Climbing: Can you describe the climb (Grand Ole Opry) to me?

Siegrist: Grand Ole Opry is a striking line on an amazing orange wall at the Monastery here in Colorado. The route climbs the longest section of the slightly overhanging wall through an improbable series of ultra technical movement on poor holds. It has three distinct cruxes, each one harder than the last that are separated by okay rests and finishes with an enduring section of 5.12+. It is excellent. 

Climbing: This is only the third ascent, and Andy Raether uprated it from 5.14a to 5.14c – why do you think it went unrepeated for so long? Do you think it is 5.14c?

Siegrist: Quite a few very capable climbers have attempted the route over the years. Not only is the route old school and super technical, but there is a 30+ min approach, it is at a high elevation, the weather is unpredictable up there and it is over an hour drive from Boulder. I think part of the reason Andy called it 14c is because it is a very different style than Andy's other really hard sends. I don't feel qualified to call it any specific letter because I am relatively new to the grade range. I thought it was a huge leap up from the other difficult routes on the wall, which are also hard and also incredible.

Climbing: What highlighted this climb for you?

Siegrist:  absolutely love the area and I was always with really good friends climbing there. There were 4 old rotting elk legs scattered along the trail that were in a new location every day. We made hilarious and detailed jokes about the legs dancing at night to pass the time hiking in. Whenever we hiked in with dogs they would run ahead to fetch the elk legs and run up and down the trail carrying them, banging us in the calves with the rotting legs as they passed by. It was really funny at times.