May 06, 2020
The moonboard has benchmark climbs - but so does outdoor climbing. A new icon has been added to denote climbs of exceptional quality, consistency, and solid difficulty for each grade. After sending Ghislain's magnum opus RTK V12 at hospital hill, friends convinced me I couldn't put off benchmarking against Nick Sagar's masterpiece Grizzly V11 any longer. Grizzly is quintessential NS pebble wrestling and undoubtedly one of Nova Scotia's most recognised benchmarks. A rare opportunity to direcly compare Nova Scotia's best OG test pieces. I'm glad I listened. Grizzly is a completely different beast compared to RTK but magnificent in it's own right. RTK is a rare climb by NS standards. Nightmarish crimps and powerful shoulder moves are Ghislain's speciality. Nick Sagar showcased a completely different skill set with burly biceps compression and open handed sloper fest on Grizzly. It's a war of attrition against your finger skin. The name is fitting since it feels like you are wrestling a bear. The committing slab topout is a Nova Scotia classic. One thing both climbs have in common is world class quality.