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Fallen Arches Journal

January 27, 2026 · body

Fallen Arches Journal

Introduction

The following is my route journal from Fallen Arches. When working on projects I like to document every session, describe what I did, the context and what I need to work on next time. Aside from the daily entries I keep a running log of my most promising beta. This particular journal includes a lengthy recount of the send day. If insane amounts of beta offend your sensibilities, this journal is not for you. If you are the type to get obsessed, there will be some useful information.

2023 Retrospective

I believe I did between 5-7 days in 2023, starting on July 12 and ending on an unknown date due to a related injury.

At the time it's kind of crazy I even got on this thing. Looking at Mountain Project 12a was taking me 2 or more sessions. 12b was hard and I had done a single 12c - 40oz to Freedom, a route that suits me well, and is somewhat soft. Nonetheless the route was inspiring, the moves and position were great. Fixing a line allowed me endless refinement and solo excursions. Even if I wasn't anywhere close, I could feel session to session improvement. I knew this thing could be learned. I got really stoked and of course hurt myself on the intensive finger locks. It's a stimulus you don't get on anything else. I got some sort of 'itis on the outer part of my hand running down from my pinky to the wrist. I think this is because finger jamming requires strenuous engagement of the wrist in that direction. This ended the season but was an important lesson, keeping me from blowing up in 2024.

Summary of 2023 links:

I had stuck the upper crux a few times, but it was pretty limit. Never linked the lower crack, got totally smacked around a few times. Got to the lower cobble a few times but it was sooo hard and my beta was shit. Did the moves from end of crack to jug and jug to crux. I think this beta stayed mostly the same. Working the boulder a bunch showed me less what I should do and more what I shouldn't. And I did keep most of my upper beta conceptually the same, ie I used the same set of holds but never actually consolidated a sequence.

Season 2, Day 1 (10/1/24)

Mixed feelings about my first day this year. I suppose that makes sense. Crack climbing is certainly more technical than jug pulling. But also I couldn't even touch many of the moves on Sprout day one.

So what did I actually do today?

Went up mostly aid climbing through the bottom then started free climbing from the mid rest. I did the moves after the mid rest into the crack. This felt not too bad, with precise beta this will be easy. Through the crack I benefitted greatly from being more dynamic on the jams.

Went up into the crux; couldn't do it at first, but after pulling on I did it. Still, I think this could turn into the same farce as last year. On the descent I tried my original beta many times but started lower from the jams and it was impossible. So I mixed it up.

I went LH to the small 2F pocket above the undercling thing, grab it with middle and ring palm down right on the tick mark, then RH to the undercling thing but as a thumb down jam.

I can't remember exactly but I believe I hiked my feet up, bummed my RH up the small crimps to the finish hold.

There is less bumping on the finish holds than I remember, ie grab it shallow.

The rest of the climb was reasonably easy and went first go. Most of the interesting moves are about getting the RH high in the cracks and moving externally rotating the wrist.

Next steps: Really need to work the bottom crack. I think the hardest bit will be the bottom, it seems like the crack gets into the .4/.5 sizes after a few moves. If I can't link this bit after 2 sessions, I should pull the rope down.

Really fucked my skin on the finger lock in the crux, so I'm gonna test tape+glue. It's so great being much stronger and with better endurance. I think if I can link the bottom and get beta dialed this could go in 3-5 sessions.

Season 2, Day 2 (10/2/24) – This might be harder than I thought

So I went up there today thinking I wasn't too worked; that was mostly true.

Got to the crag around 10, on the jugging by 10:30, went pretty smooth.

Rack for working the route:

LEFT Shoe - Certainly the tight Solution, maybe should try the Genius, but def not the Katana.

RIGHT Shoe – Katana or Skuama, whoa maybe the Scarpa shoe!

Taping

Super glue on the skin worked well, sucked to get off tho, shave hairs

Worked the bottom for 90% of the time, 2 ~40min sessions, this is all I got skin wise.

My L big toe was actually strained, after the sesh I can also feel it in the outside of my hand by the pinky. I'm thinking this is more of a wrist weakness. Maybe work this in the gym. Endurance and power are good, I think it's mostly route specific adaptation I need. Need to come into this thing really well rested and likely have a full rest.

