A Season of Bouldering

I've been stuck at a plateau for the last handful of years. While 5.13 and 13+ trad climbing feels very achievable—I usually understand the process required for these routes, and sometimes it feels like a matter of just showing up enough times—the ever-elusive 5.14 tier continues to be a block. I've sent a few bolted 14s, but never any trad or multipitch 5.14. It's recommended to build a pyramid of climbing sends as you ascend the grades, but I've built a mesa instead with so much 13+. At the beginning of 2025, I decided to embrace a long season of bouldering to level up. I wanted to train, but also travel and be outside. I don't believe I'll reach 5.14 trad simply by climbing more 13+ volume; I need to do hard moves.

There's been a gap in my blog posts corresponding to this bouldering focus. It's interesting that I feel less inclined to tell stories about these boulder ascents, despite doing a few things I'm proud of. I've even traveled overseas to world-class bouldering destinations this year. Yet, the stories feel as small as the boulder problems themselves!

However, here are a few fun moments from the past seven months:

Bishop Bouldering:

My bouldering season began with seven weeks in Bishop. I climbed mostly in the Buttermilks, but also in the sunny Tablelands when winter weather dictated. I was staying cozy in my newly acquired and built-out Promaster van (if you ever see the Avant van out and about, please say hi!). My goal was to send as many double digit as I could. I was happy to do quite a few in all different styles: cave climbing endurance, slightly overhanging power crimping, slab highballs (Too Big to Flail on top rope – I'm unwilling to risk a proper bouldering ascent!), technical vertical traversing, and so on.

Smearing in Font:

In March, I went to Fontainebleau for three weeks. You'll often hear the Font style described as technical and balancey—and I usually enjoy climbs with those adjectives! I was caught off guard by how challenging I found the problems in Font. Though known for its sloper handholds, I actually noticed the slopey footholds to be the defining aspect. The footwork requires pushing into these smears, compared to the technical granite style of pulling inward on tiny, but positive, footholds. I found the most satisfaction in learning this style by flash attempts at the 7A/7B level (V7 and V8). There are an incredible number of problems in the forest, so it was a great place for this volume-oriented approach. I did try the famous 8A (V11) slab called Duel one morning and wished I had traveled with my TR solo kit to more efficiently rehearse the tenuous moves.

Routes for Reprieve:

Bouldering seems to somewhat work for my training cycles, though my body does prefer volume-oriented seasons. Days of limit moves took their toll and left me tweaky. I took a reprieve with a few weeks of route climbing between these bouldering trips. I snuck in one cool multipitch ascent during my springtime weeks in Flagstaff. Daedalus is a six-pitch 5.13d route in Insomnia Canyon (pitches of 13b, 12c, 13d, 13b, 12d, 10+). After a few fun days of fixed-line rehearsal with my friend Lor Sabourin, I did a no-falls day ascent which felt locked in for most of the route, only bearing down especially hard in two moments. I felt powerful but thankfully hadn't lost my vertical finesse.

Rocklands - Big Moves in the Southern Hemisphere:

In June, I was off to Rocklands in South Africa for another international bouldering excursion. The Rocklands style is the opposite of Font—big moves on distinct holds. There was less dynoing than you'd expect from watching internet media from the area. Again, I tried to do more in the V10 and V11 (7C+ and 8A) range, specifically targeting problems I might do in a session. My favorite ascents were X (an 8A finger and hand crack), Ghost in the Darkness (a 7C+ roof climb with all the homey comforts of a backyard Priest Draw problem, which I managed to flash), Gliding Through the Waves Like Dolphins (an 8A kneebar crawling problem out a hanging arête with very unique moves), and Vision Quest (a few 7C+ wildly thin crimp moves to a thirty-foot tall 5.11 top out). I enjoyed the climbing in Rocklands, but I think I most enjoyed the fact that traveling to the southern hemisphere skips a bit of the U.S. summer heat!

Seeking the Elusive 5.14 Trad Tick:

As I work towards a formal tick of 5.14 trad, I sometines wonder if I have already reached that benchmark. I’ve done a statistically improbable number of 13d trad routes (I would suspect natural route difficulty to fall into a normal distribution, so how can there be more 13d trad lines than either 13c or 14a??) I’ve sent the bottom of Magic Line to the no-hands stance half a dozen times (linking through that tipsy top crux from the ground continues to elude me). While not a standalone route, that is definitely 5.14 trad climbing. I'll be back to try Magic Line again late fall, and one day hope to send the full route. That project has been a long journey, but it continues to inspire me. Until then, I'm back in sport climbing mode with trips to The Fins and Tahoe coming up. And also, I am scheming with Amity about another El Cap free route!

Thanks for the Avant support! 

I'll finish up with a note of gratitude—the community support toward my new gear brand, Avant Climbing Innovations, has been incredible. I've had so many positive encounters out at the crag, hearing stories about how the geeky gadgets and educational content have helped people have new climbing experiences. I've found this small entrepreneurial venture to be a much more satisfying way to live the traveling climber's life than playing the games of being a sponsored athlete. It also makes use of the hard work I've put into my product design career. I am feeling inspired by the overwhelming response and will be actively bringing more climbing innovations to life. Stay tuned!