On the last weekend in June I met up with Ian Cavanaugh and Peter Hekan to take care of some unfinished business at the Elephant’s Perch. It was my third trip in twice as many years, and we finally managed to free-climb Boomer’s Story (V 5.13-). Big thanks to Brad Heller and Jason Klophaus for their support on previous attempts.

Boomer’s Story is located between the Beckey and Mountaineer’s routes, and features the typically awesome rock quality and crack climbing found up at the Perch. The pitches stack up like so: 5.8, 5.13-, 5.11, 5.12-, 5.11-, 5.10-, 5.9, 5.8, 5.7, 5.7. The first five pitches have the best rock and most engaging climbing, and the second-pitch crux requires pretty sustained and techy stemming technique that almost exploded my thighs and calves. It’s the kind of corner that makes the angels sing in harmony.

We free-climbed the route from the ground up, after aiding the crux pitch first to rehearse it on top-rope. Amazingly, it required hardly any cleaning. We left two pitons to protect the tricky opening moves, but I imagine they could be removed easily if someone were to actually fall on them.

– Ari Menitove