Austin Purdy ticks Bookkeeping (8C+)

Austin Purdy, with two 8C+’ under his belt, has done The Bookkeeper (8C) and Bookkeeping (8C+) in Clear Creek Canyon (CO). ”Certainly low end for the grade, and maybe could just be hard V15 but it put up much more of a fight than I thought it would.

Can you tell us more about those ascents?
The Bookkeeper is an easier variation of Drew Ruana's Bookkeeping, which I had been trying off and on this past season, but was struggling to get good conditions as the crux holds can seep and were often wet when I went there. On Friday I went right after a big snowstorm while it was still cold and the snow had not had a chance to melt to try and find dry holds. Fortunately the holds were try, but unfortunately it was around 25°F/-4C° by the time I was able to get there after work, which is quite cold conditions for a boulder of that length.

I decided to give it some tries anyways since the holds were dry and on my second try of the day I made it through the crux section of The Bookkeeper, but numbed out on the extension and failed to complete Bookkeeping. I gave one more decent go, but realized it was unlikely I would be able to send the full line that day with how cold it was so I decided to try and conserve some energy and come back the next day when it was warmer and hope that the holds were still dry.

On Saturday I came back to perfect conditions and dry rock and after my warm up was able to execute the full line of Bookkeeping my second try from the start!

What is next?
I am about to head to Bishop for a short trip, mostly to try and test out some projects for next winter since the season is wrapping up there. Here in Colorado though I am excited to try The Game (8C) and Defying Gravity (8C) when conditions are good for them and train to get ready for the upcoming alpine season!