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Forever War

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The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460

The Forever War (5.13c R) saw it's third (I think) ascent on Friday, dude from Tennessee did it pretty much off the couch, pretty incredible.

Is that the third ascent, or has it been done since Pamela and her partner did it?

lozo bozo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2015 · Points: 30

Man I bet that was fun to watch

batguano · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 135

Strong work! Did your friend invert or just go left side in? or something else?

I believe Danny got it a few weeks ago.

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
batguano wrote:Strong work! Did your friend invert or just go left side in? or something else? I believe Danny got it a few weeks ago.
Inverted. From the "after action debrief" AKA: burgers and margs, he said that getting set up in the invert was the crux for him. But the rope did some really funky stuff and got tangled with a #6 friend in the upper portions, no slack feeding through and what not. A bit touch and go there for a bit, but he was hell bent on not letting something like that blow the redpoint and fought through.
batguano · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 135

Nice. It's easy to get the rope stuck under the cam toward the finish. Did your friend send first go?

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
batguano wrote:Nice. It's easy to get the rope stuck under the cam toward the finish. Did your friend send first go?
first or second go on lead, not sure if he lead it earlier on his trip out here, I was working most of the week, joined him for the weekend
Ray Lovestead · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 108

Bad ass.

Can one of you guys post up where this climb is? I've watched Pack's video on it, but I'd like to walk up and see it in the flesh.

Ray

batguano · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 135

A proud achievement for the gentleman from Tennessee, strong work!

I love offwidths and the stories of people who climb them. thanks for sharing.

Danny Parker · · Teasdale, UT · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 120

Congrats to the Tennessee climber! Did you happen to catch his name?
The Forever War is on the back side of reynolds hill, about 60 meters past bloodletting.
you can scramble up behind the formation to set up a TR, the rope will feed through the crack and provide a very safe TR.
As for leading the route, I used a six until the invert, a VG9 after the pivot and left a green bro at the corner to keep the rope from going behind any cam lobes.

Lets add this route to MP!

jcm537 · · Broomfield, Co. · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 0

Congrats to Jim for sending that beast.

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
Daniel S Parker wrote:Congrats to the Tennessee climber! Did you happen to catch his name? The Forever War is on the back side of reynolds hill, about 60 meters past bloodletting. you can scramble up behind the formation to set up a TR, the rope will feed through the crack and provide a very safe TR. As for leading the route, I used a six until the invert, a VG9 after the pivot and left a green bro at the corner to keep the rope from going behind any cam lobes. Lets add this route to MP!
James Arnold
Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945

Bolts on a crack climb? Sacrilege?

Looks like a wicked climb so props to the senders!

Joy likes trad · · Southern California · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 71
Morgan Patterson wrote:Bolts on a crack climb? Sacrilege?
Some sport areas bolt cracks. There are as many different reasons as areas. Great send.
Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945
gription wrote: Some sport areas bolt cracks. There are as many different reasons as areas. Great send.
ist the woo a trad destination? Funny how the righteous west coasters like Healy aren't all over these bolts, just the ones in CT and MA. Just looks like a route that could be done in better style like the chopped bolts on Dune @ Crow hill which has been an active forum topic last few weeks. Sorry to hijack but the hypocrisy is astounding.
The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460

Even with the bolts, it's still a fairly spicy climb. Valley Giants are incredibly expensive and take forever to get after you order them. The occasional bolt on a wide crack is a compromise

reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125
Morgan Patterson wrote: ist the woo a trad destination? Funny how the righteous west coasters like Healy aren't all over these bolts. Just looks like a route that could be done in better style like the chopped bolts on Dune @ Crow hill which has been an active forum topic last few weeks.
I don't climb much offwidth, let alone inverted ones, but this OW isn't the first at the woo with bolts. While sometimes a bolt is more of a convenience, for other cases (probably this one), my understanding is a cam could not adequately protect a (crux) section while still performing the same inversion technique: you can't place the cam ahead of you w/o kicking it out, placing it below you would not protect you against slamming into the wall if you were to slip out of the crack. This is obviously made particularly dangerous since you are upside down & can't wear a helmet.
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35

Any word on the rating from James?

In my experience route by the "FA" are either wildly over-rated or weren't actually freed by her or are too body type dependent to gauge just what the rating means to everyone else.

So with this thing now out of it's obscurity, no longer shrouded by fistfuls of Percocet and blond hair, what's it really like?

Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945
reboot wrote: I don't climb much offwidth, let alone inverted ones, but this OW isn't the first at the woo with bolts. While sometimes a bolt is more of a convenience, for other cases (probably this one), my understanding is a cam could not adequately protect a (crux) section while still performing the same inversion technique: you can't place the cam ahead of you w/o kicking it out, placing it below you would not protect you against slamming into the wall if you were to slip out of the crack. This is obviously made particularly dangerous since you are upside down & can't wear a helmet.
So for the record instead of 'rising to the challenge' bolts were placed... got it!

I'm just poking fun because there so many people that trash bolting on the East Coast (esp some west coasters on other treads) but then they appear silent when it occurs out West because, well like Dank said, its a compromise and everyone understands that and its mostly A OKAY. When it happens back east it becomes a 'war'.

And I think Mr. Chapman would have a comment or two about not wearing you're helmet.
Michael Brady · · Wenatchee, WA · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 1,316
Morgan Patterson wrote: I'm just poking fun because there so many people that trash bolting on the East Coast (esp some west coasters on this tread) but then they appear silent when it occurs out West because, well like Dank said, its a compromise and everyone understands that and its mostly A OKAY. When it happens back east it becomes a 'war'. And I think Mr. Chapman would have a comment or two about not wearing you're helmet.
Well thats because we are way cooler than you guys.
The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:Any word on the rating from James? In my experience route by the "FA" are either wildly over-rated or weren't actually freed by her or are too body type dependent to gauge just what the rating means to everyone else. So with this thing now out of it's obscurity, no longer shrouded by fistfuls of Percocet and blond hair, what's it really like?
He said it was every bit of 13c, but on that token, it was his first 13c...

Jim made a good point, in that, really, a hard offwidth could simply be called 11b, and left at that. Because of all of the variables inherent with a crack of that size, OW climbing is similar to ice climbing in the sense that it's an incredibly subjective medium. Jim for instance, has projected multiple 13a's for months before redpointing, but knocked off Forever War after a handful of tries. But, Jim learned to climb on wide Yosemite cracks, and so has great offwidth technique. That all aside, his overall impression of the difficulty of being in the moment while on the climb, was that it was more difficult than anything else he's ever done. He just didn't fall (a lot of that was the fact that he was in a no fall zone for a lot of it).

Not sure exactly what you're referring to with Percocet and Blonde hair, Pamela seems like a nice lady, does she have a bit of an ego? I assume so, but so do most elite athletes, it motivates them, she just seems to have a desire to be the best, I don't think anyone can fault her for that.
Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945
Mike Brady wrote: Well thats because we are way cooler than you guys.
hahaha well we already knew that... that's why u guys are out west!
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas
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