Bowler Blubber

Route Name: Bowler Blubber
Grade: V7
Moves Incorporated:
Types of Holds: Slopers, Slopey Pinches, Pinchey Crimps

I originally wanted to set this route to be a V5, but when people climbed it, they suggested it was more like a V4. To make the route harder, more consistent and to force the move that I originally wanted - a big reach from a gaston on the starting sloper - I got rid of the purple tufa and replaced it with two smaller crimpy pinches.

Blue Bowls with Tufa

Bowler Blubber with Crimps

I'm looking forward to seeing how people climb the route with this change. The tufa was just too good of a pinch. There wasn't a lot of balancey stuff going on before hand. The smaller crimps really require that the climber stays close to the wall. Surprisingly, the hard part ended up being the match on the second sloper. Because I have small hands I figured, "people can definitely match on this even though my hands are too small to really pinch it," but I forgot that bigger hands for pinching makes matching harder.

Sometimes, you'll completely miss the grade you're setting for, but if it's fun and you know there'll be people to climb it, maybe you don't need to take it down.