Dave Graham has opened The story of two worldssomething that he describes as the new standard for 8C. Here's a part of what Dave has to say about the problem, what he's been doing lately and some thoughts about grades. The full discussion will follow later.
"All of this training- hiking in and out of rad new spots, opening this new circuit which has something like 6 HARD BIG 8B's (comparable to typical 8B+ boulders around the world) 6 new 8A+ boulders which also rewrite the standard for that grade, and about 15 more 8B and 8A+ boulders which don't seem to meet the "highwater mark" carved by the 12 I described - seems to consolidate my opinions about a bloc I opened just recently, in Cresciano, on the back of the dreamtime boulder, and even without seeing the "other 8C and 8c+ boulders" of this world, I can say is the hardest boulder climbed so far.
The boulder is a pure sit start to a chunk of rock Toni Lamprecht climbed and called The Dagger. I have done the whole line now, after 6 days of trying and 3 years of fucking around with trying to get an idea how to get on, can compute as an intense, super technical-PAINFUL- Monster of a problem. It starts with 7-Big moves at 8B or 8B+(it's harder than The Dagger for me, and it's my style so it's probably 8B+), which is very friction dependent, and crimpy as all hell, directly climbing into the an incredibly physical 8B+.
I saw the line 4 years ago, and untill this season, every year I could not even fathom the sequence, and the resistance to actually climb in it. With the help of the mind expanding new circuit in Chironico, Marcus Windisch's constant advice "you can do this boulda Dave, you MUST, it is a Monsta!! All you have to do is try, fucka, everything else is too easy, THIS should be your Project" I unlocked the crazy method, which makes this monster go!!!
I think this is the hardest bloc yet, and I think it can change the mal-progression we can see when we are seeing millions of 8B+ and 8C blocs climbed everywhere. Now its just about comparison. The big point is REVOLUTION, hell with the media, hell with 8a.nu (don't take that personally, it's a symbol of the people who abuse the concept from the page), hell with climbing big numbers to keep yourself sponsored, now, it's time to climb the REAL numbers, and really progress our sport. The Story of Two Worlds, proves that point."
GRANDEEEEE
