Climbing Narcissist

Regular Dude Climbs Just Do It (5.14c)

Narc — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:21:59 +0000

To borrow a phrase from the fine folks over at Rock & Ice, Ryan Palo is a pretty regular dude. He works for a living, he climbs, he gets injured, he recovers and he climbs some more. It’s just that when he climbs, he tends to climb 5.14. Not very regular dude of him. It was especially not very regular dude of him when over the weekend he became the first local and probably the first person with a “real” job to climb Just Do It (5.14c) on Smith Rock’s iconic Monkey Face.

Palo has a write-up on his blog about the effort it took to complete a route of this difficulty, and despite how it looks when 15-year-old French kids do it, climbing hard 5.14 isn’t always that much fun:

Some time ago I realized that striving to climb at your max actually isnt fun. In fact, it’s downright unpleasant. I can think of countless examples of friends beating themselves up on routes they can barely do. Where the period of frustration & setback eclipses the jubilation period. I was told these were the moments where we build character, stamina, willpower, etc. and that might be true. Im just not so sure it’s worth it.

DPM also caught up with Palo for this interview that is worth reading as well.

Regular Dude Climbs Just Do It (5.14c) from Climbing Narcissist

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What Did You Do This Weekend?

Narc — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:16:49 +0000

Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold spent Saturday romping up big walls in Yosemite. The pair free climbed Freerider on El Cap (6:45 climbing), the South Face of Mt. Watkins (2:40 climbing) and the Regular Northwest Face on Half Dome (5 climbing) in just over 21 hours. More at Climbing.com. So…how was your weekend??

What Did You Do This Weekend? from Climbing Narcissist

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Ethan Pringle On Jumbo Love

Narc — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:24:47 +0000

Ethan Pringle is back at Mt. Clark, home to that one route first done by that one guy:

Projecting a route like this requires all of your attention, and having to devote all of your attention to a route like this can get really tiring really fast. At some point, you just want to get it over with. Of course, afterward you feel a mix of relief and loss. Relief that you’re done and the epic is over, and loss that this magnificent line doesn’t require your presence anymore. But for me, I think I’ll have to take a nice long break from serious route projects for a little while after this. Like Randy Levitt said, “It’s like a limestone El Cap.” Obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it does sort of convey the amount of work required to complete a project of this caliber.

Pringle is no stranger to Jumbo Love, having tried it even before its FA back in 2008. You can see some footage of those attempts here.

Ethan Pringle On Jumbo Love from Climbing Narcissist

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Video Friday – 5/18/2012

Narc — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:38:32 +0000

This weekend the IFSC Bouldering World Cup circuit visits Innsbruck, Austria. As usual you can follow the action live at IFSC.tv. Women’s qualifers begin later today at 9:00 AM EDT and the action resumes tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM EDT. Check out the IFSC.tv website for the full schedule.

Speaking of comps, the word on the street is that the next stop on the UBC Pro Tour will be announced next week. Get ready comp fans on the west coast…

Video Friday

A little something for everybody in this week’s Video Friday. I’d encourage you to take the time to watch each of these videos, they’re all well worth it.

Remember to check out all the videos on the Videos page and vote for your favorites throughout the week.

This week’s edition of Video Friday is brought to you unofficially buy Memorial Day sales¹ from both REI and Backcountry.com. Shop using the below links and you’ll be helping support the continued operation of this site.

It’s cliche, but can you believe it’s almost June? ↩

Video Friday – 5/18/2012 from Climbing Narcissist

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Mon Pote Assis (5.14a) By Heather Robinson

Narc — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:09:30 +0000

A little over a year after she did her first 5.13d, Heather Robinson fired her first 5.14a when she did Mon Pote Assis at Nevada’s Mt. Potosi. Commenting about the ascent on her 8a scorecard she had this to say:

Oh my goodness! This send was a dream come true. Thank you Chris for believing in me and the countless belays. Super power endurance route. First female ascent!

A very nicely done profile of Robinson, which includes footage of her on that 5.13d from last year, can be seen here. Footage of Steve Lapen climbing Mon Pote Assis can be seen here.

Mon Pote Assis (5.14a) By Heather Robinson from Climbing Narcissist

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When In Doubt Pack It Out

Narc — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:06:43 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I always try my best to climb close to an actual bathroom. In case you don’t, the Access Fund has a nice refresher on what to do when nature calls.

