The Present (5.14a), Gorilla Cliffs, St. George
How generous are you? Would you, for example, donate a fully equipped, grade-A rock climb to your buddy if you deemed it beyond your skill set? Well, Mike Call did exactly that when he “presented” a three-bolt line at the tranquil Gorilla Cliffs to his partner-in-climb Boone Speed. Call had bouldered up the small grips on this perfect little line, sussed it at about 5.13a or b, and then returned to drill, only to difficulties closer to 5.13+/14-. Speed took over, finding “a nice, tight sequence that goes through the middle of the wall on really small holds.” In fact, Speed says he still has a “messed-up right index finger due to a power crimp low on the route. I felt the knuckle blow, and it’s been swollen ever since.” He pegged the sustained route at 5.14a, though his gut told him it was closer to 5.13+. Still, with very few 5.14s in the country at that time (1995), Speed figured the only way to attract repeat suitors was with the higher grade.

“ The Present is a route, ” says Speed. “A Zone 1 or 2 route.” As a bouldering sequence, consensus pegs the physical difficulty somewhere around V11. The Present has had one ropeless ascent: Dave Graham went sans cord on the 25-foot line in 1996, a feat Speed says would be “way dicier than Midnight Lightning ” (the crux of which comes at 18 feet), even though a fall up high wouldn’t kill you. Graham remembers The Present ashis first 5.14 and that he was heckled into bouldering it by Tim Kemple, shooting the climb for an article. (“When I arrived, it looked awfully shorter than I remembered, and I decided, that with our four pads, we were just fine,” recalls Graham. “I worked it one try on a rope, then bouldered it in the next hour... it was scary but slightly uneventful.”) For his part, Speed made a proper redpoint in the spirit of the Frankenjura, where the term originated, climbing up to clip the first bolt, and then downclimbing to the ground before sending.

Utah Honorable Mention: I’ll Take Black
(5.12c), American Fork Canyon: Super-bouldery little unit (four bolts; 35 feet) on the right side of the El Diablo Wall; FA: Boone Speed, 1991.