Held In Contempt

An esoteric crown-jewel.

Andrew Benson and Ian Bloom first discovered this boulder (kudos to them!), and did the stand-start on the right face of the boulder. I don't know if they officially named it or not, but they told me it had an undone low start, beginning at the back of the cave. I was intrigued. And it wasn't long till I figured out a completely rad sequence in to their original problem.

Basically, you climb the underbelly of the boulder, completely horizontal, with toe-hooks, pockets, crimps, and edges. It's very hard not to cut. In fact, it might be easier to just commit to the hero-swing.

Once you climb in to the light, gain the upper face via some very powerful left hand movements. The top-out is sheer thrill and highball glory awaits. I gave it V7/8 to connote V7 for the stand and V8 for the low, back-in-the-cave start.

Start way back in the dark cave. Your left hand should be on a pinch-pocket thing, and your right hand should grab a "chunky" crimp edge. Find a right heel hook and a left toe hook. Climb on.

Pads. And a spotter. The crux is a tiny bit spooky.