Slice of Life (5.13d)
Wicked Cave; FA: Kurt Smith, 1992

Kurt Smith’s pumpy Slice of Life, in the Wicked Cave, has the distinction of being Colorado’s first 5.14 rated such, which it certainly was . . . before kneescums. Smith, also a driving force in Colorado’s Clear Creek Canyon (see “Pretty Gneiss,” Climbing Magazine No. 258 p.56) and today a Southeast sales rep for outdoor manufacturers, led the charge in nascent Rifle. Using his Cali big-wall knowledge, he ground-up bolted and then freed pitches almost more quickly than others could repeat them. For reference, a few Smith classics: Community Service (5.11c), Movement of Fear (5.12c), Vision Thing (5.13b), and Cryptic Egyptian (5.13c).

Smith and Pete Zoller made a 1991/1992 midwinter foray to dink in Slice’s initial bolts. From there, Smith whittled away at the line, with its mid-5.13 climbing up to a stopper dyno (V7-ish), followed by slopey 5.12+/5.13-. Smith used zero kneebars and fell at the ‘mo repeatedly; the instant he stuck it on the link, he went chains, skipping clips in a go-for-broke effort. Over the next few years, Slice saw a handful of repeats — before Chris Knuth opened Pandora’s kneescum box, using the craft he became known for (jeans, no pads) to find seven knee “encounters”on Slice, including one at the crux.

After a key flake broke down low in the late 1990s — its hundreds of pounds barely missing Jim Redo, who was laybacking it — Slice fell into disrepair till it was resequenced. Now with Zulu (5.14a) just next door, Slice has entered the linkage mill — Slice of Zulu, Piece of Zulu, and Lulu are but three modern iterations.