the bouldering end of the competition, and was definitely strong on the ropes; climbing as quickly as he could till the crux and powering through till the finish. Another shout out definitely has to go to Alex Biale from the Cal Poly team, he and I have been going head to head every local competition here in Cali and it was a blast watching him get second and competing throughout the day. Mark Mercer who I had met previously from youth competitions was crushing all day as well and representing the Central Florida team strong. I can only speak about these top 3 guys because I know them personally, but during the comp I saw all 3 top women climb, and all I can say is DAMN! They were all some serious crushers!!! Super stoked so many siked climbers came to have a good time at CCS Nationals.

Hopefully it’ll be even bigger and better next year. If you’re in college and don’t have CCS competitions happening near you talk to your region’s youth coordinators and colleges to see what you can make happen.

Report From The 2011 Collegiate Climbing Series from Climbing Narcissist

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Is Europe Taking America’s Lunch on the Rocks? Yes…and No.

Narc — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:45:57 +0000

To wrap up the discussion from last week about the perceived superiority of European sport climbers compared to American sport climbers is this guest post by Urban Climber Editor Justin Roth:

I think the reason American (and North American … are Canadians included in this?) climbers on the whole are “behind” (I actually don’t think they’re behind in any true sense, but since that’s the premise of this and Peter Beal’s posts, it’s where I’ll begin) is the same reason American climbers are behind Euros in the competition world: Culture.

Kilian Fischhuber recently told me that he felt American climbing culture valued first (or just hard) ascents on rock far more than it does good comp results. The reason behind this, he suggested, was that comps are much bigger affairs in Europe. If you’re in the finals in a major European comp, you end up on national TV, which is of more value to sponsors than a report from the field of a 5.14d first ascent. The visibility and history of European comps are different than in the States, hence, you have more Euros (Patxi Usobiaga, Anna Stöhr, Fischhuber, etc. … ) who focus on and do well in comps. Our best climbers (especially the men, like Sharma, Woods, Robinson, Graham, etc. …) focus on rock and so don’t have great World Cup records (not to mention the fact that we only have one World-level climbing event in the States at the moment — another aspect of the cultural divide). So the culture of climbing in the US isn’t as interested in comp results as is the Euro culture — the results, then, should come as no surprise. (Of course, things are changing, comps are becoming bigger here, but that’s another discussion.)

So what does this have to do with American’s being “behind” Euros on the sport front? Well, first, if you count Sharma as an American climber (being that he more or less lives in Spain these days), you already have someone performing at roughly the same level as the top Europeans, like Ondra and Usobiaga. But he’s not just repeating 5.14d in a few tries, he’s putting up 5.15 FAs (the American climbing culture loves FAs — maybe it’s part of that frontier mentality, always blazing new trails. …). Sharma (and Graham?) aside, another cultural difference between the US and Europe, I propose, is that the roots of sport climbing, bolting climbs, and even climbing for numbers, go much deeper in Europe. In the US, bolting has been, and in many places still is, considered taboo. It’s seen as destroying the natural environment, leaving your mark on a wild place that should be preserved for others, or even a form of cowardice (gear takes more guts and more ingenuity, right? Ever heard of the Bolt Wars?). This is mostly because we have so much terrain here in the states that accepts gear. Our culture puts trad climbing up on a bit of pedestal, and looks down on those who “number chase.” Euros, with their relative dearth of trad climbing areas (except in the mountains), do not have the same historic gear-climbing culture. And being that they have loads of steep limestone, and that their climbing history is older and more pervasive than ours (am I going out on a limb when I say that, per capita, many more people climb regularly in Europe than they do in the United States? And that many generations of a family climb, and climb together?), given this, it’s not a shocker that more of the general populace would climb at a higher level on sport routes than in America.

You could easily flip the scenario and ask: why are Europeans behind Americans in the trad game? Why aren’t more Europeans putting up super-hard big-wall routes, like Tommy Caldwell in El Cap? Why did the American climbers Matt Segal, Kevin Jorgeson, and Alex Honnold crush the standard on grit when they went to England recently? Probably due to the unique American cultural emphasis on two things: gear-protected climbing and highball bouldering. In short, holding two cultures up next to each other and saying this one is “behind” the other is this or that regard is to take things out of context. It’s certainly no big deal to do this, but I think it reveals maybe too glib an interpretation of micro trends in the reported (with emphasis on reported) ascents. And you know, some of the American youth competitors these days may well be climbing in the upper 5.14 range, but, mostly due to culture, they haven’t yet had much chance to get out of the gym and onto real rock.

