The Big D

Huge (5.13d)
Bauhaus Wall; FA: Don Welsh, 1997

In 1997, Don Welsh established this skyscraping, 100-foot route by exploring terrain above his existing Schwa (5.13b/c), at the Bauhaus. (“We were running out of real estate . . . ” he recalls.) Huge is widely considered one of Rifle’s best, albeit softest, 5.13d’s. To Welsh, though, it seemed on par with other Bauhaus 13d’s. “George Squibb downrated Huge to 13a,” recalls Welsh. “But I think he was just punkin’ me because I did [his Bauhaus route] Gropius so fast.” Whatever the grade, what strikes Welsh most about Huge is its aesthetic athleticism.

The first crux hits you at 40 feet, with powerful underclings and pockets that end at a long move to a jug. The second crux is a tricky roof at 80 feet that succumbs to a clever kneescum. After this, you enjoy a brilliant, 30-foot 5.11 headwall on bullet stone. There’s even a solid right kneebar before the last two bolts.

Adam Avery, a partner of Welsh’s since the early 1990s (and owner/founder of Avery Brewing, in Boulder, Colorado), was amazed how Welsh seemed to consume only subsistence rations of rice, yet still drank beer every day. (“It’s unusual for a guy who climbs so hard,” muses Avery. “When people climb hard but don’t drink, it invalidates their ascents in my mind.”) Welsh is also known for his meticulous route maps — jokes Avery, “Don won’t tell you the Beta — he’ll f—king Xerox it for you!”

Personal aside: I — Chris Weidner — almost wobbled my first redpoint try on Huge. My forearms were exploding when I reached the final kneebar, where I barely managed to slam in my padded thigh . . . but something was amiss. The eight preceding right kneebars had rendered my big toe flaccid, and so I succumbed to gravity. No worries: Huge is so darn good, I didn’t mind climbing it again.