California Climber | Issue 12

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CaliforniaClimber

SPRING2015

N 12

FEATURES 24/KEVIN JORGESON 38/LOVER’S LEAP 56/ZEPHYR BOULDERS

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s n o i t a v Inno ng hardware.

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CaliforniaClimber

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM

NO. 12 SPRING 2015

DEPARTMENTS 09/EDITOR’S NOTE 13/ROUTE OF THE SEASON 15/STAND BY YOUR VAN 19/PRODUCTS

FEATURES 25/KEVIN JORGESON PROFILE 39/TALES FROM THE LEAP 57/ZEPHYR BOULDERS

5 | SPRING 2015

ON THE COVER

Jody Pennycook climbing Pratt’s Crack (5.9), Pine Creek Canyon.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL THIS PAGE

Santa Rosa native Kevin Jorgeson scoping the upper pitches of the Dawn Wall. Check out his profile on page 25.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

Fixe “V” Gym Anchor Fixe Super Shut Gym Anchor

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Kalimnos 9.9, 70M Kalimnos 9.9, 60M

ROCA ROPES

CaliforniaClimber

Rhiannon Williams on an unnamed V1 at the Zephyr Boulders, Lake Tahoe.

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM

PUBLISHER Dean Fleming ART DIRECTOR Alton Richardson SENIOR CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jerry Dodrill, Jim Thornburg SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Fitz Cahall, James Lucas CONTRIBUTORS Becca Skinner, Larry Arthur, David Stallard, Brendan Leonard, Jerry Dodrill, Jim Thornburg, Charlie Barrett, Dean Fleming, CALIFORNIA CLIMBER 22502 Colorado River Dr. Sonora, Ca 93570 Phone: (209) 768-0110 Email: climb108@yahoo.com

DEAN FLEMING

MOST, IF NOT ALL OF THE ACTIVITIES DEPICTED HEREIN CARRY AND PRESENT SIGNIFICANT RISKS OF PERSNAL INJURY OR DEATH. Rock climbing, bouldering, ice climbing, moutaineering, alpine climbing and any other outdoor activity are inherently dangerous. The owners, staff and managment of California Climber do not recomend that anyone partcipate in these activities unless they are an expert or accompanied by an expert. Please seek qualified professional instruction and/or guidance. Understanding the risks involved are necesassary and be prepared to assume all responisbilty associated with those risks.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

The visionary Todd Skinner (1958 – 2006) making the crux move on his unrepeated route Wet Lycra Nightmare (5.13d) on Leaning Tower, Yosemite.

THE WHOLE NATURAL ART OF HANGDOGGING WORDS & IMAGES + JIM THORNBURG

I GREW UP ON A SKATEBOARD. For years I spent nearly every day practicing some trick or another...mostly failing. After skateboarding, bouldering at Indian Rock became my thing.

Like skateboarding, I mostly tried problems too hard for me—and failed, with the occasional incremental success.

So when I started exploring the world of roped climbing I was dismayed to learn that practice was really not allowed. Let me explain.

The free climbing revolution that began in the 1960s and caught fire during the ‘70s adhered to a strict set of rules that allowed for zero crossover into aid climbing; the rope and gear were there only to protect you in a fall. Any slip, fall or hang that weighted the rope meant you had to immediately lower to the ground. Sport climbing (or even the idea of the redpoint) did not yet exist. Surrounded by this dogma, I reluctantly stepped in line and stopped asking to hang or inspect holds after a failed attempt. Given my background, this was tough—but it was conform or be cast out.

After a few years of this puritanical approach to climbing, I had ploddingly learned crack technique to the degree that I could try some of the harder routes at Yosemite’s Cookie Cliff.

On one visit in 1985, a friend and I went up to try Red Zinger. During the approach we stopped to watch a climber attempting the first free ascent of a blank and stupendous aid line called The Stigma (A3). The long, overhanging seam looked entirely impossible to everyone (with the exception of the dude trying it). He was making huge, powerful spans between thin pin scars—I hadn’t seen anything like it before.

He was halfway up when he asked to take.

When he hung on the rope and began inspecting the jams, my partner and I, in a moment of sheer assholery, gave each other a smug little glance that communicated what a poofter we thought that guy was. We proudly continued on our way to try our much easier climb, firm in our shitty belief that his climb would never “count.”

9 | SPRING 2015

Seventeen years is a long time for one of the hardest pitches in the center of the climbing universe to go unrepeated. Ron Kauk, a climber with mystical abilities and the fortitude to stray from the status quo, was at the peak of his abilities when he bagged the first ascent of Magic Line (5.14b) in 1998.

EDITOR’S NOTE As it turned out, our response was probably one of the milder reactions that this climber, a visiting cowboy from Wyoming named Todd Skinner, would receive. Given the place and the era, it’s no surprise that Todd and his futuristic tactics were not welcomed with open arms. Instead, his car was vandalized, and he was called names and generally ridiculed. When he succeeded in redpointing (a term not yet in use) the main portion of the Stigma crack, his effort was largely criticized and discounted. His name for the free climb, The Renegade, was not recognized in guidebooks. In general, the slander far outweighed the praise.

Other visionary climbers of the era, such as Ray Jardine and Tony Yaniro, who employed similar tactics on iconic first ascents such as Jardine’s The Phoenix (5.13a, 1977) and Yaniro’s Grand Illusion (5.13b, 1978) were similarly ostracized and discounted for their supposed transgressions.

Fast forward 30 years, and we can see how these climbers’ imaginative tactics have advanced free climbing. If you need a case in point, look no further than Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s recent send of the Dawn Wall, a seven-year monster project that fol-

lowed Todd’s blueprints almost to a T for dreaming big and taming the impossible.

The status quo in climbing is powerful. You can still find plenty of slander about Jardine, Yaniro and Skinner in online venues like SuperTopo.com. New ideas or ideas that branch from the general rules of the day are often met with fierce resistance and the unmistakable stench of superiority. Resistance to efficiently working a route lingers in many climbers to this day as a stifling and antiquated skeleton of the past. For the modern climber, unlocking cryptic moves, not giving up, memorizing long, complicated sequences and putting it all together in a flawless recital, be it on a boulder or a big wall, is all part of the fun. Working routes is as natural and valid a form of climbing as any other. After all, it’s the go-to tactic that allows us to look at a stretch of impossible rock and think “just maybe...”

Scott Burke did just that when he made the second free ascent of The Nose in 1998. He worked the grade VI, 5.14 big wall for 261 days, taming the monolith inch by inch. The epic project culminated with a 12-day push ascent during which he led every pitch free except the Great Roof (he sent that clean on toprope in wet conditions as a storm approached). There were plenty of armchair climbers who focused only on the minor dab of toproping the Great Roof, or even on the length of time it took him. I say those 261 days of work were exactly what made the ascent so impressive. For Burke, it was a multi-year journey into the depths of his will. A journey that saw him, unprepared and unsupported, ride out brutal storms alone on the wall. A journey in which he made his hardest redpoint ever (after 100 days of work!) on the holdless Changing Corners pitch, an insanely exposed 5.14 that had previously been climbed only by his hero, Lynn Hill. Without doubt, this massive two-year effort was a precursor to the persistence required to climb the Dawn Wall.

So if you take anything from the realization of Caldwell and Jorgeson’s grand dream it might be to make one of your own. Embrace the intricate art of working a route, not for an hour or a day, but until you either do it or concede defeat. If the route is truly near your limit, you’ll become frustrated and humbled along the journey, but that is part of the art: soak it in, keep learning, keep getting stronger and most of all, don’t ever give up.

ROUTE OF THE SEASON

WORDS + CHARLIE BARRETT / IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

BETA ROUTE

GRADE

Pratt’s Crack

LENGTH

5.9

170 feet

ROCK TYPE

STYLE

RACK

Granite

Traditional

Small to 10”

LOCATION

DESCENT

APPROACH

Pine Creek Canyon, Bishop 10 min.; good trail SEASON

Fall to spring

Rappel with two 60m ropes

GUIDEBOOK Bishop Area Rock Climbs, by Marty Lewis and Peter Croft

DESCRIPTION

Jody Pennycook climbing Pratt’s Crack (5.9).