Training schedule options:

OR

Next steps:

Ok generally I think I need to reduce the number of moves in the crack crux, longer reaches will save energy and pain.

The thumbs up LH is an obvious break point in this section, have links start and end at obvious spots, no cheating check and I got things a lot better.

Maybe practice the crux a time or two at the beginning of the next sesh to make sure this beta will work... LOL it didn't work at all, went back to previous beta.

Season 2, Day 3 (10/13/24) - Breakthroughs

Felt really good coming off of a week in WA. Linked many previously hard sections quickly. Jug to top. Did to the cobble a few times but it was messy. From cobble to jug many times.

Next steps

All in all I think one more session before RP burns.

Season 2, Day 4 (10/21/24) - Good refinement

Went up here hoping for a chiller day, naturally thrashed my body. I do think this route is much more technical than physical. I think this suits me well, ultimately I'd like to do the route tomorrow but there is still more refinement to make. In this session I worked the top some more, it's still not very difficult, but I do think I've locked in the cross over beta. In the bottom section I'm going to commit to a more direct beta. And at the crux I think I have something good for me. I got all the gear beta pretty wired and am ready for RP burns. Even through there is more refinement to make I think the biggest unknown is how placing and going to affect things. If the rope is gonna sit in the crack and fuck everything up, how will it be mentally. I have not successfully gone from the ground to the jug but it's close enough. A bit worried but of course that is natural. The uncertainty is what makes it fun. Never again are we doing Poseidens.

Season 2, Day 5 (10/23/24) - First lead goes

First lead goes, warmed up by doing the top a few times then the boulder. Should prob do a warm up on the top of the finger crack a few times. Mostly things were good with placing the gear, I am strategically placing all the pieces from decent stances. The Yellow TCU is a bit scary, I whipped on it and it was good but one of the lobes flipped. My second go up was smoother but I was only 20 mins out from the previous, need the standard hour. Fell at the campus move even though I was feeling good at the lock. Also fell at the boulder but I was able to hit the sloper, ie 5% off. I think more rest would have helped and I could have done it then but oh well, wasn't sending anyway. Hard to push hard when that's the case. The middle rest jug oddly felt like shit.

The more direct beta at the bottom was better!

My beta above the boulder was all over the place today, maybe just the pain in my middle finger, the finger lock felt like shit.

Next steps

Season 2, Day 6 (11/2/24) - The Send

An amazing day! Really stressful going into it though. What did I tell myself, stay healthy and do some endurance-oriented training. What did I do, went to Joes with Keely, crimped really hard, picked up a LH ring pulley injury. Classic! Then bad weather was in the forecast, we had snow Monday and Tuesday. I was really hoping for sunny and dry, but the whole week was cloudy in the mtns. Oddly this finger injury might have helped slightly because it caused me to rest a lot going into Friday. Sunday, I didn't climb at all, hung out in Joes, watched Keely do The Flu, very sick. Monday started doing some of that light finger boarding. And cardio. Tuesday more finger boarding and cardio, maybe some lifting. Wednesday, I climbed on ropes, a few 11s and one attempted 12b that I fell on, this was not a good sign. I was feeling pumped on routes I had done weeks ago with ease and of course my finger was hurting a bit. Not too much, but I was babying it. Was smart in keeping the volume low and not trying too hard. We ended the day with 3 sets of bench and I did some one arm lockoffs. The goal was to get a bit of stimulus but gather minimal fatigue. Thursday I think I did nothing. The entire week I was intentionally sleeping a shit ton, like trying to be in bed 10 hours a day. My eating was good but not great. I went into Friday right at 160lbs. I had a large dinner the night before, coffee and water in the am. And lots of honey before and after burns. Warm tea as well but that just made me feel nice.

At the crag

Torstine and I met up at my place around 9, went to the crag and he lead Green A. The send train was off to a good start. It was actually a super special lead, this is essentially his first year committing to climbing outside. In the last week he ticked off three of the classic 9+s: The Coffin, Sasquatch and now Green A. A classic tick list indeed, one I worked through three years ago soon after moving to SLC. I think 9+ is an essential grade in LCC climbing, they're all so sandbagged. If you can climb all the 9s here you can climb 5.9 anywhere.

