14 November 2021
Paint it Black 8C by Austin Purdy
Austin Purdy has done Paint it Black (8C) in RMNP (CO). Interestingly, in the end it came down to some fingernails optimization that Austin describes below. Previoulsy, the 24-year-old has done 72 8B's, 17 8B+' and just one 8C, so we are talking about a record wide grade pyramid showing that there is room to make it more pointy.
"Paint It Black has been at the top of the list of boulders I want to do in Colorado since I moved here, but after trying it a little bit a few years ago I wrote it off due to my fat fingers not fitting inside of the tiny slot crux crimp. This year though I have been feeling a lot stronger and decided to return to it. I immediately felt a lot better on the boulder and also figured out that I could file down the tops of my fingernails the make my fingers thinner and fit them into the slot just deep enough to make it possible. After this discovery, the boulder went down relatively quickly!"
"Paint It Black has been at the top of the list of boulders I want to do in Colorado since I moved here, but after trying it a little bit a few years ago I wrote it off due to my fat fingers not fitting inside of the tiny slot crux crimp. This year though I have been feeling a lot stronger and decided to return to it. I immediately felt a lot better on the boulder and also figured out that I could file down the tops of my fingernails the make my fingers thinner and fit them into the slot just deep enough to make it possible. After this discovery, the boulder went down relatively quickly!"
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Brian Squire, who last month did his first 8C after having done a dozen 8B+โs, has sent Paint it Black (8C) in RMNP (CO).
Can you tell us more about the procโฆ
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Ben Blackmore, with ten 8B+โ under his belt, has repeated Daniel Woodsโ classical 65 degrees roof
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