When In Doubt Pack It Out from Climbing Narcissist

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Gravelle Repeats Echale (V14)

Narc — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:06:11 +0000

I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that with training like this that Canadian Yves Gravelle was able to climb his first V14 in Daniel Woods’ Echale in Clear Creek Canyon according to his 8a scorecard.

Gravelle Repeats Echale (V14) from Climbing Narcissist

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El Cap Report Returns For Spring 2012

Narc — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:37:33 +0000

So, listen up Cubicle Pukes!! Put down your work, clear the room, put on some cool tunes, and come with me to the Valley of your dreams, in this, the first of many Reports to follow.

Yep, the El Cap Report is back.

El Cap Report Returns For Spring 2012 from Climbing Narcissist

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2nd Ascent Of Mystic Stylez (V15) By Dave MacLeod

Narc — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:30:08 +0000

Scottish climber Dave MacLeod is well-known for his boldness, having repeated and established several terrifying trad and winter climbs in the UK. And while his bold feats have garnered him many deserved headlines over the years, he is also quite accomplished at sport climbing and bouldering having climbed 5.14 and bouldered up to V14 both at home in the UK as well as abroad in places like Spain.

Most of MacLeod’s success in the bouldering realm until recently, however, had been mostly on problems local to the UK. When a climber has success like that on more local, less well-known terrain it’s not uncommon for others to wonder how a person like MacLeod might do on problems in more well-known areas. Well, after his recent trip to Switzerland I think we have our answer.

MacLeod began his trip with a repeat of Conquistador Direct (V13/14) in Chironico which he followed up with a repeat of New Base Line (V14) in Magic Wood. So far so good, right? But MacLeod was not quite done.

After a prolonged battle that required him to extend his stay in Switzerland and session on the problem at the crack of dawn, MacLeod did the 2nd ascent of Daniel Woods’ sit start to Muttertag (V11), the V15 Mystic Stylez. As usual, MacLeod has a great write-up about his efforts on his blog, and I wanted to highlight the following passage because I think it pertains to any climber that sets their mind to a specific goal:

On one hand, the climb represented a target to focus my efforts. It’s just a bit of rock and it doesn’t matter to anyone whether I climb it or not. But completing it does make a difference in the mind of the climber. If you’ve really set yourself the target, and you’ve done enough work to know it’s possible, then giving in when the ‘extra mile’ to completion is there for the taking makes it difficult to move on with confidence to the next challenge…I knew I might not manage it, but I looked forward and visualised driving home to Scotland without the send. The failure on the climb wouldn’t be worth a second thought (because if you never have failures, you can’t be trying anything that’s actually hard). The only regret I’d have would be failing without first giving everything to the fight.

This juxtaposition of the fact that climbing any piece of rock is ultimately pointless with the reality that this is what drives many of us to continually try to improve ourselves is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this spring. For a few different reasons I’ve never really projected anything long-term¹, but this spring I decided to focus my efforts on a specific route in the Red River Gorge. I knew that I probably wouldn’t send this spring and I was ok with the fact that I was going to be driving 1,000 miles round trip to fail work on it. I was ready to get invested in the process.

My recent ankle failure ended any opportunity I might have had to continue working on the route this spring, although it was unlikely I would have done the route anyway. In some sense this is better though as the route continues to be, as MacLeod puts it, a target for my efforts and gives me something to work toward as my ankle gets better. In the end that’s what this game is all about, isn’t it?

I think the most days I’ve ever spent on a route or boulder problem that I actually finished is 3 days. I have commitment issues. ↩

2nd Ascent Of Mystic Stylez (V15) By Dave MacLeod from Climbing Narcissist

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Hayden Kennedy Climbing Carbondale Short Bus (5.14-)

Narc — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:10:11 +0000

Back in March Hayden Kennedy did the FA of Carbondale Short Bus (5.14-) in Indian Creek, UT, and now courtesy of sponsor Patagonia we have this excellent video by Austin Siadak and Matt Van Biene of Kennedy climbing the route.

Hayden Kennedy Climbing Carbondale Short Bus (5.14-) from Climbing Narcissist

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