Sam Hsin completes Paint it Black (8C)

Samuel Hsin has done Paint it Black (8C) at Bear Lake Road. Daniel Woods put up what is regarded as a five-star 65 degree roof in 2012. ”This one was huge for me. I’ve always had a hard time getting myself psyched to solo session for one, and feeling like I’m at this level for another. I made some progress early on, but at the end of the day it came down to me committing to sessioning alone on a day that I couldn’t rally the homies that let me put it down. No external motivators, no one to prove to, nothing to gain, just me and my desire to do this rock climb.”

How does it feel to reach 8C and how many sessions were needed?
It feels pretty great! But honestly, I’ve been having this realization recently that every boulder I’ve been doing as of late hasn’t felt like that big of a deal on its own. I used to get way more excited after each ascent, and now each one is sort of “just another boulder”. It’s nice though because it’s made sessions more fun whether I send a rig or not. I’ve mostly just been very excited to see where I’m at now compared to a couple of years ago. I didn’t have the physical or mental ability to perform at this level then.

It took me 6 sessions. The moves fit me pretty well as I’ve been training a similar style recently, but what really made the difference was the morning I did it, I couldn’t rally anyone to go with me, so it was hard to get psyched because I don’t solo sesh often. But I knew I wouldn’t get another chance to climb on it in the near future. So, I basically was like “one more day to get to climb on this amazing boulder, I might as well make it happen”. And then I went out and was just psyched to be there, and I made it happen.