A who’s who of Boulder’s climbing elite gathered under Boulder Canyon’s Cob Rock today to have a go at Daniel Woods’ The Game, a previously unrepeated proposed V16. After the dust settled it was Carlo Traversi who came out with the problem’s 2nd ascent.
Despite not feeling strong of late, Traversi indicated in a recent blog update that he was close to doing the line so today’s success is perhaps less of a surprise. Here’s what he had to say about the ascent on his 8a scorecard:
2nd Ascent. 5 days. First of all, the utmost respect goes to Daniel for establishing this line. In terms of strength and ability, he is by far the visionary leader of our generation. Not to mention, he’s also one of the nicest and most respectful people you’ll ever meet. As for the grade of this one, I honestly don’t know. 8C seems appropriate only because I haven’t climbed any others. It’s a hard boulder, that’s fun to climb on, and seems to fit my style very well. Let’s just leave it at that…
As you can see, with regard to the all important topic of the grade, Traversi, who had previously done 4 V14s and commented that he didn’t feel he was a V15 climber after his repeat of Jade last year, suggested that V15 might be a more appropriate grade for The Game. He keeps things in perspective on his blog:
The important thing is that we have both given our honest opinions based on our prior experiences and that’s all that should be expected. Have fun and go rock climbing!
As Jamie Emerson said in his update on the send, “Ah well, I guess The Game is not over…”
Below is some footage of Traversi’s send. See how many V14 climbers you can spot in the crowd!
5…I see 5 v14ers…am I right? What do I win?
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Are you counting Carlo as part of the crowd??
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I only counted 4 . . . counting Carlo . . .
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Carlo, JE, DG, Webb, and Cardwell. Anyone else?
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Yeah I was counting Carlo, I almost said 4 but then I noticed JE near the end of the vid.
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JE is a v14er? I didn’t think so..
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He did 1 last summer…
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He did 1 last summer…
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JE is a v14er? I didn’t think so..
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Damn! He looks sooooo strong on that! Apparently I missed the memo that Boulder was being evacuated to Cob Rock. Definitely going climbing tomorrow. So psyched!
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Get with the program, Doug!!
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Sick.
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The most inspiring ascent I’ve ever witnessed from Carlo, nor anyone else for that matter. EVERYONE was freaking out; the energy was amazing. Congratulations Carlo buddy!
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Dave Graham back there spottin and movin pads like a champion
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I might lick Carlo. Just saying.
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he made it look so easy…ridiculous…
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this says something about what Carlo’s been talking about, grades are sooooo subjective
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Accent???
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He made it look a lot easier than Daniel did… I agree it’s very subjective.
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Narc, do you have a list of the World’s V16’s? Just curious. Tried to search it and couldn’t find it.
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This is the best list I know of:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag_Q7tFm2QsidHc4cGY4Tnl0bEhfSnZveFRweEhlN0E&hl=en#gid=0
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Major props to Carlo. I’m starting to think that he is much stronger than he may realize.
That list really makes you wonder how many proposed 8C+ boulders are awaiting a downgrade. Looking at the list of FAs and repeats, I do find it hard to believe there are any V16/8C+ problems, with exception to LD and maybe The Game. No bias against non-americans intended.
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that’s an huge number of V15’s out there… Compared to 5.15’s they’re almost common. Kinda makes me wonder why we haven’t had MORE proposed V16’s
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Funny that only 9b (15b) is considered on for sport climbing on that list instead of 9a+ (15a). Pretty sure that there are many more 9a+ routes then 9b.
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Was there different beta or something? I didn’t see that nasty cut swing move that Daniel had to do.
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Read Carlo’s blog for his thoughts on the beta he used
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Carlo has entered the world of truly elite climbers, just in the last few months or so. How long ago was it that he did his first V14? It was less than a year ago that he sent Jade and shook up the bouldering world with his little “rant” about the grade. Maybe he’s super strong and just didn’t know it? That could possibly explain all the downgrading. I’m excited to see what he does in the next few years, and am looking forward to more of his completely unfiltered opinions.