So basically, I’d say two things: 1) American climbers may be “behind” Euros in some specific instances. That is to say, they may not be making headlines with big numbers on sport routes at the moment. But such a comparison is not apples to apples, and when taken into a larger context, things look a bit different. In the larger context, it’s clear that Americans have been and continue to do amazing things on other fronts — hard, high boulder problems are going up here and abroad under American tips; and Americans continue to do hard trad climbs. And 2) cultural differences can be seen as a reasons for any such differences in aptitudes. There are counterexamples all over the place, but on the whole, I think what each culture values can been seen as a reasonable explanation of why each culture’s climbers climb the way they do at the level they do.

Maybe the real question is: why are so many of the America’s best climbers attracted to Europe? Graham has flirted with ex-patriotism for years now, Sharma just bought a house in Spain, Woods, Jon Cardwell, Joey Kinder, Sean McColl, and Robinson have all made extended visits to ol’ Europa (heck, many are there right now, or will be soon…). So I ask you: what gives? Is American stone losing its luster? Or is it all part of the cycle?

Is Europe Taking America’s Lunch on the Rocks? Yes…and No. from Climbing Narcissist

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Let’s Talk Style

Narc — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:04:54 +0000

Guest post from Rhoads. The views expressed below do not necessarily reflect the views of The Narc.

I am writing the following not to erupt an argument, but because I enjoy exploring the finer points of style in climbing. I ask that NO ONE takes this personally and to be prepared to defend your opinions with concise argument and examples.

We can talk about many topics and issues but before we get in too deep I think we can all agree on one thing: The best style or ethic in climbing is to “on-sight” solo a climb with no rope or protection. With this statement I think we should skip over an argument as to with or without shoes and chalk. But if I must…….

Using Shoes

Shoes are fundamental to climbing harder grades. They are such an advantage that climbing without them while barefoot is a completely new level beyond our current understanding of “difficult”. It would make hard routes so much harder it would require a new grading system.

Using Chalk

Chalk is a harder argument. How much does it help? The answer varies based on conditions, the type of rock and the type of holds but, like shoes, it also seems fundamental most of the time so let’s not go there.

Moving on………

I believe the definition of the “best style” is to be as closest to the “on-sight” solo with no rope or protection as possible. This statement also lends itself to the idea that a harder climb mentally is a better style of climbing. We shall see, but the next step beyond this is to lead the climb with a rope attached “On sight” with passive pro, no preplaced pro and from the ground up. On sight is a huge step up in commitment, the pro is unknown, the moves unrehearsed and potential for failure is much higher. On sight ability is probably the true measure of a climbers worth but the “On sight” is a one shot deal and is also clouded by beta from another climber and/or video footage seen by the on-sighter. Therefore, the true on sight is much rarer in nature and also does not allow climbers to improve their skills on higher grades without the potential of disastrous consequences. So we must them move on to the second step away from the best style of climbing, the “Ground Up” ascent.

Ground Up Ascent

A ground up ascent involves the climber never top roping the route but starting from the bottom with pro in hand. The first attempt here would be “on sight” and therefore second from the top in style. In a true “Ground Up” ascent if the climber falls they must remove any pro on the route and pull their rope if possible and if not possible (e.g. multi pitch) they must at least pull their rope to the bottom. In this case the lead is “pink point”. A variation on this happens when a climber falls but doesn’t pull the rope. I believe this takes the style down one complete notch and then the “Head Point” becomes a better style making it the third step down from the best.

Head Pointing

Headpointing involves top roping the route first to rehearse the moves and gear. After the climber thinks they can do the route they will then lead the route with passive pro, placing gear and clipping the rope as they go up the wall. A variation includes pre-placing the gear, making the lead a “pink point”.

Some notes on gear…….

Fixed Gear

There is gear that exists that when applied may harm the rock and/or is permanent. I believe some of this gear is obviously necessary but I don’t think it would be controversy to say it would a better style not to use it at all. Using fixed gear when unnecessary demotes a climb to the lowest level of style.

