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Famous Meadowlark Lemon V14 Problem Chipped

Two weeks ago, Ethan Pringle went to Red Rock Canyon with some friends and discovered the crux sloper on Meadowlark Lemon V14 had been chipped. On Instagram, he wrote, “I stacked pads to brush and touch the crux holds and was shocked to discover the crux left hand sloper, the hold that makes the crux move so difficult, had been manipulated, enhanced, manufactured, into an little incut edge. Surprise turned quickly into sadness, sadness turned into frustration and frustration into anger.”

A photo posted by Ethan Pringle (@ethan_pringle) on

The problem was first climbed by Paul Robinson and has been sent by a number of strong climbers, including Canadian Sean McColl. Pringle continued to write, “Projecting boulders is especially frustrating for me so sticking with it on Meadowlark to completion felt like an achievement I was proud of. It was the most number of days I’d ever put into a problem I’d done. I care a lot about this silly piece of rock.

“It feels like a precious artifact. I know there are A lot injustices in this world. A lot of people are suffering and in the grand scheme of things this is so minor but still, I feel personally disrespected by this act of carelessness. I know that the rock that composes this problem is extremely soft and granules of sand come off all the time, but I’ve grabbed hundreds of manufactured holds and this was no accident. Either way, what’s done is done.”

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