marc_leclerc Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 (edited) Trip: Harrison Bluffs.... - Lead Bolting 101 Date: 3/20/2010 Trip Report: So I thought I would put this up.. just to follow up my 'how to lead bolt?' thread a while back. I had a couple projects I wanted to bolt, and one I wanted to actually send... and Scott called me up as he wanted to get some photography in on Saturday. Scott has a drill, so it just worked out perfect! Tamara came out to belay and I just hopped straight on Proj #1. This one I had originally wanted to highball as it is only 20ft of hard moves before it joins another bolted route, but the landing is brutal and a friend mentioned it would never get traffic if I made it sketchy, so I decided to make a compromise and lead bolt it!. I climbed up a decent stance and Tamara was actually able to hand me the drill by standing on a tree stump uphill from the base, and I put the only bolt in, surprisingly hard to do from a 'not perfect' stance. I went for it and fell at the crux, lowered pulled the rope... fell again.. tried again and sent! Called it Midget Love' and it goes at solid 5.12, with one hand slap on an arete and tricky sequential feet. I thought I was going to fall on every move as I could feel my feet slipping, but I moved fast enough to just scrape by. After the crux there is a wee runout on easier ground to where another route joins the arete and you get a couple more bolts.. classic! then Tamara took off to go work and another friend who was clibming came out and gave me a belay on 'The Matrix Project', the slab I was reffering to in my lead bolting thread earlier. There are intense boulder problems between decent stances in pockets, so I could pull the drill up and bolt between hard sections and it ended up being like a regular sport climb for the first third, then you can just go for it and punch through 15 feet of really desperate moves without worrying about hitting the ground until you reach out into a crack and have easy moves and good pro to the end. I got all the bolts in but had to stand on a lower bolt to put in the last one as I started slipping and didnt want to fall with the expensive drill... I am not even close to sending it though, it is by far the harderst slab I have ever been on, absolutely desperate! Lead bolting is hard, thats all I have to say Thanks everybody for helping me out and I am stoked on the new line and the new proj!!! FA of Midget Love... awesome fun! Just hanging out... I look like a cocoa puff... Tamara is always happy... The Matrix Project.. so sick! Totally doable but absolute desparate, long term project for sure. purty colors I will get more pics up when I get them... Edited March 21, 2010 by marc_leclerc Quote
LostCamKenny Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 before i read line two of this tr i thought we might see pics of a hammer and a pika.... Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 21, 2010 Author Posted March 21, 2010 before i read line two of this tr i thought we might see pics of a hammer and a pika.... that would be insane... my feet got so pumped and I thought I would fall off using the Makita Drill... and that only took a couple minutes! Especially on the Matrix Project... Quote
rocky_joe Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 holy shit man. that's bad-fuckin-ass. well done. Quote
Rad Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 Awesome. Thanks for posting. Good luck sending that blank slab. "Tamara is always happy..." A wonderful personality trait or medication state, whichever the case may be. Quote
tlinn Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 That project with the finger pockets looks sweet! I like the two finger stack! Your partner is pretty bad ass for letting you bolt on lead with his drill too. How much beer did that cost? Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 21, 2010 Author Posted March 21, 2010 That project with the finger pockets looks sweet! I like the two finger stack! Your partner is pretty bad ass for letting you bolt on lead with his drill too. How much beer did that cost? He will let me know when I'm old enough to buy beer Quote
denalidave Posted March 21, 2010 Posted March 21, 2010 That looks HARD, dude... That finger pocket looks pretty micro. Are you sure this is not a rock lying on the ground and your just using trick photography, crawling and your hands & knees? Nice, I hope Dwayner approved your bolt application... CareBear Approved... Quote
hafilax Posted March 22, 2010 Posted March 22, 2010 Nice Marc! I've got to get out to Harrison for some climbing this summer. Seems like the internet warriors were more interested in what you might do than what you actually did. Quote
G-spotter Posted March 22, 2010 Posted March 22, 2010 In this one you are standing in the leafy corner and just leaning out? Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 23, 2010 Author Posted March 23, 2010 In this one you are standing in the leafy corner and just leaning out? no, on a good edge on the face.... close to the corner.... you will see when you go look at it sometime. Quote
G-spotter Posted March 23, 2010 Posted March 23, 2010 It looks like it would be hard even on hooks I remember rapping down after doing Shark Tooth Flake thinking "This won't go" Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 23, 2010 Author Posted March 23, 2010 It looks like it would be hard even on hooks I remember rapping down after doing Shark Tooth Flake thinking "This won't go" Well I was there today, I know all the moves now! There are two cruxes, a crazy highstep rockover at bolt #2... and the deadpoint to the mono at bolt #3. Its funny how both cruxes require totally different strengts! Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 28, 2010 Author Posted March 28, 2010 I surprisingly sent the Matrix Slab today.... I got a little vid I can post too.... later. Quote
Joe_Poulton Posted March 28, 2010 Posted March 28, 2010 Good job Marc...so, I'm getting stronger myself...I can now climb a solid 5.9 with a pack on my back...and not tweak my shoulder... Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 28, 2010 Author Posted March 28, 2010 Good job Marc...so, I'm getting stronger myself...I can now climb a solid 5.9 with a pack on my back...and not tweak my shoulder... Nice work.. good to hear your shoulder is healing up nice and strong! Here's is the raw footage of my send. Pretty shaky... taken by Tamara's 12 year old brother, hene some funny comments. [video:vimeo]10492007 Quote
Lodestone Posted March 28, 2010 Posted March 28, 2010 Thanks for posting the video. That left foot high-step at the second bolt is amazing. Chad Quote
denalidave Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 Holy Crap Mark, that looks really hard!... What your opinion on the grade? Nice send! Quote
Pilchuck71 Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 Nice Marc and I second Chads comment about the high step. Holy crap! The kid deserves an award for video commentary he is funny. Kudos on the send! Quote
JBo6 Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 Sweet video. At first I thought someone miscounted bolts for that high step, then my jaw dropped with the second one. The commentary was great. Quote
marc_leclerc Posted March 29, 2010 Author Posted March 29, 2010 Holy Crap Mark, that looks really hard!... What your opinion on the grade? Nice send! Thanks... It took me about 3 weeks of intermitent rapping down, looking for holds, trying sequences... training my mono and crimp strength, flexibility, TR'ing then finally trying to link...... I've never had to work this hard to train up to and figure out a route. I more or couldn't do any of the moves when I started trying it... because of the style of the climibng its really hard to give a definite grade, and it all needs confirmation. but I gave it a 5.13a for now, I've been on lots of other climbs that grade and I think this is definitely on par... but we will see with attempts and hopefully some repeats. Quote
G-spotter Posted March 19, 2018 Posted March 19, 2018 bump. would be great if the photos on this one worked again. i know marc-andre himself downgraded the original matrix line to 12d after climbing more 13 slabs in squamish, but it still blows my frickin' mind that he bolted a 12d mostly free on the lead at 16/17 years old Quote
jon Posted March 19, 2018 Posted March 19, 2018 2 hours ago, G-spotter said: bump. would be great if the photos on this one worked again. The photos were hotlinked from FB and they don't appear valid anymore Quote
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