Passive Gear

Any gear that is not highly likely to permanently harm the rock (nuts could leave scars in theory) is game, if you think it will work go for it.

Other Notes……

Chopping Bolts

It seems climbers chop bolts for two reasons; they are against bolts all together or they believe the bolts are not needed on a particular climb. Both reasons have no merit. Does destroying a hanger save the rock? There’s still a hole!

An example of the first travesty is well-known bolt chopper Ken Nichols. His reasons are, to sum it up, he hates bolts. An example of the second travesty was when Sonnie Trotter went trad on the undone sport line “The Path” and then chopped the bolts. Not only that but he then rated 5.14R. It seemed extremely egotistical to do so. The point is that not all of us are capable of running it out over bad gear without a good chance of getting hurt (Hence, sport-climbing). Why not leave the bolts so that others can work the route also. Bolting the line in the first place is a different story……..

Bolting

When is drilling a hole in the rock justified? The good reasons are few, the bad reasons are many. I operate on the idea that if possible we should avoid bolting. Here are a few questions a potential bolter should ask themselves before they dive in.

Can the route be easily top roped?

An excellent example exists at Devils Lake, WI. There is a paved path on top of the cliff to access the top out. Bolts are not needed. An example of a route that wouldn’t be easily top-roped is one that is severely overhanging due to the swing experienced in a fall. But then the second question needs to be answered.

Can the route be led using trad gear?

If so, it does not need bolts. If bolts already exist they should stay (see Sonnie Trotter above) and the bolter should be shot. But what if only part of the route may be led on gear? This will be a mixed climb.

Mixed Routes

Mixed routes include the use of trad gear and at least one bolt. Perhaps there is a section of a particular climb that takes no gear this might allow for the use of a bolt ONLY if a resulting fall without the bolt will cause death or dismemberment. Big whippers are allowed.

Back to just passive gear……

Has the route been led on gear only?

If so, bolts cannot be added. If the route is too scary for a climber they should seek other routes.

What if it is a bolted climb but very run out?

From time to time a very run out “sport” route is put up on lead. This tends to run out the bolts. A climb of this nature may be “retro-bolted” only with a good consensus from the local climbing community. If the original FA is still around he/she has the final say. Generally speaking if it’s a sport climb it should be bolted to be safe.

Conclusion:

Of course I’ve missed things here, I ask that you please comment below to add them. Perhaps you think I’m wrong? Please explain how and why you feel that way, examples will be needed. For those of you who think this isn’t worth taking about or that “nobody cares” what you will find is that some people don’t care but some do. If you don’t have anything constructive to say don’t say it, don’t read this, and continue your life not caring, that would be just fine for me. For the rest of you, let’s hear what you’ve got to say!

Note from The Narc: If you have a topic you think would make for a good guest post please let me know.

Let’s Talk Style from Climbing Narcissist

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Climbing With A Baby: Some Reflections

Narc — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:28:03 +0000

Guest Post by Peter Beal:

When my wife and I decided to have a child, many friends and acquaintances said, “It’s going to change your life.” This was said in the tone reserved for other awkward and potentially threatening moments like when the boss says, “Do you have a minute?” In Boulder, adults take not having responsibilities seriously and children are all about having responsibilities. So it was goodbye to roadtrips, unplanned weekends, parties, restaurants, movies, and so on… Not to say you can’t be super climbing-parents and try to continue that lifestyle. My advice is don’t even try, at least not yet. You have more important things to take care of than planning a trip to the Valley.

Fortunately we never had much of a social life so the nightlife was never an issue to begin with. And roadtrips had started to lose their savor after gas crested $3 a gallon. So what has been the effect of having a child on being a serious climber? I can only speak from the male side of the equation but here a few points to consider…

The following factors are the most important in trying to stay somewhat on your game: time, energy, and mental focus. You will immediately notice a lot less of the first, an unpredictable amount of the second, and a very tenuous grasp on the third. Let me explain.

