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Arno Ilgner "resting" on Gilgamesh (5.13a) in Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Arno Ilgner
Arno Ilgner “resting” on Gilgamesh (5.13a) in Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Arno Ilgner

5/31/12 – Argo Ilgner has redpointed a 40-foot roof near the Obed River area of Tennessee—what may be the biggest roof crack in the East. Ilgner said the grade of the new route, Gilgamesh, was “around 5.13a,” adding, “I just don’t climb that grade regularly so I don’t know for certain. I just know I spent more time on it than any other 13 I’ve climbed.”

Ilgner, 57, is a well-known climbing trainer and author of The Rock Warrior’s Way and other books. He discovered the Gilgamesh roof about 15 years ago by Daddy’s Creek, which flows into the Obed. He originally aid-climbed the route, and then tried free-climbing it in 2007. But he didn’t begin attempting it seriously until last December. In all, he returned to the line “about 13 times” before sending on May 28.

Source: Arno Ilgner

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