Dan Mirsky, 42, does Z-Nation (9a)

Dan Mirsky, who did his first, out of five 9a’s, at age 35, has done Z-Nation (9a) in Wicked Cave. ”Not necessarily the straightest line to the the top of the cave but I will say it was more fun than I thought it would be and I was in need of a side proj. Once I found my way on the reverse Curu boulder it all felt pretty manageable. From there it was a few near misses and one terrible warm up go today. Psyched to get the ball rolling in 2025. Gonna give this one a personal grade of 8c+/9A; harder than The Club, easier than Phat Club. Used my knees and my other wicked cave savvy and still almost fell at the top of the BGC roof for what might be the last time... Thanks to the homies for the encouragement.”

Can you tell us more about the ascent and the process behind?
This was kind of a funny one for me. On the one hand, I have spent a significant amount of time on all of the routes that make up the Znation link up so in that regard the process was quite long!! On the other hand I only really tried the link up itself a handful of random days this winter. I was intimidated by the proposed difficulty of the boulder problem going from Zulu to The Crew and honestly never tried it before. Once I did, I fairly quickly found a method that suited me and did the whole boulder on my first or second session.

I am certainly pleased to have sent but it definitely didn't feel as challenging as other routes I have done at this level because I knew I could do it all from my previous experience on the individual routes. Znation felt like it was a physical challenge, well right up until I actually thought I was going to send, then of course I let it get in my head just a little bit... Still, I found it much easier to remain confident and I sent quicker than other routes I have done at this grade. I think it really highlights how much the mental component contributes to the difficulty of climbing hard routes.