Friday I was up to Mt. Evans with Brian Capps and Asher Shay-Nemirow. It was another great day in the new zone. I did the first ascent of Unshackled Sit, a very nice steep roof that is long and has great holds. It’s interesting to watch the development of the area. Many climbers have visited claiming “There isn’t much there,” or the “rock is not that great.” I vividly remember cleaning the utter choss off of Beirstadt at Area A. It rained down for at least an hour, but once we got through that and started climbing, a classic problem emerged. Such is the way of development and I think the uninitiated can easily be turned off. The sit to Unshackled was no different as I brushed it for 30 minutes and put chalk on it and brushed it and put chalk on it. It has quickly become an area classic. Props to Kevin Jorgeson for putting up the stand start, Unshackled V10, which is an excellent problem in itself. I was psyched to make a flash of the original. Chad Greedy shot some video of my flash, but I don’t know if that footage will see the light of day. Kevin has also added another very high quality V5 or so and very tall as well.
Max Zolotukhin also put up a great V8 called Northern Aggression, which I made the second ascent of. This is a very high quality problem and features a hand foot match at a 12ft lip with a tenuous rockover.
Northern Aggression V8
I also put up a short V9 which I have yet to name, near Dave’s tension V9.
Daniel Woods recently added a new V14 roof, named Backwards Evil. This is a stellar problem on great steep rock.
Today Dave Graham and Jimmy Webb put up a V12 roof, which has not been named. Brion Voges added a nice compression problem that is around V8. I spent some time cleaning more projects and getting psyched for the weekend. Good times.
As we all gear up for the alpine season, please remember to clean up your trash! I have received word from more than one climber that Lower Chaos Canyon is somewhat messy. Take the time to scope your area before you leave. The rangers told me in our meeting that the number one thing we can do is not to make a mess.