First Drytool Ascent of the Naked Edge!!!!

Recently my good friends Noah McKelvin and Phil Wortmann made yet another Colorado climbing historical first by ascending the Naked Edge with ice tools and fruit boots.

All went "free", except for the dodgy second slab pitch where a variation dubbed Naked Steel was established up and right of the main line.

More details and pics soon to follow, but mega Kudos to a visionary first!!!

is drytooling existing classic gear routes acceptable in CO?

Nice send i suppose...seems rather contrived given conditions look prime to just go rock climbing. Just begs the question why? and the answer is probably why not.

Rock fencer, you just got trolled.

Eric D wrote:Rock fencer, you just got trolled.

totally not shopped...

Dave Cummings wrote:I hope all involved get their ass kicked!, scratching up one of the best and most historical rock climbs in North America! With so much world class ice and mixed climbs in CO whey the fuck are they drytooling the Naked Edge!!!

Thanks for the shout out Erik. We both wore two Go-Pros, one on our helmets, and one on our right tools. Noah and I are working on a movie of the effort, from our video footage. We want to condense it down to 30 mins and add a gangsta soundtrack. Hopefully it will be ready for ReelRock.

Super excited about the movie that's coming soon!!! I've always wanted to do that!! I recently did some dry tooling on some ultra thin classics at Shelf road and it got me thinking about Eldo dry tooling !!!!! This could take climbing to that next realm that we've all been waiting for!!!! I know personally Im getting a little board with climbing as it never seems to change, but I was wrong and I look forward to the future!!!!!! Thanks guys you rock!!!!

I hope the rock didn't scratch your tools!

Epic.

Don't forget the two heli cams! Those guys were awesome!!

erik wellborn wrote:Recently my good friends Noah McKelvin and Phil Wortmann made yet another Colorado climbing historical first by ascending the Naked Edge with ice tools and fruit boots. All went "free", except for the dodgy second slab pitch where a variation dubbed Naked Steel was established up and right of the main line. More details and pics soon to follow, but mega Kudos to a visionary first!!!

Topo and beta:

Rack: Bring a few Knifeblades, spectres, and maybe a Lost Arrow or two along with the normal mixed/Eldo rack. Angles work really well on P1.

We scrambled up the ledges to the right of Touch n Go at about M3.

P1: This is the pitch. Perfect hooks, great gear to pound in, but feet to work for. Phil and I thought it went at M5+ or so.

P2/3: Quite the pitch to link up! The crux proved to be the run out slab that seemed to be a bit more runout with tools and pons. Holds ended up being pretty positive, but it took a little work. There was a nice seam above the slab that seemed to except KB's really well. We took that way dubbing it "Naked Steel" Dodgy M6

P4: I thought this was pretty cruxy. The crux was the scary hooks into the Bombay Chimney. I pounded in another pin to back up the old one. Pretty sustained. Perhaps M7? Or we can just call it M6.

P5: Torque the cracks until you make the scary pull into the final crack. There are a couple stein pulls to be had. Maybe M7 too or M6+.

Video will be out soon with more footage. Doesn't get more classic then this!

Is it really April already?

Noah8000 wrote:Topo and beta: Rack: Bring a few Knifeblades, spectres, and maybe a Lost Arrow or two along with the normal mixed/Eldo rack. Angles work really well on P1. We scrambled up the ledges to the right of Touch n Go at about M3. P1: This is the pitch. Perfect hooks, great gear to pound in, but feet to work for. Phil and I thought it went at M5+ or so. P2/3: Quite the pitch to link up! The crux proved to be the run out slab that seemed to be a bit more runout with tools and pons. Holds ended up being pretty positive, but it took a little work. There was a nice seam above the slab that seemed to except KB's really well. We took that way dubbing it "Naked Steel" Dodgy M6 P4: I thought this was pretty cruxy. The crux was the scary hooks into the Bombay Chimney. I pounded in another pin to back up the old one. Pretty sustained. Perhaps M7? Or we can just call it M6. P5: Torque the cracks until you make the scary pull into the final crack. There are a couple stein pulls to be had. Maybe M7 too or M6+. Video will be out soon with more footage. Doesn't get more classic then this!

Is this an April fools joke or did you guys really do this. I know Noah (Andrew from potrero) and would not put it beyond him to dry tool the classic rock climb. That being said if this did happen I would discourage others from doing it. Lots of dry tooling can scratch the shit out of the rock. There is enough shitty rock in Colorado for dry tooling, so lets leave the classic rock climbs for free climbing. We need to establish were dry tooling is acceptable, and i believe dry tooling on potentially the most classic route in Colorado might not be the best idea.

Jack, just take one look at the picture. It's clearly real, and obviously badass.

Jack Sparrow wrote:Lots of dry tooling can scratch the shit out of the rock.

Awesome good April Fool (and explains Noah's request for someone good with Photoshop)!

Who's up for a dry tool ascent of the Bastille Crack?