Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Jesse Bonin in the Aquarium

I heard from Jesse Bonin that last Saturday he climbed Aquarium (v11/12?) which begins with Aquatic Hitchhiker and tops out the boulder by climbing left from the "jug" backward through the Beefy Gecko traverse to join Beefcake all the way to its end. As far as I know, this is the first time the boulder has been climbed from start to summit without using the back wall, and it's almost certainly the hardest line done at the Sads.

"A whole lot of squeezing and heel-hooking," says Jesse. Asked about the obvious possibility of linking that same start (Aquatic Hitchhiker) into a topout through the gap directly above (Light At the End of the Tunnel, v8-ish), Jesse feels this would be the "real gem link-up." But he added, "I did not have nearly enough pads to even try that stand start. Kinda freaky looking last move. Everything would have to be coated in pads."

It is also worth noting that the start to this line (same as Aquatic Hitchhiker) is not the LOWEST possible starting point, and so you could add a couple more very hard moves there: "It looks totally doable," Jesse commented.

1 comment:

Noah Kaufman, MD said...

Sick Jesse! Good job, man. That's the first "pure" line on the boulder. Good job on Maze of Death and Michael Caine sit also. You're cleaning house!! I bet you are going to rip up South Africa! BOOM!