Put Up Your Dukes
My main hobby as a teen and into my early 20’s was BMX bike riding. This is where you do tricks on a little kids bike; 360s, barspins, backflips….think X-Games, if you remember that. A group of my childhood BMX friends actually went on to become top of the industry professional BMX riders and some are still at the top of the game to this day. I, on the other hand, wasn’t quite anywhere close to their ability level and joined the military shortly after high school. I tried to keep up with my BMX skills but after a few years, I gave it up completely to take up rock climbing.
The biggest thing for me was that every time you try a trick on a BMX bike, you fall to the ground at a high rate of speed which hurts. As I got older, it hurt more and more and I wasn’t getting any better which was very frustrating and unsatisfying. Why am I talking about BMX in my rock climbing blog? Well, there are a lot of parallels between BMX and rock climbing; the community, the athleticism, trying the same trick/climbing move over and over and over until your head explodes. Luckily, with a rope, every time you don’t stick a move you have a nice cushy soft catch instead of smashing into the ground (if you’re doing it right) and, taking a monster 20 foot whipper into space is way more fun and safe than wrecking face first into the side of a dirt jump at 40mph on a BMX bike.
One of the similarities that has never left me is always being hyper vigilant of my surroundings, looking for features to do tricks with my bike: “look at that slanted driveway!” “Oh I think I could hit that rail.” “That would be a sick feeble grind on that bench…” Sometimes I still even go to the local skate park to get my mind blown by what the young kids are doing nowadays. As I find myself spending less and less time in cities, my focus has shifted from concrete jungles to the natural world thinking, “that crack looks climbable,” “How chossy do you think that face is?” “Would that go on gear?”
I love climbing already-established routes as it takes most of the thinking out of the game. Here’s a 5.10 with 10 bolts on it; sweet, give me some quick draws and I can just focus on the climbing. But how did we get to the point where you can just walk up to a crag with a fistful of quick draws and climb 5 or 10 single pitches in a row? Some adventurous souls back in the day were putting up First Ascents (FAs) on big mountains. They ventured into the unknown with unknown results. I love the notion that climbers are the last of modern day explorers, sailing out into seas of unclimbed rock. Since those golden days, lots of innovation has happened and eventually single pitch sport and trad climbing was born and climbing was transformed into how most of us enjoy it today; repeating already established lines of known quality.
As I became more and more infatuated with climbing, it seemed that all the cherries had already been picked but that hasn’t stopped me from always looking around the corner to see what might be hiding in plain sight. My fantasy has always been to find a perfect #2 crack splitting through a 30 or 40 foot horizontal roof like a lightning bolt. I have spent numerous days bush whacking through the Red River Gorge searching for this elusive roof crack. I have even found what is likely to be the biggest roof I have ever seen in the Red; a huge 80 foot perfectly horizontal overhang that only a handful [if any] of other people have ever laid eyes upon. Unfortunately this roof is blank and featureless and not conducive to rock climbing; it sure is pretty though! What if I saw a perfect hand crack in that roof?? ;) ;)
I started to believe that the adventure of new climbs could only be found in far-off lands on some epic expedition. While I do my fair share of traveling and adventuring overseas, most of my time is spent right here in the USA climbing around Red Rock NCA in the winter and the Colorado Front Range in the summer. Mountain Project currently has 2,871 routes listed for Red Rock NCA. That sure is a lot of rock climbs! Red Rock is an expansive area though and while I would agree that most of the low hanging fruit has been plucked, this story is about finding the needle in the haystack.
In spring of 2019, I took my AMGA Rock Guide Exam in Red Rock NCA. It was on the final day of the exam that I was assigned Gift of the Wind Gods (5.10, 10 pitches, Grade IV) which is on Mt. Wilson. I was a little intimidated to onsight guide a route like this 2:1 but I had been up Mt. Wilson several times and it is one of my favorite features in Red Rock as it rises just about 3000’ from the valley floor (almost the same size as El Cap!). My examiner promised that there was a shortcut descent off Mt. Wilson that involved no rappelling and cut off a bunch of distance which made me quite intrigued. The day went smoothly and our team was in high spirits after finishing the ascent. We were navigating the descent when I saw it…the roof crack that dreams are made of. We just surpassed the “slot” on the descent and as I am always scanning the cliffs in a new area, it instantly popped out to me: “OMG, look at that crack!!” The feature was stunningly beautiful and mind blowing. Flame-like water streaks burned out of the roof. The rest of the team was ready to be finished with the day so I snapped a couple quick photos and continued our march back to the cars; the obsession began.
I sent the pics I snapped to some friends in hopes of wrangling in a stoked partner while we debated what size we thought the crack was going to be; I so wanted it to be #2s. A #2 crack in roof like that would likely go free at some kind of 5.11 and be a rip roaring fun time. It wouldn’t be until fall 2020 that I finally convinced someone to slog the hour and a half approach uphill to go check it out. I racked up for a ground up onsight FA attempt; the ultimate challenge in rock climbing in the best of ethical styles. I managed to squeak out a free ascent to the roof but not without surmounting some lichen and chossy rock. Now was the moment of truth: the crack was #4s!! A most horrible size for the majority of climbers. I was already beat up by the lower half of the route and was now looking straight into the eyes of a beast ready for a ferocious fight. The battle ended almost instantly as I couldn’t even hold myself into the start of the crack. Me – 0, Beast Crack – 1. Everyone in the group gave the roof a try and we all decided it was ridiculously hard…like could it be 5.13?
I don’t climb 5.13 and barely climb 5.12 so how could I even guess how hard it was? All I knew is I was going to climb that damn crack someday. I ended up going up to the route four more times before victory would be had. Each time I could do one more move and feel more secure hanging off the fist jams. The second to last time up there, I made a valiant effort, free climbing all the way out to the end of the roof before greasing off right before the final move. I knew I could do it, I just had to keep trying.
Flash to April 2021 and my good pal Kevin (http://kevin-heinrich.com/ and @kevhamrich) was in town for a visit. We always talk big ideas and Kevin hadn’t spent much time climbing in Red Rock. We wanted to do some long and hard multi pitches to get him prepped for Yosemite but I couldn’t help but gush about the roof crack in hopes of tricking someone new into doing that approach with me. The pictures speak for themselves though and it wasn’t hard to wrangle Kevin in. Turns out I was able to convince a crew of us to go up there which brewed a perfect storm of stoke and good energy.
I was tapped as the one to put the top rope (TR) up for everyone to warm up on. I made it to the roof where there is a good stance and set up some cams on TR for everyone to run laps on the lower crack to warm up for the main round. While I hung there, my friends urged me to just give the roof a go since I was already there. Although I was still in the mentality of warming up, it didn’t take much convincing. I hauled the cams up and riding on the waves of stoke and good energy from the crew, sent the roof from the stance! I was elated. This was my first big FA project.
We pulled all the gear and Kevin threw his gloves on for the next round; a flash attempt from the ground. Kevin climbed whilst I yelled bad gear beta; you’d think I’d have that memorized by now right? There is a running joke to be careful what you invite Kevin to as he will flash your project and of course he lived up to that reputation. The whole crew was super impressed by his flash of the new route although we weren’t too surprised. Solid work Kev!!
Well now it was back to me. Could I send in better style than my first attempt? If I was going to do it, right now was do or die time. I racked up and gave ‘er a go. I flowed smoothly through the vertical section and before I knew it I was fists deep in the roof. I tried to keep my wits about me while I wrestled out to the end of the roof. I almost slipped off at the lip but dug deep inside myself, harnessed all the energy I had left, and slapped for the lip. Latching onto that glory jug has got to be one of the best feelings I have ever felt while climbing. A new route is born.
Put up Your Dukes, 5.12- https://www.mountainproject.com/route/120542753/put-up-your-dukes