I spend a lot of time on here spewing about how many hard boulder problems guys like Daniel Woods and Paul Robinson have done lately, but their overall totals pale in comparison to that of one Justin Jaeger. In the past year he has done 365 problems and overall he has logged 1352 sends in his “spraysheet”. His scorecard has so much beta on it that it makes even my head spin.
Has he done 100 V11’s or harder in 12 months like Paul Robinson….not quite. JJ focuses on what is probably the most perfect grade on the entire V-Scale…V7. Some might call his focus an obsession but that is for you to decide. He could probably have more hard ticks if he focused on projecting, but I for one think it is a great idea to do a greater quantity of “easy” problems.
His blog is also a great resource for beta and quality photos of some lesser known areas in Colorado. He also contributes content in the forms of videos and pictures to ColoradoClimbs.com.
If you spend a lot of time reading climbing blogs you might notice Justin by a different name: Sock Hands. He explains in his pimpin’ “Player Profile” on Climbing.com where the nickname came from:
Through law school I hardly ever climbed at a gym and I was getting out on the sinister sharpness of my beloved Colorado stone three to six days a week … For a few years I had flappers on most of my fingers most of the time. Finally, to help better heal them, I started using Polysporin like hand lotion at night, but I left greasy paw prints all over. My [now] wife insisted that I start wearing cotton gloves to bed, but I decided just to use old, clean socks instead.
Better than “Vadge Hands” I guess…
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