Well.. My ~10 day bouldering binge has paid off after all. Yesterday I was able to complete Trice (V12). This send definitely represents a breakthrough for me mentally. This is my hardest boulder problem to date, and came on my fourth day of attempts.
When we (my good buddy Ben Randolph and I) arrived at cloud shadow yesterday it was anything but shadowed. The wall was really warm and the sun was blazing. After a few attempts on Trice in total sun and 60 degree warmth I decided to relax for a while and wait for the shade. Once the crux holds entered the shade I began working the route again, and quickly figured out some incremental, but key beta for the crux move. Soon thereafter I found myself feeling relaxed enough to adjust on the crux left hand crimp, and my first ever effort at the last move proved worthy.
It was a super fun process to work this short and sweet boulder problem, finding out unique beta for myself and adjusting it to perfection. Bouldering has been a weakness of mine for a while (and still is in many ways) and it is very inspiring to see what I am capable of after a few days effort and little time strictly bouldering. I will for sure continue bouldering here and there, but as most of you know my real love is for traditional and sport routes. Although the attention to detail and pure movement involved with hard bouldering is really attractive.
I want to express my gratitude for Jim Holloway and his amazing send of this three move problem back in the 70's! (using much more difficult beta as well), and also for Carlo Traversi and Jamie Emerson re-opening this awesome line on the same day in late 2007. (and yes thats a photo of Holloway above, not myself)
