The Crew 8c+ by Delaney Miller

Delaney Miller reports on Insta that she has done The Crew (8c+) in Rifle (CO). (c) James Lucas

"The route meant a lot to me. I started working on it last year and thought it would go down easily. Then I had a few minor injuries come up that really hindered my progress. I spent the winter recovering and rebuilding, and I'm damn proud of myself for making this breakthrough. A huge thanks to everyone who supported me in the process, and especially to Chris Knuth for having the vision. I've climbed one other route of the grade, Solid Gold in Utah, but this one was on another level."

The 27-year-old has been an active competition climber for ten years until 2018. In 2015, she had her best year being Top-13 four times in the World Cup. Three months ago, she published an article in Climbing focusing on the competition career. "It's an honest reflection of when you chase a dream and don't quite succeed, but ultimately walk away with a trove of memories". In November 2020, she did her first 8c+, Solid Gold but no media has reported it although she is the Digital Editor of Climbing Magazine.

Why did you think Solid Gold was so much easier?
It was more my style, with more sustained climbing and worse rests. I did that in November 2020. The Crew has a series of hard boulder problems separated by kneebar rests, and I'm really bad at kneebars. I'd also venture to say that The Crew is just harder for the grade, although I don't actually have the experience climbing 14c's (8c+) to say that with any kind of authority.