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Foot Switch Standard Start

V3-4, Boulder, 8 ft (2 m),  Avg: 2.5 from 13 votes
FA: unknown
New Mexico > Albuquerque Area > Foothills Bould… > U-Mound > Brett & Jill boulders

Description

The standard is the squat start from the right edge in the seam and the crystal edge out left. Step onto the quartz crystals and reach left up to a sloping dish with a very sharp crystal in it. It is also possible to crimp a ripple in the sloper as a sidepull and get your thumb on the sharp crystal. Reach right to a seam with a small edge formed by two crystals, then left to a bigger knob and finally right up to a better edge in a seam. You'll match your feet multiple times on the quartz crystals durring this process.

If you are tall or temps are cold you can go straight from the sloper to the second right crimp.

From here the holds get bigger and the angle slackens.

The low lying down star off of the hollow flake definitely seemed hard for V6 to me.

This is B3 from the Mayer & Moret online guide. They give it V3+/V4+ for high/low start.

The Summerscales guide gives the high start V3.

Location

The uphill, north blunt arete from a somewhat low start.

Protection

Pad if that.

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Foot Switch
[Hide Photo] Foot Switch

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

William Penner
The 505
  V3
[Hide Comment] Foot switch not Switch foot, as in you have to do many a foot switch. In the last 18 years I have never heard the problem called Switchfoot.

Anyway, my 2 cents on an 8 ft tall classic. Feb 28, 2009
William Penner
The 505
  V3
[Hide Comment] Sweet, thanks for changing the name Dave. One more name change to the sit start and we are done. Good job throwing this stuff up the site. Mar 4, 2009
LeeAB Brinckerhoff
Austin, TX
  V4-5
[Hide Comment] Hey, Penner, look at who submitted the route, I changed the name, you are welcome. I got sucked in by Dave captioning of photos. Mar 4, 2009
William Penner
The 505
  V3
[Hide Comment] My apologies, thanks Lee. All the Dave photos got me confused.

There are some other problems that I will add once I get back out to take photos....they are not shown in the current batch. Mar 5, 2009
[Hide Comment] Sorry, "Switch Foot" was the name I'd heard the problem referred to by some other folks who've been bouldering at U-Mound for many years. If you say it a bunch of times in a row fast, it actually doesn't matter which of the two names you use (and that may be where the confusion started in the first place).

As far as all the photos go, please feel free to put some of your own up, and I will gladly take some of mine down. Too many pics of me now for my liking, and the light's not good in most, anyway. Mar 12, 2009