Five Questions for Paul Robinson

Paul Robinson is close to the second ascent of Psychedelic at the Gorilla Cliff near Saint George, Utah. While taking some time to let his thrashed fingertips heal, Paul agreed to answer a few questions about the route and recovering from a fairly serious ankle injury. Visit his blog at http://www.p-d-robinson.blogspot.com/ for updates.

1. What's it like climbing on a rope?

"It is totally different mentally for me. I feel like it is way more mentally tiring than bouldering and because of this has my mind running so much more than ever before."

2. What is Psychedelic like as a route?

"Psychedelic is on perfect rock, the best rock I have seen in all of the St George climbing areas. It is long moves on small holds up a slightly overhung wall. It is 60 feet and can be summed up as a v6 boulder to a v13 boulder to about 30 feet of 13a to the top."

3. Why do you think it has taken so long to repeat?

"I think it has not been repeated in so long because it really is a boulderers route. Not that many boulderers come out this way. Not only is it bouldery but it is also very technical and mental with the last 30 feet of rope climbing after the crux. It is an all encompassing route really."

4. What do you think of Dave Graham doing it so fast back in the day? (He did it in a few tries in 2001)

"I am unsure as to how fast dave did the line but it is very impressive that he had the vision to do the line 7 years ago!"


5. What do you think has been key to your coming back from your injury so quickly?

"Just motivation really. I never wanted to lose what i had trained so hard for over the years so even with my injury I never gave up training and in all honesty just trained harder.

Thanks Peter, hopefully if my tips are good tomorrow, I will be able to finish it up!"

Thank you Paul and good luck on one of the most classic climbs of the grade in the country!

Excellent Article at Climbing.com

There is a great piece at climbing.com by Mark Hudon about his and Max Jones' attempt to free the Salathe Wall in 1979. This was an attempt way ahead of its time and truly visionary in terms of what was to come. Obviously even today, freeing El Cap is still a highly coveted tick. In a sense this climb was too ahead of its time as the two climbers while both immensely strong were not systematic enough to solve all the problems that the route had in store. At the time, and in fact even when Piana and Skinner did it, there was something suspect about actually working on a route that was "too hard." So hanging on the rope, leaving fixed protection, etc. was all regarded as cheating. Ultimately the physical difficulties were overshadowed by the psychological climate and the socially enforced code of what appropriate climbing practice was. Hudon and Jones freed all but 300 feet of the route.

I'm still trying to free 10 feet of granite in Boulder Canyon by any means possible. By the way, I have to say that I like Ty Landman's name, Freak Brothers II, better than Jay Droeger's Where the Monkey Sleeps which makes me wonder how naming a problem or route follows a certain path or process. Why do some names stick and others slide into oblivion? And how could Jay seriously have rated this problem V8? I am having a lot of trouble holding the left hand in the crease which makes me suspect that this problem has certain reach issues.

"Freak Accident" Boulder Canyon V12

I went up to Boulder Canyon yesterday to try the V12 linkup called Freak Accident on the wall just west of the Barrio. Unfortunately my finger tips were not very hard making pulling on the grips very painful. All the moves went quickly up to the next to last move holding on to get the high right crimp. This is a very interesting little problem and one that I hope to have more time to try in the near future. Basically it's a V9 into a V10 and the issue with the V10 part is scoping out the holds, especially the small crimp up and right of the crack. You want a lot of pads to stabilize the landing a bit so the roadside location is helpful. Here's the video of Ty Landman doing the FA at Momentum Video.

Afterwards I went to Flagstaff to finish off my fingers with a few boulder problems around Nook's Rock and Cloudshadow. At some point I want to break 80 V points in one session, adding up 10 problems in all. I find that 10 problems of any grade on Flag is not easy to do, given the nature of the rock, so to try to do 10 V8 and up is a longshot but it's good resistance training getting there.

Spring Break in a Day

My schedule is pretty hectic most of the time and it has been a while since I have even been able to take a week let alone the months that many spend at destinations like Bishop or Hueco. So I have to stick closer to home and decided on Wednesday to spend some time ticking some classics I haven't done as well as a few I have done many times before. I warmed up on Big Overhang (V2)which is really one of the best problems of its grade on the Front Range. It's tall enough to be exciting but not really dangerous and with very reassuring holds. Then I did First Overhang (V5) for video, which was a bit sketchy owing to sunny and warm conditions. Then I looked at the wall where a tall V4 called the Walk is located. I did the less scary version (V4) which ducks left to the arete and found it to be very insecure and technical. The straight-up version will happen at some point soon but it is definitely tall and intimidating solo. I went over to do Face Out (V5) and Reverse Face Out (V7), finding the latter especially difficult owing to having to tape my left forefinger which has a small split. From here I went down to Mongolian Cosmonaut and did the stand start version (V8) first try. I put in a few attempts on the lower start but skin and warn conditions didn't help. From there I went down to Red Wall and did the Regular Route from the low left (V8) and Varney's Direct (V6) followed by an attempt on the L to R traverse. I finished up on Center Left, the weird problem on the left that goes to the shallow pocket and the crystal, the hardest V5 in the world. My skin was pretty fried by 4:30. Thanks to Allie (sp?) for helping haul my pads back to the car!


First Overhang V5

Home Climbing Wall Getting There

I have finished the first phase of our home climbing wall and I am pretty happy with the results. Nothing fancy, just an 8 foot-wide 40 degree overhang. I built it primarily to serve as a stand in if there are time issues preventing climbing outside so I can get a quick session done in the time it takes to drive to Boulder and back. The second phase will be a steeper overhanging section tacked on the left side. I have a lot of e-grip holds on it as I really believe they are the best designed holds out there but there are others including vintage Yaniro and Metolius grips. Probably too many thin crimps for most tastes. It seems that good holds are expensive and cheap ones are, well, cheap for a reason. There are remains from CATS as well as a panel from the late Paradise Rock Gym so the wall is a bit of a scrap book as well.

The Hug V11 Boulder Canyon

Photo from EZ Harrison's blog at 8a.nu


Yesterday I went up to Boulder Canyon to take a look at the Hug, a Chris Schulte problem near Cob Rock. EZ Harrison had called me the day before and wanted to check it out and as I knew it was not at all my kind of boulder problem, I decided to join him. A quick creek crossing thanks to the ice and we had the landing pretty well covered with 6 pads which is probably about right. The problem comes out of a little talus pit and is very tenuous right to the end. It starts with a big throw off a RH undercling followed by a hand/foot heelhook, a crazy rockover section and a surprisingly balancy and scary last 5.11 slab where you cannot retreat or fall.

EZ had been there a while and was having issues with the moves to get over the lip. After some minimal warming up I started working the crux and was super close to doing Chris' beta of going again to a toothy crimp. Suddenly EZ did the move a different way, heading right from the first small crimp instead of going again LH. A few tries later and he was at the top, the quickest V11 he's done. I was not finding the balance point on the move but felt like it would go soon. I was boosted onto the last moves and was pretty nervous about the exit which was sloping holds on a slab with a fair amount of dirt, lichen, and moss. Happy not to have slipped there.

We headed out to the creek only to find that the ice was gone and the water was up making for a semi-sketchy crossing, throwing pads across and rock-hopping for me. EZ free-soloed the tyrolean after tossing his pads.

I will probably be back if for no other reason than that the problem is an education in itself with mandatory toe-hooks, hard heel-hooks, slopers and lots of balance. You really can't spot anyone on it so you have to load up the pads to work it which, given the creek and the tyrolean access, is a pain but still feasible. Big props to EZ for a positive attitude and getting it done so fast! Video will be up soon.