Bum Dragon

At High Rocks in the hidden alcove (in what is sometimes called the secret garden) there is an obvious low level traverse called ‘Bum Dragon’. The name gives a lot away – it is very easy to drag your bum on the floor (get it!) and therefore fail the route. First put up by Pete Ziegenfuss in 2002/2003 at font 7C+ the line starts on the far right on the obvious ledge and traverses left underneath the roof (below the traverse line of ‘Crosstown Traffic’ font 7C) on a variety of small crimps and smeary feet before finishing round the corner on the slab. It is an obvious line, and while you are never off the floor more than a few inches for the majority of the climbing, the quality of the moves are excellent.

I had played on the moves in previous years but had become increasingly frustrated at the painfully small crimps and more significantly the non-existent feet in an unavoidably bunched position. It was in March last year that I properly started trying the moves. After a few sessions I had worked out some pretty good beta – instead of keeping my feet low I put my left foot high up on a handhold and flagged my right leg under. This gave me something to pull on as I shuffled along the poor crimps. Unfortunately the more I progressed, the closer I moved to my left foot, which decreased the amount I could pull off it. These 4-5 hand movements form the incredibly frustrating crux section where each individual move is ok, but trying to link them all together feels much harder. If you catch one of these holds slightly wrong then the next move becomes fairly unlikely. After nine sessions on the problem last year, and having made some reasonably good links, I became distracted by other problems and left it.

In January as the rain poured down I reflected on what I would like to climb this year on the sandstone. ‘Bum Dragon’ stood out as unfinished business. Last year I wasn’t serious enough about trying to link the hard moves together – my fingers weren’t strong enough at the time and nor was my core. I set about training on the fingerboard and rings in April and May before getting back on the problem. This year I felt much closer after only a couple of sessions, as I had already worked all the moves out, and having got close a few times I finally sent ‘Bum Dragon’ last Wednesday (27^th May) the first go of my 6^th session this year (15^th session overall).

This brings me to the question of what grade it is. Pete originally gave it font 7C+, but as far as I am aware my ascent twelve years later is only the second ascent, despite attention from a variety of strong climbers who have ticked problems in the eighth grade. I have climbed five problems that are graded as font 8A – ‘Never Ending Story’ (Magic Woods, 4 proper sessions), ‘The Thing’ (Cressbrook, 2 proper sessions), ‘Fuerte a Muerte’ (Albarracin, 4/5 sessions), ‘Black Hoe’ (Anston, 2/3 sessions) and ‘Quarantine’ (Anston, 1 ½ sessions). I ticked all of these off far quicker than I did ‘Bum Dragon’ (15 sessions over 15 months) and it is also certainly the hardest thing I have climbed on the sandstone so far. The style also seems to suit me, featuring weird flexibility and precise beta which I have had to refine. Therefore the question is whether I should suggest that ‘Bum Dragon’ be upgraded to font 8A?

This has put me in a bit of a dilemma. To me it felt like it was 8A based upon other problems I have climbed at that grade, but I would believe it if someone also repeated the problem and declared it hard 7C+. Furthermore if I declared it 8A that would count as the first 8A on sandstone dating back to 2002/3 and significantly re-write the record books. Like most climbers I feel uncomfortable suggesting an upgrade, therefore I am going to dodge the issue slightly and suggest that it is font 7C+/8A. The next ascensionist can determine whether I was being too generous by suggesting it could weigh in at 8A, or agree with me and bump it up to a full 8A. Grading is always very personal in climbing and is a very imprecise science unless the problem has had multiple ascents, and as it has just been repeated by me I don’t think I can bump it up a full grade based upon my experience alone. What ‘Bum Dragon’ needs is a few more repeats to finalise its grade and that is what I would like to see as the moves are excellent and the process of climbing it, despite being frustrating at times, was very rewarding! Hopefully it will take less than twelve years this time! In the meantime I have other on the sandstone to turn my attention to now….