13 | SPRING 2015

t

Offwidth… Just the word itself sounds like a lot of work. It’s probably because most offwidths are, but if you have proper wide-crack climbing technique and the bravery to start up this pitch, Pratt’s Crack (5.9) can turn out to be an enjoyable rope length of climbing. Walking into Pine Creek Canyon near Bishop and farther into the Pratt’s Crack Gully, you can’t help but be amazed by the perfect architecture of the wall. The splitter right-facing corner of Pratt’s Crack looks like a perfectly sculpted corner of a building that should be in downtown San Francisco. The beautiful square-cut arête just to the right of Pratt’s Crack is Tom Herbert’s classic sport route Ecstasy, which clocks in at a hard 5.13a. Nostalgic climbers might remember the classic footage of TM Herbert climbing Pratt’s Crack and his son Tom climbing his arête Ecstasy in the 1990s movie Moving Over Stone Part II. Although Pratt’s Crack involves a lot of pure offwidth climbing, the gear var-

ies from tiny cams, which can be placed in the smaller cracks inside the offwidth, to large, slung chockstones and giant cams. If you need some help convincing your partner to try Pratt’s Crack, be sure to mention that the stellar, long and clean splitter hand crack Sheila (5.10a) is just around the corner. Sheila shares an anchor with Ecstasy, so it’s also possible to give that some convenient toprope burns. If you dispatch Pratt’s Crack quickly and you’re still looking to sample more of the classic long routes Pine Creek has to offer, you don’t need to look far. The five-pitch route Rites of Spring (5.10d) is located on the tall, clean wall just left of Pratt’s Crack and features some of the best pitches the area has to offer. With its location tucked into Wheeler’s Ridge just northwest of Bishop, Pratt’s Crack and the surrounding climbs are a nice way to escape the heat of the warm Owens Valley in spring, summer and fall. Be sure to look out for Tai Devore‘s new guidebook to the Pine Creek area, which is in the making now and should be out soon.

PICKETS - SNOW ANCHORS - PULLEYS - DESCENDERS - EDGE PROTECTION - CARABINERS - RIGGING PLATES - RINGS

PHOTO BY: DEAN FLEMING

The Spire’s ability to easily lower a climber while in auto-block mode leads the pack in ease of use, and its right at home on your skinny alpine rope.

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WORDS + BRENDAN LEONARD

BECCA SKINNER

STAND BY YOUR VAN

NOTES FROM A #VANLIFE ONE SATURDAY LAST MAY, I slid a key into the lock on a scrappy little apartment 80 feet off Denver’s noisy Colfax Avenue. We carried our stuff in and made piles, then flopped a mattress onto the bedroom floor. In bed that night, I laid on my back as sirens shrieked, motorcycle engines whined and growled and drunks and homeless people passed our building. A very small part of me wondered if I had made some wrong choices in life to end up in an apartment like this instead of something a little quieter, a little more spacious, maybe something closer to the park.

But most of me was exhaling a nearly continuous sigh of relief that I didn’t live in a van anymore. No one could kick us out of a parking spot, no headlights would shine in our rear window in the middle of the night, and I wouldn’t have that tiny nagging wonder if someone would mess with our van, the miniscule-but-still-there worry that you have no matter how remote or safe you tell yourself your bivy spot is.

After nearly three years of living completely on the road, I had a few reservations about “settling down.” I was giving up on a dream—living on the road year-round—and I had told people that I felt I should do it as long as I could do it, while I had the chance and the ability to. Was I really trading desert sunsets and sunrises outside my van’s windows for the bad air, dirt, traffic and noise of a big city?

15 | SPRING 2015

I

n March 2012, I had been living for six months out of the back of a Subaru Outback Impreza, a station wagon that would have been perfect for a 5’6” person. But I was 5’11”. Half of the six months I lived in my car, I fantasized about a van.

When you tell people you’re looking for a van to move into, they automatically think one of two things: a Volkswagen camper van or a Sprinter, the former being the sexy, Tumblr- and Instagram-ready international emblem of life on the road-slash-living the dream, and the latter being the best van-size mobile home that a reasonable amount of money can buy. Both are beautiful, the stuff of dirtbag daydreams, and either would make a great choice for anyone choosing to live on the road.

I fixated on Astrovans, or as I called them, “the Sprinter van of the proletariat.” I found one with all-wheel drive and 129,000 miles on it. I had about $7,500 in my life savings, and I gave it to the greasiest greaseball of slick, full-of-shit used-car salesman I could probably find in Denver, a guy named Wayne who worked at a car “dealership” whose name ended in the words “and Pawn.” He promised he would have a mechanic fix the airflow system so air actually came out of the vents when I turned on the air conditioning, and glue the side panel back on the door, before I picked the van up the next week. He did neither.

The Astrovan was a crappy car and a great house. Immediately, I sunk $3,000 into fixing the front end, which was all-wheel drive, but as a friend realistically reminded me, “There’s a big difference between Subaru all-wheel drive and Chevy all-wheel drive.” My friend Mitsu masterminded a giant wooden box with three enormous drawers that filled the back of the van, held all my gear and supported my $100 IKEA mattress.

I put 60,000 miles on the van in less than two years and put thousands of dollars of repairs into it, but it never once left me stranded on the side of the road. I kept Wayne’s business card in the ashtray, a reminder of the Astrovan’s completely untrustworthy foster parent before I rescued it. I laughed every time I randomly found the business card.

A few months into my life in the van and just under a year into my life on the road, I met a girl. We took it slowly at first, partly because I was out of town all the time, and partly because I had blown enough relationships by rushing into them. After a few dates, the gravity was obvious, and after a couple months, we began to accelerate into a wonderful thing, as easy and natural as shutting the alarm clock off and hiding under the covers on a Sunday morning. I asked her if she might want to quit her job, start writing again, and move into my van with me? Of course she did.

We chased Wi-Fi and free camping spots all over the West for 16 months, squeezing in 50 hours of freelance work a week in coffee shops, public libraries, and the occasional Laundromat.

First

Stop:

San Francisco

Mission Cliffs then Dogpatch Boulders.

Inspiring your next California Road Trip. # touchstoneclimbing

We climbed, ran trails and mountain biked when we could, in Ouray, Red Rocks, Moab, Zion, Gooseberry Mesa, Sedona and anywhere else that looked cool and wasn’t too far from a place to plug in our laptops.

We woke up below the Tombstones near Moab, with hot air balloons landing 100 feet away as we brushed our teeth outside the van on some Forest Service land south of Sedona, in a clandestine free spot near Zion. We drove into Joshua Tree National Park to climb a few pitches before work every morning for a week, snuck in mountain bike rides on Tuesdays in Utah and Northern California, and drove to places like Bisbee, Arizona, and The Loneliest Highway in America, just for the hell of it. All told, in just under three years, I slept in more than 300 different places and traveled to or through 23 states. I went all that time without ever cleaning a bathroom, because I didn’t rent or own anything with one in it.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t often think it was the greatest thing ever, living out of a duffel bag, looking at the map every time we got the itch to move on, never more than a few hours from this friend or that friend and dinner and a great conversation, all that “catching up” you wish you had time for but never do.

Depending on who you were talking to, the admission that you live out of a van is either strange or envied. At the time, Foster Huntington was making it look amazing to his 900,000 Instagram followers and the #vanlife hashtag, and pretty much started a movement.

It’s a fantasy of a generation, mixing the American road trip myth and the dirtbag pursuit of passion and beauty in natural settings, and no matter what happens during the day, it’s hard to argue with watching the sunset over your steering wheel while your favorite song plays on the speakers and you push the gas pedal to the proverbial next best place. The whole thing is poetic, a Valencia-filtered image of hope to those of us who grind out 9 to 5 under fluorescent lights while daydreaming of backpacking or climbing vacations, live in too-small apartments and have an ever-growing “Places to See Before I Die” list.

