I F***ING REDPOINTED THIS! Pardon my french, but damn, that felt awesome. I've
had my eye on this climb ever since I first looked at it a month ago, and
worked out some of the first few (crux) moves. But only after I climbed it did
I realize that this is the hardest free climb that I've ever even attempted.
The hardest I've ever attempted, and it was a crack, and I redpointed it. I
almost got it on my first attempt of the day, but my foot slipped just as I
reached the rest after the crux. I fell about seven feet onto a bomber #5
stopper, my feet ending up just inches off the ground. My second attempt was
weak, but on my third attempt I got it. The climb is quite short, and the crux
is really just three hard fingerlocks, with a few intermediate moves and
delicate footwork. After that the rest is about 5.9, so it's just a matter of
holding on and fighting the burn. That's the only reason that I even attempted
to lead a climb of this difficulty. Aaron flashed it when he followed, even
though he had to remove the nut that I had taken two falls on (one of which
was essentially a factor 1!)