Dan Mirsky, 42, does Stocking Stuffer (9a)

Dan Mirsky, who the last three months previously has done two 9a’s, has completed Stocking Stuffer (9a) in Rifle (CO). The picture is from Z-Nation (9a), which he did in March.

” Sometimes a link up is more than the sum of its parts and when its parts are amazing boulder problems on two classic routes and another sick one to connect them, what you get is a pretty all time rig! Classic Rifle style: boulders, rests, knees, pump, and a satisfying "jump to the jug" finish. Super psyched to have put it together with the relative quickness (for me), even if I did fall at the end of the Stock Boys Crux a couple times...

Hard to say on the difficulty, as I think stylistically this one suited me quite well. I'll go with the proposed grade and be proud of my fastest ascent of a 9th level route, a solid spring campaign and 90th 5.14. Closing in on a hundy! Time to get serious about Cakes.”

Which routes were linked and how many sessions did you put in?
Stocking Stuffer connects Tom Foolery (8c) which I climbed in 2012 into the crux Stockboy's Revenge (8c) which I climbed around 2010. What’s cool about SS is that You get to do the opening boulder of Tomfoolery which has some awesome "tufa" grips and is very resistance oriented, then the Stuffer (connection) section which climbs the underside of a big prow and feels like more like a compression boulder on granite, and then the crux of Stockboys which is quite technical with the knees, classic Rifle Style. The character of the route overall is quite pumpy because you get some fatigue from Tomfoolery, then the Stuffer section really adds more difficulty and pump and it makes doing the Stockboys crux quite challenging and ultimately the redpoint crux of the Route.

It took me a few days to learn all the beta (my memory must be getting worse because I basically had to learn both routes all over again), a few more days to make the connections and links to feel ready to try to redpoint and a few days getting very pumped in the Stockboys Crux and making subtle changes to improve the efficiency. In total I think it was around 10-12 sessions over 4 weeks. On The send I was still on the limit as I was finishing the Stockboys Crux and climbing into a good rest before the final outro boulder, which has some fun and fairly heroic pulls on good holds until you pull the final lip and exit the steepness.