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With a total of 8 days over a 2 year period, Paul Robinson was finally able to send one of his hardest lines to date, Meadowlark Lemon in Gateway Canyon, Nevada (a subsector of Red Rocks).

This is Paul’s hardest FA to date, besides Lucid Dreaming. The send was caught on film by Chuck Fryberger’s film crew and will be featured in their upcoming moving “The Network.”

Of today’s (11/1/2012) ascent, Paul comments, “I considered it one of the best lines I have ever climbed on in the entire world. The boulder is super physical, yet really technical. The crux revolves around some really crazy heel hooks on the left arete.”

2 years ago, Paul put up Meadowlark Lemon stand and graded it 8B/V13. He considers the moves between the sit and the stand start to be an additional 8B, making the entire line two 8B’s linked together without a rest.

When asked about the name of the boulder problem, Paul said, “Meadowlark Lemon was an American basketball player that played for the Harlem Globetrotters. He was considered to be one of the best players ever and has a sweet name. The last move of my climb is similar to a slam dunk in basketball.”

via The 27 Crags Team

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“You’re going to Texas to rock climb? Really?”

“We’re going to Hueco, as in Hueco Tanks- not W-A-C-O,” I replied to my non-climbing friends at work just before quitting my job.

Hueco Tanks State Park is recognized as America’s best bouldering area twenty miles east of El Paso, Texas. Climbers come from all over the world in the winter months to boulder here. Our Spanish friends, including the acclaimed Berta Martin Sancho, traveled a full twenty four hours just to spend a few weeks at this magical place. It is inspiring to witness all the talented climbers and to be able to share this common bond.

So, I have a confession to make- I suck at bouldering. It’s my biggest weakness as a climber. I’ve only been outside bouldering a handful of times, and I struggled on the warm-ups. I realize the only way to get stronger is to work on your weaknesses, but this was downright humiliating. I originally thought of Hueco as a means to get strong, but I dreaded the idea of not being on a rope for weeks. Arg- I guess I should do some “practice climbing” to build power for hard cruxes on routes. Two years ago I visited Hueco for the first time and tried a classic V7 called Daily Dick Dose. I probably shouldn’t have worked on a problem that hard, given that I only had a few V5s under my belt. But something about this climb intrigued me. It seemed so simple- basically three hard moves- gymnastic and steep. I felt a little pressure to attempt to boulder harder. I had made small progress on the problem years ago, but failed to complete it on my short ten day stint.

When we arrived in Hueco a month ago, I really wanted to revisit this boulder problem, and thought I must be able to do it by now- I felt stronger. Nope- the moves still felt nearly impossible- how could this be? I thought I’d never break the V7 barrier. It would be the long-standing joke, “Ha, ha! Heather can climb 5.13 but can’t boulder V7- isn’t that funny! Ha!”

Chris and I originally planned to spend only a week or so in Hueco, but we were hooked! Even though I sucked, bouldering was definitely growing on me- there’s nothing like the energy of seasoning with a good group of friends. We spent Thanksgiving in Colorado, then maniacally returned. We talked about goals of the trip, and I really wanted to send a V7- that was my only real climbing goal of the trip. For me, climbing this grade would be a breakthrough- I could finally move on. Chris rolled his eyes and said I’d be climbing that in no time- I thought no way- my confidence was at a low.

Our second day back to Hueco I felt a bit stronger, I had just a little more core and lock-off ability. I attempted the problem, and no! It couldn’t be! The moves still felt horrendous and nearly impossible. I felt defeated. After laying flat on my back for a minute, rehearsing the moves in my head, I knew I had to get even. I had to try my absolute hardest. I pulled on with a renewed and fiery spirit and to my surprise I was able to do the first move! About ten tries later, with each try feeling a little stronger, I was able to link the moves I’d had trouble performing before individually. I had to fight, but I did it! I sent my first V7. Phew- I can move on with my life.

