Actually, on the first day, when I did the original version of the Graham-classic Conquistador, fb 8a+ after countless tries, my fingers weren't trashed at all. They were fine, but my pecs were hurting like crazy! I guess a good wingspan sure helps on all these hard compression moves...
Dave's solution to that problem is great! Though the problem is a bit friction- and size-dependent it climbs really well. Never the less, when I looked at the boulder again, I thought that it might be possible to climb straight through the perfect overhanging face without reaching far out right to the arete. But that first day, after having done the original version I was too tired to even try it and there were so many other great problems which I wanted to do.
It was the last evening of my tris, only 2 hours before my drive back to Graz when I spotted my friend Stefan on an attempt in Conquistador and thought I should try out the idea I had a few days ago.
On the first attempt I almost stuck which I believed was the crux move and was super-psyched. On the next try I finished the first ascent.
But when I got off the boulder and thought about the description I would give the new variation in a guidebook it kind of bugged me that I couldn't just write: "without the ar ête" because I did use the arete on the upper, relatively easy part of the climb. It wouldn't change the grade at all, but it bugged me enough to make me put my shoes on again and do the whole climb again without using the ar ête at all. Now I was satisfied. This was now a really direct variation of this great boulder problem.
There is also a little video of the first ascent. Thanks again to Melanie, Stefan, Kri and Christoph for their encouragement.
In order to see the full gallery click: here. (Go to "Travel" >>> "Ticino 2010")
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