What's your nemesis climb?

I reckon everyone's got one (or more) - that climb that's several grades below your max that you just can't seem to send. The one you abandoned and haven't gone back to in years. The crag classic you really hope nobody asks if you've climbed. The one that leaves you muttering curses under your breath. What's yours?

Mine are all back in New England.

Every time I go back to Maine I have to try https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106075960/meltdown just to see if I'll finally do it. I always fall in the same spot of 5.9 climbing 5 feet from the anchors, and someone always feels compelled to say "Gee, I've never seen anyone fall there before!".

I've got a lot of bouldering nemeses - the most protracted feud is probably https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106831886/brett-does-lawn-jobs-aka-keep-it-subtle. Somehow the jump from v3/4 to v5 slab means going from 'first or 2nd try no problem' to 'not in a million years'. This one I've given up on even trying.

Let's hear your worst nemeses - ones you're still battling, ones you've bested, whatever the story may be.

There is a Wingate climb that is no longer on public lands called Blue Chest Mercy. Sixty feet of splitter orange Metolius with little to no feet, graded 5.10+. I put more burns into this than Swedin-Ringle (5.12-) but still sent SR first.

This route spit me off and devoured my phalangeal epidermis for years, going from "impossibly faraway project" to "I've sent way harder at this crag," then at long last, the send.

Then my similarly-skilled longtime partner Alex R-G visited and onsighted the rig. Shortly thereafter, the entire wall was shut down.

I'm not sure who got the Last Legal Ascent, but rest in piece, my nemesis.

Beta spoiler:

I've been on Ant's Line in the Gunks three times and haven't figured out the crux yet.

Got totally shut down by the start of Trotsky in Acadia NP.

Yes, I am a terrible rock climber :) 

Dave Cramerwrote:

I've been on Ant's Line in the Gunks three times and haven't figured out the crux yet.

Got totally shut down by the start of Trotsky in Acadian NP.

Yes, I am a terrible rock climber :) 

Ahh yes, Trotsky, the 5.7 whose crux is also the crux of the neighboring 5.9. Go figure.

There’s this white 5.7+ that’s way hard. I was sending 5.10 easy last year when the grading was softer. 

Tarzan at Crow Hill (and before you say it…. Most people don’t actually do the hair raising finish…. They go up the ramp to the left instead.)

Helped with a rescue on this route when I was a new climber… leader dropped his second down most of the route and he got wrecked bad. It’s tough for the grade , I can’t unsee the bloody mess from the rescue when I’m climbing the route and the gear in the classic finish is terrible (and a traverse). I used to tell my regular partner that Cro Mag was the same grade… I still swear by it haha.

Center Route on Cynical Pinnacle of Cathedral Spires in the South Platte. Severely injured my ankle in a fall at the top of pitch 2 a few winters ago. Part of me has wanted to get back into crack climbing enough to go back and send it but the ole ankle is very cranky after the injury and subsequent surgery. 

Shoutout to Curt and co with Alpine Rescue Team (I think that's what you all were called?) for carrying my ass down the steep rocky hill on a cold night!

Keep it Heavy

"FA: Tyler Phillips and Clay Watson, on lead, in a crazy spring snow storm. FFA: Many friends through several different iterations, then Clay W."

The rope ran over a strangely grippy section of rock that wouldn't allow a soft catch and I took a weird fall in the middle and nearly broke my heel. I was super mental until I changed the bolting. I'm too big to fit into the rest before the last crux. Kept running out of gas and blowing it at the last mantle. Fell out of it a bunch of times before I realized there was a huge jug I simply didn't see. 

JD1984wrote:

Tarzan at Crow Hill (and before you say it…. Most people don’t actually do the hair raising finish…. They go up the ramp to the left instead.)

Helped with a rescue on this route when I was a new climber… leader dropped his second down most of the route and he got wrecked bad. It’s tough for the grade , I can’t unsee the bloody mess from the rescue when I’m climbing the route and the gear in the classic finish is terrible (and a traverse). I used to tell my regular partner that Cro Mag was the same grade… I still swear by it haha.

