Carlo Traversi, The Buttermilker (v13)

Congrats to Carlo Traversi for making a rare ascent of The Buttermilker (v13)--the original line that begins at the sit, down and left. It is great to see that, rather than being satisfied with his prior ascent of the shortened version of the line from the underclings, which many people mistakenly list as "The Buttermilker," Carlo put in the extra days of work to check off this historic beauty. As many may know, The Buttermilker was first climbed back in 1999 by Chris Sharma.

For Carlo the spans on The Buttermilker are relatively big, so his ascent took a lot of determination and a very dynamic approach and he describes it as perhaps the hardest piece of rock he's climbed.

Mordecai (v11/12?)

Shawn Diamond has climbed a new line he has named Mordecai on the southeast side of the Drifter Boulder that was first cleaned by Matt Wilder last winter. It is in a kind of wide corridor between the Drifter Boulder and the Cosmonot Boulder lying downslope to its southeast.

Shawn working Mordecai by Damon Corso

This is how Shawn described it: "I named the problem Mordecai after the dwarf in the movie "High Plains Drifter" - keeping in the theme. It will most-likely be overlooked as compared with the most popular lines on the boulder, but it is actually quite a nice "near" highball kinda line - in the likes of the new Bish classic Heroun.

"I started with a very low right hand only a foot or so from the ground and a hueco-esque left hand pitch to make a hard first move to the right hand crimp. From there continue up and left and gain two small crimps to make a large crux deadpoint with the right hand to the very incut and positive rail -- Scary because it seems like you may hit the boulder behind, but I never came close. Exit right on the highly textured slopers/hueco."

Shawn suggests the line will likely clock in around v11 or v12, feeling "long and tiring," with a crux that stands out as a lot harder than the rest of the moves. I know it is definitely highball. As Shawn mentions, the rock behind does feel very close and will probably add to the fear factor on this.

Charlie Barrett, Spectre & Mandala SDS ...

It's good to finally hear that Charlie Barrett has defeated his nemesis The Spectre (v13). He'd had the early moves of the problem and the moves around the lip on lock-down last season and yet would spin off every time he tried to hold the swing after the long move left in the middle of the crux.

Then he picked up a tip from Kevin Jorgeson, to bunch his right leg in and up to his right side, to a small edge, before cutting, and this worked to reduce the swing. It was Rusty Klassen that had suggested the idea to Kevin, proving that no matter how accomplished a climber you are, you can always learn from others. After a push on from Kevin, Charlie held the swing with the new beta, immediately announcing, "I've done the Spectre!" On his next go from the start, sure enough, the ascent was a formality. Nice!

Charlie playing on The Spectre mid summer!

Charlie was also able to check off the The Mandala Sit Start (v13/14) by using what he describes as the "big boy beta," climbing directly up from the start and using a tiny sharp crimp-sidepull with the left to lean across right to the big undercling/sidepull of The Mandala. This was the method that Ethan Pringle figured out and was also used by Cory French. If you are not tall, you can't use this method because the span across is too far, yet many taller climbers find it easier. As Charlie has noted: it's a different problem that way, but is still The Mandala Sit Start!

ON A SIDE NOTE: It is worth pointing out, for the purists out there, that many people are now starting The Mandala by beginning with their right hand in the undercling and their left on the crimp above (as you would arrive from the above-mentioned version of the sit), though doing so requires a big boost up, and is not the original problem--which begins with the right hand on the crimp as needed when stepping off the ground. It is strange to see 6-foot-plus climbers standing on a huge stack of pads to bring the starting holds down to waist level, rather than showing respect and doing all the moves of the climb (as Sharma did originally) before claiming an ascent.

Sucker Punch v5?

Occasionally there is a breakage of a hold so big that when it hits the ground even I hear about it. The hold that came off Sucker Punch (formerly v4) at the Happy Boulders, is just such an example: the huge starting jug has been ripped from the wall. Perhaps someone was going for the big dyno (skipping the usual crimps used to gain the lip), or just climbing on it after a heavy rain... Or perhaps its time was simply up. I don't know, but I hope whoever broke it wasn't hurt. Oh, and by the way, you did us all a favor!

Trevor Markel on the new Sucker Punch

The giant hold was sitting below the boulder, but has recently been broken up by people checking it out and tossing it around, so you may not even notice it now, but you will see the white ring of chalk circling the now clean, smooth rock above the current starting holds like a water mark.

Anyway, I reclimbed this sweet problem the other day a couple of times and felt it was a grade harder than the v4 it used to get (maybe more?). Plus, it's excellent: even better than before! I started at the now lower starting holds, went left hand up to a sidepull, threw a high heel with the right, rolled through to the upper crimp with the right; matched; held the swing (crux) and popped to the top. If anyone else has any input on how hard they feel this is, please let me know.

Tim's Fred Traverse (v9), that begins around right and finishes here, should feel a touch harder too; maybe a grade but perhaps not.

Trevor Markel nearly doing the new Sucker Punch

Charlie Barrett, Luminance 4th

Charlie Barrett climbed Luminance (v10?) for it's fourth ascent on Tuesday. He top-roped it and said it felt good in the cold windy conditions, so quickly did it solo, with a spotter tied in on the ledge as for the first two ascents. This line is a beauty for sure, on immaculate rock, and certainly deserves the attention after all these years! Soon we'll all be doing it.

Well, maybe not ... Charlie said the swing after the short left-to-right traverse was the hardest part of the problem, with potential to spin off, and fly down the rocky ravine. He was able to keep his feet on and lock off solidly at the big scary move to the jug, but felt he could blow that move and probably get away with a long drop into the crevasse, which he filled with a few pads. Of course he's not going to blow it, so he can say that, can't he?

Charlie wrapped up the day with an ascent of Michael Caine Sit (v12), which is now officially "hard" as determined by none other than the man himself, Fred Nicole, who also climbed it recently (it had a couple minor breaks earlier this year). A good day for climbing after all.

Fred Nicole, The Swarm (v14)

Another early-season ascent has come from 39-year-old Swiss master Fred Nicole, who climbed The Swarm (v14), taking advantage of the cool temps on Monday 19th.

Fred had tried the problem about four years ago, but was on a very short visit then and didn't have time to get the line done before a heavy dump of snow shut down the area! This year, he and his wife decided to spend about a week in Bishop. He went up and impressively did the line on his first day. Fred used a similar method to that which Matt Birch used on the first ascent, matching close on the crimp for the third move, before the shouldery move right, saying it felt less powerful that way.

See also: Wilder and Clifford's ascents of The Swarm

Luminance Video

This is a pretty sweet little video shot by Jonathan Deguzman of Dan Beall making the third ascent, first ground-up ascent, of Luminance:



While the problem is listed as v11 here, I believe Dan feels it is more like v10. Great effort ground up, that's for sure. See the previous post.