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Damn, jade and now this. Incredible climb. Gives you an idea of just how hard it must be with all of those strong climbers on it and only one repeat thus far.
It also really highlights just how hard v16 would really be. Possibly still a step beyond what the best are doing right this moment. Daniel is amazing, but maybe he should have been more conservative in grading this v16. Seems more responsible to downgraded and let it be upgraded than to go too far. No disrespect intended, I’ll never be able to do any of these. Nice job, Carlo.
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I think Daniel had good authority to give it a V16. Keep in mind that as the scale goes up, subjectivity increases. 1 inch could be the difference from keeping body tension on a move and having your feet cut either making a problem harder or forcing different beta. This may not be the exact difference here, but Daniel is shorter than most and it shows in competitions and on boulders outside (see him and Paul Robinson working the Veritas Right (now Hypnotized Minds) project in “The Hardest Move” in the Reel Rock Tour video.)
However, consensus lies with the majority. So if Daniel is below the average height of the repeaters (on any boulder,) it becomes irrelavent and a problem that is subjective to Daniel will become downgraded or whatever based on the taller majority. As for “The Game,” it really could have been, and I don’t doubt that it was, head and shoulders above any other V15 Daniel has climbed thus warrenting the new level of a V16 grade.
I also give credit to Carlo on this climb making it look like a cake-walk. I think he is much stronger (as stated above) than he may think due to inexperience, and I use that term loosely, at the higher end of the grading scale. I mean, there was a video of him doing lever pull-ups (I think one of his Cresciano Videos?) That’s ridiculous.
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Pretty sure that Carlo is shorter than DW… FYI
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To the guest, never compared the twos height.
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But you did mention a couple of times how Daniel is shorter than most.
For The Game, being short seems like it could be an advantage based on watching the footage…
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In reply to Narc, I agree. It seemed like Carlo was able to get his feet high enough at the point where Woods had to hold the swing that they were basically where Woods’ feet were after Woods cut and then reset. This made the swing unnecessary for Carlo. A taller climber would have more trouble doing that.
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The difference between V15 and V16 would probably tear my body apart.
I’m curious to see how things– namely the Invisible Man Project– play out in the future…
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Really great effort on the send. Gotta love footage of climbers trying hard.
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After reading all the comments above, consider that The Game is not the problem it once was. The same could probably be said for Jade. Not to say that anything was maliciously done to either problem, it’s probably just “wear and tear” from numerous attempts, and the aggressive brushing of holds over time. But what is often overlooked when a second or third ascent is made is that the problem has undergone some change. I watched Daniel work on The Game for two years and remember looking at the holds, thinking to myself, “this will never go.” To see it climbed like a V14, which it probably is now, is disconcerting to the first ascensionist. And it should be disconcerting to the climbing world to no longer have a true test-piece in its original state. Daniel has since downgraded The Game to V15 on 8a.nu, which I know took some soul searching:
“After returning back and using the new method, The Game felt to be more like a soft v15 than 16. A couple of the holds have seemed to of grown in size from brushing. This new method is different from what I did, so therefore it is a different boulder problem. Before, I could not use these holds since they were not as positive as they are now. Regardless, it is still an amazing boulder!”
Climb well,
Steve
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That’s a shame to hear, although it is kind of an unavoidable part of bouldering. Holds clean up over time, sometimes getting better, sometimes getting worse.
I think most climbers could stand to be more careful when brushing problems. Use a soft, plastic bristled brush. All you need to do is remove chalk or some light dirt, assuming you’re working on an established problem that doesn’t need serious cleaning. Just because you keep falling off doesn’t mean you need to get a wire brush and scrub away.
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Is he saying the holds grew from when he repeated the problem a couple months ago until now, or from the FA until now? just curious why the comments are now being posted to justify a downgrade.
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