Yes, I agree.   Used to think Cro-Mag was 5.8 - 5.9, and Tarzan was harder, but back then I had Cro-Mag wired.  

JD, are you talking about taking Tarzan all the way to the top? If so, you have a pretty damn high PI tolerance!!!! Otherwise that’s not a ‘nemesis’, just foolishness.

And Steve, Yeah, you had it wired, but still 5.8-9….

Bucker North Face.  In the multiple attempts I've made over the years, I've been shut down by weather and/or conditions.  It's my white whale....

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/109200290/north-face

Butterballs, for over 10 years now. Maybe three lead burns but many follows and mt burns. Never clean.

I somehow managed to TR Fish Crack clean before Butterballs. It's just so hard at that .5 section where the feet vanish.

Not sure I would call it a nemesis but I tried the East Buttress of Denali twice. Both times we retreated not long after after having avalanches come over over us. Gave up and did the Cassin Ridge instead.

Alan Rubinwrote:

JD, are you talking about taking Tarzan all the way to the top? If so, you have a pretty damn high PI tolerance!!!! Otherwise that’s not a ‘nemesis’, just foolishness.

And Steve, Yeah, you had it wired, but still 5.8-9….

I actually do have a pretty high tolerance for the stuff (only had it once…. After filling five lawn bags with the stuff) but it wasn’t bad up there that year…. That traverse across the face past the tipped out .75 is scary AF. 

For me it is Skeletor on Hammer Dome in Tuolumne.  I've done Mystery Acheivement on the same dome at 12d but Skeletor at 11d is just too reachy and too sustained for me to put together.  I think I have tried it 5 times and never succeeded. 

Me it was the 6th pitch of astroman.that was completly frustrating to even go up that slot. It's not that it was hard. but that style of climbing I just dont have ever experienced that before.

There's a couple sport routes and boulders that come to mind, but the objective I thought was actually cursed was a canyon descent, back when i was doing lota of canyoneering. Bell Creek took a lot of tries, usually it started raining heavily about twenty minutes into the approach, just as we were about to leave the trail head, or while we were driving there.

Finally I got good weather and I fucked the navigation and we went into the wrong drainage. The other canyon was still nice but it wasn't Bell Creek. Also, someone in the party got bitten by a spider.

Then I got a GPS, got another weekend of perfect weather...and my partner bailed the night before.

So I said screw this and went anyway, and finally did it solo.

Horseman at the Gunks. Not hard once I did it. But for years, walking under the giant dark dihedral intimidated me.  

Live Perchedwrote:

Horseman at the Gunks. Not hard once I did it. But for years, walking under the giant dark dihedral intimidated me.  

Haha I put off Modern Times for probably 5+ years just to avoid the fear that I might fall on 5.8. When I moved to NYC a former climbing partner that onsights sport 13s had just gotten back from the Gunks and described the route as 'hard' so it built a mental wall for a long time. I finally did it last summer when the climb we wanted to do had a multi-party line and Modern Times was wide open, forcing my hand. It's definitely overhyped from the sandbag causing people to try it that otherwise wouldn't (I think if p2 were graded 9+ it'd be half as popular) but was wild fun regardless.

Nats Three Star Roof in Vedauwoo. I am not much of a boulderer but I do love crack climbing and roof cracks. This climb has really kicked my ass. I climbed it well over 25 times that year. 2 years ago I really had each section dialed and came SO CLOSE to sending it so many times. We made a video about it. https://youtu.be/Pj9YeqjoXoA

I never knew how to spell Vedauwoo .I think I remember that route.. And yes that was completley Baffling to even make that move. Did I get it. Hell friggen no.  And I can say that I just failed on it. And to this day just couldnt finish it.

My nemesis  would have to actually been the 9th pitch of middle cath ne buttress. 2 times it took me like 15 mins to get by it. and once by it the first time couldn't finish the rest and have to rap off MC. Every time on that route I had to lead every pitch. my father I guess wasnt rdy for it, and the 2nd time my brother didnt get into camp 4  till around 2-3 am. so needless to say he didnt have the energy to help lead it. so yeah that climb plagues me.