Bill Ramsey, 64, does Wrongdoer (8b+)

Bill Ramsey, who sent his sixth 8c at age 54, has done Wrongdoer (8b+) in Mt. Charleston. The 64-year-old began climbing in the mid-1970s with Alan Watts at Smith Rock. He later shifted his focus to academics, earning a PhD in philosophy, before returning to climbing in the early 1990s. (c) Rachelle Melville

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
This is a route at Mt. Charleston called “Wrongdoer”. It is a 120 feet long and is an extension of an extension – and each anchor kicks it up a number grade, so the first anchor is 12a, the second is 13a, and the top is 14a. I'd started working on it about a year ago, came close last fall (falling at the very top 3 times), and got back on it in early April this Spring. The day I did it I wasn’t feeling all that great the day I did it, but I kept surprising myself, just barely making it through each subsequent crux. It was an all-out battle, really, pretty much in doubt until I clipped the anchors. After 50 years of climbing, those sorts of sends are still the very best!

Can you tell us more about the process and how you prepared physically for sending it?
I normally climb on steeper things, so I had to completely revise my training to get used to tiny holds and standing on my feet more. I trained pretty hard over the winter, and incorporated hangs off an 8 mm edge in my training. I replicated a couple of the cruxes in my garage on a sheet of plywood that I hung from the ceiling so I could change the angle to simulate the climb. I worked those with a weight belt. One problem with projecting is you often lose some finger strength over time. To deal with that I would get up early and do some finger training (max hangs) before going climbing. That would probably diminish me slightly, but I would still make progress on the route, and you have to be thinking ahead about maximizing finger strength when you start getting really close.

At my age, I need more rest days, so on my training days I would go big, training most of the day, and then take 2 or 3 days off. For each redpoint attempt I would have a main goal, and then various sub-goals depending on where I fell. Honestly, innovating different tactics and strategies is, for me, what makes projecting pure fun.