30 September 2021
Kinder Cakes 9a+ by Joe Kinder (41)
Joe Kinder has done the FA of Kinder Cakes 9a+ in Rifle and below is his full report on how he took it down. This was the 41-year-old's third 9a+, all of them FAs. (c) Ross Fulkerson
"I bolted Kinder Cakes in the fall of 2018 after I sent Diarrhea Mouth, 9a. The whole time I was trying DM I saw the hold, the line and the obvious pathway out the bulge in the roof. Literally, I was just as excited to finally bolt that line as I was when I sent DM.
In 2020 started making short trips to Rifle to sort out the line. Moving bolts, cleaning the loose rock and playing with the moves. I put a mid-way anchor in as it made sense and started to focus on that initially which became Cupcake, 8c. After that was complete I fixed a line at the mid anchor and started to focus on the second part. I remember asking Jonathan Seigrist if the line could be yielding 9b, as it simply felt like something improbable to me. He suggested just trying and trying and it will reveal itself eventually and really that's what I did. First ascents take so much time and vision and patience. There's so much more doubt and confusion with what you're doing. After some time sorting the second half of the route I worked on redpointing from the anchor (midway anchor) to anchor (top of the climb) which felt around 8c/+ in total. Next was to start piecing the whole thing together which just seemed loco. 8c is hard for me... like takes SERIOUS effort and to think of having to repeat Cupcake over and over sounded absurd. 2020's season ended with my best efforts falling at the last hold of the crux.
This season I prepared. I trained for 2 months prior which almost felt like too much time. 6 weeks would have been plenty. I did a strength cycle followed by a strength-endurance cycle. I followed a plan I made inspired by the Horst family and the tidbits I've learned along the way. My wife Lindsey supported the whole effort as she wanted to see me succeed as well. When the training was over we headed over this way to Rifle and I got to work. The conditions weren't right, but I still put in the effort and within 3 days I was back to falling at the last hold of the 5 move crux. It was wild. This continued for a month actually, I never fell in the 8c first portion, confidence was in a good place and all I needed was some tiny variable to work in my favour (conditions, mental state, luck, whatever).
Last Sunday, Sept 26th, which was an ordinary day really. The conditions weren't great or bad and my mind state was the same as any other day. I stood at the base, did some visualizing, left the ground, got to the knee-bar, calmed down and recovered, left the rest, climbed to the crux and executed the 5 moves in total. It was the first time I stuck the last move from the ground. I remember shaking at the horizontal and freaking out internally. There's still another V8 exit and all I could think about was how fuct it would be to actually blow it at that point. HA! What a moment. I left the rest and felt connected, fresh enough and very exhilarated. I swear, pulling onto the slab and putting my cheek to the wall and realizing where I was in the world was one of the best feelings I've ever had. I clipped the anchor, sat back into my harness in a state of disbelief and pure bliss. I had just climbed my baby, my hardest, my biggest goal.
I'm still happy of course, but now I want some more haha! It's never ending, isn't it??? I'd really like to thank my wife Lindsey for her support and belief in me... she gives me so much of herself and her time and I'm so grateful. Cheers to everyone for reading and all the support. I appreciate you."
"I bolted Kinder Cakes in the fall of 2018 after I sent Diarrhea Mouth, 9a. The whole time I was trying DM I saw the hold, the line and the obvious pathway out the bulge in the roof. Literally, I was just as excited to finally bolt that line as I was when I sent DM.
In 2020 started making short trips to Rifle to sort out the line. Moving bolts, cleaning the loose rock and playing with the moves. I put a mid-way anchor in as it made sense and started to focus on that initially which became Cupcake, 8c. After that was complete I fixed a line at the mid anchor and started to focus on the second part. I remember asking Jonathan Seigrist if the line could be yielding 9b, as it simply felt like something improbable to me. He suggested just trying and trying and it will reveal itself eventually and really that's what I did. First ascents take so much time and vision and patience. There's so much more doubt and confusion with what you're doing. After some time sorting the second half of the route I worked on redpointing from the anchor (midway anchor) to anchor (top of the climb) which felt around 8c/+ in total. Next was to start piecing the whole thing together which just seemed loco. 8c is hard for me... like takes SERIOUS effort and to think of having to repeat Cupcake over and over sounded absurd. 2020's season ended with my best efforts falling at the last hold of the crux.
This season I prepared. I trained for 2 months prior which almost felt like too much time. 6 weeks would have been plenty. I did a strength cycle followed by a strength-endurance cycle. I followed a plan I made inspired by the Horst family and the tidbits I've learned along the way. My wife Lindsey supported the whole effort as she wanted to see me succeed as well. When the training was over we headed over this way to Rifle and I got to work. The conditions weren't right, but I still put in the effort and within 3 days I was back to falling at the last hold of the 5 move crux. It was wild. This continued for a month actually, I never fell in the 8c first portion, confidence was in a good place and all I needed was some tiny variable to work in my favour (conditions, mental state, luck, whatever).
Last Sunday, Sept 26th, which was an ordinary day really. The conditions weren't great or bad and my mind state was the same as any other day. I stood at the base, did some visualizing, left the ground, got to the knee-bar, calmed down and recovered, left the rest, climbed to the crux and executed the 5 moves in total. It was the first time I stuck the last move from the ground. I remember shaking at the horizontal and freaking out internally. There's still another V8 exit and all I could think about was how fuct it would be to actually blow it at that point. HA! What a moment. I left the rest and felt connected, fresh enough and very exhilarated. I swear, pulling onto the slab and putting my cheek to the wall and realizing where I was in the world was one of the best feelings I've ever had. I clipped the anchor, sat back into my harness in a state of disbelief and pure bliss. I had just climbed my baby, my hardest, my biggest goal.
I'm still happy of course, but now I want some more haha! It's never ending, isn't it??? I'd really like to thank my wife Lindsey for her support and belief in me... she gives me so much of herself and her time and I'm so grateful. Cheers to everyone for reading and all the support. I appreciate you."
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