Swarm Direct (v13?), Nalle Hukkataival

At the end of Feb The Swarm (at the Secrets of the Beehive Area) received its obvious and long-awaited direct finish from visiting Finnish celebrity Nalle Hukkataival. Many others might have done this problem, but for the effort involved in rapping and cleaning the line and dealing with a known loose hold. The loose hold did break (so I heard), but only to leave another edge.

As expected, the direct version checks in at roughly the same grade as the original and surely goes high on the list of top crimping testpieces of the West! It looks awesome and is on that perfect polished brown rock, some of the best in the Buttermilk area. Apparently Nalle doesn't find this style of climbing particularly hard and had more trouble with the Sit to The Mandala, which he felt was harder, even via the left (generally considered easier) variation, which is the one he did. He writes about The Swarm Direct, and more about his Bishop visit on his blog post.