The last two days of trip I did two V8s- what a surprise! I finally began to feel a little bit like a “real” boulderer.

The mental strength required to deal with repeated failure is the toughest part of climbing and, for that matter, many aspects of life. Eventually, if you work hard enough for something you are passionate about, you can succeed. We all have days we feel unaccomplished and it is a struggle to keep on trying- like getting schooled on the warmups. For me, the harder I work on something, the more satisfaction I ultimately receive- even if it is just V7.

~Heather Robinson, prAna Ambassador

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12/07 Bozeman Ice Hyalite Canyon, MT; www.bozemanicefestival.com

12/09 Sandstone Ice Festival Robinson Park, Sandstone, MN; www.sandstoneicefest.com

12/10 Dallas Rocks ABS Regional Competition Dallas, TX; www.dallasclimbing.com

12/10 Rock Spot Showdown Boston, MA; www.rockspotclimbing.com

12/11 City Rock Indoor Ice Climbing/Dry Tooling Comp Colorado Springs, CI; www.iceholdz.com

12/16 Western Slope Bouldering Series 2 Glenwood Springs, CO; 970-384-6318

12/17 Climb For Change: Triple Threat Team Comp Toronto, ON; andrew@revesmedia.com

01/05 Ouray Ice Festival Ouray, CO; http://ourayicepark.com/ice-festival/

01/06 Singapore Management University Gravical Singapore; climb@sa.smu.edu.sg

01/06 Kandersteg Ice Climbing Kandersteg, Switzerland; www.kandertal.travel/en/page.cfm/events/topwinter/iceclimbing

01/13 Chicks Sampler Ouray, CO; www.chickswithpicks.net

01/14 BLOC Climbing & Fitness ABS 13 Youth Divisional Tucson, AZ; www.rocksandropes.com/BLOC/site/home.html

01/17 Youngstown State University Boulder Competition Youngstown, OH; www.ysu.edu/reccenter/AdventureRec

01/21 New Zealand Rock Festival Whanguanui Bay, New Zealand; www.wix.com/whanganuibay/nz-rock-festival#!

01/25 Chicks Complete Ouray, CO; www.chickswithpicks.net

01/28 Western Slope Bouldering Series 3 Carbondale, CO; 970-704-4148

02/02 Mt Washington Ice Climbing Festival North Conway, NH; www.ime-usa.com/imcs/ice_fest.html

02/03 Chicks Quickie Ouray, CO; www.chickswithpicks.net

02/03 Chicks Graduate Ouray, CO; www.chickswithpicks.net

02/04 Lakewood Link Rec Center Rock Steady 7 Lakewood, CO; 303-987-5446

02/04 Metro Rock Dark Horse Championship Everett, MA; www.metrorock.com

02/04 Western Slope Bouldering Series 4 Vail, CO; 970-476-7960

02/11 University of Oregon Vertical Circus Climbing Competition Eugene, OR; dbauer2@uoregon.edu

02/11 Climb UP Kilimanjaro Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; www.climbupsokidscangrowup.com/

02/17 South Fork Ice Festival Cody, WY; www.southforkice.com/index.html

02/24 Hueco Rock Rodeo Hueco Tanks, TX; huecorockrodeo@gmail.com

03/02 Western Slope Bouldering Series 5 Carbondale, CO; 970-476-7960

03/04 Adaptive Sports Center 7 Hours of the Banana Crested Butte, CO; 970-349-5075

03/31 Ohio State University Vertical Mile Challenge Columbux, OH; www.osumountaineers.com

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One of the nicest climbing moments of this trip was the ascent of one of the famous Holloway problems from 1975: “Trice”. It waited more than 30 years for the first repeat by Carlo Traversi. Since then Chuck told me it got maybe ten ascents. This way the consensus grade was 8a+ or v12. It was still some discussions going on because every repeater used a left foothole (not used by Holloway) that some considered off line and changing the original character and difficulty.

