Jill sends at 95.2, + a few others.
Two years ago, I sent Symbiose while Jill tried the moves to see if it wasn’t too reachy. It wasn’t, but one move wasn’t doable for her. This time, on her first efforts, she dialed all the moves and was working on a send. 3 days of effort over 2 weeks, she got the send on her 3rd day on with weather looking menacing. That was Thursday. As we suspected, the rain arrived and has remained.
Symbiose, 7c, 95.2. There are two Symbioses in Font. That white patch on her leg is for swiping for chalk after the wet crimp.
For the 3 days she was on it, she tried to send with very stagnant and humid conditions. Other than the heel hook, which gave her problems every time she initially got on the problem, the topout was all about conditions; and she had it dialed. Prior to the send, we climbed for two days because it was dry with pending rain. As usual, we try and climb as much as possible before it rains, and this time it seemed like the rains would remain for a few days… making for good recovery days while we waited out the drenching.
Yet, as the forêt goes, those two days were terrible: stagnant and humid. Temps were fine but no wind. On our third day, a day we actually weren’t sure would be climbable, conditions sparkled! Just as Thierry explained, some times the best days seem like the worse days. It wasn’t supposed to be windy, yet it was just windy enough. Oh, that heel hook move:
At 5′ 4″, you either see it or reach for it with your heel. Here, Jill trying in vain to see it after throwing her heel on it. Not a good idea.
As per the other days, she botched the heel hook over and over then dialed it. After that, she wouldn’t fall until the topout, sliding off, literally, from the matching slopers. This time, once she botched it, she kept trying to “see” where to put it and get it working. Ironically, that was the mistake for the day. Just by trying to see it, her body moved to a place where she couldn’t place it right. After an hour or more of attempts, I said for her to just ignore looking at it, and try and repeat it like before. (She looked more tired than previously.) It didn’t work at first, but Jill realized that that was the way to get it right. A couple tries later, and she was fighting to finish the line!
Her sending finale.
The critical bump that everyone has to do.
The match. Another short bump with the left, then fall into the right where the left is, a long reach, and it’s over!
Here are some additional shots from another day.
A previous day’s attempt.
At 5′ 4″ with a 5′ 7″ reach, this is the position she has to make the heel hook setup then attempt the last power move.
Reaching for the right crimp that’s always wet until summer.
Some peeps get to make bigger moves… 😉
Another problem sent that day at 95.2 is this dyno, a solid star in von Raaij’s gB called Pierre Précieuse/Le Yaniro, 7a+. It’s reachy:
For a 7a+, if you’re tall enough, it’s easy. So much easier than other 7a+’s I’ve tried.
I kinda fit rather nicely in-between.
I repeated it at the end of the 3rd day. Compared to Double Axle, another 7a+ dyno (solid star, von Raaij really likes dynos, beware!), this was much easier than that.
Pierre Préciouse/Le Yaniro is a stellar problem, no doubt. We also discovered this problem doesn’t dry out like the rest of the problems at 95.2 because it’s north facing and has a fair amount of water runoff along the seams.
On another note, though the problem is considered a traversée, La Traversée de Symbiose is one of the longest roof problems we’ve seen. At 8a, it’s also very hard, starts slightly higher at the far right side of the boulder and goes right to the start of Symbiose. Technically speaking, roofs are always traverses because you can’t go up if you’re horizontal. I’m not good on roofs, but having done Symbiose, I worked the traverse. Ugh. The move to the shelf start of Symbiose is serious tension! I’ll revisit this traverse because it’s really good and always dry!
One more thing. Just left of Symbiose (not the left exit of Symbiose), is Saint Bio, 7a. The stand is Bob L’Éponge (Sponge Bob), 6c+. I thought this problem looked excellent. It is. I recommend if you go to try or do Symbiose, do this problem too. It’s a bit lichened, but super good. The fall has a sloping boulder landing.
Saint Bio, 7a. Moving from the sit.
The upper part is the crux starting with this move.
This is the crux throw to a sloper.
Another view showing the topout slopers. The top has a knee bar making it very secure… if you find it. 🙂
Joshua Tree bouldering 