Just Do It | 8c+ Sport route at Smith Rock

First ascent.

As for the controversy, even if no one had tried the route when I started, Allan Watts bolted the line and tried it a little bit, and at that time the belief was that a line belonged to their bolter and no one else could have a go. So there was some tension with a few locals ... The cool thing is that on the very evening of my success, the boss of Metolius [Doug Philips] invited us to the best restaurant in Bend to celebrate and that, the next day, a doctor/climber organised a big party at his place with locals climbers and we partied, drank, consumed a lot of illicit substances, and it was a wonderful moment of reconciliation with the local community. This route and this ascent have been one of the peaks of my climbing career, one of the times I was certainly the strongest. At this famous party, I moreover won the pull-up contest, on cocaine it's true, but clocking 80 pull-ups in a row nonetheless… That's still a pretty number! [1]

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/il-etait-une-voie-once-upon-a-line-just-do-it/

[2] http://novebi.ning.com/group/smithrockclimbing/forum/topics/1389802:Topic:20521

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/CfAO2ikvrr1/

[4] https://open.spotify.com/episode/1pZeqpNbv3KPe40WYci63E?

Second ascent.

References

[1] News report from Allez magazine issue 4 http://king-dino.blogspot.com/2011/04/allez-southern-californias-crag-mag.html

[2] Pic by Steve Lewis who met him out there and witnessed the ascent. There may be further pics in an issue On The Edge from 1994 or 1995?

Third ascent.

References

[1] See news report from Allez magazine issue 4 http://king-dino.blogspot.com/2011/04/allez-southern-californias-crag-mag.html

Fourth ascent. 3 sessions.

First American ascent. Famously Chris took his jumper off mid-route, this was very memorable because at the time it was one of the hardest routes in America, and to climb the route with such apparent casualness signalled to many that a new generation of US climbing talent had arrived that was a equal to those operating at the highest levels in sport climbing.

References

[1] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/alan-watts-climbing-interview.html

[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/BddU4Qln3au/

[3] On The Edge Issue 69, page 8

8 sessions.

References

[1] https://www.kozjak.org/odprava_prikazi.php?pid=23 [2] https://www.libreriadesnivel.com/revistas/escalar/indice/?page=79&order=titulo

Fourth go.

Soon after establishing Thanatopsis 8c in the Red River Gorge.

References

[1] https://www.saclimb.co.za/news1999.html

[2] https://www.mountainzone.com/climbing/99/interviews/brown/

7 attempts.

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnie_Trotter

References

[1] https://www.8a.nu/crags/sportclimbing/united-states/monkey-face/sectors/unknown-sector/routes/just-do-it/

References

[1] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/enzo-oddo-does-just-do-it-at-smith-rock.html

References

[1] http://www.jonathansiegrist.com/2011/06/just-did-it.html

First central Oregonian to climb 5.14c!

References

[1] https://www.bendsource.com/bend/the-paleo-diet-local-crusher-ryan-palo-recently-became-the-first-central-oregonian-to-climb-514c-at-smith/Content?oid=2178460

[2] https://vimeo.com/56333259

Just Do It was the culmination of all those years of practice. No more half committed efforts. No more wobbling. No fear, no doubts, no second guessing. I had to climb confidently and I had to try harder than I’d ever tried in my life. https://vimeo.com/101821686

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-5om6lG_d8

References

[1] https://www.8a.nu/news/said-belhaj-just-did-just-do-it-8c https://lyofood.com/pages/said-belhaj-in-the-usa

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/BaNYb0cAPBT/

References

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9G8GF1zRM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK9G8GF1zRM]

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0Xl943TQc

[3] https://tedkingsnorth.blogspot.com/2018/06/just-do-it.html

An incredible onsight given the technical nature of the climbing.

A dream :-)

Alan Watts, prolific Smith Rock developer and equipper of Just Do It, talking to Adam after watching his onsight:

Wow! That was the best thing I've ever seen in climbing! In 45 years that's the best thing I've ever seen. [3]

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6floyyDP-w

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/3zSBUkgNGh7ij0a81Z664n?

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeDECxrxUnE