Beer Belly aka Beached Whale? 

The sit start is called Beer Belly. I don know of anyone who did it before us but since my ascent was just a few years ago thats obviously suspect.

While this is a fun addition to an already good problem, I don't think it adds much difficulty at all. It definately doesnt' feel harder than Face Out (v5) or First Overhang (v5). I would say the sit start bring the grade to v4+ at most.

adam, i'm gonna have to respectfully disagree.

while I send first overhang, face out and polling pebble almost every time i set my mind to it, beached whale has thwarted my efforts dozens of serious tries on many different days. starting on the slopey undercling underneath requires a difficult right hand crossover or some thrutchy left hand movements just to get to a decent hold. these two moves (which get you into the stand-up start) are much harder than just about any 5.12a, b or c i've ever tried.

yeah grades are subjective and all, but this problem has kicked my ass over and over again and IMHO, v6 (which should equate to a 5.12d move or section of moves) is not a soft grade for this fun variation.

its a very sly v4+

Chip- from your comments about the difficulty of the sit start it sounds like your missing the knee bar. when you pull up into the underclings a bomber right knee bar can be set that makes the crossover move very easy. with the knee set properly i can almost take both hands off. give it a try and let me know what you think.

i'll be sure and try it very soon. now i'm psyched to get on that "sly" problem again. thanx =_

the grades suggested here are complete insanity. the sit start is v7 and a hard one at that. If you don't use the knee bar, or try it in anything less than optimal temps, its even harder. It you are climbing 12+/13-, or solid v8, you will find this problem still a challenge and a fun one at that.

no offense, but you're definately missing something. i flashed this and have never even came close to flashing anything harder than v5. on the same day i saw a whole crew of boulderers walk the sit start and none of them could do polling pebble.

There is no way the sit start is only a little harder than the stand start, even with the knee bar. Although, next time I get on it I'm bringing a knee pad. One day last fall there was some dude who did the sit start into a traverse that took him all the way around Beer Barrel to the heinous problem on the NE corner. He blew off the very last move.

I second the the sit start @ V7. It is MUCH harder than the northeast corner @ V6 and even with the kneebar, it is very difficult. As much as I have climbed at Flagstaff, I have never seen anybody flash this problem, and I have seen three SOLID V8/5.13 climbers get shut down even with ALL the beta.

Definitely call it V7 if you want. All grades are different for different people. Just know that it is the most walked V7 on Flag.

Did this problem this morning and V7 is totally appropriate. I couldn't find the kneebar or any other beta that would make it easy. If this is V5 or 6, then its neighbor, Poling Pebble, is V3.

I started on the underclings, went left to the OK sloper, found a miserable little edge for the right, went left to the tiny sloping pocket hold, brought the right over, and punched left to the good edge.

Peter, I need to show you the kneebar one of these early mornings. I finally "found" the kneebar earlier this year and it went in a few minutes. The second key to the problem is a little foothold under the bulge. V6 seemed about right.

FWIW, the correct name for this problem is Beer Belly, FA: Chris Lesher, 1998.

Thanks Chip. Yeah, if you want to do the dawn patrol, let me know.

When we were first trying this none of us could make the kneebar work so we quickly (too quickly!) gave up on it and did the problem as Peter describes. After we worked it out with no kneebar some other guys shortly figured out the kneebar and it's about a grade easier that way.
Chris