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Subject: Dark Matter
Rating: V10
Quality: 5 stars
Location:The Underground, JTree
Notes: Has sweeet beta!
Dark Matter is one of the jewels of the Underground.
This problem had been scoped out since the first day the
Underground was touched by a boulderers hand. Nobody even
tried it for the longest time because the starting jug
just looked like it was going to break, which would have
ended our vision of the future line. Then one day I decided
to jump on it, and of course, it ripped off first try,
and to add insult to injury, slugging myself in the gut
and sending me somersaulting into a cactus. I continued
to work the line though, trying it for over a year, the
whole time training for it and getting stronger until
finally, success! First Ascenting Dark Matter was one
of my best days of climbing ever! That was probably back
around 99'.
Settling for a start one move past where the jug used
to be, the problem was originally done matched on an undercling
rail under the roof and given a V9 rating. Then Fred Nicole
came along and extended the problem one move lower, to
where the old jug used to be, and people began giving
it a V10 grade. This start is now considered the standard
start. The climb is beta intensive and when wired, it
can feel a bit easier. Regardless of the rating, the problem
has an excellent and varied sequence of moves, and the
stone is phenomenal.
Start sitting at a pockmarked sidepull sloper, move in
to the cruxy undercling and then head out the roof to
slopers. From there perform some fancy bicycle toework
or lunge backwards to an undercling jug. A few more tensiony
moves leads to the infamous Darkmatter dropknee!
Sink down into that baby until your heel practically touches
the back of your head, then fire through the cruxy shield
section. At that point, a sloping shelf angles out to
jugs and the top at approximately 15 ft. up.
-R. Miramontes
Kyle climbing Dark Matter
Photos by Christina Anastasi
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