Trade Route ?

[strandman]

Is Jaws II becoming a trade route ? I see Paul Robinson made another ascent recently..the 5th ?

[eyebolter]

Is Jaws II becoming a trade route ? I see Paul Robinson made another ascent recently..the 5th ?

The second ascentionist said 'soft" 15a, so maybe "only" hard 14d lol.  Plenty of talent out there, go to any gym and you will be amazed.

[strandman]

I'll keep that in mind when I get back to 9A levels..

[sneoh]

I can see LL/Champ about to chime in to say it is bad sport ethics that got all these strong guys up this route.
Probably not hanging their own draws to boot!

Congrats to all those who climbed this and to Dave Graham who FA'ed the original Jaws.
Jake would know for sure, Is it Vasya, Woods, Foley, ??, then Robinson?

[strandman]

I  have met Paul a couple of times...nice kid, super good climber

And I mean when I get to 5.9A  !!!

[JakeDatc]

I can see LL/Champ about to chime in to say it is bad sport ethics that got all these strong guys up this route.
Probably not hanging their own draws to boot!

Congrats to all those who climbed this and to Dave Graham who FA'ed the original Jaws.
Jake would know for sure, Is it Vasya, Woods, Foley, ??, then Robinson?

Vasya FA,  Daniel woods,  Mike Foley,  Josh Levin just posted video last week of Andrew Palmer sending it on Mproj.  Then Paul  in 5th spot

Josh is getting super strong too.. he sent Livin' astro as his first 14..  jeesh. 

Consensus now is probably hard 14d..  they are coming up with better beta than vasya's foot dyno at the undercling/pinch.  Foley did it in like 80* temps which is pretty nuts for that black rock right in the sun.    I watched Vasya working on it in similar conditions and was getting spit off. (it helps that Foley weighs about the same as Vaysa's left arm)

Paul is a super nice guy.  i met him at a comp a few years ago.   I got to watch Foley come up the ranks in RI until he ran out of hard stuff to do. literally..  he asked me once what he should work on at LW and he pretty much sent everything i could think of haha.  He was one move away from the Chelsea Smiles V14  FA before Ty Landman sent it from the lowest holds. 

[Pete Jackson]

Once Ondra shows up and suggests a downgrade, it'll get settled. ;-) No matter whether a 5.14d testpiece or soft 5.15a, I don't think Jaws II is in danger of becoming a trade route... It's just the only 5.15 in the US that anyone can repeat!

Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't seen more than 5 ascents given the location and the quality of the surrounding routes.

[M_Sprague]

It needs a barefoot ascent, though I don't know of any of the 14s at Rumney getting barefoot ascents yet.

[lucky luke]

I can see LL/Champ about to chime in to say it is bad sport ethics that got all these strong guys up this route.
Probably not hanging their own draws to boot!

I always said that sport are different than trad and that we most made the distinction. I was in yosemite this summer and I saw a movies on the climbing history of yosemite. Those climber who made the first ascent was very good.

Those climber who climb 5.14. v-9 etc are also very good...but I don't want personally, to be a sport climber

So, yes it is a bad ethic to critic some clear evidence of a distinction between sport and trad. For me, it is as different as cross country skiing and alpine ski. 

[sneoh]

There is little chance of Ondra coming to Rumney any time soon (unless to the NE for school first like Ms. Durif).
He almost made a mockery of RRG (who else can possibly even come close to that?) so my guess is if he returns to the US, it will probably be CO, UT, or the West Coast, or even BC.

[DaveR]

I was there when Mike Foley sent Jaws 2 and it was amazing to watch! Sport or trad, whatever (GO AWAY LL)! Mike is a super nice kid and so humble and watching someone climb something like Jaws 2 is amazing. Knowing how mid 12 kicks my ass I can only imagine what it is like to send something like that!

[strandman]

A trip to Clark Mountain will satisfy any desire for  hard climbs..Ondra included..there are 3? confirmed 5.15's  in the US and 2 are unrepeated ?

[Pete Jackson]

A trip to Clark Mountain will satisfy any desire for  hard climbs..Ondra included..there are 3? confirmed 5.15's  in the US and 2 are unrepeated ?

I think that's right. The other two afaik are: Jumbo Love (5.15b, Clark Mtn, Sharma) and Flex Luthor (5.15a Fortress of Solitude, CO, Caldwell).

With Southern Smoke Direct downgraded, I think there are only these three. Am I missing any?

[strandman]

The approach  alone will keep most away from Clark... Solitude is better but not by much

[Pete Jackson]

The approach  alone will keep most away from Clark... Solitude is better but not by much

I don't know much about the approach to Solitude, but after reading Kemple's write up here: http://www.climbing.com/route/crag-of-the-future/ and seeing him put into print the fact that multiple 5.15s or harder await development, I'm surprised activity there hasn't exploded. Though I guess I'm not surprised: Tommy Caldwell is more dedicated than most.