Sunday, July 13, 2014

New Project

One of my favorite crags in Wisconsin is Hillbilly Hollow. I fell in love with it back in college, when it was a regular haunt of the UW-Stevens Point climbing club. It is a hidden gem in Wisconsin, and home to some of the state's finest sport climbing. What it lacks in volume it more than makes up for in quality - boasting classic sport lines from 5.7 to 5.12 and even a stellar 5.10 trad line.

A few years ago (okay, seven years ago), while I was much too focussed on my career and not nearly enough on my climbing, I helped out as some friends equipped some modern sport routes at Hillbilly. It was fun, but a couple of them were way out of my league at the time. Earlier this spring I managed to quickly (3 or 4 goes) send Manic Depression (5.11c) - which at one point in my life I considered way out of my league. Yesterday, I hung out at the Hollow with a couple friends, and since I was there decided to give Generation Gap (5.12a) a go or two. To my surprise I fell my way up it, and did every move, even the grotesquely hard opener which involves a hanging pull-up on bad crimpers to establish worse feet and a three foot dead-point. Anyway, this thing is now tops on the list for when I get back from Wyoming.

Tying in for Generation Gap (5.12a) - photo by Eric Relien
My receding hairline and me, trying hard on the opening move. - photo by Eric Relien

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