I warmed up on those lower cracks, TRed it twice and taped up in the sun. The weather was honestly perfect! Warm in the sun, cold in the shade, no wind. We went up to the ledge, geared up and I jugged the line to tick the holds and get a final warm up in. God the rock was perfect. On the way down I hung draws on the bolt and fixed nut, this is my deviation from good style. Oh well, my internal compromise is, if I come back for the full link, I'll place all the gear on lead. I refined the beta to the jug, this actually made a difference, keep the LF low. And made sure the totems worked, they were great and gave a bit more confidence over the TCUs. On the grigri I linked from the jug to the finish, this was a confidence boost.

Now to wait. Set timer for 25 and chill. I fiddled with the Avant quick release things, very cool design, certainly helped, but a bit bulky, ideally you just do one per side. On my first go I kind of fumbled the start, went to place the nut too early, it didn't get to me but was not smooth. Got into the cobble feeling good, but as I was going up to the second real move of the crack crux my RF blew and I fell. Quite disheartening. No fight at all, I was just off. The cause was my RF was too low, noted, beta refined. Bummed I fell, but also so cool you can still be learning minute but very important details ~13 days in. Not worked at all, I down lead the crack. This was far more strenuous than going up.

Set timer for 15mins. Here we go again. Given the hour this was likely going to be my last go of the day. Too soon, but T had plans to meet up with a friend and climb Perhaps. Already very kind of him to come belay for 2 hours. So up we go again, this time the bottom went a lot better. Stayed smooth, stayed low. Fixed my issue with the low foot, we're in, actually getting to try this time. The moves were flowing, placing the cam was hard but faster because of the quick release. Paused for a split second due to the novel movement. It's in, clipped, right foot slightly up, much easier this way. Small inhale, tense dynamic move to the lower finger lock. Place the jam with care, so much more solid than the first attempt the week prior. Floated to the jug. Ok officially through the bottom for the first time ever. The pressure was on but not drastically so, it was way too soon for any celebration. I was barely halfway there. A little rest but not too much, get my pieces in, relax and set off on the next moves. This section is great, you alternate between powerful hand moves requiring instant compression and delicate feet. The feet are such you make 3 little adjustments for every large hand move. The climb is certainly flowing at this point. After getting in the last of 3 good pieces you climb well above this gear committing to some insecure flares. You've got to lunge for this awkward thumb down jam, while I haven't fallen there it feels right on the edge this attempt. It's that type of move that isn't necessarily hard but there's no backing down or repeating if something goes wrong. You toss yourself sideways, too much and the next move is much harder, too little and you hit it as a finger lock, you're off. It went alright and I scrambled to find the feet, after you cross in with the right hand, notch it right above the left in an even worse flare. Then simultaneously you remove your left and get your right in the good spot. A moment of contraction, weightlessness and hand musical chairs. Ugg it's so good! Then feet up, bunch your body, tension the spring, one more big move to some sinker jams. It's here you have to fully shift your focus from maximal tension and contraction to relaxation. There's all this adrenaline and motion that must be subdued. I relaxed into my bones, opened my fingers in the jams, stretched them out, let my skeleton do the work. The breathing returns, then you force it slower. In, out. Shake, chalk. In, out, switch, repeat. Over and over until the freshness returns. I've been working on leaving rests earlier than I want to, I'm somewhat notorious for sitting there for way too long. It's to the point where there is a noticeable shift in the tone of my belayer. From "common Zander!" to "alright now."

Not today, I think I did it right. It's time to fight. This is what I wanted, the opportunity to try hard, to really see what I've got. A few more very deep breaths and it's on, the right hand crosses up, good, left-hand in. Oh no that's a bit awkward. This is where things started to go south. I fucked up the clip. Chalked up unnecessarily. Still a chance but this was not going to be smooth.

