Weekend Whipper: Skipping Bolts and Ripping Cams on Bolted 5.13

How far are you willing to go for the “full experience”? For Adrian Montano, who had long coveted an ascent of Golden Beaver Left (5.13b), it meant skipping as many clips as possible on the partially bolted line, accepting a healthy runout at the top (for the crux moves) and risking a long fall. All with a series of pre-hung draws hanging in his face.

Montano knew of the route’s reputation long before he ever tried it. First freed in 1986 by Hidetaka Suzuki with a mix of bolts and gear, Mount Lemmon local David Merin repeated the route entirely on gear and set a precedent in Montano’s mind. “To me it was never really an option to clip the bolts,” he said in the full-length video.

When he took this whipper, Montano said he had been lobbing off the top of Golden Beaver Left all day, repeatedly onto the same battered cam. He wanted to encourage muscle memory on the route, and went up again to try the crux moves, anticipating a very long ride.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

Readers, please send your whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com.

This article is free. Sign up with a Climbing membership, now just $2 a month for a limited time, and you get unlimited access to thousands of stories and articles by world-class authors on climbing.com plus a print subscription to Climbing and our annual coffee-table edition of Ascent. Please join the Climbing team today.

The post Weekend Whipper: Skipping Bolts and Ripping Cams on Bolted 5.13 appeared first on Climbing.