28 September 2021
Pneuma 9a by Nicholas Milburn
Nicholas Milburn, who three weeks ago did his third 9a, has done the second ascent of Pneuma 9a in the Temple. (c) Jessica Appelbaum
"Hot damn this thing is mega! The bulk of the route is about a 24 move ~V13 (except I normally do power endurance V13 faster than this thing) with no stopping. I skipped about every other draw and could barely even clip that many. I only chalked my right hand once and never my left. It even has an outro ~V8 boulder with a mono. One of the best power endurance routes anywhere.
Kyle O'Meara showed me this route in 2019. At this point, it was a project and I don't think anyone had put any work into it. I went up to it a couple of times to check it out. It was really dirty, but the rock was solid and the movement felt really good. I thought it felt around the 8c range. The next year, after I sent Algorithm, I spent a month trying the Temple Project. Still, nobody had tried the route, so I cleaned it up and started figuring out the beta. I started making links and I was feeling good about my progress, but I never managed to stick the middle crux move from the bottom. As time went on I started to wonder if it was harder. Maybe 8c+? I was trying it by myself, so I wasn't really sure how hard it was, but it definitely felt hard. I think I only two pieced it once that entire trip.
This year I was stronger and very excited to get back on it. I told Ben Spannuth about it and he told BJ Tilden about it and we all got psyched and tried it together. It was really fun to try it with other people after sessions by myself for so long. It was also reassuring that they both agreed it was definitely a proper hard route. I was busy with school and work, so I couldn't get up to Ten Sleep as much as I wanted, but I was feeling really good nonetheless. BJ ended up getting the first ascent after a few weeks of work and called the route Pneuma. I sent the route my next trip up. This is one of my proudest sport sends."
"Hot damn this thing is mega! The bulk of the route is about a 24 move ~V13 (except I normally do power endurance V13 faster than this thing) with no stopping. I skipped about every other draw and could barely even clip that many. I only chalked my right hand once and never my left. It even has an outro ~V8 boulder with a mono. One of the best power endurance routes anywhere.
Kyle O'Meara showed me this route in 2019. At this point, it was a project and I don't think anyone had put any work into it. I went up to it a couple of times to check it out. It was really dirty, but the rock was solid and the movement felt really good. I thought it felt around the 8c range. The next year, after I sent Algorithm, I spent a month trying the Temple Project. Still, nobody had tried the route, so I cleaned it up and started figuring out the beta. I started making links and I was feeling good about my progress, but I never managed to stick the middle crux move from the bottom. As time went on I started to wonder if it was harder. Maybe 8c+? I was trying it by myself, so I wasn't really sure how hard it was, but it definitely felt hard. I think I only two pieced it once that entire trip.
This year I was stronger and very excited to get back on it. I told Ben Spannuth about it and he told BJ Tilden about it and we all got psyched and tried it together. It was really fun to try it with other people after sessions by myself for so long. It was also reassuring that they both agreed it was definitely a proper hard route. I was busy with school and work, so I couldn't get up to Ten Sleep as much as I wanted, but I was feeling really good nonetheless. BJ ended up getting the first ascent after a few weeks of work and called the route Pneuma. I sent the route my next trip up. This is one of my proudest sport sends."
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