I wrote a book about the first three months of my life on the road, The New American Road Trip Mixtape, and sold a few thousand copies. On the back of the book, the author bio stated that I lived in a van. One of my favorite sentences in the book was “If you could live anywhere, wouldn’t you want to live everywhere?” and I really believed the sentiment that the entire West was my home, not any one house or apartment in it.

But the longer we lived on the road, the more it started to feel not so much like “living the dream.” Had we saved up all our money so we could live out of a van and climb for a year, it might have been more sustainable. But we didn’t—we were working, one foot in the world of living the dream and one foot in the office world, both dirty feet in a pair of sandals under whatever surface we used as a desk.

We began to wear down from the constant struggle to find enough places to write stories, punch out e-mails, take conference calls, just barely staying ahead while waiting for the next paycheck—which we hoped would be in the next round of mail forwarded to wherever we were. And then find a quiet, dark, semi-secret place to park the van at night so we could get some sleep. The realities of pissed-on toilet seats of public restrooms began to blur the perfect visions of The Endless Road Trip. We

17 | SPRING 2015

BRENDAN LEONARD (3)

STAND BY YOUR VAN

were perpetually in some sort of minor karmic debt, using someone else’s Wi-Fi, someone else’s bathroom, someone else’s guest bedroom or couch and someone else’s electrical outlets. All those things people who don’t live in a van pay for, but can count on.

On April 1, we had planned to climb a second day at Smith Rock but woke up to snow dumping everywhere. We spent the day working at coffee shops in Bend, not sure where to go next, and that night, not wanting to get the van stuck on a muddy dirt road or impose on friends in town, we drove a few miles east of town on U.S. 20 and decided our best option was a former weigh station on the side of the highway, parking near two semi trucks who had the same plan but probably shades over their windows and insulation in their cabs. I sighed. The slush, the noise of cars flying by every two minutes, and the fact I couldn’t sit up in the van and type on my laptop without hunching over all added up. I scrolled through Craigslist ads for apartments in Denver on my phone, lying under the sleeping bag.

Was that too grown up? Were we selling out, giving up? All those people I know who would kill to be able to live on the road for a while—were we disappointing them? After more than two years of repeating the mantra that we should do it as long as we could, while we could, I was ready to fold.

We emptied a storage unit that I’d kept during my entire life on the road, only returning to repack for this trip or that trip, or to box up wholesale copies of my books to send to a retailer. I had one box of “kitchen stuff,” the “Just In Case I Get an Apartment” box, which Josh and Trinh had given me after my breakup that started the whole road trip 29 months ago: a few plates, a few bowls, some pots, some pans. My clothes took up a single drawer of a dresser and about 15 hangers, all my softshell and puffy jackets included.

The apartment wasn’t a dream home. Nobody would take photos of our place and put them on Pinterest. It was just enough rent money that it didn’t have rats or cockroaches, but not so much that we couldn’t travel half the year. After all, we still had a van with a bed in the back of it.

I have a real towel, not a pack towel. I can get up to pee at 2:30 a.m. without doing gymnastics to flip into the front seat and out the van door. I can make toast, for myself. I don’t have to order it from a waitress at a diner. I can make toast at 7 a.m., or 11 p.m. if I damn well want to. I can smear it with half a jar of peanut butter, and then I can eat it shirtless.

When the breeze blows in the right direction, the smell of donuts wafts in through the blinds. That first night in the apartment, the sirens and the motorcycle engines and the drunken shouts outside our apartment faded away as I fell asleep.

Brendan Leonard is a climber, writer and creator of the website Semi-Rad.com, dedicated to the ethos of the everyman’s (and everywoman’s) adventure.

HIRUNDOS

Photo Š www.kalice.fr

High-performance and lightweight, for freedom on the hardest moves.

The HIRUNDOS is the ideal harness for high-performance sport climbing. Its FUSEFRAME Technology construction offers an exceptionally lightweight and comfortable combination. www.petzl.com

REVIEW WINTER: PRODUCTS

TRANGO CRAG PACK { $99 }

C

rafted from the tried-and-true design of a traditional haulbag, the Trango Crag Pack boasts a simple structure but a plethora of features that help it function incredibly well as a basic cragging backpack.

The mesh side pocket is perfect for stowing shoes, guidebooks, water bottles and especially trash. A small tarp can be accessed from the left side pocket that provides a clean place to organize gear, or for use as a small tarp to flake a rope. A side zipper offers quick access to the interior of the bag, and the huge topside zipper compartment has ample storage for stowing sundries like sunscreen and car keys.

Because the Crag Pack is conceptually modeled on the design and durability of a haulbag, it stands upright whether empty or full, which is very convenient for speedy packing and organizing at the base of the crag or at the parking lot. Although this bag is not intended for use as a haulbag, this is one area where our testers felt the Crag Pack could be slightly improved. Most testers agreed that the Crag Pack is best suited as an approach bag; however, if Trango considered the addition of two simple webbing straps, the Crag Pack could easily double as a haulbag if needed.

The suspension system is designed incredibly well. Our testers found that even the heaviest loads (two ropes, full rack, camera gear and a 12-pack of PBR, etc.) could be hauled up steep talus approaches at a surprisingly comfortable pace. Although the Crag Pack does weigh in a bit heavier than the market’s ultra-light hiking and climbing packs, this hauler easily makes up for its slight weight addition with its superburly exterior material and extremely durable buckles and straps. Every Crag Pack comes with 25 mini trash bags to keep messy refuse like candy wrappers and banana peels from getting your other gear dirty.

These trash bags also allow for a no-excuses approach to cleaning up trash in all climbing areas.

MAD ROCK HULK HMS { $11.95 } big locking carabiner is one of the most useful pieces of equipA ment a climber can own. Often used as a smooth belay/rappel biner with a tube-style device, as a master point on toprope anchors or as a place to clip “everything” on long routes and big wall belays, carabiners with larger baskets, openings and rope-bearing surface often take the brunt of abuse in many scenarios. With this in mind, the folks at Mad Rock have once again created an incredibly durable and strong piece of equipment that fits neatly into the dirtbag’s budget.

The new Hulk locking biner from Mad Rock is hot forged during construction, which allows for reduced weight while maintaining one of the highest breaking load capacities in the world. The carabiner’s smooth and large radius ensures high performance and the keylock nose allows for quicker and snag-free operation. In essence, Mad Rock crafted a carabiner that fits all the specs and standards of a top-tier locker—and then they cut the price in half.

Over a six-month testing period, we found that the Hulk locker stood up to, or exceeded industry standards for this style of product.

Particularly worth noting is the carabiner’s rope-bearing surface, which has an excellent shape that is especially suited for toprope anchors and use with belay devices. After long toproping sessions, there is almost zero visible rope fuzz on the Hulk biner, indicating its surface has not abraded the climbing rope while lowering—a scenario that would never occur with smaller/narrower carabiners.

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| SPRING 2015

AS MANY FALLS AS A 10.0

IN A 9.0 P: Justin Talbot

catalyst 9.0 with Unicore® Technology

No other rope of this diameter boasts such numbers. The Catalyst takes the safety, durability, and performance of skinny ropes to a new level. Go ahead – climb on it this weekend. And the next. And the next. This rope is designed for much more than redpoints.

• • • • • •

Unicore® Technology drastically increases the rope’s safety if sheath damage occurs Life Sheath™ technology resists abrasion and extends rope life The impact force (8.2kN) and static elongation (6.5%) combine for a soft catch without excessive rope stretch 70m and 80m lengths have you covered for mega projects and alpine sprints Every rope features Duo Dry and an obvious middle mark 7 UIAA falls in lab testing mean this rope can handle a beating

REVIEW PRODUCTS

METOLIUS ULTRALIGHT TCU { $59.95 }

W

hen Metolius released the TCU (Three Cam Unit) in 1985 it revolutionized active protection as the first wire-body camming device. Climbers marveled at the TCU’s lightweight body, narrow profile and simplicity, yet perhaps the most innovative feature of the TCU has always been its flexibility and narrow head width, allowing for secure placements in flaring cracks and pin scars. Over the years Metolius has continued to improve the design of the TCU by including excellent modifications that enhance the usability of the device and provide significant weight reductions. Today the Metolius Ultralight TCU is the world’s bestselling mini cam, and due to the device’s Direct Axle Technology (DAT), the Ultralight TCU is one of the lightest cams on the market.

