Tyler Thompson does Southern Smoke Direct (9a)

Tyler Thompson, who since 2023 has sent six routes 9a or 9a+, has done Southern Smoke Direct (9a) in Red River Gorge (KY). "So stoked to do this one. Felt like maybe my hardest boulder ever! Adam [Ondra] flashing is beyond comprehension…"

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
Basically, the route is a direct start to southern smoke, a classic 14c [8c+] bolted by Joe Kinder and established by Joe and Brad Weaver. That route involves a hard left traverse to avoid the bottom mostly blank panel. When Joe equipped the route, he also envisioned this direct start, which is a seriously different boulder problem into the existing route. Adam Taylor did the first ascent and thought maybe it could be 15a, but then Adam Ondra came and flashed the route and proposed solid 9a. The video of Adam flashing is one of the videos I used to obsess over (Red River Gorge the movie) and I always wanted to climb the route with the same method that Adam uses.

On my trips to the Red, I’d have one short session checking in on the moves of the boulder, but I never really felt like it was possible until last fall, when I had a breakthrough session and got close to doing the boulder. I came back this year a bit more focused and climbed the boulder on my second day and sent the route on my third day of the trip!