Zeke and his buddy Lupin are a rowdy bunch
Thankfully, the weather has mostly been cooperating - giving me the opportunity to put down my project at Little Si. As I described in my previous post, this humongous pitch extends an old Erik Kubiak test-piece called 'Whore of Babylon' 14b, which has seen only a couple repeats itself. After climbing the majority of WOB, including it's v10 crux, you continue into the meat of 'Lost Horizons' 14a, ending some 45+ meters above the deck. I finished the route this past Tuesday, it was my third day on the route, and my fifth try total. I finished off the day by doing 'Lost Horizons' for reference. Originally I presumed that the route could be 9a, but after finishing the climb so quickly I've settled with solid 14c. I'm calling the route 'New World Order'. An amazing climb and an endurance test-piece to rival most anything at the Red... come and get it!!!!
Andy Mann Image, circa 09.. one of many cruxes on New World Order
On Wednesday we returned to Little Si in some unfortunate rain. I decided to try the shorter (and slightly different) version of a route that I did last year - Extended Evil's little brother 'Dr Evil' 14a. With humidity at a staggering high, I was psyched to manage my way up this brutally crimpy route.
Yesterday I finally got to revisit Equinox, a crag I only got to spend one day at two years ago. I focused on a very cool open project the adds some intense difficulty to the top of 'Black Magic' 13a. I was psyched to find tiny grips the whole way up this 40 foot headwall - with very little opportunity to open your hands or catch any rest. After a few promising burns, we called it a day.... VERY excited to head back after some rest.
Homeboy Andy Mann arrives tomorrow to take stills and capture some video... stay tuned for some sports action! In the meantime have a look at an image gallery from my Vegas trip that just went live on the Climbing Magazine website.
Lastly, get your tickets now for the year's best climbing festival - the International Climbers Festival in Lander, Wy!!! I'll proudly be keynote speaker at this year's ICF - teaching two days of clinics and showing off some killer photos and video from the Red, Smith Rock, Vegas and of course the Northwest! July 6-10, BE THERE.
