Monday, March 18, 2013

New Hard FA in Tahoe

I've been back home for a couple of weeks now. The weather has been pretty good for bouldering, especially if you like hiking through a little snow. Yesterday I went to the Freaks where I had been working on the mega link training project through the Basement cave. After trying this link for about 3 or 4 seasons, the rig all came together first try yesterday. Funny side story, I had the camera set up to catch the link attempt. Once the camera was recording I crawled the 25 feet down to the start hold. Just as I was about to pull on I heard the camera shut off.Dead battery. I decided " ahhh F---It!" I usually need a few good warm up tries anyway. Well, I ended up sending it that go. It was quite a relief after trying that project for so long. Even though I didn't get it on tape I was very happy. But after thinking about how I came all the way out there again and did it first go, I figured I'd try to link it up again for the camera. I took an hour and a half rest and repeated the entire send for video. The feeling of progression on this line was great. I remember when I could do few if any of the 20 moves out this roof. Going from that feeling to doing a couple of laps on it was great. I love it when a plan comes together.
   In past experience I've noticed that the Basement Cave is sometimes the subject of much confusion because of how close together the lines can be. Given this fact I figured I'd do my best to explain what this line does in a nut shell. These directions may only be useful however if you know the classic existing lines well. If you don't, there is much video online. Ian Cotter-Brown's video Deep Blue has all the main lines coming out of the cave. The new link is called Endless Basement. It starts at the Brown Sugar start. This is in the back left of the cave towards' the other side's daylight. The start hold is sort of shaped like a big V. From here the line climbs through decent holds into the start holds of Freak Show. From there it climbs all the hardest moves of FS, but after grabbing the left hand "shark toothed undercling" instead of going out the jugs to the left you keep cranking hard until you are at the start hold of Subterranean. From here it finishes Subterranean. Very specific I know. The line is contrived a bit, but so is a lot of bouldering. It's all good. I'm sure everyone wants to know what I graded it so they know what number they want to downgrade it to. When in doubt, you take what I say and subtract one or two. But what is the base number? I've got a plan to find the perfect number.
   Ok, so the new line starts out with 4 moves that are about v5, ok so 4 x5 =20. Then the line goes into the hardest moves of Freak Show v12, ok so 12 x 20 =240. THEN, after that, BOOM!!! This fucker goes right into a hard v8 move BAMMM! Just one move of v8 so we'll say 240 + 8 = 248. THEN, if you can stomach the notion, you're homefree resting in the start holds of a v7. SO, 248 x 7= 1736 points total. Then the hike is 15 minutes so 1736 /15= 115. I owed my buddy $5 that morning so 115 -5 = 110. The night before I sent I had baked salmon and a salad, the total calories added up to 84 ( just guessing actually, I know nothing about nutrition). SOOO 110 - 84 = 26. I'm half the height of the average person ( NOTE: the average person might be 10 feet tall, or at least seems like it to me). So 26 /half === 13. Ok so I think it's a 13. Alright, we got that covered. I think this new grading formula I came up with is really going to start improving Tahoe's accuracy on pinpointing difficulty.
    So another big one is off the list. I guess from here I just have to do the usual and move on to the next one. I have another hard project or two that I've been working on. There are also a couple of great established problems that I'd like to repeat while the temps are still decent. Once that summer heat hits, sweaty tips and beating sunshine make hard climbing even more difficult. The time is now, GET SOME!

5 comments:

  1. Nice work man! I would love to climb in that cave sometime. Also I'm totally adopting this new grading formula.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sweet work Jesse. You gonna upload the video?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave! Super psyched on this link. Working on the video. Might just upload the raw footage maybe with some music, maybe not. If it works. Hope the climbing is treating you good wherever you are.

      Delete
  3. hahaha damn straight Keskus!! Good work! but you forgot to factor in that the salmon and salad meal wasn't made/ spiced by a hobbit such as myself so I'll downgrade it to V12 BUMMERRRRrrRR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AWWW!!! SNAP!!! Damn it Joslin!!!You're cooking would have made taking a lower grade so worth it! :>

      Delete