Watch Luke Zimmerman Climb Black Magic V13

Luke Zimmerman is based on the West Coast and has been projecting his way up through the V grades. His most recent climb was up Black Magic V13.

A few days before his climb, he sent Dark Star which he wrote about on Sendage.com, “This is Black Magic but with the left exit of Black Hole instead of the right.

Climbing out the mouth of a granite monster! After working the individual sections of this beast for this entire season (as well as a bunch of sessions over the previous years), I am finally ready to start at the bottom and try to climb to the top. My first session went alright but showed me there is still a lot to learn. In the entire session I only managed the first move twice. I need to be way more consistent on this move. On one of those goes I fell in the second boulder problem when my foot slipped (still in the low). On my best go, I made it to the kneebar rest at the start of Black Hole and eventually fell unwinding from the cross move. For me that move is 18 of 25 for Darkstar (the low into Black Hole Left). A long way to go but it is easy to see areas where improvements can be made. . . . . @fiveten_official #fiveten #brandofthebrave @organicclimbing #organicclimbing #climbing #squamishclimbing #climbonsquamish #blackmagic #v13

A post shared by Luke Zimmerman (@zukelimmerman) on Aug 28, 2017 at 3:29pm PDT

“Definitely a step up from all the V12s I’ve done, and I’d be happy to call it a V13 if it stood on its own, but I’ll go with the slash grade to reserve the full V13 grade for the slightly harder Black Magic. Regardless a monster line, and a special moment getting the send, after months of work, with my family cheering me on.”

Zimmerman’s list of hard problems in 2017, before his Black Magic climb, includes sends in Washington and B.C., such as: Something Wicked Extension V10, Coffe Cup V9, Practitioner V11, Thunderdome V9, Black Hole V11, La Abuela V11, A Block V12 and Peter and the Wolf V9. For a full list of his climbs visit here.

After Zimmerman’s Black Magic top, he wrote on Instagram, “Got out super early this morning and managed to climb Black Magic! Once again countless hours of preparation culminating in one moment when everything comes together perfectly.

“So much work went into this one. Probably around 30 sessions this season and maybe 10 more over previous seasons. The first two moves alone took me something like ten sessions just to link and it wasn’t until the last few days that I could do them consistently.

“Then session after session getting each section dialed, building the endurance, learning to rest, and then finally getting it all right on that one perfect go. I had some doubts along the way but I’m left with a reinforced belief in the process, that if one just keeps coming back and finding little ways to make any gain possible, success will eventually come. Persistence first.” Watch the send below.