Jerry Moffatt, one of the all-time great rock climbers, spoke at a slideshow about his struggle to do the first ascent of The Dominator (V12 or V13), one of the hardest boulder problems in Yosemite Valley. At one point, he was so frustrated that he decided to try microwaving his chalk to ... what? Make it drier? It wasn't clear if this helped. As he got closer to sending the problem, Moffatt kept missing a deadpoint to a crucial hold. One time he'd miss to the left, the next to the right. To succeed on the climb, he needed to nail this hold dead-on. Moffatt thought, "I could do this if it was a pocket." So, he took some tape and blocked off the bad sections of the hold, left and right, leaving a narrow gap to aim for, as if it were a pocket. He stuck the move next try.
About Me
- Dougald MacDonald
- I work full-time as a freelance writer and editor: associate editor, American Alpine Journal; news editor, Climbing.com; contributing editor, 5280 magazine; frequent contributor to Backpacker, Men's Journal, Outside, 5280, and other magazines. I was editor in chief and publisher of Rock and Ice magazine for five years, and cofounded Trail Runner magazine. During the 1990s, I was editor in chief of the Denver Business Journal.
Book Sale
Sadly, my book is now out of print. I have a few brand-new copies that I will sign and send for $50, including postage. (They're currently over $100 on Amazon.) Click on "my complete profile" above for contact info. I hope to find a new publisher to bring out a second edition, but this could be it.
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