Vogue
By: Jonathan Siegrist
When I asked George Squibb about his inspiration to name 'Vogue' he simply replied, "I guess I just really liked the Madonna song at the time."
This striking route on the Industrial Wall in Boulder was bolted back in 1991, but it was not until 8 years later that it saw its first ascent by Tommy Caldwell, who warmed up for the bitter cold send by an oversized bonfire at the base of the cliff. The climb was soon repeated by hard-man Justin Sjong after an enduring 50 plus efforts. Adam Stack claimed the third ascent in 2001 and despite a lot of serious effort by capable climbers it had not been done since.
So why no fourth ascent? Simply because 'Vogue' is a sick hard rock climb. The defining feature of the climb is a long, overhanging refrigerator panel that is mostly hold-less. Compression climbing is essential and crimps or relieving positive holds are nonexistent. The upper section involves a giant stem while negotiating desperate stab moves between small pitches and a featureless dull arete. The short climber’s crux comes in the form of a heart-breaker, dead-point, arm-stretching reach for the final hold just a few easy moves below the chains.
After days of effort, I could climb to the final few moves of the crux nearly every attempt, but maintaining the power to deadpoint at my full capacity after 75 feet of powerful climbing seemed unthinkable. Typically when confronted with a reach problem like this I would think twice about investing too much time. However, the pure aesthetics, interesting history and fresh challenges of this route kept me coming back over and over.
I fell more than 10 times from the final reach on redpoint. Considering that a solid 40 minute uphill slog and a life threatening train tunnel cross-through is necessary to allow for just 2 burns a day on this route, I felt like I was putting in some time.
'Vogue' tested nearly all of my weaknesses as a climber. It is steep, compression climbing with funky knee-bars and very powerful movement. I had to undergo some serious lessons while projecting this route, including patience. Dedication prevailed yet again for me however, and 'Vogue' (5.14b/c) saw its long awaited fourth ascent on September 25th, 2008.
When I asked George Squibb about his inspiration to name 'Vogue' he simply replied, "I guess I just really liked the Madonna song at the time."
This striking route on the Industrial Wall in Boulder was bolted back in 1991, but it was not until 8 years later that it saw its first ascent by Tommy Caldwell, who warmed up for the bitter cold send by an oversized bonfire at the base of the cliff. The climb was soon repeated by hard-man Justin Sjong after an enduring 50 plus efforts. Adam Stack claimed the third ascent in 2001 and despite a lot of serious effort by capable climbers it had not been done since.
So why no fourth ascent? Simply because 'Vogue' is a sick hard rock climb. The defining feature of the climb is a long, overhanging refrigerator panel that is mostly hold-less. Compression climbing is essential and crimps or relieving positive holds are nonexistent. The upper section involves a giant stem while negotiating desperate stab moves between small pitches and a featureless dull arete. The short climber’s crux comes in the form of a heart-breaker, dead-point, arm-stretching reach for the final hold just a few easy moves below the chains.
After days of effort, I could climb to the final few moves of the crux nearly every attempt, but maintaining the power to deadpoint at my full capacity after 75 feet of powerful climbing seemed unthinkable. Typically when confronted with a reach problem like this I would think twice about investing too much time. However, the pure aesthetics, interesting history and fresh challenges of this route kept me coming back over and over.
I fell more than 10 times from the final reach on redpoint. Considering that a solid 40 minute uphill slog and a life threatening train tunnel cross-through is necessary to allow for just 2 burns a day on this route, I felt like I was putting in some time.
'Vogue' tested nearly all of my weaknesses as a climber. It is steep, compression climbing with funky knee-bars and very powerful movement. I had to undergo some serious lessons while projecting this route, including patience. Dedication prevailed yet again for me however, and 'Vogue' (5.14b/c) saw its long awaited fourth ascent on September 25th, 2008.
