The Process

They call it ‘Hell’s half mile’ for a reason. 

The Hang

Last May, I followed my friends Dave Hatchett and Joel Zerr up a mountainside outside of the greater Lake Tahoe region for a day of climbing at the Sierra Buttes.  I was excited to check out a new area and grapple with some non-granite grips for a change.  I had no idea what I was about to be roped in to.

Day 1 - The hike: short, but brutal! The setting: serene. Conditions: perfect.  The rock: fantastic!  I was getting acquainted with the slick, steep orange stone that was littered with crisp edges, big pinches and large features as we warmed up for the day.  I couldn’t help but enjoy the view and the beauty of the area as I climbed as many new problems as I could. “This is a rad hang!”

Joel showed me some of the greats on ‘The Only Boulder’.  I managed to climb a beautiful problem that he had made the first ascent of some years ago called The Lumberjack on my first attempt…psyched.  He then showed me an unclimbed low start to the problem he had also tried back then that linked another ten moves into it.  Like Joel, I was immediately drawn to the line, the holds, and the potential for such a long and wickedly steep boulder.  Together, we started sussing the moves and managed to do all of them individually fairly quickly.  We gave a few good efforts and made decent progress.  “Another day or two and we got this for sure” I exclaimed.

The following week we trudged up the ¾ mile hike again in pursuit of ‘the proj’.  I was optimistic; I hadn’t stopped thinking about this problem since we walked away from it several days before.  Joel and I both linked high into the Lumberjack that day… “One more session and we can do this thing!” I enthusiastically exclaimed again as we hiked down that night.  We were both confident it was near completion…  Joel wanted to call it ‘Paul Bunyan’ because, well, he is the ultimate lumberjack. 

I hiked Hell’s Half Mile six more times after that day; Joel hiked it eight more.  Each visit ended similarly…Failure within a move or two of success.  The Lumberjack became a formality.  No matter how tired we felt and no matter how many times we fell off the top from the start, we could still send the stand start at the end of the session…

"Next time, for sure!"

Was this problem really that difficult or was this becoming a mental issue?  The climb is 20 moves long through insanely steep, gymnastic and powerful climbing.  We both knew the moves so well but still struggled to do each one perfectly enough to link them all together. 

Day 7: I let go of the rock and thumped to the pads as a sharp pain shot through my right knee.  My right pec muscle was burning with pain as well from trying the difficult compression moves up high too many times…I felt weak and beat down. ”I might have to give up on this one for the year” I thought.  Three weeks passed, snow blanketed the Tahoe basin; the fall season was slipping away.  My motivation to go back up there was also slipping and I declared myself too injured to even try that monster.     

Hell’s Half Mile feels even more brutal when wading through snow, especially while wearing tennis shoes after forgetting your gators.  It was a cold day and winds gusted as high as 35 MPH piercing through our bodies while we warmed up.  I was high up on a tall problem called ‘Mashed Potatoes and Gravy’ when our two mondo Asana pads flew out from below me in a wind gust that carried them both over 40 feet.  “This day” I thought, “is the day.”  We were both in pretty top form.  However, ‘Paul Bunyan’ wasn’t going down without a serious fight.  On our fourth attempt that day, we both fell from the very last move…the 20^th move!  Neither of us had ever been that close. “If I walk away today I will lose this battle to the coming snow” I thought.  Joel sent on his next try.  At this point we had each likely taken over 35 serious red point attempts.  I had accepted defeat for the day, but I was SO PSYCHED that at least one of us had just completed ‘the proj’!

Dark Matter

I hurried over to another problem I wanted to try once more before winter closed the Sierra Buttes and booted up.  After climbing ‘Dark Matter’, I silently thought to myself “maybe I have enough gas for one more try on the Bunyan”.  As we passed back by ‘The Only Boulder’ on the way out, I told Joel and David O. that I was going to try one more time because, well, why not?  It’s here, we’re here, game time.  Moments later, I screamed my way to the top at the end of the day and the end of the season to end the era. 

I’ve never been quite so involved with a boulder problem and never felt such satisfaction from completing one as I did that day.  The process through those particular eight days of climbing tested my patience, ability and attitude and in the end, the best part of it was not even completing the problem, but sharing the whole process with such a great friend and climbing partner. 

Paul Bunyan

As we stumbled down the steep hillside that evening, elated and in silence, I smiled knowing I could leave California for a while in peace.      

-All photos by Joel Zerr!!