Two of my good friends, Jon Cardwell and Joe Kinder, have both stepped it up to the 9th degree recently. Jon, after staying in Gorges du Loup this past month, made an ascent of Kinematix, the most repeated and probably most famous 9a (5.14d) of Southern France. He also repeated a few other hard routes including Zobble, an 8c+ I climbed earlier this season. Props Jon!
Joe has also been in top syke recently. After repeating Girl Talk, Dave Grahams new 8c+ in Rifle, he also cleaned up his old project Kryptonite, 14d at the fortress of Solitude. Good work man! I will try to convince Joe to head to Spain this fall as well, but chances are not very high it seems. Either way Im sure there is more to come from Joe in the near future.
As for me, the comp season has been taking up most of my time and I haven't tried any 9as yet. Its a hard level to reach, and one that shouldn't be rushed since my guess is that maybe half the current 9as will be downrated in a few years. So my plan is to keep it mellow and find the right one this fall in Spain, work it, A Muerte with Jon (and Joe, your coming man!!), and see what happens. VERY syked!!!!
