Ethan Pringle - Pro Blog 8

Okay, enough of Surfing, cats, and city life, let’s talk about climbing. Since my last blog it feels like I’ve been to hell and back. Well maybe not, but I did go to Vegas, which can feel like hell sometimes. I made a special trip down to Vegas to hang out with the Chrises (Lindner and Sharma) and climb at the one and only Mount Clark, specifically the third tier, AKA The Monastery. The Monastery is probably the single most underappreciated cliff in the country, or at least in California, or at least it will be when Sharma finishes his project. I’m not really supposed to talk about it, but I will say this:  When it gets done, it will be the hardest, most badass sport route in the world. There you go, that’s all I’m going to say. So now you know where it is, all you have to do is go there, and climb it. But good luck. You need fairly accurate directions, a four-by-four vehicle with plenty of clearance, and legs of steel for the hour long, very steep, maze of an uphill approach. Oh, and a solid 5.15 climbing ability. And don’t worry about the mountain lion (Ringtail Cat), he’s tame. Don’t worry about finding the route once you get there either, its stands out in the ocean of limestone that makes up the more than 200-foot amphitheater, or at least the line of draws does, if they’re still on it. So good luck, you drooling bastards, good luck.

I also managed a first ascent of an extension of an already established route at the third tier called Wall of Glass. Lindner has been working on it off and on for the last five or so years, falling at the last hard boulder problem, which is still about 50 feet from the anchors of the full pitch, which makes it about a 120-foot pitch in total. It is a consistently bouldery route, and no move is harder than about V10ish. It has a couple of decent rests that you have to milk, or they will milk you. The angle of the wall is like 20 degrees overhanging the whole way—pretty bitchin’ line. I am including a picture of Lindner I took a while back on the first crux of the route.

Since my week and a half long stint in Vegas, I have taken a couple weekend trips to some rock a little closer. The first weekend we spent in beautiful Tahoe, bouldering at Bliss and Split Rock the first day and cragging at Donner Summit the second day. I have been really psyched on sport climbing lately, so I was excited to send a vertical, 13ish crimp fest at the Snowshed Wall called Rocket Science. I am including a picture of my friend Derek on it that I took a couple years ago.

The next weekend we made the five-hour drive (it should’ve taken five, but we hit heinous traffic leaving the bay area) up to the Trinity Arêtes, a pretty limestone cliff tucked away in some really tall redwoods just east of Humboldt County. My goal for the weekend was to finish all the routes on the lower Pisano Buttress where most of the hard climbing is. The first day I sent Mean Streak (first ascended by Lindner in 2005) and Burnt Offering, both on my second try, both about 13d. I also flashed If, 13b, leaving only Deep Throat and Burn Victim, both about 13d also, to do the next day. After a fitful night in the tent, while our friends enjoyed the luxury of their accordion camper-shell, and a working burn on Burn Victim, my tips had had enough of the super sharp crimps, so we called it a weekend and jetted to the river for a quick and refreshing dip. And fortunately took Highway 5 home, instead of the 101, which shaved an hour and a half off the drive, even with the traffic getting back into the city.

So now I’m just chillin’ in the city (pronounced sit-ae), climbing in the gym, trying to stay psyched for the next adventure, the next goal. What that may be, you will learn in time. Let’s just say I got a crazy agenda of hard sport climbing projects this summer, and for now it will stay hidden.