On September 28, Jody Hansen of Boulder, CO made the second female ascent of Bush Pilot (V11) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. She sent the Dave Graham testpiece after working it "for one month, going once a week -- and a couple times over the summer in bad temps."
Bush Pilot climbs a 40-degree overhanging arete-like feature, involving strong body tension and compression climbing through 16 moves. "It's really back-intensive movement," says Hansen. "My back would get so tight from working it, that if I tried to go again the next day it would be in spasms." Her ascent of Bush Pilot follows Kind Traverse and Sunspot, to round off a trilogy of V11s completed this summer.
When asked about her plans for the future, Hansen says, "I'm going back to Hueco again this year ... I was close to sending Chbalanke [V11/12] last year, so I'm going to try and do that. Otherwise, I'm going to branch off on my own and try to do problems that haven't been done by another female."
The first female ascent of Bush Pilot was done by Angela Payne earlier in the summer.
