Nicholas Madness

Micah trys out the first move of The Coffee Cup(V.9)

Taking advantage of an unusual day off from school, due to a conference my professor had to attend, I decided to try to turn fate on it’s ear and get one of my good friends out to Leavenworth who had never been there before. Nicholas Mathis, besides being a good friend of mine, is also a super strong climber whose down to earth attitude coupled with a strong will to climb his hardest at all times, always makes for a great climbing partner. Not only is Nic a gangster, urban poet, squeezer of rocks, and a serious supporter of 80’s style climbing pants, he’s also one of the funniest dudes I know and we laughed pretty much all the way to Leavenworth.
Since Nic had never been here before I decided to show him the areas most premium of spots, Forestland. With perfect landings, beautiful blocs of light brown to dark grey granite, and a staggering concentration of 3 star boulder problems from V.0-V.12 I felt this would be an appropriate intro to the Leavenworth bouldering scene. We arrived around 10:30 to another perfect day of weather and after warming up on a great V.0+ called Breadline I gave Nic the beta to one of the best V.4’s in Washington, The Real Thing, and watched as he gave it a try.

Nic cruises up The Real Thing(V.4).

Technical foot smears and a right facing crimpy seam slithers its way up the wall leading you to a reach out right for a crimpy rail, and then a solid slap for a good sloper and jug at the lip. My definition of a classic. Nic had some trouble with getting the feet just right, but in no time he topped it out for his first true boulder problem in Leavenworth, a proud line. After that we got on another classic line that was right next to the Real Thing, a V.5/6(depending on the start) called One Summer. A line of scattered crimps leads to a 3 foot blank patch of rock and then a nice grainy shelf. A beautiful line that is crimpy and technical with a big move thrown in. Nic sent the V.6 version in a few goes and was really pleased with the problems so far.

Nic fully extends on One Summer(V.6)

While Nic was trying One Summer a couple of guys showed up and we eventually combined pads for a group effort on The Shield(V.7). One of the best-I’m going to get tired of writing that after introducing every problem-truly one of the greats of the area involving a huge move on overhanging crimps to a good finger jug. It’s just the right height and the holds are good enough to keep you coming back for more(I’ve repeated this problem 5 times, just about every time I come to Forestland I get on it and it gets better every time). I showed Nic how it was done trying to send it as gracefully as possible and after 3 tries he sent it for his second ever solid V.7.

Nick latches the big first move of The Shield(V.7)

At this point we were both psyched and really feeling a good energy so I decided to show him the Upper Forestland, and more importantly a super classic problem called The Coffee Cup. Now, neither one of us has climbed harder than V.8, and The Coffee Cup clocks in around V.9(V.10 depending on who you talk to) so when I suggested that we try it I was kind of half joking, suspecting that we would give it a couple of goes before realizing it was completely over our heads. We arrived at the boulder, an overhung wall spotted with only 4 obvious holds that comprised the Coffee Cup. We threw our pads down and started working out a sequence. The problem goes like this, you start on a high sloping rail, pulling on you kick your foot out horizontally and almost in line with the sloping rail you start on to a small foot hold that is more of a smear. Reaching up with your right hand to a semi-good slanting crimp, hold it, then move up with your left to a pretty good slopey crimp. Keep it together and bump from the slopey crimp to a really good gaston crimp. Now get the feet right and hit the lip, still not over because you have to earn the problem through a heady and difficult top out. Such a pure line that apparently is one of the oldest and ‘proudest’ lines in Leavenworth, according to the guide book, and I would have to agree. Anyway, Nic and I tried the beginning moves a few times before feeling really confident. And after eight or nine tries Nic had powered his way smoothly through the sequence and found himself attached to the lip. I was shouting with enthusiasm not realizing that it wasn’t over. I saw his eyes dart from one side to the other looking for a juggy way out, and decided I needed to give him some support. Yelling at him not to give up he squirmed his way over the lip and topped it out. Super proud moment!

Nic calmly repeats The Coffee Cup(V.9) for the cameras. Nice job Nic, keep it tight!

This was Nic’s first V.9, he hadn’t even sent V.8 yet, so it was a send worth much celebrating. We did so by causing quite the ruckus and once we calmed down I snapped a few shots of him repeating it directly afterwards. Now the pressure was on, and up to this moment I hadn’t really made much progress or felt solid on the moves at all. I was really close to calling it quits and moving on but something kept me going(maybe it was the orange Gatorade?) On one attempt I almost snagged the good gaston crimp before falling and that is when I knew it was possible. 10 minutes later I found myself face to face with the top out. Palming, pressing, scraping, scratching, biting, gnawing, clawing, and kicking myself up and over the lip of my first V.9! I yelled so hard that I lost part of my voice but who cares? I was so fulfilled at that moment, I laid down on the top of the boulder and a light snow began to fall. After coming down from the high of our sends we finished up with Nic flashing a classic V.4 called the Physical. It was still really early in the day but we were already feeling as if nothing could top this, and decided that anything else would just be a bonus.
I didn’t really have a clear idea of where I wanted to take Nic next so we thumbed through the guide book and found a sweet looking V.8 called Batman, that was just off the road. Nic really wanted to send a V.8 since he had never sent one before and had already sent V.9 so we checked this cool problem out. Literally right off the road, this problem is two pieces of granite overlapping and sandwiching each other creating a horizontal seam with small crevices that you can jam your hands in. Starting with a high heel on a sloping shelf and one hand locked in the seam and another on a low sloping hold, you pull on and make powerful moves to slopey crimps on the lip traversing left until you make a wild throw for a huge depression and rock over. A super aesthetic line, that’s also kind of sharp. I didn’t have much luck at all, not even being able to hit the lip, but Nic was able to snag the holds on the lip and almost make it to a couple of good crimps before the slap to the depression. Here is a photo:

Nic in need of a grappling hook on Batman(V.8).

After that, there was a V.7 called Twister that I really wanted to do so we headed on over and once we got there became extremely intimidated by the steep and rocky landing. Twister is definitely a Leavenworth classic but it will have to wait for more spotters. While we loaded up the car I told Nic about another great area called the Sword that I had just been to last Saturday and that seemed to wet his appetite enough to want to check it out. We arrived at the Sword and I gave him a quick tour of some of the classic lines there that I had done, and then we headed straight to a problem called Resurrection(V.8). Our friend Jimmy had sent this problem a while ago and we thought it would be just what we were looking for. Resurrection starts on a big bulge as you approach the Sword boulder, and is composed of big spread out slopers that you have to slap to before reaching a difficult pull over the lip of the bulge. After that your faced with a heady top out up a dirty dihedral coated in moss and lichen, plus your about 25 feet high. Nic struggled with the first move but was able to get all the other moves after that wired. I managed to send all of the moves to the pull over the bulge, but just couldn’t find a good sequence to pull myself over the lip. I was kind of relieved because I knew if I had been able to pull the lip I would be expected to top it out and I was not looking forward to that. Still, I really want to come back and send this problem, it feels really close to going and the movement is excellent.
Time was running short so we packed up and headed down the canyon, stopping to check out a couple of problems before finally deciding to do one more before we headed home. Unfortunately the problem we decided on doing was stashed away on a steep and rocky hillside and once we adventured hiked our way to it, we discovered it was a two move problem that wasn’t worth our time at all. But, we were there, so we sent it and headed home.

The ride home was filled with plans for returning and good sends to come, as well as reminiscing on the sends of the day, especially The Coffee Cup. Thanks for the good vibes, conversation, and inspiration Nic, the trip was awesome!! I can’t wait to get back out there with you.