Set up the left hand in the lock, the fingers wiggle in there. Painful obviously, but the pain is good, that means they'll stick better. Feet up high, right to an atrocious crimp, likely the worst I've ever grabbed. Two good fingers, one more really bad, ~6mm. The knee twists in and I bumped to the tips finger lock, simultaneously my left hand unnotched itself. Panicking now, I squeezed against these horrible holds. Oh god, no way I'm getting my foot up. Definitely panicking now, squeezing harder, I try to think how can I save this, just go for the sloper. Slap, some sort of tension but it's too desperate, I'm off. NOOOOO!!! So fucking close! Head hanging in disappointment.

It's so hard for me to be proud in these moments, objectively this is the best I've ever done. I know it's actually a win, or should be, but certainly does not feel that way. To the top, clip the chains, quite bummed. On the up side I know there is 0% chance I can do my original beta through the boulder. It's too many moves, too strenuous. Somehow this boulder I've probably done over 100 times is still teaching me lessons. I think the move is going straight from the crimp to the sloper. The body position seems right, and I think I reach. This way eliminates 2 moves from the sequence. I practice on the way down, it goes, but the boulder always feels good on the hang. So no new information.

At the ground I want to go again but T has this friend to meet. The scene is kind of funny, the service sucks so he's up on tippy toes, holding onto a branch at the cliff's edge trying to check Find-my-friends. Looks like she's 10 out and another 10 minutes up the trail. Ten minutes late ain't too bad and even though it's a bit stressful he agrees to give me one more go.

Set timer for 25mins. Pick grass. Poke at my fingers. Pick the tape. More mouthfuls of honey. Drink some warm tea. Very relaxing actually. Go pee for the fifth time. I always gotta pee when I'm nervous. Get the nerdy Thera gun out, massage the forearms. After a while I'm relaxed, not perfectly recovered but prob good enough. Chit chat with T. Say thanks again, I do really appreciate it. Sit there and scroll the five memes that load. Humans saw this beauty, frosted undulating peaks, steep walls of granite and decided to scroll. How funny. The timer goes off.

Ok here we go, for real now, this is the last go of the day. It's slightly warmer at the base, more time in the sun, globs of snow are sporadically falling from the trees. The wall is still in the shade, nice n cool. Shoes on, tie in, shirt off, ideal climbing conditions. A quick good luck from T and we're off. Even smoother this time, didn't even have to look ahead to place the .75. I hit the hold, and it was immediate. Up to the layback section, sensing my arms, slightly more fatigued but climbing much faster, refined. Cursed to the cobble, no fuss clipping this time, fingers relaxed, just enough to not slip out. Up the lower crux with efficiency, feeling just as good as the previous. A bit less rest at the jug, it doesn't help. Perfect precision through the flare. Back at the rest. Relax. Think of how to improve, find the best constrictions for the moves ahead.

I sat here for what felt like a long time, maybe 60 seconds, maybe two minutes, very hard to tell. This time I'm not going to hesitate. I made the cross over, landing my right and left hands in good pods. The clip was quick. Chalk left, chalk right, left hand to the slot, wiggle in. So much better, these moves took half the time and effort. Feet high, crimp, knee in. Efficient, fresh. But will I be able to stick the sloper with this new beta. Right goes for it, ok good, I've got it, tuck the index into the dimple, good. A few more moves, this is close. Into the final jam, holy shit, I'm through!

It's not at all over yet. Still some outro climbing that could be dropped given how pumped I am. The draw is well below my feet now, it would be a whipper for sure. This thought enters and exits quickly. The best way to not fall is don't think about it, focus on the task at hand. My hands scramble to some good jams and locks but I'm kind of fucking up. I go with some beta that's not super refined. Big lock off to get the left hand high, the right comes in but it's so flared and shitty. Are you kidding me, am I about to fucking drop it up here?!?! This fucking high, after all the hard climbing. The right foot finds a pod and twists in, everything is balanced now. Tick tack my hands into the good positions. Holy shit I almost dropped it. Zander relax! Fucking relax! Jesus, I actually do, get the breathing back, wedge into the jams. I ain't slipping out of these. Place the final piece. The next sequence isn't hard just incredibly fun. Move to another sloper, match into a super unique jam, there's barely a crack but it fits so well, walk the feet. Holy shit, I just might do this thing. Meat hook the final hold. Why am I so shaky on these jugs, these hands and feet are huge. Big reach over and clip the chains. YESSSSSS!!! YES YES YES!!!!! Oh my god YESSSSS! FUCK ME I actually did it. I can't believe this sac of meat made it up this crack. More time for reflection later, T has to go. I pull up the cleaning stuff and let him off. Thanks T! He scrambles down the steep approach.

