Sam, Matt, and myself went to Cherry Canyon around 9:00 AM Saturday morning. I warmed up slowly, by doing the long traverse on the right side of the Bulge two or three times, and doing the long move at the end of Truffle Shuffle. After my warm up, I rested for a while, and watched Matt work on Dain’s Bulge, which he was getting very close on.

Eventually, I moved the pads under Uptown Vandal, and in a now familiar pattern, brushed all of the holds, set up my camera, and put my climbing shoes on. I felt remarkably calm as I settled under the start holds, and then my mind shut off, everything clicked, and I climbed to the top of the wall. In two minutes, I had concluded the process that began eight months ago.

This is by far the longest I have ever worked a boulder problem, and I am very glad I finally finished it off. I thought I could put Uptown Vandal together in a few weeks, or at least by the end of the Fall season, and it was frustrating when I was unable to do so. My window of opportunity for this Spring was rapidly closing, due to my returning home to Colorado on this coming Friday. Needless to say, I am beyond psyched that Uptown Vandal won’t be looming in the back of my mind all Summer.