“The new Ultralight model of the TCU is light, versatile, strong and ultra-durable,” said Brooke Sandahl of Metolius Climbing. “Ivo Ninov has a No. 1 TCU (blue) that he has taken up El Capitan 63 times, and it’s still functioning, which is a pretty strong testament,” added Sandahl.

“Lynn and I had them when we freed the Nose, and cats like Bridwell and Carlos Buhler have used them in the greater ranges of the world, including Patagonia, Baffin Island, Alaska and the Himalaya. I still use them regularly, especially when going into the backcountry. I love the small volume and obviously the light weight.”

The Ultralight TCU’s Direct Axle Technology and narrow head width makes tricky placements easier due to better cam lobe visibility, especially in the small sizes. Metolius’ custom Range Finder tells you at a glance if you’ve chosen the right size cam for the placement, and the device’s U-shaped body allows for greater durability and unparalleled control during placement and retraction.

LA SPORTIVA MIURA VS { $170 }

I

f you’ve spent some time climbing on the West’s edging testpieces at areas like Smith Rock or Tuolumne Meadows, you’ve no doubt seen at least a handful of climbers wearing the La Sportiva Miura. With its form-fitting build and responsive rand that provide tenacious edging and smearing performance, this popular Velcro shoe has nearly revolutionized the way climbers tackle severely desperate dime-edging classics.

Based on the Miura’s design but boasting a number of features that assist in both convenience and performance, the newer Miura VS has been extremely well-received by a large number of climbers with a wide variety of climbing styles.

The most obvious design change with the Miura VS is the addition of Velcro straps for easy on and off convenience, but that is not the only

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| SPRING 2015

addition that makes this sporty, high-end edging and smearing shoe a must for bouldering and technical climbing. La Sportiva pulled key design elements from the Miura and then incorporated them into the VS’ three-strap hook-and-loop closure system. The one-piece leather upper has a synthetic lining to control stretch and is unlined under the foot to allow for excellent sensitivity on micro-edges and smears. Unlike the original lace-up Miura, the Miura VS is built with the P3 platform for a long-lasting downturned shape. This platform has demonstrated remarkable performance with the VS, and the shoe has quickly excelled as a top model for steep overhangs, precision edging and powerful footwork sequences.

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B-RadFoundation. org The B-Rad Foundation is dedicated to supporting causes that matter. Join us as we celebrate Brad Parker's life, in pursuit of health, outdoor education, stewardship, and positive momentum.

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| SPRING 2015

WORDS + JERRY DODRILL IMAGES + JERRY DODRILL & JIM THORNBURG

With rocks clenched in one fist and a headlamp in the other, I closed my eyes. The ringtail cats would be back to torment us, and this time I’d be ready. The beasts were relentless, returning every 30 minutes, all… night… long.

I was just beginning to doze off when I heard something scrounging in the haulbag. I clicked on the light and bolted up just in time to see the coon-like bandit leap into the air. It landed square on my chest and ran the length of my sleeping bag before it vanished into the woods.

Kevin Jorgeson’s Road to the Big Stone

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

The Process.

Psyched and exhausted, Jorgeson is all smiles after finishing the Dawn Wall on El Capitan.

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THIS PAGE TOP Jorgeson inspecting fried fingertips on the Dawn Wall, Yosemite.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

THIS PAGE BOTTOM Taking an afternoon lap on the Southwest Arête (5.9) of the Grandma Peabody Boulder, Bishop.

IMAGE + JIM THORNBURG

RIGHT Making the first ropeless ascent of Stony White Boots Johnson (5.13a), Salt Point.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

T

he following morning I threaded the Grigri with tired eyes, and then belayed Kevin Jorgeson up the first pitch of Yosemite’s steepest wall, the West Face of Leaning Tower. It was the summer of 2006, and Kevin was on the verge of coming into the peak of his career as a highball boulderer. What on Earth were we doing on a big wall? A few weeks prior he sent a surprising text message: “Dude. I want to climb El Cap some day! Gotta learn to haul and set up a portaledge. Let’s climb a wall!” Kevin was inspired by Marmot teammate Tommy Caldwell and knew there was a future beyond pebble wrestling. Aid climbing wasn’t in Kevin’s mental vocabulary, however, and before long, he was feeling around on imaginary holds looking for ways to free the blank first pitch, which everyone knows will never go free. At the anchor he rigged his first haul and pulled up the bag. He was a quick study in systems management, and it took little time to reach Ahwahnee Ledge. Suddenly we were stuck behind three bottlenecked parties who had shared the exposed, urine-soaked bivouac the previous night. We planned to climb two more pitches, set up the portaledge, open a bottle of wine and enjoy some big wall camping.

“You know,” he said, “it just seems like if you can get gear in or set a hook placement, you should be able to crimp those features.”

“Do you wanna try it?” I asked skeptically.

“Sure. Will you lower me?” he said.

There was plenty of time to kill while we waited for traffic, so he put on his climbing shoes while I re-rigged the belay and lowered him to the second pitch. Apparently it goes free at 5.13b, but for me and most climbers, it’s A2. “Climbing!” he yelled up. The rope moved slowly, but before long he was back at the ledge, having freed all the moves. This was classic Jorgeson. I just shook my head in disbelief.

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THIS PAGE Jorgeson running laps on the classic Bishop highball Jedi Mind Tricks (V4).

IMAGE + JIM THORNBURG

RIGHT Making a quick redpoint ascent of Tony Yaniro’s incredible Grand Illusion (5.13b/c), Sugarloaf.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

wanted to go rock climbing” In the good company of Sonoma County crushers, Kevin began ticking off the local projects and added a new wave of his own hard first ascents that included the classic Stigmata (V12, 2003), and a bold ropeless ascent of Nunéz’ 5.13a toprope route Stony White Boots Johnson at Salt Point. These climbs were featured in Chuck Fryburger’s film “Pure.”

Kevin was aiming for a career in kinesiology, but at every opportunity, he pointed his truck toward Yosemite or Bishop to quench his thirst for world-class boulder problems. It didn’t take long to compile an impressive list of hard ascents that rivaled his academic achievements.

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S

onoma County is known more for its fine wine than quantity of stone, but the region has somehow managed to produce multiple vintages of very strong climbers. Jason Campbell, Marcos Nunéz, Dave and Andy Wallach, Charlie Barrett, Chris Summit, Carlo and Giovanni Traversi, Kevin Jorgeson and others have perfected their skills on the North Coast’s limited but high-quality boulders and seaside cliffs. The amount of great rock in this geologically complex zone is somewhat scarce, but it could be this very fact that has consolidated Sonoma County climbers into a tight network of friends who train and travel together.

When the region’s first rock gym opened in Santa Rosa in 1995, Kevin was just 10 years old. His dad worked for the county Parks and Recreation Department and encouraged his young son to try climbing. From the beginning it was obvious that he had a real gift. One of Kevin’s longtime friends Rob McKay recalls projecting V6 boulder problems with Kevin before going away on a two-week trip. When he came back, Kevin was doing laps on V8s, and the momentum never slowed down.

He began competing in regional competitions at 14 and quickly moved up in the rankings.

At 16 he easily redpointed his first 5.14 during a summer road trip to Trinity Arêtes with Jordan Stone. That was followed with ascents of Steep Climb Named Desire (5.13d) at Donner Summit and Mickey’s Beach Arête (5.14a without a drilled pocket). At 17 he won the Youth Nationals and Continental Championships, then stopped competing. “I was winning a lot, and that was great,” he said in an interview for this article. “I got my first sponsors, but the more I won, the more pressure I felt. I didn’t like that, and I just

ver New Year’s in 2006, just a few months before our Leaning Tower climb, Kevin took a trip to Joshua Tree where he did his first crack climbs. After leading Sail Away (5.8) he went to check out Equinox. This classic thin finger crack splits a smooth, slightly overhanging face for 80 feet and clocks in at 5.12c. After a few toprope burns, he decided to try it on lead. With a borrowed rack and a good deal of uncertainty, he made his way up the crack hoping the little cams would stick. In a video of the ascent, he looks like a finely tuned machine, but to his recollection, the climb went anything but smooth. He described being pumped out of his mind but too terrified of his sketchy placements to fall. He ran out of appropriate gear before the upper crux and had to run it out, somehow getting an oversized Alien to stay in the crack for psychological pro.

It was on this trip that a pivotal transition occurred. Rather than just seeking difficult projects, Kevin became attracted to the aesthetics of the line, regardless of the grade. This change marked the beginning of his journey into the world of crack climbing, highball bouldering and significant first ascents. He continued to develop his crack skills with trips to Lover’s Leap, Indian Creek, Yosemite and Sugarloaf, where he managed to make a quick redpoint ascent of Tony Yaniro’s historic Grand Illusion (5.13b/c).

In 2007 Jorgeson’s commitment to seeking beautiful projects continued. His comfort level on tall, difficult boulders became more and more refined. In Bishop he repeated This Side of Paradise (V10), Heroun

IT WAS ON THIS TRIP THAT A PIVOTAL TRANSITION OCCURRED. RATHER THAN JUST SEEKING DIFFICULT PROJECTS, KEVIN BECAME ATTRACTED TO THE AESTHETICS OF THE LINE, REGARDLESS OF THE GRADE.

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and Sea of Stories (V12), Spectre (V13), Mandala Sit (V14) and The Swarm (V14). He also established several spectacular new problems of his own.

On a stormy day in 2006, we hiked up to a highball open project that Kevin had been eyeing to the left of The Swarm. He threw a rope over the top to clean the holds and worked the individual moves without

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attempting to link them on toprope. A couple days later we returned in better weather with a few friends and a stack of pads. He got to work on the project, and on his first try he did the first ascent of Flight of the Bumblebee (V9), which has a thin crux 35 feet off the ground.

A few weeks later, we were back at the This Side of Paradise boulder in the Bardini’s to pluck a line he and Ethan Pringle had been projecting. After a few sessions, he managed the scary first ascent of The Beautiful and the Damned (V13). Later in 2007 he put up a major new route on the Grandpa Peabody Boulder. Now notorious for big first ascents on highball boulders, Kevin considered Footprints (V9) to be his first real free solo. The slab crux comes at the 40-foot level and was practiced on rappel. He later told Climbing magazine, “Everyone was very concerned. You would NOT walk away from a fall from this crux.”

He said, “Aesthetics, location and movement required by the problems are what attract me… It takes a combination of all three to justify the risk involved.”

Film projects and photo shoots were a regular part of Kevin’s life by 2008. Photographers began lining up to get him in their movies and photos. He made significant excursions to the UK’s gritstone, Rocklands

THIS PAGE Jorgeson on the first ascent of Flight of the Bumblebee (V9), Bishop.

IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

RIGHT Well into the no-fall zone on the first ascent of Ambrosia (V11), Bishop.

IMAGE + JIM THORNBURG

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in South Africa and spent time in Colorado, where he repeated Ode to the Modern Man (V14). After many more first ascents and repeats of hard problems, the culmination of Kevin’s bouldering career happened on the south side of the Grandpa Peabody Boulder in Bishop. While Kevin was doing recon on a forgotten Dale Bard route called Transporter Room, he became interested in an unclimbed line up the steeper, continuously overhanging face to the right. The new project received a thorough cleaning, inspection and was well-rehearsed before he put away the rope and spread out the pads. With cameras rolling, he worked and ultimately completed the first ascent of the 45-foot, 5.14 super highball.

With a lower hard crux and solid 5.12 moves 40 feet off the ground, it blurred the lines between highball bouldering and free soloing. He later called Ambrosia (V11) his most dangerous and memorable route to date.

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ike everything else in his life, the progression from highballs to big walls happened rather abruptly. Shortly after our ascent of Leaning Tower in 2006, he did a one-day ascent of Half Dome with Jimmy Liu, and we made free climbing forays up The Nose to Dolt Tower. He focused almost entirely on bouldering until his ascent of Ambrosia was featured in the 2009 film “Progression.” In that same flick, there was a segment about Tommy Caldwell’s new project on the Dawn Wall. Tommy had established 5.15a sport routes in Colorado and was already the most accomplished big wall free climber in Yosemite’s history. But for a climb of this length and difficulty, he needed a dedicated collaborator. Kevin had pretty much maxed out the potential for what one can do in the realm of highball bouldering and walked away without broken bones. A master of beta memorization and sequence recall, he was the perfect partner. When he tied into a rope with Tommy on the Dawn Wall, it was something of a relief for friends and family. It’s ironic that while the stakes were higher on the Big Stone, the climbing was safer with less worry about him hitting the ground when he fell.

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s the dust settles in the Valley after the Dawn Wall media frenzy, another generation of strong young climbers are following the progression. Yosemite was considered “climbed out” by the community when all the walls were “conquered.”

But new unjaded generations continue to reinvent and re-interpret what it means to be a climber. With this remarkable project now behind them, Tommy headed to Colorado to be with his family while Kevin embarked on a new adventure as a motivational speaker. As he shares his story, he is challenging audiences all around the world with one simple question: What’s your Dawn Wall?

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Kevin Jorgeson working the crux 15th pitch of Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d), Yosemite. IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL

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UPPER LEFT Jorgeson’s torched hands after 19 days on the Dawn Wall.

BOTTOM LEFT As Caldwell and Jorgeson top out, a congratulatory tweet from President Barack Obama goes around the globe.

UPPER RIGHT Jorgeson scoping the upper pitches of the Dawn Wall.

BOTTOM RIGHT Long time no see! Girlfriend Jacqui Becker and Jorgeson embrace on the summit of El Capitan after an epic 19-day push to redpoint the Dawn Wall.

IMAGES + JERRY DODRILL

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Beth Rodden on the third pitch of Traveler Buttress (5.9).

TALES

LEAP

FROM THE

IMAGES + JIM THORNBURG

A BRIEF HISTORY “WITH THE LONE EXCEPTION OF TAHQUITZ ROCK, LOVER’S LEAP HAS THE BEST SELECTION OF CONCENTRATED FREE CLIMBS IN CALIFORNIA. NO ONE CLIFF EVEN IN YOSEMITE HAS LOVER’S LEAP’S CONCENTRATION WITH SUCH QUALITY AND VARIETY.” —Climber’s Guide to Lake Tahoe Region, by Royal Robbins, 1976 The record of technical climbing at Lover’s Leap is among the most mature yet ambiguous climbing narrations in the history of California.

What is known about the Leap’s earliest ascents begins in familiar fashion with Sierra Club outings in the early 1950s. At the time, Sierra Club institutions were well-known for hosting highly organized, almost militant instruction operations at locations they deemed “practice crags.” As training for alpine ascents in the High Sierra and abroad, Sierra Club members scoured a fair amount of Lover’s Leap and ascended some of the crag’s most formidable faces.

By the mid-1950s Phil Berry and Robin Linnett began picking off obvious first ascents on the East Wall and Main Wall of Lover’s Leap. Berry and Linnett were first on many of the crag’s best routes, including the upper half of Bookmark (5.7) and East of Eeyore (5.8) in 1954, and Bear’s Reach (5.7) and Eagle Buttress Left (5.8) in 1956.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Lover’s Leap witnessed a small surge of technical route development by some of the era’s finest climbers. TM Herbert, Warren Harding, Royal Robbins, Roger Moreau, Russell Hoopes, Ken Edsburg, Steve Roper, Galen Rowell, Gordon Webster, Steve Thompson, Dick Long, Tom Higgins, Jeff Lowe and Allen Steck were among a prominent group of climbers who accomplished early repeats of the existing climbs and established many of the crag’s best routes.