Now it's just me perched high above the valley, smiling ear to ear. Ugg, so good. I accomplished my stated goals for the year. Five weeks ago was Sprout, my first 13 ever. Totally dissimilar to Fallen Arches. It was a steep overhanging sport route, a pure enduro climb. This was a highly technical, barely overhanging trad route. I absolutely loved them both. And I loved how different they were. I love trying it all. Never as strong or fit as the sport climbers. Never as brave or with as big of a tick list as the trad climbers but so it be. I love the details. I get obsessed. I love the beauty of one day sitting in a massive cave shaded by large maple leaves the next high above the granite walls of LCC, birds circling below, snow on the peaks. Every day out here is amazing. I'm so thankful for where I live and the things I get to do. I clean the gear for maybe the last time. Swinging around on this most classic of LCC features, a flaring, leaning crack. The full line still exists but I'll save that for when a friend gets stoked.

Detailed Beta

Shoes

L – Solution: I used a very tight Solution, before the send go I trimmed the edge so it was sharper, I think a new pair would be ideal but who is spending $200 on that marginal gain. The shoe felt good, maybe tighter would have been better but I can't really fit a smaller shoe.

R – Veloce: This one was interesting. Early in the process I was using my decently fresh Skuamas + tried a women's Katana and those had the lower crack feeling very hard. Once switching to the Veloce I noticed a huge performance boost. After using the shoe a few more days it was fully clapped out. There was essentially no edge around the entire front. The toe was about to form a hole, maybe 3-5 tries left. And the bottom was peeling where those little intentional holes are. This all amounted to a nearly perfect shoe for the route. It was so thin and rounded the shoe perfectly squeezed into the crack! Like truly the lowest profile you can get. Also the shoe is super soft so it molded like a brassie! And the mega sticky rubber was key. The only way it could have been better was a half size up. That way my toes would be flatter, thus lower profile. But honestly a 9.99/10 perfect pairing. Some think like a TC or Moc but these would have been much worse, unable to mold and far less sticky respectively.

Taping

Super glue and use wider section of tape

Gear

Position Piece Side
Bottom .75 L
Blue nut in horizontal L
From jug flake thing Orange TCU R
Cobble after first boulder .5 R
End of crux Blue Totem L
Jug Black Totem & fixed nut (clip fixed nut first) L
Before crack transfer from RH in upper slot Yellow TCU L
From first good hand jam .4 in upper crack to bolt is chill R
Crux Bolt
Above crux .5 L

Left side (front to back): .75, Blue nut, Blue Totem, Black Totem, Yellow TCU, .5

Right side: Orange TCU, .5, .4

The Full Beta

Bottom

From the first RH jam thing, flared slot:

  1. LH finger lock before the first real pod
  2. RH cross through hand jam, this is good
  3. Clip bomber .75 with LH, important to stay low on the hand while doing all the fiddling
  4. LH to a shitty fingerlock
  5. Big bump LH TD flared hand jam
  6. Cross RH in to top of pod, chunky jam
  7. Place nut with LH, more strenuous than desired
  8. LH TU layback
  9. RF up high to foot jam
  10. RH layback
  11. Place Orange TCU with RH
  12. I ended up doing some shaking out here

From the end of the easy part

  1. RH to the finger lock
  2. LH sidepull pod thing as a TD
  3. LF up on shit foot, it was chill tho
  4. RF to bunge
  5. LF out to cobble
  6. LH up high
  7. RH to good finger lock
  8. LH to good finger lock (this one is quite good)
  9. Place .5 with RH

