As mentioned in an earlier post, Elliot Faber recently added The Elevator a line parallel with Transporter Room on Grandpa Peabody at the Buttermilks. In addition to this, he has now completed ZAP, another project he had been eying that branches left out of The Elevator.
Elliot Faber sets off on The Elevator, a start now shared with his new line, ZAP
For Elliot this was the prize line he most wanted to do, and he named it ZAP in honor of his friend Zachary Amadeus Parke. Zack was a good friend and gifted climber who had previously visited Bishop and inspired many with a ground-up ascent of the adjacent Transporter Room--as noted on this blog. Sadly, a few days later Zack was tragically killed in a hit-and-run accident.
Thanks to Spenser & Vikki of rvproj.com for the photos
In the image above, Elliot is moving up rightward on The Elevator to join Transporter Room. The new line ZAP goes up and left from here passing a large, but shallow hueco that is visible in the photo.
Elliot practiced the crux on a rope before going for the solo. From what he says, there are some dicey moves up high to get stood up securely above the hueco and onto the slab, possibly bumping the overall rating into the v9 range. He mentions some two-finger crystals and hard-to-see footholds. A stack of around ten pads was piled up below, but thankfully not needed!
"I'm so excited that it went," says Elliot of the new line, adding, "there are more out there. I'm hungry for the unseen lines." Let's hope it will be a good season for him and that Zack's memory will inspire many great additions to the area.
2 comments:
Wills. I would be great if you covered new lines that were rated under V10. LOTS of us will never climb that hard but are interested in new lines that we can climb.
Got to watch Elliot put that rig up. Sounded a little nervous about it, but he absolutely walked the thing. Inspiring.
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