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As free-climbing standards reached new heights in the mid-1970s, many of California’s longstanding aid climbs fell to a new wave of strong fingers and sticky rubber. Lines deemed too blank or too thin for free climbing were dispatched on a daily basis by an ever-increasing number of talented climbers. With its famous horizontal dikes that provide ample holds in solid rock, climbers of the 1970s felt that nearly every inch of Lover’s Leap could be free climbed. Because of people like Jay Smith, Tony Yaniro, Ron Kauk, John Bachar, Paul Crawford, Rick Cashner, Bill Price, Rick Sumner and Richard Harrison, climbing at Lover’s Leap pushed forward into the 5.12 range, setting a new standard for the next generation and opening a passage for hard free ascents in the Tahoe region.

Today Lover’s Leap presents a great selection of climbs from 5.1 to 5.12+. The heavily featured nature of the stone has allowed for the majority of the area’s climbs to fall somewhere between 5.7 and 5.10.

The bulk of the ratings at Lover’s Leap are considered moderate; however, many climbers will still find a multitude of challenges, both mental and physical, on the Leap’s famous trade routes. Even the Leap’s most popular climbs, such as Traveler Buttress (5.9), Corrugation Corner (5.7) and The Line (5.9), host some short sections with scarce protection or a bit of technical, wide-crack climbing. Area testpieces like Fantasia (5.9 R) and East Wall Arête (5.10 R) challenge the area’s boldest climbers with long runouts between hard-to-find placements.

But these cliffs are also stacked with extremely safe multi-pitch climbs and well-protected sport climbs. With so many options for free climbing here, searching through the long list of climbs in any Tahoe area guidebook can be overwhelming. But if you take the time to explore a bit, you’ll certainly find that the Leap is full of adventure and that it hosts the highest concentration of high-quality moderate climbing in the Western United States. —Dean Fleming

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LEFT Beth Rodden on Boothill (5.11b).

RIGHT Alexi Calcano high on the second pitch of Hospital Corner (5.10a), a brilliant four-pitch dihedral.

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LEFT Beth Rodden on the second

pitch of Traveler Buttress (5.9).

RIGHT Unknown climbers on the third

pitch of Traveler Buttress (5.9).

TRAVELER BUTTRESS THERE COMES A DAY in every climber’s career when he can let out a sigh and think to himself, “Wow, I’m a real climber.” For me, it was during a beautiful spring day in 1989. The revelation struck as I was leading a group of clients (I worked that year as a bootlegger guide) up the steep trail that leads to the base of the Lower Main Wall at Lover’s Leap, near Lake Tahoe.

Bill, who had hired me previously for several easier climbs, had picked our route, a four-pitch 5.9 called Traveler Buttress, from the book Fifty Classic Climbs in North America. I could tell by the worried look on his face that he was having second thoughts now that the steep gray wall loomed above us like a miniature El Cap. He had brought his wife, his sister and his best friend, and since they were all beginners and nervous about attempting such a long and difficult climb, he was doing his best to help me brag about what a big-shot climber I was. I had just spent a week at nearby Cave Rock, and thus was fully acclimatized to the 7,000-foot elevation as I charged up the approach and sprayed names and big grades of recent hard redpoints to my panting and sweating charges. At the base, I pulled out my woefully small rack and explained that I would place only a few pieces per pitch, so that everyone could just enjoy the climbing. As I began the first pitch, I casually explained how leading worked, that it was very dangerous and required a cool head and years of experience. On their faces was a clear expression of awe, and in the ladies’ eyes, I recognized something else—was it lust?

On the 50-foot-wide ledge atop the first pitch, we stopped for lunch and regarded the second and crux pitch: a 20-foot, vertical squeeze chimney capped by a splitter hand crack that shot straight up for another 100 feet.

Below our giant ledge, the cliff dropped away dramatically, and below that, the talus slope sprawled downward before disappearing into the cool green forest far below. The American River roared faintly beneath the trees at the valley’s bottom. We lounged sleepily in the warm May sunshine after lunch and traced the paths of swifts as they blazed past in dizzying spirals. I pointed out a number of nearby classics, hoping for some return business. Corrugation Corner, a 5.7, began just 50 feet to our right in a clean corner that led up to a confusing and difficult-looking confluence of face and chimney climbing. To our left, the massive East Wall stretched into the distance, covered with dikes and striking cracks such as The Line, a three-pitch 5.9.

Since everyone had struggled on the 5.8 crack at the top of the first pitch, I gave a brief explanation of jamming technique. I carefully omitted that I had found the first pitch both desperate and hard to protect. Although I was secretly nervous about the looming squeeze chimney, I calmly began the pitch with a 20-foot runout. As I climbed, I gave a short geology lesson on the amazing horizontal dikes that etched the face. The quartz and feldspar protrusions are considerably more resistant to weathering than their surrounding matrix, providing holds that vary in size, some barely adequate as crimpers, others forming ledges big enough to nap on.

As I placed my first piece of gear at the base of the chimney, I began to wish that I had put something in earlier. I considered retreat, but when I looked down, I saw all four faces staring up,

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slack-jawed and full of admiration. I pushed on. After several strenuous moves, I realized that although holding my breath definitely masked the fact that I was struggling, it was also causing me to see stars. I began to suck wind. Bill seemed to notice.

“That sure looks hard,” he said nervously.

“Nah,” I said. “Just a bit strenuous”.

My last exclamation came out as a grunt of effort, so I added that it was “really pretty easy,” but my voice cracked. I decided to shut up and concentrate on the task at hand. Placing a big cam deep (but blindly) in the crack, I struggled to move past it with little dynamic humps upward, but each hump was accompanied by a slide of equal distance back down. My strength began to fail, and my knees were bleeding from scraping against the chimney. Luckily, just as I was sliding out of the crack, my right hand caught a hold. Actually, it was the cam.

With my new handhold, I again began to make upward progress.

“Did you find a good hold?” asked Bill.

“Fist jam,” I grunted.

As I reached up for what looked like a bucket, I could hear Bill explaining “A fist jam is where you just jam your whole fist back in the crack; it takes a lot of strenghth, but Jim...” Then I heard a grating noise and started plummeting. The next thing I knew, I was dangling upside down three feet from the ledge. “Holy shit!” said Bill. “That was quite a fall, what happ...” He stopped mid-sentence, and as I regained my bearings, I noticed that everybody was staring at my right hand. I looked down, half-expecting to see some sort of bloody wound, but there, clenched in a death grip between my white knuckles, was the cam.

Despite the blow to my ego, I decided I was a real climber anyway.

After all, if taking a 25-foot header while secretly aiding a squeeze chimney isn’t real climbing, what is?

If you’re worried about visiting the Leap because of squeeze chimneys, don’t be, because they’re actually few and far between. You will find, however, loads of fun climbing, and, because of the abundant dikes, you’ll get bonus exposure and steepness relative to the grades.

On rest days you can hit the jackpot at one of South Lake’s many casinos or explore Tahoe’s secluded East Shore, where on a hot summer day you might find a remote beach with sparkling white sand and the bluest water you’ve ever seen. —Jim Thornburg

Justin Alarcon on the amazing third pitch arĂŞte of Traveler Buttress (5.9).

Silly Willy Crack (5.12c) is an early 1980s Bill Price testpiece that sees very few leads. Twenty years later, Yuji Hirayama fights hard for a repeat.

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Susan Hutchinson can just reach between dikes on Powerlust (5.11a), one of the Leap’s signature face climbs.

CHEAP SHOT MUCH HAS BEEN MADE of the world-famous five-star moderates that the Leap hosts, a history that sometimes fools climbers into thinking that Lover’s Leap is a small crag with just eight routes. The unique horizontal dikes of the Leap render nearly every inch of it climbable, and it’s hard to think of a crag with more lines between the lines. These climbs are fun in their own right, albeit neglected by the crowds.

