Proper Soul 5.14a

By: Urs Moosmuller

The first time I heard about Proper Soul was about a year ago while living in Reno, Nevada. I was bored surfing mountainproject and found a video of Chris Sharma onsighting this amazing overhanging endurance test piece. At the time I was no where near sending 5.14 so I dismissed it as a route that I would love to do, but had no expectations of doing. It wasn’t until I was in Maryland and getting together goals for the trip that I found that same video again. This time in the hopes that I could pull off a send of the route. I started studying the beta that Sharma used and in the process I found another video of Brent Perkins climbing the route on gear. This gave me an even more extensive look at the route and I immediately marked it as my main goal for the trip. Heading to the New I was anxious to immediately get on it, but from past experiences I knew to try some of the easier classics first and get used to the rock before throwing myself at one of the hardest routes in the New. For the first few days I focused on two 13c’s: The Travisty and Leap of Faith. The Travisty is marked in the guidebook as one of the must dos for technicians. With my previous attempt on the route I was getting shut down at the first crux. This time I came back with a siege attitude. I quickly got through the crux within a few tries only to get stopped at the next crux. I had worked out the moves previously, but didn’t think I would have any problems with it. I was wrong. My second day on the route I kept falling on the second crux over and over again but doing the move in the next try. Frustration built and finally on the first try of the third day I stuck everything perfectly and sent the route with ease. Its funny how some routes will spit you off over and over again, but then suddenly it all clicks and you send the route as if it was one of your warm-ups. The next 13c I had never heard of, but after the Travisty it was the next closest 13c. Leap of Faith as it is named is quite literally a leap from a boulder 6ft up to a flat hold for the start. This was quite exciting! After the leap the route follows perfect pockets and crimps up a beautiful slightly overhanging white wall. The crux hits you low with a super tesiony v8/9 move on tiny crimps to some sick buckets before the final roof. A crazy sequence gets you established into the underside of the roof and forces you to palm up against the roof to stay on. A final hard pull over leads to the anchors. All the moves went extremely fast and on my second go I fired the crux and fell on the last move before the anchors. This was the fastest I had ever come to completing a 13c and I ended up sending two tries later. With this previous send I felt pretty confident that I was ready for the big goal. The next day we headed over to check out the Cirque for the first time. After hiking for ten minutes through a dense forest you emerge at the top of The Cirque and are immediately stunned by the view of the whole New River Gorge. One of the most beautiful sights I have seen, was on a rainy day where we watched the clouds build underneath us. You then descend several ladders to the base of the cliff and hike around the corner and see the whole cirque in all its glory. The whole crag stretches for several hundred yards and is a hundred feet tall with a consistent overhang the whole way. Proper Soul tackles the steepest and longest natural line on the whole wall and is in my opinion the most visually stunning. The route can be summed up in the next few lines. The route starts out with slopey jugs with giant spiders to the base of a dihedral crack. Make a long lock off to a flat crimp to begin the first crux. A hard sequence entering the dihedral leads to a quick shake and the second crux exiting the dihedral. Hard moves lead to an all out dyno over a bulge. Mantle up on top the bulge and rest in a really awkward place on slopey holds. Then get ready for the third crux. A really hard traverse on tiny crimps using a mandatory head height heel hook with the last bolt 6ft below you. If you blow the crux traverse, you end up taking a 30ft fall into space. Finally you reach a jug where you can clip. Then 20 ft of juggy climbing leads to the final crux on the headwall. A powerful v5 move on micro crimps leads to the chains. My first few tries on the route I knew this was the exact route I was looking for. My progress on the route started out slowly and then I started making bigger and bigger leaps. My first few attempts I was falling halfway through the dihedral. Then I pushed myself through the dihedral and for four more tries I was falling at the end of the second crux traverse. One of the bolts was missing midway through the traverse so every time I would fall, I would dangle by my arms until I couldn't hang on and take the 30ft fall into space. Finally I pulled through the traverse and ended up falling on the soaking wet crux bulge. This was a huge break through, but for the next few days the weather forecast consisted of all rain. After waiting through the bad weather and hoping it will clear up just for one day, it finally did. On my 14th burn I sent on the first try of the day just barely pulling off the final crux bulge. Lowering off I felt extremely happy and glad that I put the time and effort to send the route. We have a few more days in the New before heading to the Red and I think I will try another 14a called Lord Voldemort or focus on some of the 5.13 classics.