The prAna meeting was very close to Flagstaff, so we spent a few days there and eventually I took the opportunity to try this famous “Trice”. The upper left foot felt really crunchy to me and so I tried what could have been the original way. This means: feet straight below the bulge, the left foot kind of smearing and the right foot low on a small vertical edge, lock your fingers on a shallow pocket and go controlled to a small sloppy edge then jump to the top. The last climbing day just before a snow storm, conditions were perfect and after some warm ups and a few tries, a cold wind came and finally friction was good enough to complete the problem. It felt really satisfying to stick this last move. Retrospectively I would like to tell all my respect to Jim Holloway for his performances in bouldering, which are still great inspiration for all of us.

~Fred Nicole, prAna Ambassador

Here is some classic Fred…

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Speaking of climbing: Just looking back at the first half of this year, there is one achievement that stands out for me:

LE BOA: It was one of those longterm projects, which you never know if it will go for sure. I started trying it two years ago. It was just after completing “L`Isola che no c`é”. I enjoy having this kind of projects where you can go back over and over again, and slowly, try after try, you start to visualize the complete picture of it.

It is a sit down start on a big snake like looking structure, which also gives the name to the problem. Some powerful moves on pockets underclings that bring you to a tricky traverse with more pockets and a finish with long moves into a big flake. It ends in another problem called “Mosaik”, rated V11 or 8a. The first four moves are by far the hardest, but the last ten are quite delicate and bring a great dimension to the line. You can see the start of it at the end of the movie by Bernardo Gimenez HERE

For me it was difficult to find the good conditions to do this problem, when I was able do the moves it was to cold or to wet to complete and the dryest season was usualy to warm to even try the moves.

Conditions last March were ideal, dry and mild for the season, even windy with a bit of sun. It was a perfect early spring day. And most important, I was feeling kind of fit. A few days before, I did my best try in the problem falling at the very end, and the close departure for India was one more factor to make me climb more accurate. It was my lucky day and I could finally feel what it was like to chain so many hards and delicates moves.

Most of the time I don’t grade my boulders anymore, but people are still curious what they could be. On this one my feeling lies around 8c boulder, as it felt as the hardest boulder I ever did on pockets. For sure the hardest thing since “L’isola che non c’é” and reckoning the time spent on it anyway an important line for me.

~Fred Nicole, prAna Ambassador

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09/14 Flagstaff Trash Bash Boulder, CO willie_mein@hotmail.com

09/15 HERA Foundation Climb4Life Salt Lake City, UT www.herafoundation.org

09/16 Bloc Party: A Planet Granite Bouldering Series Belmont, CA www.planetgranite.com

09/17 Birdsboro Climb and Clean Birdsboro, PA www.birdsboroclimbing.org/climbandclean.html

09/18 Idaho State University Pocatello Pump Pocatello, ID 208.282.3912

10/01 Triple Crown Bouldering Series – Hounds Ear Boone, NC triplecrownbouldering.com

10/01 Reel Rock Film Tour Boca Raton, FL 561-376-4114

10/07 Rocktoberfest Red River Gorge, KY www.rrgcc.org

10/08 Triple Crown Bouldering Series – Stone Fort Chattanooga, TN triplecrownbouldering.com

10/14 Bloc Party: A Planet Granite Bouldering Series San Francisco, CA www.planetgranite.com

10/22 Southern Methodist University VERTIGO Bouldering Comp Dallas, TX 214-680-6067

11/05 Triple Crown Bouldering Series – Horse Pens Steele, AL www.triplecrownbouldering.com

11/12 Gretna Bouldering Comp Mount Joy, PA gretnaboulderingcommittee@gmail.com

11/13 North Summit Clmbing Gym Freak Show Wind Gap, PA www.northsummitclimbing.com

11/13 CU Climbing Competition Boulder, CO (303) 492-6080

11/18 Reel Rock Tour El Paso, TX 915-760-6878

12/09 Sandstone Ice Festival Robinson Park, Sandstone, MN www.sandstoneicefest.com

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