Story of a Route: Full Nelson

Full Nelson, my arch nemesis route, goes straight through the center of Upper Wall, Acephale in the Bow Valley of Canada. It is the second route I ever bolted, the first hard project I ever bolted, and is lovingly graded 14d by the first and only ascensionist, Alex Megos.

Acephale Upper Wall catching early morning sun before getting shade for the rest of the day. 

Photo by Brett Lantz.

It all started as a joke while hanging out at Acephale one day, when Craig Doram and Peter Nelson (for whom the route is named) suggested I bolt an utterly blank looking section of the wall. I quickly dismissed the idea. It was 2012 and being completely green to developing new routes, I had no idea what I was looking for anyway.

Shortly afterwards, the same section of the wall came into conversation again coincidentally, this time with Lev Pinter, who mentioned he had rappelled the line previously, placed a bolt, but also dismissed the potential for a line. That conversation sparked a genuine interest in me as the presence of an existing bolt made scoping out the line much easier.

Not long after, I rappelled the line myself and was pretty stoked. Everything seemed doable except for one extremely difficult section. But it seemed like there was just enough that it could go.

Hard moves on Full Nelson culminate with a jump to a sloper. Photo by Jeff Lewis.

While I was stoked on the possibility of a route, I was still nervous to actually put bolts in the wall, especially straight up the middle of Upper Wall. I rappelled the route a few more times staring at the holds and the potential, but it was meeting Joe Kinder and his amazing contagious stoke later that summer during his visit to the Bow Valley that convinced me to just go for it.

Lev's original vision of Full Nelson involved sharing a start with Copacabana but right beside was a prominent corner feature just begging to be climbed and so an independent start was bolted. The start of the route is now called Half Nelson at a much more attainable grade.

I haven't spent much time at Acephale in recent years but one day I will be back for Full Nelson.

Photo Jeff Lewis.

After Full Nelson was bolted, it remained largely untouched for awhile as I was getting into the thick of projecting Bunda de Fora which would later be my first 14d. After sending Bunda a year later, I turned my attention to Full Nelson. It was quickly apparent that the route would be hard. It turned out trying to free climb the moves was much harder than simply imagining the sequences while hanging on a fixed rope.

The crux, as I suspected, was hard, maybe impossible. I couldn't touch it, but I was convinced it would go, possibly requiring someone much stronger than me. I continued to climb at Acephale regularly for a number of years, and tried Full Nelson periodically, but never really made much progress on the crux and the route kept it's project status until Alex Megos visited the Bow Valley in 2016.

Alex Megos unlocking the heel hook beta of Full Nelson.

I met Alex on his first day at Acephale. He had already dispatched Bunda de Fora and Kinder Surprise 14c by the time I arrived. In that moment, I decided to offer up Full Nelson. I was curious about what he thought of the climb and if it truly was possible. However, it was not an easy decision for me as at that time my projects were largely closed and I was just beginning to toy with the idea of opening up my projects.

On his first attempt, Alex agreed the crux was hard, possibly impossible. I offered up my ideas of how I thought it might go, with the most promising method involving a very high and aggressive heel hook. After working the crux for quite some time, out of kindness to his belayer, Alex lowered without having done the moves yet, but he was intrigued enough to try again. On his second try, Alex figured out the crux, went to the top, and suggested a possible grade of 15a.

Before his third attempt, he simply stated that if he sent that go, he would grade it 14d. Of course he climbed it third try seemingly effortlessly. I was super inspired watching him send and I knew I had made a good decision giving up the project. That moment really helped me embrace my new and current philosophy that all my projects are always open once the bolting and cleaning is complete. (I still reserve naming rights.)

Trying hard at my max. Photo by Jeff Lewis.

Knowing the route was doable and at a theoretically attainable grade for me, I had renewed passion towards Full Nelson and I managed to do all the moves myself a few weeks later. One main problem I encountered with the right heel hook beta prior to meeting Alex was the lack of a supportive left foot. Alex solved this problem by putting a tick mark on a random spot on the rock and all of a sudden there was a supportive smear foot to support the move.

Usually, I find when I can do all the moves on a route, the send comes shortly after. For me, the 3 hardest moves on Full Nelson are so close to my max limit that I can only do them as single moves and only sometimes. I can't link even one move into them or out of them. I've been putting off Full Nelson, hoping to return stronger one day in order to link these moves but for now Full Nelson continues to sit right in the middle of Upper Wall, awaiting a second ascent, and will surely remain a test piece for years to come.

Circuit Training

I've always climbed regularly at the gym in the winter, but never with any structure. This winter I wanted to change it up and commit to a training regimen. Having never tried it before, I was curious how it would go and what the results would be.

For the most part I still focused on climbing with an emphasis on movement over raw power. This lead me to question what the difference is between climbing and training but I decided the answer is that training is climbing with structure.

I had some specific sport climbing goals in mind and certain muscle groups I needed to strengthen. I've always climbed primarily for fun and wanted to keep my training routine that way which helps me stay psyched and prevent burnout. Circuit training seemed like a good choice for me.

 What's needed is a filled wall at an angle you want to train on.

My circuits consisted of roughly 50 moves. I picked that number for my current purposes and I think it could be adjusted to particular goals. Harder/less moves or easier/more moves etc. With the number of moves in mind, I set circuits that I could just barely not complete, falling off near the end to simulate redpoint attempts on hard power endurance routes. Eventually with repetition, the circuits would feel easier and I would send and it was time to move on to a new circuit.

I focused on harder moves going up, trying to simulate crux sections of particular projects, and easier moves on the down climbing sections. I didn't think it was important to have hard downclimbing moves but interestingly downclimbing skills actually came in handy at the Hurricave. Setting the circuit took a bit of work and tweaking as I wanted to have moves hard enough that I felt I could fall throughout the whole circuit, but I never actually fell until the very end.

Climbing at the Hurricave in Utah. Photo Victor Acevedo.

Circuit training was great for the endurance and power endurance but I felt it was necessary to work on power as well so I incorporated max effort boulder problems prior to doing circuits. It was great to have my wife and main climbing partner, Sheena, who knows my climbing very well to make up problems for me so I could work on my sequencing at the same time.

In between sets I would rest as long as I needed and I also worked in a variety of leg exercises to strengthen my knees and hamstrings. This was for a heel hooking injury I sustained in Australia last spring and also to prepare for grueling Bow Valley approaches.

I ended up training roughly 1 day on 1 day off for 2 one month cycles in between trips as well as taking a month completely off from climbing which I do every year.

Life of Villains gets it's difficulty from a section of about 26 moves of power endurance.

Photo by Tom Moulin.

I'm lucky enough to be able to travel frequently and I still went on 2 trips this winter, both to the Hurricave in southern Utah, a great way to get some early results on my circuit training. The first trip which was after one cycle seemed no different than any other trip but the second trip after a second cycle of training produced incredible results. I felt significantly stronger and had my best trip ever in terms of sending. Perhaps it was just a good trip, or perhaps it was the training. We will see because it's time for outdoor season in the Bow Valley and I'm psyched to get back on my summer projects!

Stoneworks project is another power endurance route. Photo by Niall Hamill.