I'm sitting in the Manchester, NH airport right now, waiting for my plane to arrive. I've spent a couple days visiting our good friends at Jetboil. We saw some pretty cool stuff and were served dinner on a sword last night.
On the positive, I've missed a day or so of 90 plus degree heat back in Madison. So sad that summer is here. I did just get an e-mail from RV asking for beta on Perfect Medium, a classic hard problem at Devil's Lake. I give him and Remo lots of credit for trying to grab that crimp in the heat of summer. That could not have felt good.
Hopefully that problem will see a couple more ascents soon.
Hello world!
7 months ago
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Nice post Steve, you must be bored. Yeah, what is your beta for PM. Our feet were all over the place. Hiking it up to the V-shaped hold seemed ok, but high. What to do?
ReplyDeleteRemo
Oh, and you missed some great sending... I mean sweating weather. SO HOT!
ReplyDeleteRemo
Excellent question Remo. Runnells says the big foot is off, which is fine since there is a smaller one right above and the to the right of it. In Steve's photo on mp it looks like he is using a TINY foot chip for left foot in one of the verticals. I tried that but seemed very insecure and I was reluctant to put my weight on it. And I agree about the crimp. Sharp, but taped up it's perhaps tolerable. Give us your beta Steve!! ce
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I for sure will not hike up there until it's closer to 80 or preferably less. NASTY out. ce
ReplyDeleteHah, yes, i was bored. very very bored. Back in madison now, man it's hot!!
ReplyDeleteSo, here's my take on PM. First off, i did it with the big right foot down low to start. Honestly, I just didn't want to deal with eliminates and at that level of difficulty I just said screw it. My left foot started in the tiny little seam on the left.
The first move takes a little bit to warm up to, but it gets better as you start to trust your left foot(SO SMALL!!!) and left hand(SO SHARP!!!!) more. And yes, bring tape for your left hand!!!
After the first move I sort of campus'd my left foot up and into the triangle. It's an odd move and may actually work better for the shorter climbers out there. Brian has said that his groin would explode if he tried that. Funny.
After that lock off and hit the sidepull and you're pretty well done. I liked the line the way I did it because there wasn't any eliminate bs with it and it was a fun, short problem.
Really, for me, it just came down to blocking out the pain in my left hand. It may be the sharpest hold I've really had to crank on.
Hope that helps!!!!!
Thanks Steve. RV and I were trying to bring the left foot up, but we would blow of the right hand(not the best temps). I will try harder to hike the foot up and commit. I was wondering what Chris ment about the eliminant foot, I assumed the big ledge was on, it is there, so we used it. I really enjoyed the climbing though, I thought that hold was going to be much worse. I taped my three fingers and they felt ok, but you can really only give the thing so many tries before it starts to hurt. So stoked on the Lake right now!!!
ReplyDeleteRemo
To be fair I don't want to speak for Brian, I only read that into what he posted when he put up the route on MP. I agree it sure wouldn't seem to matter much one way or the other. So really you were putting all your weight on the tiny left foot and the sharp crimp to move up? Ouch... OK I think I get it though. Thanks. Once it's under 80F guess I'll go try it again. ce
ReplyDeleteChris, lets go get after it! Sunday maybe, anyone?
ReplyDeleteRemo
Damn. On call/working the weekend. Though if it's a light day I maybe could get away in the afternoon. I'll email or call you as the weekend looms. Would love to go work on it with someone rather than just get frustrated and flail alone! ce
ReplyDeleteMy vote is for a massive full scale sending expedition to the Lake this Sunday! That way we have an excuse to go get tonnes of icecream after. Actually, lets just say we went on Sunday and just get icecream.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I think slightly earlier in the day the temps aren't too bad in shaded areas (especially if there is a breeze), and there is a small amount of friction that makes problems workable (bear in mind, this is coming from someone who hasn't really topped out anything at the lake in a month).
So, icecream anyone?
Went out Monday and touched the side pull a number of times (finally able to pull my ass off the ground!!). Damn foot won't stay in that tiny triangle. I think I need to upgrade my shoes. This time for real. Great problem. I was hating it for a while but am back in love. ce
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