10 Jun Inside the mind of Ethan Pringle

On 17 May 2015, Ethan Pringle made the second ascent of Jumbo Love (9b) at Clark Mountain, California.

Here are Ethan Pringle’s thoughts on projecting and sending the hardest sport climb in North America:

You’ve been projecting Jumbo Love for so many years, how did you stay motivated? What kept you going back?

Climbing JL has been my one big goal in climbing ever since I tried it in ’07. It’s the most inspiring climb I’ve seen. It has everything I seek in a sport-climbing project and then some—obvious line, steep, long and engaging, intimidating, and features fun climbing throughout, all at a crag that has very few visitors.

But it always seemed just (or sometimes very far) out of reach. The 5.15b grade is intimidating on its own. I think during those first two short seasons in ’07 I was less intimidated than I have been in recent years. Maybe because I felt like I had so little chance of success that there was no pressure, or maybe it’s easier to doubt yourself once you get older and you know better what your limits are.

Despite all the doubt and self-criticism I think I always knew deep down that I could do it. I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn’t really go for it.

Were you there every season?
There were three or four, year periods in which I didn’t try it. I was on climbing trips to other destinations, trying out other disciplines like traditional climbing and big-wall climbing or going on expeditions—basically just distracting myself from JL. JL wasn’t going anywhere and I had plenty of time to go back and try it again. Or I was just scared; I’m not really sure which.

Last spring my girlfriend Georgie and I were climbing a lot in Red Rocks, partly because I was scared of JL and welcomed the distractions and partly because we were just having tons of fun there. I didn’t end up making it to Clark very many times. We realized that if I wanted to have a shot at climbing JL that I would need to really focus on it for a whole season.

Was there ever a point when you wanted to throw in the towel and never return?
I felt like giving up more than a few times. In the fall of 2012 when I went down there with the intention of climbing JL and felt really weak compared to how I’d felt the previous spring, I gave up for the season. I could have kept going up there and probably would have built up the necessary fitness and mental fortitude to keep at it and regain my highpoint but I was scared and over it and my partner at the time wasn’t getting me all that psyched to try hard. The familiar look of Clark annoyed me that season.

Every time I made reverse progress I got frustrated and felt the yearning to give in to defeat. It was hard for me to keep in mind that making reverse progress, and taking one step back for every two you take forward, is pretty much guaranteed to happen when projecting something that is that hard and intimidating.

There were definitely mornings on which the prospect of hustling to get out the door, packing the car, driving and hour and a half (30 minutes of which are gnarly dirt road), hiking for 50 minutes, doing the same warm-up I’d done a dozen times and then trying a climb miles harder and more intimidating than anything I’d ever done in my life, felt like something I just didn’t really want to do that day.

Fortunately, I stuck with it this season.

What initially drew you to the climb?

Sharma drew me to the climb. I had been to the third tier of Clark Mountain many times before, and the bolts on the first half of JL were installed already, but I think 17-year-old me dismissed it as a pipe dream. It looked impossible.

Then in the spring of ’07 Sharma left me a voicemail saying he and Chris Lindner were sessioning up at Clark on this super futuristic route and I should come and climb with them. I had nothing else going on at the time so of course I flew down. When I first got to the cliff that spring and saw the draws hanging off Jumbo, it was admiration at first sight. After I tried it and saw how cool and unique the climb was, my admiration turned to love and I knew I wanted to do it someday.

What was it like when you first started working the route with Sharma and Lindner?

It was super fun that spring. I was only there for a short time, maybe ten days, but it was a blast. Sharma was making good links and I remember watching him climb through the first crux from the ground for the first time. It was really inspiring.

I knew the route was possible—Chris was making links and even I was able to do all the moves on it after a try or two, but we speculated that it would be 5.15c because of it’s sustained nature. It seemed leagues harder then anything that had been done at the time.
How’d you feel when Sharma asked if he could go for it in 2008?

I can’t lie, I was slightly taken aback. I’ve been asked to stay off projects several times throughout my career. When Chris asked me he was very polite of course, though that hasn’t been the case from everyone. Each time it happens I’ve obliged the request but each time I’ve felt a little sting. 

I do understand why someone would feel like they really want the FA of a project that they bolted (in whole, or in the case of JL, in part) enough to kindly ask someone else to stay off of it for a season or two, but I don’t feel like I share that mentality.

Wanting to send a rock climb is never a good enough reason to tarnish a friendship. I learned that the hard way during that first trip down to Clark with Sharma and Lindner when I climbed the first ascent of the extension to the Wall of Glass, a 5.14c at the third tier. At the time Lindner was trying it and while he didn’t bolt it, Randy Leavitt had bequeathed the project to Lindner and I think the FA meant more to him than it did to me. To Lindner’s credit he was really easy going about it but I could tell that he was hurt by it and I felt pretty terrible. I was young and hungry and I’d like to think I wouldn’t do that same thing again.

When he did send, how’d you feel?

I was really psyched for Chris and super inspired by his effort and send. It did motivate me to go back and try again but that winter I injured my left shoulder at ABS nationals, and that spring I had surgery on it instead of going back to Jumbo Love. I thought my climbing career was over. It took a while to rebuild the confidence to go back and try it again.
source rockandice.com