Start of Crack Crux

The first 4 moves all take place around the .5

  1. RH up to next good lock, not the start one, it's bunched up next to the cam
  2. Move RF to small ledge, in this position I dropped my LF and sucked up into that RF
  3. Bump RH to start of defined sequence
  4. LF to the tiny face foot
  5. RF to a good foot just below the strange sidepull notch hold (I fell due to not getting the foot high enough once)
  6. LH TU to just below the cupped hold, my tick goes in the pod
  7. RF moves up in crack, find a good jam here - it's important to pull your body towards the crack
  8. LF comes to a higher nubbin
  9. RH TD higher than originally thought
  10. LH TU decently big move to pod beneath the chalk spot, twist hand - the key beta on this one is to shove the fingers up the hold, not necessarily in the hold
  11. RH TD to really good lock above the chalk spot
  12. LF moves out to stemmy foot chip, RF stays in crack
  13. Place Yellow TCU OR Blue Totem

From good RH lock to jug

  1. RF slightly higher in crack, not actually that high tho
  2. LH TD to bottom of jug, kind of a campus move (I have now fallen here)
  3. RH to hand jam, top of slot, don't underestimate this, seat it well
  4. LF then RF to small black cobble, then drop LF
  5. LH to undercling pinch TRY HARD!!
  6. LF to smear section, use the lower smear, lean back
  7. RF to bottom of hand crack, smearing
  8. RH to jug
  9. Clip fixed draw, Place Blue TCU OR Black Totem high in the crack, essentially the top pod

From the jug

Starting with RH on top of the jug, RF in crack (move it up a bit):

  1. LH to the Sidepull/undercling
  2. Smear the left foot
  3. RF to the good edges by crack
  4. RH undercling, dynamic
  5. LF to a higher edge, looks bad but isn't
  6. RF to the top of the jug
  7. LF back-flags to the secondary hold, this is the best body position
  8. LH TU to small 2f pocket in crack
  9. RH to upper crack edge
  10. Swap feet and move right foot down to the lower edge by the jug
  11. Place Yellow TCU in finger pod

Crack transfer

  1. LH in the crack
  2. RF to the hidden foot chip
  3. Lunge LH hit as a hand jam
  4. LF moves over, lots of options
  5. RH crosses in above, LH scoots down a bit as the RH gets into the good jam
  6. Feet build, good chips and RF jam
  7. LH lunges into flared jam
  8. RH to the slot in the upper crack
  9. LF comes up high to a pseudo jam in the bottom of the wide crack, this creates a very powerful position to get my LH higher up
  10. RH crosses up into a higher really good jam
  11. RF to where LF was
  12. Rearrange the hands to a comfortable rest position
  13. Place .4
  14. GET FIRED UP AS YOU LEAVE THE JAMS

The Boulder (undercling lock beta)

  1. RH crosses up to next good hand jam
  2. LH comes above
  3. Not sure if I got my foot on the cobble yet but clip from there somewhat lower but really good jams
  4. Chalk the RH
  5. Chalk the LH and go to the slot, it's all about getting the ring finger wedged
  6. Scoot RH up into the top jam
  7. RF up into the crack
  8. LF to higher and left foot chip
  9. RH to tiny crimp
  10. Twist R knee in
  11. RH to sloper
  12. LF to first real foot chip
  13. LH to higher undercling
  14. RF moves up the crack
  15. RH convert to hand jam

The top

(I don't fall but could use some refinement - this was still hard on the RP and could have been dropped)

From LH high undercling and RH jam:

  1. LH to the top hand jam position
  2. Move some feet around
  3. LH TD finger lock in chalked section
  4. RH to top of same crack but in sidepull hand jam
  5. LF goes out to the farther edge
  6. LH to the top of the next pod, this was very extended, almost fell
  7. RH matches in
  8. RF to first jam after boulder
  9. RH to high side pull jam
  10. From here the difficulties are over, rest for a sec
  11. .5 goes in the finger crack slot, the hold kinda gets ruined so be prepared to move on right after placing
  12. LF to higher bulge, actually pretty cool move, internally rotate knee
  13. Dynamic move LH to the L side of the sloper, leave room
  14. Swap feet
  15. RH matches in, odd but good jam
  16. Move feet over
  17. Into the hand jam rail, LH then RH
  18. Feet over
  19. Meat hook the final spike and clip cross with RH