Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4151 Climbers
8034 Climbs
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The Dark Side | 8C+ Boulder problem at the Camp 4 Boulders
Featuring some of the slopiest holds that have ever been stuck, The Dark Side climbs a subtle ramp feature left of the Camp 4 classic The Force (7C).
First ascentionist Carlo Traversi describes the problem:
The Dark Side has a V9 intro into a sustained V15, and those intro moves change the setup for the crux. All told, it is 17 moves from start to lip.
It starts off on a jug rail, an actual jug! The feature continues and it becomes a slopey—but good—hold for your right hand, and then you get these two really, really bad crimps: the crux holds. The left hand is the one that you spend the most time on, and there’s a crystal that goes right into your index pad, that’s the one that splits. You load the left hand, and basically put all your weight on it to reset your feet. Then you do a big lock off and enter the sloper-rail section.
The sloper rail is really bad. One of the worst slopers I’ve ever grabbed, for sure. You shuffle along this rail for eight or nine hand movements. It really feels like you’re hangboarding on the Beastmaker 2000 45-degree sloper. Then you get into this crimp rail, which is better than the crimps at the beginning but still very thin. That puts you into a high gaston, and then one last big lock off to a hold that is basically the end of The Force, which comes in from the right.
The Dark Side is weird for a hard problem. I’ve never seen a problem that is V15 or harder that looks like it. It either looks impossible without chalk on it, or it looks kind of chill when it’s chalked up. [1]
Katie Lamb became the first woman to climb 8C+ with her ascent in 2025.
References
[1] https://www.climbing.com/news/carlo-traversi-on-establishing-yosemites-hardest-boulder
Featuring some of the slopiest holds that have ever been stuck, The Dark Side climbs a subtle ramp feature left of the Camp 4 classic The Force (7C).
First ascentionist Carlo Traversi describes the problem:
The Dark Side has a V9 intro into a sustained V15, and those intro moves change the setup for the crux. All told, it is 17 moves from start to lip.
It starts off on a jug rail, an actual jug! The feature continues and it becomes a slopey—but good—hold for your right hand, and then you get these two really, really bad crimps: the crux holds. The left hand is the one that you spend the most time on, and there’s a crystal that goes right into your index pad, that’s the one that splits. You load the left hand, and basically put all your weight on it to reset your feet. Then you do a big lock off and enter the sloper-rail section.
The sloper rail is really bad. One of the worst slopers I’ve ever grabbed, for sure. You shuffle along this rail for eight or nine hand movements. It really feels like you’re hangboarding on the Beastmaker 2000 45-degree sloper. Then you get into this crimp rail, which is better than the crimps at the beginning but still very thin. That puts you into a high gaston, and then one last big lock off to a hold that is basically the end of The Force, which comes in from the right.
The Dark Side is weird for a hard problem. I’ve never seen a problem that is V15 or harder that looks like it. It either looks impossible without chalk on it, or it looks kind of chill when it’s chalked up. [1]
Katie Lamb became the first woman to climb 8C+ with her ascent in 2025.
References
[1] https://www.climbing.com/news/carlo-traversi-on-establishing-yosemites-hardest-boulder
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10380 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Piotr Schab on La Furia de Jabali 9a+
Toby Saxton on Golden Daze 8B+
Rob Denayer on Bibop (assis) 8B
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Library
Featuring 15382 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Rotpunkt (2020) Film
- Alpine Journal 1978 254-258 Miscellanea (1978) Journal
- Lliwedd (1972) Guidebook
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Named after the Carlos Castenada book.