After years of working my way through a number of obscurities and desperates, my thoughts turned to finding my own line between the lines. But if you listen to enough stories you’ll hear that basically every inch of granite at the Leap has been climbed. The story generally goes that the entire rock face was climbed in the 1970s by a totally baked hardman armed with EBs, eight stoppers and a 12mm rope.

But we all see what we want to see, and after a decade of climbing at Lover’s Leap, what I wanted to see was a first ascent. The crag had been pretty picked over by guys like Warren Harding, Royal Robbins, TM Herbert, Richard Harrison, Paul Crawford and Jay Smith, so I didn’t expect to find a modern classic, but I was on the hunt for my own piece of real estate.

When I first saw the crack, I was standing well below it at the base of Tombstone Terror and just happened to glance up. I couldn’t believe it. I had walked beneath it probably 50 times on the Main Ledge, but only now did the long, unbroken black streak of lichen reveal itself as a crack. Most Leap climbers know that its cracks are often rounded, bottoming seams, so the only way to know whether this crack was worthwhile was to climb it.

The plan was to run up an adjacent route, give it a quick scrub on rappel and then do it. After the prior season’s ground-up first ascent of a filthy Leap crack, I wasn’t convinced that scrubbing lichen and dirt out of the crack and into my face while totally flaming the other arm was really the best way to go about it. So I can honestly say the intent was to give this sweet new route exhaustive preinspection. Weak, I know.

I began the descent and made quick work of the lichen with a wire brush. A quick stroke revealed a foot of absolutely perfect fingers in flawless granite. I giddily shouted to my partner James what I was uncovering.

My joy was short-lived, though, quickly turning to anguish when the wire brush made contact with a Lost Arrow buried in the crack and obscured by crud. I wasn’t the first. The dull and rusty relic came out with little resistance, but it was still able to pierce my heart and psych. Deflated, I relayed the news to James and returned to scrubbing the crack. As I scrubbed though, the psych returned. This crack was looking so damn good, just steep fingers and more steep fingers for a long way, with a couple little roofs in the mix for good measure. Sure, it wasn’t going to be a first ascent, but now it was a cool mystery, and given the amount of munge, I must have been the first in a few decades to do this thing.

The route climbed even better than it looked. The perfect fingers were relentless and would have been super-pumpy but for the Leap’s signature dikes that offered feet just where they were needed.

Pulling on a crack in the shallow sidewall felt like hero laybacking on steep rock and would have been really physical but for those perfect dike feet. The climb has a definitive crux—pulling a bulge where the dikes peter out for a bit. The crack was solid and gobbled up all the red and yellow Aliens I could throw in. Pretty soon I was at a good stance 60 feet up with just some easy stemming and jamming to gain the ledge.

I brought James up, and he too raved about the quality; we couldn’t believe that it had fallen into obscurity and started speculat-

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ing as to who got there first. These thoughts swirled in my head on the drive home, where I went straight to the guidebook library and found the answer: Cheap Shot (5.10a), First Ascent: Jay Smith, Paul Crawford, 1982. It was no surprise; the fingerprints of these two bold climbers are all over the Leap, but somehow Cheap Shot never gained popularity. I emailed Jay about the route and soon heard back: “It sounds like you did climb Cheap Shot. There is a good topo in Christine Jenkewitz’s 1987 guidebook. I’m sure the topo is pretty accurate as I helped her with the Leap info and kept pretty good records in those days. The route is basically a right-facing corner that starts a little way off Main Ledge. The crux is a 5.10a small roof, which looks to be about halfway up the pitch. After the roof, you step left and continue up another right-facing corner to a ledge. It is very likely that you did do the second ascent. And as for moss and lichen, yeah, I must have worn out 50 wire brushes at the Leap. Only the routes that see regular traffic will stay clean. Be safe and thanks for contacting me. I appreciate it when people don’t just claim new routes or retro-bolt without asking the first ascensionist.”

Lover’s Leap is a crag with a short list of quality finger cracks, making Cheap Shot well worth resurrecting. The Leap is loaded with hidden gems. The same eight climbs get the hype and have the crowds, but there is a lot of terrific granite up behind the Strawberry Lodge just waiting to be climbed.

—David Stallard

Petch Pietrolungo on Dog Party (5.12a), a desperate stemming corner at The Box area.

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LEFT Dina Hagl on the second pitch

of Corrugation Corner (5.7).

ABOVE Jeremy Sell cruises dikes on

Labor of Love (5.10a).

RIGHT John Tuttle on the first pitch

ofThe Line (5.9).

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LEFT Chris Van Leuven on the third pitch

chimney of Corrugation Corner (5.7).

RIGHT Dina Hagl on the second pitch of

Corrugation Corner (5.7).

THE FINAL WORD THE EARLY AND MID-1970S were memorable and formative years in my climbing. Trips to Lover’s Leap were launched from Carmel in the “Rock Mobile,” a ‘63 Valiant with push-button transmission and vapor-lock tendencies, with partner Joe Rock, or from Berkeley, where my climbing partner Mark Engstrom (RIP) was well-positioned for science experiments and a degree from UC. The routine: Pile in the ‘66 Dodge van, pedal to the metal to Strawberry, sneak by the “trap gun cabin,” and then creep up the twisted, rutted track, lurching between bent-over trees to our camp.

Our only source of inspiration were a few words Royal Robbins had penned about how well the place was suited to nut-craft and clean climbing. We eagerly awaited the next issue of Summit, Off Belay or Ascent for any hints of routes new to us. Later, Gene Drake penned a fine little guide (about the size of an iPhone) that could be easily slipped into a pocket for ready reference. A real gem to check off the routes we’ve done and to chase after the rest. Route names like Bear’s Reach, Corrugation Corner, Surrealistic Pillar, Scimitar, The Line, Traveler Buttress and Fantasia captivated our imagination and interest. Each had unique character and challenge and often a surprise—right where it was needed and appreciated the most.

In 1992 a couple of us from the newly formed Access Fund met with the Forest Service at Lover’s Leap to see what we could do to help at this now popular crag. At the time there were road and parking issues, informal camp sites, no toilets, no trash pickup and also no crowds—but an abundance of super-cool climbing. We formed a cooperative partnership with common goals and soon realized we

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had just pledged monies for vault toilets before we had a bank account or a nickel to our names. This was all new territory and an exciting precedent that demonstrated the concern and commitment of climbers both regionally and nationally. The Access Fund also weighed in on parking and campground needs, soon becoming the Forest Service’s conduit for announcements concerning annual raptor-nesting closures. <~~~> Today I think of the Leap as one of America’s finest moderate crags. No doubt there are routes to challenge every age, experience and ability, but what makes this place special are the features, position and high value of each route, regardless of grade. Few places offer this steep, exposed climbing on positive dike edges with cracks that afford perfect nut placements at each intersection. What more could you ask for?

Lover’s Leap is a fantastic crag to learn trad-style basics from a guide, mentor or partner, and then practice them to your heart’s content. It would be rare indeed to hear a Lover’s devotee chat up the crag without also boasting the number of times he has climbed this or that.

Rock climbing safety is in the hands of the climber, beginner or expert, roped or solo. Know yourself and climb to your capacity but not beyond without proper safety backups. Climb in the best style possible without altering the original party’s route. Leave no trace. This goes for the surrounding area, too. Respect others’ property and experience as you wish them to respect yours. Make this your practice, and Lover’s Leap will be accessible for climbers to enjoy for generations to come.

—Larry Arthur

5 STAR ROUTES Knapsack Crack (5.3) Bear’s Reach (5.7) Corrugation Corner (5.7) The Line (5.9) Traveler Buttress (5.9)

THE BETA GETTING THERE: Lover’s Leap is located on Highway 50 in the town of Strawberry, 18 miles west of Lake Tahoe and 40 miles east of Placerville. To access the campground and approach trail, follow the paved road that leads behind and then east of the Strawberry Lodge.

WHERE TO STAY: Camping is conveniently located at the Lover’s Leap Campground, which is adjacent to the approach trail that leads to the cliff.

