Much like last year when he made quick work of several established problems at Mt. Evans and again when he FA’ed or repeated several double digit problems at Hueco Tanks earlier this year, Nalle Hukkataival is making his trip to the U.S. this summer count.
Early last week he made quick work of Jade (V15) in RMNP for its 4th ascent before turning his sights toward a sit start project to an existing V10 highball at Mt. Evans first done by Cam Cross. Enticed by pictures of the project from Carlo Traversi and Jamie Emerson (who presciently blogged that “when completed, this will be the best problem at Mt. Evans”) Hukkataival set out for Mt. Evans with Jon Cardwell, Chris Schulte and Traversi to have a look. Here is how he described what they found on his blogsite:
I wanted to go try a project at area B, that I had seen photos of earlier this week. I thought it looked really good in the photos, but when we got up there I was blown away. This tall and proud line climbs a sloping rail on a perfect steep overhang, leading to a horrifying mantle high off the deck. It has a good obvious starting hold and about 21 moves, all of them upwards. The bottom part climbing into the stand is probably around V12 and after that you still have to do do stand start which is a technical highball V10. At the moment there is still snow on the landing making it possible to take falls without getting hurt, but when the snow melts it will most likely be a death landing.
Despite testing out the bad landing with a rough fall on his face, Hukkataival persevered and pressed out the exciting mantle to create Sunseeker (V13). Traversi had to settle for the 2nd ascent a day later after falling from the last move an hour before Hukkataival’s FA. Commenting on his 8a.nu spraysheet Traversi says that Sunseeker, “could be one of the best boulder problems in the world. 20-25 feet with a snow landing (for now).
buy lexapro online https://viagra4pleasurerx.com/dir/lexapro.html no prescription
Tall, Proud, Pure, Technical, Powerful, and Balancy. FULL PACKAGE.”
Visiting climbers swooping and nabbing the FA of coveted projects is nothing new, but Jon Glassberg raises an interesting point about this in a recent post on his blogsite:
There has been a frenzy of activity at Mt. Evans involving strong climbers trying to send the Super Proj at Area B dubbed Sunseeker by Nalle Hukkataival who made the first ascent in a few hours work. I know that Carlo T., Max Z., and Chris Schulte have been putting a lot of effort into the problem over the past week or so, cleaning the line on toprope, hauling in stacks of pads, and working out beta…
Is it poor form to come in and scoop up first ascents without doing any of the legwork? Or is it someone else who is at fault for telling the strong climbers that hard gems are waiting to be plucked? Any thoughts? I’m sure Carlo was pretty bummed after falling off the last hold only minutes before Nalle put the send down, after being spoon fed beta.
I don’t know any of the principles in this instance, but since both Traversi and Schulte helped carry pads and spotted for Hukkataival I’m inclined to believe that it isn’t a big deal in this case.
buy amoxicillin online https://viagra4pleasurerx.com/dir/amoxicillin.html no prescription
In other Mt. Evans news, Paul Robinson has set his sights on another undone project at Area B and video of Chris Schulte’s ascent of Big Worm (V14) is now up at DPM.
Nice post, Narc, and pretty darn complete.
To get right to it, Nalle’s ascent is nothing short of very impressive. After flashing the stand start, and then taking a flat-out flop from the lip at 20 or so feet, he got himself together and sent, with beta that differed from Carlo’s, which differs from mine. Yes, Carlo got really close to the FA only a few minutes before. Yes, I got to the jug and the end of the “really hard” climbing on my first day, bailing sans spot… Can’t say I feel robbed. This is an outstanding line, and though it’s great to make the FA of such a prize, and to be forever attached to it, I’m just glad it was a person as decent as Nalle, and not some awful hater who wants the line for their own aggrandizement. You go up to the line, you can’t help but try it. Keep the energy good, don’t hate people off problems so you can climb it ten minutes before them, and if the FA is that important, keep your gob shut and get it done quietly. It sure sat there long enough! No one is ever at fault, we are individuals responsible for the effort and risk that we invest in any pursuit; that’s why we climb, instead of play football, or whatever. No one to blame.
Salutations to Mr. Hukkataival.
loading...
word. i’d like to clarify that my posts regarding cam are not to suggest that the line was a red tagged project stolen from him, but rather to point out that he had put a lot of time into it and had sent it from the ‘stand’ start last season since he’d never say so.
i appreciate that nalle gave props to the kids who showed him the line and assisted in the send. though we are all ultimately responsible for ourselves, a friendly team effort never hurts!
loading...
Word. I was eager to include it so I’m glad you mentioned that little nugget elsewhere.
Brave and Humble™ types like Cam Cross may try to run, but they can’t hide.
loading...
Though I must say I was bummed not to get the first ascent of this stunner, I am in no way upset at Nalle for nabbing the first. Sure I put in lots more work than him on this particular problem, but I certainly wasn’t trying to keep the line a secret. I posted pictures on my blog, specifically told him and everyone else for that matter to go climb on the thing. Beyond my own personal accomplishments, I’m interested in seeing the sport of climbing progress. This progression relies on the strongest climbers in the world having access to the climbs that could potentially elevate the sport to new levels. I do not believe in projects being kept secret (except when access is a concern). It halts progression. Their are soooo many boulders in this world, what’s the point of them sitting there, not being thoroughly enjoyed by the whole climbing community. I put a lot of work into climbing Sunseeker. I carried pads, hiked in a trad rack so that I could suss out the top, and spent at least 3 days trying to find the damn thing after hearing the rumours. However, I’m damn sure that Nalle has put in twice as much work conditioning and strengthening his mind and body to the point where he can take down hard boulders with efficiency and confidence. And that is what he did, and that is why he deserves the first. I’m just psyched to go find another line that inspires me as much as Sunseeker has. Be sure to check out the footage I’m putting together for deadpoint of the climb. Shit looks beautiful.
loading...
Well said Carlo, thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. Looking forward to the video!
loading...
good words. psyched for the footage.
loading...
As a regular climbing joe, I’m really encouraged by the comments made by Chris and Carlo. It’s through individuals like them who possess great willingness to share their love of climbing with the community, that sustains the progression of our sport.
Thanks for such a spirit of graciousness! For both of you have demonstrated to us that climbing is only one of your many strengths.
loading...
amen Carlo. well said. and thank you for the psyche, the sherpa help, and the inspiration to go for this monster, almost 3 years after I first saw it.
loading...