Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Rise, second ascent? Charlie Barrett at the 'Milks again ...

Today Charlie Barrett repeated Shawn Diamond's excellent super-highball Rise on the Luminance Block, in the deep gully near the Secrets of the Beehive area. Accidentally listed as v5 in my new guidebook, it is actually about v9/10! Ooops! (See the 2nd edition page 324-325; other than the mistake on the rating, resulting from a copy-and-paste from the first line listed there, the info is correct.) No doubt one look at the line is enough to clarify how serious it is, as it has about 40 feet of climbing on it, with the first 20 feet up an overhanging prow with some powerful moves, and the last section up an exposed and delicate slab. See the earlier report of Shawn Diamond's first ascent.

Taking a 50-foot section of rope out there to clean the line and feel it out, Charlie found that his rope, anchored to bolts across the far side of the boulder, didn't even reach to the slabby topout of the line, so he opted for a ground-up approach instead! That's the spirit!

There are still some first ascents to be had on this giant block ...

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