PRINT: Climb If You Forget Me, Horseshoe Canyon Ranch

If You Forget Me

V9, Boulder, 22 ft (7 m),

Avg: 3.7 from 3 votes
FA: Christian Prellwitz
Arkansas > North-Central A… > Horseshoe Canyo… > W Side > Idaho Boulders > Warm-Up Boulder

Description

Formerly known as 'The Puddle Project'.

Start standing with the left hand on a small crimp in the obvious horizontal gash at 6 feet. Pull onto the wall and do a rising traverse rightwards following the line of weakness. This leads you to a stance on some smears at 6 feet with your right hand on a small sidepull, on the blunt arete feature. At this point angle leftwards to an assortment of holds at 14 feet. This section is the technical crux, involving some tiny holds for your feet and hands. Upon reaching these holds, move leftwards to what is probably the most difficult move physically. A few decent holds lead to the final crux, a tricky and committing move high off the deck to gain a decent crimp just below the top.

A proud and aesthetic line, with some very technical movement on high quality rock. Expect to burn through some shoe rubber as you figure this one out.

A more direct line seems like it might work, but it's going to involve some comp style skills or the ability to do a very improbable single leg squat. I spent some time on it, but couldn't quite put it together.

Location

Located about 40 feet to the left of 'Old English' on the same boulder. This is the obvious highball slab.

Protection

You'll want a decent number of pads for this one. The landing is flat, but it's pretty tall, with a tricky and committing section at the top. It also meanders a bit, so you need pads to cover a large area.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

The starting position and general line of travel for 'If You Forget Me'.

Sticking the upper crux move on the FA of 'If You Forget Me'.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Christian Prellwitz
Telluride, CO

I spent a couple days cleaning the line, working the upper moves on a rope and building a really nice log landing to address the namesake puddle that tends to form (and linger) at the bottom of this boulder for a few days after a heavy rain. I tried to clean the boulder in a way that will keep it dry, but also respects the abundant vegetation. In that sense, I chose the path of least resistance that avoided the densest and most established patches of vegetation.

I've climbed a lot of v8-v10 slabs, but grading slabs is always tricky, since the difficulty is usually more technical than physical. So, I've decided to suggest a starting point of v8/9, but I'm curious to see what people think when they give it a chance. Similarly, I'm always reluctant to give my FAs 4 stars (unless they are really special) because that always feels a bit self aggrandizing, but people seem to think this line is really cool, so hopefully the quality rating holds true for other people's experience. Feb 26, 2020