Caring for a person who depends upon you utterly requires a remarkable amount of time. Getting out the door with a baby is a 15-30 minute process that can be extended even further by factors beyond your control such as diaper changes, spitting up, changes in the weather, etc. Any excursions need to be coordinated with feeding and nap times and are limited by them as well, especially after roughly six months to a year when they begin to eat solid food and sleep less. Many couples cheat by hiring nannies or having grandparents around but if you can’t afford constant babysitting or don’t have cooperative relatives nearby, you are going to see whatever free time you had cut down drastically. This means you must make the most of whatever time you have.

This is awkward because thanks to the constant attention that babies require, whenever they don’t sleep (and if you are lucky you will have a good sleeper), you will not have a lot of energy to pour into that limited time available to you. Especially difficult to maintain is your own sleep pattern which, after several nights of midnight/early AM screamfests or feedings (typical for newborns) will be about as resilient as a stashed crashpad at Mount Evans in March. This makes it difficult to recover after hard gym sessions for example. A typical scenario might be an evening session (and if you are lucky, your baby will cooperate and come along) followed by baby waking at 2, staying up until 4—she could be screaming, she might just want to play—followed by your having to wake up at 7 to get to work. That makes it tough to get the requisite rest to ounce back and recover. It also makes it hard to get psyched for the physical demands that serious climbing makes on your body. Maybe it’s time to focus on technique and mental factors?

Well, you could except that now, given the lack of time and energy, it’s pretty hard to remember what day it is, let alone exactly where the left foot is supposed to go once you get the right hand undercling. Your mental and psychological state will oscillate wildly depending on many things but primarily upon how much sleep you have had, whether the baby is sick or not, or how you are getting along with your spouse as you both learn to cope with the previous two problems or a laundry list of others. Much of the time you will be on autopilot and soon will begin to forget what life was like pre-baby, a helpful amnesia that all parents must ultimately adopt or be crushed.

Yet there are compensations. Climbing has long trained me to cope with outrageous demands on mind and body and hence as a climber you can be in good shape for dealing with many of the crises that parenting involves. Parenting trains you to be patient, willing to adapt to circumstances, and appreciative of the good times and curiously forgetful of the bad. Reflexes get a good workout with exercises such as grabbing a toppling toddler you see just out of the corner of your eye. Steady lifting of a 20+ pound infant keeps the biceps active. Having a baby forces you to set your priorities and cut out extraneous aspects of your life that don’t contribute directly to living fully and better. You see through the nonsense of life much more acutely.

The truth is that there is nothing you will feel as intensely on a cliff or a boulder as you will feel for your children. This is something that will only grow over time and will remind you that rocks are ultimately just that, rocks. Rocks don’t grow, learn, laugh, cry and they will never, never hug you back, no matter how hard you hold onto them. Children put the very silly and arbitrary game of climbing into perspective, and a lot of other silly games besides. So it’s good news and bad news. The bad news is yes, having had children, your life will never be the same, but the good news is that your new life, which now includes this new supremely lovable human being, is here to stay.

Thanks again to Peter for his thoughts. You can read more from Peter at his blog Mountains and Water. You can see video of his latest sending spree at Flagstaff Mountain at his blog as well.

I know that this is an issue that many climber’s deal with. What does everyone else think about the decisions regarding starting a family vs. the desire to spend time climbing?

Climbing With A Baby: Some Reflections from Climbing Narcissist

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Climb Like A Girl

Zonk — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:23:19 +0000

This is another guest post from Zonk. If you would like to write a guest post on any climbing related subject or share some pictures from a recent roadtrip, please contact me.

I was going to write a diatribe on the bad journalism that one often sees in climbing news. And I thought about writing another news post. I fear that the trend will be that my news posts will always be kind of late, which I guess is also an example of bad reporting. My excuse is that I am not the primary source of information anyway so it does not matter. However, those will have to wait. (That first one may never be written because it just makes my blood boil. An old geezer like myself should not stress the ticker too much.) Instead, I am going to tell a story, which starts with friends and climbing and somehow verged towards a brush with philosophy.

