Breakdown

Climber: Eddie Pandolfino 6’0”/-2

Wall Angle: Flat

Holds: Rock Candy Mesas, Kilter Winter Kaiju Roof Slopers, Kilter Winter Kaiju Sloper 3  

RIC: Risk 4, Intensity 2, Complexity 2

• This boulder’s design lends itself to slow, balancing sequences, with risk being the main theme. Insecure foot placements, sloping hands, and low profile movement require climbers to be cautious with their actions. The “no hands” transfer sequence offers an element of coordination as well. Intensity is low because weight can be alleviated from the hands with proper balance. However, the sloping hands will test climbers’ grip strength. Complexity is present because of micro-adjustments that can be made to body positioning, but the beta is not intentionally cryptic.

Influence/Aesthetic:

• The focal point of this boulder is the clusters and lines of holds presented at the bottom of the wall. It is not often that so many large features that are commonly used as hands appear as footholds. This creates an initial mystery when climbers view the boulder. There is empty space present in the middle of the wall to achieve the desired low profile sequence. This is contrasted by additional clustering and lines for the final sequence. The boulder is tied together by the start and finishing feet being in close proximity and the entirety of the holds creating an “L” shape on the wall.

Hold Selection:

• Foothold profile is key when creating any type of walk across boulder. If they are too positive climbers will be able to freely move about with little balance involved. Conversely, if they are too small “hands-free” movement can be impossible due to the climber being bumped away from the wall by their own body. The Mesas worked particularly well for this because the back sides are high profile but slope down which decreases the quality of their surface areas farther away from the wall. This gives climbers a larger forgiving space to put their feet on, but still challenges them to properly shift weight through their feet.

High and Tight

• The climber begins by getting a high right foot to create a center point to balance their weight and bring their hips close to the wall.

• The high right hand on the volume releases the constricted position the climber is in and opens their chest.

• The climber’s left hand begins to flag out to provide aid to balance.

Going Wide

• The combination of a high right hand and a left hand flag allows the climber to square their chest to the wall, take weight off of their right foot, and begin straightening their right leg.

• Adjusting their right toe to the point of the start hold provides a higher profile point of balance.

• The climber moves their left foot to begin shifting their weight towards the far left hand.

Hands Off

• The climber creates a wide balanced base between their left and right foot but they are unable to reach the next left hand because their right hand is holding their torso back.

• Releasing their right hand in conjunction with shifting weight into the left foot allows the climber to lean over and gain the left hand.

• The climber’s right hand comes to the top of the hold to shift their entire upper body to the left.

Do the Shuffle

• Although the climber’s hands and left foot have transitioned leftward, the right foot still needs to move to align the climber’s weight.

• The right foot crosses inward while the left foot comes to smear the wall; preventing the climber’s weight from barn-dooring too far leftward.

• The climber builds their feet higher and shifts their hips to the right to provide opposition against the left-facing hands to finish the boulder.

Final Thoughts

I was not very happy with how this boulder turned out because there was a drastically different intention for the movement. I had seen a couple of variations of a dynamic foot swap walk-across on Instagram and wanted to recreate it. I set this boulder early on in the day and added the three rectangle volumes on the right side for another climb. These volumes ended up being usable on pink and made the stand-up move static, which completely negated my initial intended sequence. Although the boulder turned out interesting and substantially less risky than the dynamic version, it was frustrating to experience this oversight. This is a movement I will be revisiting with (hopefully) a clearer vision.