Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sit Start to Grindrite

Tore Årthun, over from Norway on a bouldering tour for a couple months, asked me if a sit start to Grindrite at the Happy Boulders had been done  (v3, page 125 in the new guide). I wasn't sure, as I had seen chalk on those holds below the regular (high) start for a while, but hadn't done a sit myself or known anyone to do it.
Anyway, Tore went back to complete the line: "The way I climbed it was from a sit start at the big undercling under the roof," he says, "slapping up right to a nice sloper, then moving left hand into a big undercling and slapping with the right to join the stand start." He suggested the difficulty was probably somewhere in the v8 to v10 range, though was more likely at the upper end of that.
Not sure if this is an FA, but it's not in the guide, and certainly should be now! Tore has suggested, Slave to the Grind as a suitable name, unless it was previously climbed. I'll go with that unless someone tells me otherwise. Thanks for the info Tore.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tore is so hot!!

Anonymous said...

Dan Mills did a low start to Grindrite at v8. No idea where he started though.

Anonymous said...

Badass boulder problem located between the painted cave problem and the river crossing at Dale's Camp. Probably like V1, however, very worthy. Did not see it in the guide and did not necessarily have any signs of being climbed. Uses heelhooks and sculpted patina hand holds. fyi. go check it out on the way back to the car from climbing in Dale's west area.

Wills Young said...

Hey Anonymous 2: Thanks for that info! Got to give Dan his due!! Now you mention it I do vaguely recall that now, but I don't think it was a true sit. Still... Have to look at this version before judging. I appreciate the note. Cheers!

Wills Young said...

Yeah, I checked this out again and begin to feel that this is the problem that Dan Mills would have done. It is the only obvious start. I pulled on to feel the holds and there are some options for trickery to get into the start of Grindrite from that rough undercling. Beginning with a right hand move, for sure, but afterward you have some options. Will go back to do this and see what I think.