Luminance (v10?) Ground-Up by Dan Beall

As hoped, I have more info on this remarkable ascent of the superhighball Luminance by Dan Beall. Dan, who is a Junior at the University of California San Diego, had gone out to the Secrets area to try The Swarm. He moved over to look at Luminance, which his friend Tim Wilkens was playing around on (figuring out the moves, but finding the temps less than perfect). They had a couple of "mondos," a Mad Rock pad and a MOON Saturn pad but no rope, so started working the line ground up!

Even the start of the climb is a bit frightening: "I was really nervous going into it," says Dan.

But with no particular expectations, Dan gave it a go. After several forays across the scary lower moves, he soon found himself looking at the meat of the climb--a huge pull from one good edge to another with the terrifying drop zone into a ravine enough to make him second guess the outcome. However, after sitting down for a while, "until I stopped shaking," he says, Dan pulled on once more and this time committed to the throw.

"Even though you feel like you're going to die, I think that the climb is actually fairly safe with just a few pads because of how positive the holds are and how relatively controlled the falls should be. The only place where you could get really hurt I think is the move to the lip, but if you can get there, you really shouldn't fall, it's probably the easiest move on the climb."

I think basically what he's saying is that the holds are pretty positive at the big move, so if you have a positive attitude, and a lot of power, you know if you are going to stick it. A fall could certainly be very serious, though ...

Let's see if others will step up: it is unquestionably one of Bishop's most incredible pieces of rock, and Dan's ascent one of the most impressive achievements so far! Wow, the season has barely begun...

Dan's friend shot video, so hopefully we'll be able to see that shortly. [Video here]