Learning To Fly: June 2012

By: Urs Moosmuller

May is one of the best months to be climbing in the valley. Temps stay below ninety degrees and the summer crowds haven't come yet. We arrived in the valley at 6am and caught the sun silhouetting the nose of el cap. Every time I drive into the valley, El Cap is always one of the most breath taking sights. We drove to camp 4 and got a site pretty quickly and headed out to do the Center Pillar of Frenzy 5.9 on Middle Cathedral. The climb went pretty quickly and the whole time Keith and I couldn't stop staring at El Cap. We reached the top rapped off and headed back to camp. It was the perfect warm up route for the valley. The next day we planned on doing some single pitch routes on the Cookie Cliff. I had my eyes on the Cookie Monster and after warming up on Outer Limits 10c, we headed to the base and started scoping the route out. My friend Colin convinced me to try and lead it on gear so I took up the challenge. Everything went smooth and before I knew it I had onsighted my hardest trad route! We came down from the Cookie and decided to check out a 10c valley offwidth called Generator Crack. This thing was hard! After several tries I managed to start comprehending the technique required to do the crack. In the end after about 20 minutes of battling and grunting I made it up 10ft before falling right out of the crack. The next day we planned on doing a longer route and picked the East Buttress of El Cap. This is the easiest and shortest free line up “el cap.” We got up early and reached the base to find only one party above us. The route was amazing. Every pitch was unique in its own way and it stayed moderate the whole way. Pitch 10 was the highlight of the route, because you traverse over a roof to find these crazy water features. Day 4 was designated a rest day and we went to New Diversions Cliff and did an 11b mixed route called Burst of Brilliance before calling it a day due to the 90 degree temps. We drove back and jumped into the Merced before heading back to camp. In camp we decided to do something quite a bit harder than East Buttress so we planned on doing Freeblast 11b/c on El Cap. The next morning we arrived at the base to find quite a big line and after waiting for an hour an a half we began up the route. I ended up onsighting every pitch except for 6 and 7. I took a fall at the crux slab section of six then aided pitch seven to make things quicker. We got to the base of The Half Dollar pitch and I started leading out expecting a fun 10b. Pulling around the corner into the chimney was one of the craziest moves and I barely pulled it off. The next pitches went really easy and before we knew it we were back at the car watching the sun set. Day 6 and 7 were spent climbing single pitch routes and we ticked off: New Wave 11d, Drive By Shooting 12a, Ninety Six Degrees in the Shade 12c, Heathenistic Pursuit 10d, and Serenity Crack 10d. The last day had arrived and after waking up a little late we decided to go for The Moratorium 11b. Colin had previously been on it and said it was very stout for the grade so we were ready for a hard valley 11b. After hiking through crazy forests and river beds we finally arrived at the base. We started up and the first two 10d pitches were some of the best dihedral cracks I have done. Clean long splitter cracks. Pitch three was the crux pitch and after climbing easy terrain you get a nice stance to gaze up at the extremely thin blank dihedral. I quickly put in a nest of pieces and began. Technical finger locks on sustained climbing for 15ft ease off to the belay ledge. I started up and pulled off the crux sequence perfectly and pulled onto the ledge and let out a cheer. We rapped off and headed back to camp. At camp it was still early in the day and I had one last goal. Midnight Lightning. The most famous boulder problem in the world and the 1970’s test piece. I previously had been on it a few days ago and made it to the lightning bolt hold but couldn't stick it. This time on my first try I matched on the lightning bolt and fell off. A few minutes later I made it to the mantle and hung out there for about a minute trying to figure it out. My third try I pulled off the mantle in surprise and fell trying to reach the last hold. I plummeted to the ground defeated. My arms hurt and my tips were done. I rested for an hour and came back to give it my for the hell of it burn. All the moves went perfectly and I pulled off the mantle with out any problems and lunged for the unknown edge. Stuck it and pulled up to see the crimp I just pulled up on was covered in pine needles. Thank god I stuck it! The trip had been a huge success and I am looking forward to going back soon. The Valley is truly one of the most spectacular places in the world. I only wish the valley floor didn't feel like a small city with all the tour guides, restaurants, hotels, and stores.

Midnight Lightning V8

Sticking the physical crux.

The mental crux.

My shoes before sending.

By: Urs Moosmuller

In the beginning of March I headed out to Rifle, Colorado with my good friend, Daniel. We spent a total of ten days climbing with four rest days. This gave us enough time to project routes and look for routes that were inspiring to the eye. The first five days we focused on sending a lot of routes and trying as many routes as we could. This gave us time to get used to the climbing in Rifle and tick off some of the classic moderate lines. The first two days we climbed from sunrise to sunset and by day three we were exhausted. We ticked off the classic lines: Pinchfest 12b, Bolt Action 12a, Dave Bingham Route 12a, Crime and Punishment 12a, and Beer Run 13a. Came close to sending Sprayathon 13c and Daniel started piecing together Debaser 12d. We decided to take a rest day and found a steep hill to longboard near the reservoir below Rifle canyon. The last two days of the trip I decided to check out the Wicked Cave and Well Dunne Wall and found a short power endurance route called Bride of Frankenstein 13d. After four attempts I hit a high point two moves below the no hands rest, but wasn’t able to pull it together for a send. Bride is an interesting route, because it is almost completely manufactured and considered one of the softest 13d’s in the canyon. Its really steep and punches out a small cave up above the wicked cave. I originally had no intentions of trying it but after getting on it I realized its a good way to train for the harder 13d’s in the canyon. We headed back to Boulder the next day to give our bodies time to rest and catch up on life.

After recovering in Boulder we drove back out to Rifle to meet up with Lucas Larson who is one of my best friends from Reno. We climbed together for a few hrs in Ruckman and the next day Luke left to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The trip started out with failure. My progression on Bride of Frankenstein plummeted and after three attempts each try ended lower and lower until I fell on the second move. In that moment I decided to forget about Bride. Looking over to the right side of the cave I saw a cool looking route called Charleston Choss 13b. I sent it third try and after lowering off I felt a little better. We headed over to the Meat Wall where Daniel was working one of the hardest 12b’s in the canyon. Through out the whole trip he had started out falling every three bolts and quickly made huge improvements until he nearly sent. Falling off the last hold at the end of the trip was heartbreaking. But after a solid hours rest he got back on it and sent. One of the most amazing sends I have seen. The last five feet of this route is a really technical set of moves right after a hard clip. He gave it everything and achieved his goal. For me the last few days were focused on getting mileage on 12d’s and 13a’s in the canyon. I climbed four more days straight and dispatched Dirty Johnson 12d 35m, Expresso 12d, Blocky Horror Picture Show 13a, and The Perfect Gun 13a, all within 3 tries. The trip ended and for both of us it was one of our strongest trips so far. We headed back to Boulder and from there Daniel left for Maryland. We will be meeting up again in Maryland on July 15th to start a 9 month climbing trip around the U.S starting in the New River Gorge and ending in Squamish.