A Boulderer Nonpareil

In 1975, Jim Holloway, 6’4” and with cable for tendons, shoed up beneath Cloud Shadow Wall, above Boulder, Colorado. His project lay on the convex east end of the sandstone face. Holloway fished his right hand into a fingertip undercling, crimped the left on a layaway, and pulled on. The next hold — a dismally slopey pocket — lay high and right. Holloway snagged it. He brought his feet up, snapped at a micro left, held it, and controlled the swing.  He topped out. The problem was A.H.R. Thirty-two years later and despite the best efforts of the world’s strongest boulderers, it has not been repeated.  

This full interview with Jim Holloway, by Andy Mann appears below: 

A: Tell me about the glory days of bouldering.
J: Mostly having a good time, climbing hanging out, that was about it: living, climbing, and not much else.  

Do you still get out climbing anymore?
I haven’t climbed in many, many, years
  
How did you put the sport behind you?
 I started getting into running and riding the bicycle, and that just took over all the time. I started riding a lot. The first summer I was a riding over a thousand miles a week. I guess one passion took over another. Sometimes I’m sorry I quit; other times I’m glad I took to doing other things. I miss the old guys, though. When you’re grey like me, those times meant a lot. I just dropped out of sight. I took cycling as serious as I took climbing. Speed was the draw! I was a slave to speed and times, and I started to burn out of that mode of cycling pretty quick.
  
What stands out as the most significant climbing events in your life?
Just the good times I had in the early 1970s with Dan Oliver, Dave Rice, and Jim Michael. That was our main bouldering group of the time. We didn’t let anything get in our way!
  
Are there any certain areas that stand out as your favorites?
Oh, I remember doing the rounds in Fort Collins — we’d do just about everything up there in a day. All the problems on Flagstaff, and we went to Vedauwoo too. In my later years I climbed a lot on Dinosaur Mountain in the Flatirons. There is a lot of history up there that is still unknown. I suspect if they have been found they have been re-named by now. The later years we were bouldering down in Pueblo. There is still a lot of untouched stone down there, though I imagine it is all private by now.
  
What would be a typical climbing day for you at the height of your bouldering skill? Say, on Flagstaff Mountain.
Never-ending jokes. We had an obnoxious sense of humor to most people. We would start at Cloud Shadow and climb all the routes there, then head to the Red Wall, Pebble Wall, and Smith Overhang Areas, just circuiting from one area to another and getting in as much climbing as we could.
  
Who was your biggest influence in climbing?
Bob Williams. In the early 1970ss he invited me to Pueblo to meet John Gill and boulder with the big boys. I wasn’t going to miss that, so I went. They were my heroes at the time and the top-notch guys around.