Finally…the long awaited send of Jim Holloway’s problem Trice on Flagstaff is complete. However, I will still be spending some time up there throughout the winter testing my core strength on the move that still hasn’t been repeated in the way Holloway did it. I gave it the grade of V12. On the send go, it felt in the v10 range. This of course was following 7 days of work and familiarization with the problem.

In regards to the starting holds. Here’s my take: (1) The different holds that can be used for the start do not add or subtract difficulty from the problem in any way. (2) Sure, due to the contrivance of Trice, the goal was to climb it in a historically accurate manner. However, the use of the high left foot already seems to take away from the purity of that goal. (3) I’ve seen many start holds of classic problems change over the years due to the fact that the differences between the starts don’t affect or detract from the difficulty and nature of the problem. (4) Whether my ascent of Trice was a 2nd Ascent, a First Ascent, or not an ascent at all, I achieved my goal of climbing that buldge from the ground up using the holds that Holloway used.