A Summer of Sending

Since I started climbing it has either been all or nothing, obsessed or completely disinterested. This past year was no exception. I feel like I spent every waking hour this past winter at Snowbird. Whether I was instructing or free-skiing, I was on the hill everyday. By the time May rolled around and it was time to move back to Idaho for the summer I could count, on one hand, the number of times I'd climbed since September. With a new determination to set bouldering aside and commit a full season to sport climbing, I jumped right in and started going to the City of Rocks every weekend. Slowly I started adjusting to being on the sharp end. I red pointed a few 5.10s and started trying some 5.11s.
After being back at it for about a month I decided to try my hand at Gemini, a 5.12a with perfectly crafted crimps. On my third go I fell after my hand just barely grazed the hold on the crux move. (I'd been climbing for six years and that was my first legit whipper.) Once back on the ground, I realized I was more excited than terrified. After a sufficient rest period I tied back in and sent it next go.

Andrew McKean flashing Gemini 5.12a

With a new goal of sending five 5.12s this season and the temps at the City becoming unbearable, it was time to shift to the eastern Idaho crag The Fins. Changing gears from the patina crimps of the City to the perfect limestone pockets of the Fins, I set my sights on Shaken Not Stirred 12a and Ghost in the Shell 12b. With a six day work week, I made the 2 hour drive once a week to get my fix. By late August I sent both of these routes along with a handful of 5.11-'s.

Shaken not Stirred 12a (Photo: Beau Stuart)

Ghost in the Shell 12b (Photo: Andrew McKean)

On September 5th I completed my goal of sending five 5.12s by sending both Chapstick 12a and Martini 12a in the same day. That day I also red pointed an 11a warm-up route that had previously eluded me and on the hike back to the car I told myself it was time to try something harder.

I had put in one top rope go on Pure Rock Fury 5.13b a few weeks prior. At the time I decided it was too hard for me and I wasn't at 'that' level yet. But after the ego boost I got from reaching my previous goal well before I thought I would and spending a few weeks climbing with uber-strong and equally psyched climbers, I decided to give it a go.

On my second go on lead I hung twice! All of a sudden I had a project that I could not stop thinking about. I wanted, more than anything, to send this route. With four monos, super tiny/sharp pockets, and a fun crimp sequence, I decided this route was a perfect project for me. (The fact that it's extremely well protected was an added bonus.)

Pure Rock Fury 13b (Photo: Ian Cavanaugh)