Fresh off a successful trip to the Red River Gorge, Ethan Pringle jetted over to Yangshuo, China where his results have been similarly impressive.
In between battles with the local commuting options and food poisoning Pringle managed to climb a handful of hard 5.13/easy 5.14 routes in one or two tries. In addition, he repeated French Gangster (5.14b) on his 2nd try, and he did the likely 3rd ascent of China’s hardest established route, Spicy Noodle (5.14c). On his 8a scorecard Pringle calls the latter route “one of the best limestone routes” he’s ever done. Check out Pringle’s blog for more update from his trip.
The aforementioned Spicy Noodle was first done early last year by a visiting Chris Sharma which gives us a good excuse to revisit a few video from Sharma’s trip:
Looks like that shoulder is healing up. I hope he finds his way back to Clark Mountain before long…
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“The percentage of 5.14s in the world that are chipped, or glued to all hell, is staggering… I’d be willing to bet that it’s over 85%. Completely natural 5.14s seem to be few and far between these days…” – from Ethan Pringle’s blog
As someone who is nowhere close to being a 5.14 climber, I found this pretty surprising and a little disheartening. I guess it makes sense, given how fine the line can be between cleaning a route and chipping it. But 85% is startlingly high, kinda makes me think back to all the movies of hard climbing I’ve watched and wonder. Is chipping kind of the climbing world’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” or is it generally known when a route is chipped? I knew that chipping was fairly common back in the day when climbing 5.14 seemed absolutely impossible, but Pringle makes it sound like it hasn’t exactly died out, just become more discreet. The only time I’ve actually been aware of using chipped holds was on a V0 slab high-ball in NZ, and they were pretty obviously chipped, but I figure that I’ve probably climbed on plenty of chipped holds but just not known it.
Anyway, the Yangshuo limestone looks AMAZING. So many interesting features and such an idyllic setting. Sounds like Pringle is tearing it up, and has plenty of time left, maybe we’ll see him put up something new, sure seems like there’s plenty of room for development there…
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While outright hold creation via chipping is perhaps not that prevalent other types of route modifications like gluing, excessive cleaning, etc. are more common than you think.
If you’re interested in this topic you should check out the latest issue of Rock & Ice. Bill Ramsey has a pretty fascinating piece on how many routes have at least some level of “manufacturing” done to them and he goes into some depth as to what “manufacturing” even means and whether or not it should even matter.
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Ethan Pringle: Most talented American climber to have few to no significant FAs? Quick repeats are cool, but how about putting up something hard Ethan?
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Dave,
Climbing is a very personal thing some people are into putting up first ascents others just climb for fun..Just because you climb at the top of the grade realm doesnt mean that your into bolting and doing all the work behind fa’s. too each their own. i think its awesome Ethan doesnt really bolt it shows a lot about his personality to me.
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Not into doing all the work behind FA’s… that’s what it shows me too.
Don’t get me wrong, the guy is an amazingly strong and talented climber, who has made a career from being a prolific second and third ascentionist.
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The dude is young, early 20’s?
Give him some time before you pass judgement.
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I don’t know how old Ethan is, but I was curious so I checked out his blog.
http://www.ethanpringle.com/about/
He does list a couple hard FAs there, and that he did his first 5.14 at age 14. So he’s been climbing 5.14 for 10 or more years? Yowza.
Anyway, my point is this: The game at the highest level includes opening new routes. The strongest american sport climbers all do this. Even if you have the strength and the talent, can you be considered on the top level if you’re not playing that game? It’s no secret that repeats aren’t as hard as FAs.
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I agree with Dave, if he really wants to inspire people, its about time Ethan leaves a mark on climbing.
Repeating is cool, but FAs of beautiful lines is way more exciting.
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For you to read about on the internet? His climbing is only there to please him, not to give “hte interwebz” something to report or to inspire anyone.
Lots of people put effort into FA’s; some weak some strong, but that shit takes a huge amount of work and dedication. It’s not for everyone. He’ll grow into it or he won’t. Most likley he’ll run out of hard stuff and then learn to bolt.
I agree with both of you on premise- FA’s are badass and take vision. What I disagree with is bagging on some kid because he likes to go climb stuff.
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that ‘some kid who likes to climb’ is a professional climber who has been getting lots of support for a long time, and has been to many major climbing areas in the last 10+ years.
I see what you are saying though. I tried to phrase it to not sound like I’m bagging on him. Still, his repeats of cutting edge routes get reported on regularly, so that makes it a valid topic of discussion in my opinion. that blog page I linked says one of his goals is to push cutting edge climbing. IMO, you need to play the hard FA game to be thought of as a top level sport climber.
It is just the internet though, and I am just spewing thoughts. It is ok to disagree.
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How many of the hard 5.14s that have been done in the US were actually climbed by the person that bolted them? My guess is not many…
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Well that is certainly true, there are a lot of old projects out there that got abandoned. Sharma made his name early by sending most of the ones out west like Necessary Evil, etc. (boone speed bolts?) and Jumbo Love has been sitting there forever (randy leavitt bolts.)
The flip side is most of the rifle stuff, where I’d guess half hard FAs were done by the bolter? Kryptonite done by Tommy. Don’t know too much about the old logan canyon/american fork routes.
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I (think I) know Dave; he has a boner for Daniel Woods and Dave Graham. Wolvo Land makes him cream his pants.
Hey Dave, I still think Sharma is one of the strongest, if not the most. Rebuttal?
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Thanks for the laugh Eric, but no. I don’t find bouldering very interesting so I don’t follow it much.
But that doesn’t stop me from having an opinion! Renaming lincoln lake Wolvo land is pretty dumb.
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Hehe! Sorry, I mistook you for another Dave.
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EP’s FAs include Red Rocks’ hardest boulder problems, including Stand & Deliver and Clockwork Orange.
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And Wet Dream, which is one of the most striking boulders anywhere.
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