new problem ????

howdy wills

i had fun doing a problem today and am wondering if it has been done. it is on page 272 on your guide listed as problem # 20. it is very good.

let me know if you have some info

thnks

kevin daniels

Tyler Landman ... older, wiser ... stronger ...??

Super-youth Brit/American Tyler Landman has repeated some of the Bishop area testpieces including The Swarm (v14), which he had been trying during a previous visit when he was about eight -- or maybe a bit older. Anyway, he turned a wise old 17 not long ago and has a massive ticklist to his name already including his extraordinary second ascent of Jade (v15) in Rocky Mountain National Park, hailed as potentially America's hardest problem.

So no surprise perhaps that he also checked off Direction (v13) and Xavier's Roof (v12) -- just done by Tony Lamiche -- both in the same afternoon. He dispatched Xavier's with a right-hand dyno at the lip crux! Awesome skills from Ty to do this one in an hour. See the scene section of the BishopBouldering.info site for some pics of Tony using his own crazy beta on that.

Thanks to Alex Messenger for the photo!

Gasperini Problem Repeated

Tony Lamiche repeated the Gasperini Problem after many breakages over the last few years. He thought it was around v12, doing it by a dyno method for the last hard move (shown). There is an alternative method that could work, by going up right using a left undercling.

Kevin Jorgeson's new highball, Footprints

Kevin climbed Footprints on Saturday Nov 3rd. There is a report about this on Climbing magazine's website: http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/bishopfootprints/

Kevin has, I think, in a communication with me, suggested that Footprints while having very serious fall potential for some sketchy moves high on the slab is not quite as serious an undertaking as some of his other Bishop highballs.

Using an E-for-Extreme rating system along the lines of the British E-system for seriously highball climbing/solos he has suggested E6 for this one. The crux is relatively low to the ground, though hard, and the upper crux though insecure and terrifying is not super-hard.

My guess is that Bishop's Biggest tick list looks something like this. I have given most of the E-ratings according to what I know of the line, either from TR or from ascent of whole or part. I apply the E-grade basically according to how impressive is an ascent of the line OVERALL. This is about inverse to the likelihood of anyone repeating the line (all other things being equal) or the number of repeats it gets taking into account the relative quality, beauty, reputation, and accessibility of the line:

The Beautiful and Damned (Bardinis) -- E9 v12/13 See BishopBouldering.Info
Evilution Direct (Grandpa Peabody) -- E8 v11
Evilution Original (Grandpa Peabody) -- E7/8 v12
Flight of the Bumblebee (Secrets Area) -- E7+? v9 See BishopBouldering.Info Repeated by Kevin Daniels with two falls from crux!
This Side of Paradise (Bardinis) -- E7 v10 E-rating suggested by Lisa Rands
Footprints (Grandpa Peabody) -- E6 v9 Kevin has suggested this rating, but it waits for confirmation. He's pretty harsh with his ratings in general.
The Ninth (Pollen Grains) -- E6 v7. Rating suggested by me and somewhat confirmed by others.
The Big Easy (Grandpa Peabody) -- E5 v7 See BishopBouldering.Info
Mesothelioma (Pollen Grains) -- E4/5 v7

I should try to get a fuller list going of some of the easier but superhighball lines.

nice site wills

i broke the nice left hand patina pocket on the secret of the beehive today. from the nice jug at 14 feet or so you reached up and left to a nice but loose pocket. its gone. now you hit a left than right side pull. sorry. some of the patina is loose.

nice problem. kind of hard down low and i did not top out. i will have to try again.

cheers
KD

French news from Bishop!

A short news to say "Hello"... A new web site it's cool. A new video about "xavier's Roof"...

http://www.teamlescollets.com/site/video/xavroof/xavroof.html

a+
tony