So I recently went to a rock climbing competition. I went more for the social aspect than anything because some of my friends were going. (Admittedly I am not very good. Otherwise maybe I would care about trying to place.) I had a calculus exam to study for, but when the prospect of this event arose, I could not resist hanging out. I swear that I did climb some problems too, although from the photographic evidence, it seems that the only thing I did was stand around. During the comp, I watched this girl TM flash a problem, which basically traverses across the wall through a dihedral. Moving between the two walls, she subtly adjusted balance, body position, and foot placement as she moved diagonally down through the dihedral. Talking to little A-chan (Yes, I know little and -chan are redundant, but she is that cute.), I told her to watch TM climb. I stated something like she climbs like a girl, not a guy. A-chan asked what I meant, and I responded that by “like a guy” I meant it was really powerful and feigned a big move with a guttural exclamation, for which she immediately understood the brutishness I was implying, while contrasting that with TM who danced up the wall.

I know these are overgeneralizations, and I think that many of the strong guy climbers do not get enough credit for their technique. But these are expressions meant to convey some idea. The phrase “like a girl” is often used in a derogatory manner, such as “throwing like a girl.” One can envision the limp arm motion and the dead duck of a fluttering ball that this invokes. In contrast, “to climb like a girl” is very much positive. And to prove to myself that it was not only I that ascribed these meanings,

The I Climb Like A Girl blog has this quotation (for which I could not find the source):
“To climb like a girl is to climb with finesse, technique, flexibility, creativity, and strength. It should appear like dancing and not look or sound like a one-armed pull up.”

And the Mill City Rock Gym cites:
“7. Climb like a girl
Use technique and finesse instead of trying to muscle up a route.”
by Jim Donini (as quoted in “Confessions of a Crack Addict” by Michael Ybarra, The Wall Street Journal; Dec 14, 2006)

In the course of this googling, I came across these links that I wanted to share. One of these is the AscenDance Project, which are walldancers literally. It is pretty cool that the principal Isabel is able to achieve “an integration of her passions for music and dance, with climbing.” For those who will be in the Bay Area, they have a pre-show from April 24-26, 2008. (They will also participate in the San Francisco International Arts Festival 2008.) If you read this and are in attendance, you should give us your impressions of the performance.

The March 2007 NY Times Play magazine had this audio slide show (produced by Justin Sablich and photos by Arno Rafael Minkkinen). Emily Harrington, Steph Davis, Lynn Hill, Beth Rodden, and Alex Puccio are featured and reflect briefly on their motivations for climbing. This seems to be an accompanying article, highlighting some of their accomplishments. Speaking of Alex, the Climbing Bum blog by Carlo Traversi has funnily chronicled the ongoing battle between Alex Puccio and Connor Griffith in Minesweeper. It sounds like after much projecting (you have to scroll down), Alex was able to best Connor’s time. Subsequently, Connor outdid her again.

I also found an article called “Climbing like a Girl: An Exemplary Adventure in Feminist Phenomenology” by Dianne Chisholm in the journal Hypatia vol. 23, no. 1 (Jan–Mar 2008). The word phenomenology scares me though so I just skimmed it briefly and put it away for later.

Climb Like A Girl from Climbing Narcissist

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Red Wing Barn Bluff: A Midwestern Anomaly

Narc — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:10:09 +0000

“Coming to Carleton was a strictly academic decision,” I explain to the student interviewing me for the Carletonian, the student Newspaper at Carleton College, a small liberal arts college in Northfield Minnesota (think Middlebury in the Midwest). It was my first week on campus and already word had gotten out that I was “some kind of really good climber.” Just like in high school, the whole “big-fish small pond thing” had begun with an interview with a reporter for the newspaper. “But there’s more climbing in Minnesota than people think,” I continue. I can’t help myself. “There are some 5.14’s that Andy Raether put up that I’d be really psyched to try.”

It had been a year since I was climbing really seriously. The stress of a senior year schedule heavy in AP classes, the burden of college applications, increased involvement in debate and a serious relationship took up the bulk of my climbing time. The last competition I was in shape for was the Endless Summer Competition in October of 2006 at Lincoln Park Athletic Club, which I had won. The decision to be a typical high school student for the first time in my life is not one that I regret. But that psyche for climbing, that ever-present desire to climb new routes is still present in me, whether I liked it or not.

Finals at the Endless Summer Comp

The word of my “climbing prowess” had gotten out because I had been given a work-study job at the climbing wall, a job traditionally reserved for upper classmen. In fairness to myself, I am more than qualified to have this job – I’ve been climbing for eight years and have experience route setting and teaching climbing in numerous gyms.