GUIDEBOOK: Rock Climbing Lake Tahoe, by Mike Carville

Yuji Hirayama on Boothill (5.11b)

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O

www.organicclimbing.com

a. payne, first female v13, automator, rmnp; j. dickey photo

THE ZEPHYR BOULDERS WORDS & IMAGES + DEAN FLEMING

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Clayton McKnight on Bear Cave Stand (V4) at Mecca.

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM |

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Chris Miley on Don’s Special (V1) at the Briquettes.

LAKE TAHOE’S SOUTHEAST SHORE IS HOME TO A STRANGE HARMONY OF WILDERNESS AND MODERN DEVELOPMENT. NEAR HIGHWAY 50’S INTERSECTION WITH THE CALIFORNIA-NEVADA BORDER, CASINOS, ALLNIGHT DINERS, WINTER SKI SHOPS AND SUMMER TOURISM HOT SPOTS COLLIDE WITH A VAST LANDSCAPE OF OPEN PINE FOREST, CLEAR BLUE WATER AND PRISTINE GRANITE OUTCROPPINGS.

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rom a parking lot near Zephyr Cove, a short walk can bring you to a lakeside cantina where overpriced Mai Tais and Coronas are shoveled over a glass counter like hay in a horse stable, but a short approach in the opposite direction can lead you to deserted, warm, sunny mountain tops with delectable granite boulders and postcard views…. If you know how to find them.

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ver the past 10 years, the greater Lake Tahoe region has seen more dedicated route development than any other California bouldering venue. Fueled equally by organic exploration and by the communal excitement of the ensuing release of Dave Hatchett’s series of comprehensive Lake Tahoe bouldering guidebooks, psych for area development has been at an all-time high from early 2005 to present day. With the release of Dave’s bouldering series nearly complete, it would seem that the establishment of new problems would settle down, or at least slow in pace, but the action has ceased to shift from high gear as new areas are still being discovered at a rapid pace.

With a huge concentration of problems that include a giant scope of styles, heights and difficulties, the East Shore’s Zephyr Boulders have captivated the attention of local boulderers for a number of years. The boulders along the ridge tops and saddles above Zephyr Cove were first noticed by South Lake resident and longtime area climber Jeremy “J” Sell more than 20 years ago. J eventually walked a full tour of the boulders in early 2009 and, alongside a few other area climbers, began the long process of chalking up more than 230 problems in the Zephyr Boulder’s four distinct areas: Easy Street, Briquettes, Charcoals and Mecca.

The boulders at the Zephyrs are spread out over several square miles and are usually

59 | SPRING 2015

located at the tops of ridge lines and prominent summits, but unlike many Lake Tahoe bouldering zones, once you find a group of boulders at the Zephyrs, the problems are highly concentrated. “Forget everything you’ve heard about Tahoe’s East Shore, because the Zephyrs are absolutely mega,” said local route developer and guidebook author Dave Hatchett. “The approaches are short, the views are great and the rock quality is good.”

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mong the Zephyrs’ four established zones, the Mecca area hosts the highest concentration of problems and offers an excellent quantity of problems in the V2 to V4 range. Located at the top of an incredibly scenic nearly 360° panoramic hillside, the boulders of Mecca are compact, clean and shaded by a stand of large pine trees. Among the boulders there are plenty of flat, soft and awesome places to hang out and gaze across the lake, all the way to Tahoe’s West Shore. Although the approach is a little bit longer than the other zones (25 minutes of uphill hiking), if you only have one day to visit the Zephyrs, this is definitely the spot to check out.

As a convenient place to boulder on the approach to Mecca (or for those who want to break up the 25-minute hike), many visitors consider stopping by the Easy Street Area for a great warm-up circuit.

Another option is to skirt up a short hillside near a water tower to the Briquettes. This zone includes an awesome warm-up circuit and more than a handful of quality problems in the V5 to V7 range. The Briquettes are home to a unique thin crack problem with a high topout called Ratatouille (V3), the Buttermilks-quality dime-edging testpiece Lumberjack (V6) and the confusing double-pancake roof of Don’s Special (V1).

For those seeking a very short approach (3 to 4 minutes) and a nice place to throw down the pads and session one mega boulder for an afternoon, the namesake Zephyr Boulder is probably the best option on the ridge. This wildly colored orange and black streaked blob overhangs on nearly all sides and offers incredible rock quality and a wide range of problems from V0 to V8. A few must-do problems on the Zephyr Boulder include a really prominent left-leaning rail to a series of holds and a crux topout called Dropping In (V4), the technical pillar and amazing sculpted jugs on Trade Winds (V4), and the burly compression and solid patina holds on Peace of Mind (V8).

“Most locals consider the East Shore the black sheep of Tahoe bouldering,” Hatchett said. “A lot of the rock can be marginal in quality, and most of the areas are certainly not Tahoe’s finest. There is a silver lining, though. The East Shore is sometimes referred to as the banana belt because it is generally the warmest, driest place on the lake. J Sell’s

LEFT Valarie Anderson on Joyride (5.11b).

RIGHT Isaac Palatt on Outrage (5.13a).

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM |

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ABOVE Nick Miley on Egg Beater (V2) at the Briquettes.

recent discovery of the Zephyrs really helped the cause on the East Shore; it’s the biggest and best spot so far.”

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or many area climbers the short drive to the boulders often includes morning coffee and bagels at one of Lake Tahoe’s locally owned cafés.

South Lake spots like Free Bird and Keys Café are welcome reminders that a fair amount of businesses in the region have been established by area residents and are supported by the local community. For nearly all the outdoor enthusiasts in the region, including a large number of climbers, skiers and mountain bikers, these locations provide a nice central place to meet, warm up in the morning sun and then carpool to the backcountry.

Some of Tahoe’s most prolific route

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| SPRING 2015

RIGHT Rhiannon Williams on Mahal (V4) at Mecca.

CRASHPADS ARE FLUNG LAZILY ONTO THE ASPHALT, AND TAPED FINGERS POINT TO TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS AND SEARCH THROUGH GOOGLE EARTH IMAGES. developers have moved on to other venues in the last decade or so, but still on sunny weekend mornings, coffee shop parking lots continue to fill up with circles of puffy jackets and chalk-covered work pants.

Orders of breakfast burritos and black coffee are brought outside, where crashpads are flung lazily onto the asphalt and taped fingers point to topographic maps and search through Google Earth images to hatch the day’s exploration. In recent years, numerous discoveries that unearthed thousands of Tahoe boulders have been ignited by this ritual, and for those who continue to scour new terrain, there’s no end in sight.

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM |

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ABOVE Rhiannon Williams on Frank’s Layback (V0) at Mecca.

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RIGHT Area developer Jeremy “J” Sell takes a lap on Lumberjack (V6) at the Briquettes.

CALIFORNIACLIMBERMAGAZINE.COM |

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Chris Miley on Ooh La La (V2) at the Briquettes.

5 STAR ROUTES Postcard Pillar (V1) Ratatouille (V3) Hands Up (V3) Lumberjack (V6) Peace of Mind (V8)

THE BETA GETTING THERE: To access Easy Street, Mecca, the Charcoals and the Briquettes, drive north on Highway 50 from South Lake Tahoe until you reach a stoplight at Zephyr Cove. From here, continue on Highway 50 for one mile and park on the east side of the road, just below a green gate blocking a ďŹ re road. A faint trail from here leads to the boulders on the east side of the highway. To access Zephyr Boulders Main, the Archery Range and surrounding areas, drive north on Highway 50 for 0.3 miles north of the stoplight in Zephyr Cove and turn right on Warrior Way. Drive another 0.3 miles and park on the right next to a white gate. Walk up Warrior Way toward the high school. Just before the entrance to the high school, take a trail on your right next to a chain-link fence. This trail leads to the boulders.

WHERE TO STAY: The Nevada Beach Campground offers nice sites at $30 per night and $7 for each additional car.

GUIDEBOOK: Bouldering Lake Tahoe, South/East Shore Edition, Volume II, by Dave Hatchett, Frank Lucido and Jon Thompson

65 | SPRING 2015

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