Bottom Feeder (5.13a), Rumney, New Hampshire
Every area needs its Bottom Feeder — a short, friendly, aesthetic route at the bottom of its number bracket — to usher climbers into the next tier of the sickosphere, where sparkling unicorn magic unfurls in rainbow gardens and the great truths of the universe are revealed. The four-bolt, entry-level 5.13 Bottom Feeder sits at the base of Waimea Wall at Rumney, an area not necessarily known for its endurance testpieces, but with plenty of brick-hard bouldery routes — Butt-Bongo Fiesta (5.13a), The Fly (5.14d), and Jaws II (5.15a), among others. (There’s also, for “bolterers,” Rumney’s Monsters from the Id Wall, a 45-degree overhanging wave featuring the 5.13d Dr. No and the 5.14a Parallel Universe, among other crag snacks, most equipped with four-odd bolts.) Team Tough member Chris Smith established Bottom Feeder’s awkward, leaning dihedral circa 1995, part of the back-in-the-day Rumney gold rush.

Most climbers, says the New Hampshire native Tim Kemple, start with the second bolt pre-clipped. Between there and the third clipper, the climber engages a V6/7 crux, followed by one more bolt and a cruiser 5.10 traverse leftward, to the anchors. Kemple used to free solo Bottom Feeder as part of the Rumney circuit, as did Vasya Vorotnikov. Still, says Kemple, “I bet only four or five people have soloed that climb, while 100 times more have led it. You really need balls to boulder it.” The blocky, uneven landing and insecure, layback-intensive pulls at the crux support Kemple’s point.

Need more evidence that Bottom Feeder is more route than bloc? Kemple recalls one “strong as nails” (but endurance-limited) buddy in high school repeatedly falling at the final bolt. “He’d get up to the 5.10 section with the anchor literally in his face — we are talking bottoms of the shoes 15 feet off the ground — and just come pumping off,” says Kemple. “Not once, but numerous times.” The climber, in fact, fell so often that Kemple and others composed a song — “Shut Fever” — in honor of their buddy’s noble struggle to clip Bottom Feeder’s cold-shut anchors on redpoint.

New Hampshire Honorable Mention: The Fly
(5.14d), Rumney: just left of Bottom Feeder, amp up for 15 feet of V13 bouldering out the blank, aesthetic panel of dark stone. Has been led, toproped, and free soloed. FA: Dave Graham, 2000.