My first day of work consisted of some upper classmen eyeing me suspiciously and others asking me if I’d ever heard of Redwing. “That’s the crag with Mississippi Burning (a classic 5.12c) and an alternate start that is supposed to be like .14a! There’s so much I want to do over there.” And so, the second weekend I was at Carleton, we loaded up and headed over to Redwing.

I was surprised by the difficulty of the climbing. As a “local” of the Red River Gorge (read resident of a Northern suburb of Chicago used to making the seven hour drive) I was used to friction and large foot holds. What I found at Redwing was soft limestone, tiny feet and poor handholds. It took me a while to become accustomed to the climbing here. But over a few more trips, I managed to learn how to climb vertical, technical limestone and even to tick a few classics. Here are a handful of my favorites:

Kelly’s Arete (5.12a): Short and technical. Climb this 35-foot arête using high feet and compression moves, make a tough clip and mantle the finish.

Mark Dyson on Kelly’s Arete

Perfect Sex (5.12b): Climb up through some poor rock past too many bolts to a hard roof pull. A variety of holds in different places allow for a few sequences. After pulling the lip, paste your feet and continue to smear up the wall while laying back a mega flake for a few moves. A few jugs and you’re at the anchors.

Perfect Sex

Starting up Mississippi Burning

Mississippi Burning (5.12c): Climb up a thin crack utilizing the face holds to reach a small ledge. Don’t use the crack to the right; recover what you can, then sprint through three boulder problems to an easier ten feet before the anchors.

Preemptive Strike (5.12b): Longer and more involved than other routes at Redwing. In 70 feet encounter an easy start, a no hands rest, four bolts of sustained climbing, a kneebar and an easier finish.

Paradigm Shift (5.12d/5.13a): Begin with a few difficult gaston moves to access a left leaning crack system. Sustained climbing for twenty-five feet yields two decent crimps for a quick shake. A hard left hand cross over move on a quarter pad crimp allows you to reach the eighth of a pad gaston. Sit on a high foot; grab a quarter pad two-finger pocket and then stab up to a good crimp. From there climb easier ground for thirty feet to the anchors.

Now, I am home for a six-week break lasting from Thanksgiving to New Years. I’ll be working at home and making the journey south to my other home crag. After this break and my ten-week winter quarter, I know I’ll be itching to get back out on the limestone of Redwing. After all, I haven’t even tried to the really hard climbing there yet. And there are some lines that I am really, really psyched to try.

Red Wing Barn Bluff: A Midwestern Anomaly from Climbing Narcissist

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Hillbilly Hollow

S-Cort — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:20:44 +0000

Note from Climbing Narc – Thanks to Sarah for this guest post on Hillbilly Hollow

Three hours after leaving Milwaukee, Tony, Kevlar and I pull into a rest stop just off the highway. We could be anyone, stopping to use the restrooms and stretch our legs. However, today we have a different purpose. Just behind this rest stop is a secluded sandstone bluff, housing about 15 routes, both sport and trad. Suffering from Red River Gorge withdrawal, we’ve come to Hillbilly Hollow to get our bolt-clippin’, sandstone climbin’ fix.

We started our day by warming up on two of the slabs. Curse of the Drill (5.7) and End of the Innocence (5.7) are both fun and very well bolted. After the slabs, we all climbed Swiss Cheese (5.8). The patina holds were rather sharp, but the moves were intriguing. It was easily the favorite route of the day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent working the burly Generation Gap (5.12). It begins by surmounting “The Gap”, a large roof, then working your way up the arete until you finish on Swiss Cheese, the route directly to the right. Its powerful opening moves spanked us all…repeatedly.

However, according to Tony, the middle of the route, which works its way up a blunt arete, was “orgasmic”. Bring a stick clip and a cold shower.

We had the crag to ourselves the entire time. The only people we saw all day were 2 curious truckers who wandered down the trail. Also appreciated were the easy, short approach and nice bathrooms. Overall, Hillbilly Hollow was a nice, frictiony alternative to Devil’s Lake.

A return trip is definitely needed…

Hillbilly Hollow from Climbing Narcissist

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