Traditional Climbing

Beth Rodden

Establishing a 5.14 crack takes grit. But establishing a crack so thin it barely takes the first knuckle, so sharp you only get three burns per day, and so unrelenting you have to duct-tape key pieces to your harness — well, that takes something else entirely.

Beth Rodden, 28, put that something else to work during her Valentine’s Day FA of Yosemite Valley’s Meltdown, likely the hardest trad pitch in America (and the hardest FA by an American woman). Rodden spent 40 days — between September 2007 and February 2008 — working the route, facing a ligament injury to her hand, a baffling crux, and giant Sierra snowstorms. She was also plagued by doubt that the route would even go: “Basically, I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’” says Rodden. In the end, however, determination (she calls it stubbornness) won out, with Rodden snagging a placing-all-gear-on-lead ascent; the climb remains unrepeated.

Honorable Mentions:

• Ethan Pringle, for fast repeats of 5.14 trad climbs, including The Path, Alberta; Cobra Crack, Squamish; and China Doll, Iron Monkey, and Orangutan, Colorado
• Matt Segal, for his FFA of the 25-foot Colorado roof crack Orangutan (5.14-), as well as repeats of Cobra Crack and China Doll.