Injective

 Anyone who has been climbing long enough experiences "full circle" moments - instances where nostalgia and achievement intersect. I can think of several such moments. They are often sends - Southern Comfort, Silence Between the Violence, The Jackal. These are some of my most treasured sends because they are the hardest routes at my dearest crags. Clipping each of their anchors felt like closing a chapter in my career as a southeastern climber. 

Finishing up the easy top section of Silence Between the Violence (13d)
Photo: Caleb Timmerman

In January of 2020, I went out to Laurel with visiting friends and crushers Jon and Solveig. They were fresh off a sending spree at the Red, and I was psyched to share the BEST crag in the Chatt area with them. The Jackal remains, to this day, the best route I've ever climbed. The only place I've ever seen host as good of rock is the New, and even still, the movement, holds, setting, and beauty of this line remain unmatched IMO. 

The brilliant headwall of The Jackal (13d)
Photo: John Heidbreder

With this in mind, I had always eyed the bolts that split left off the beginning of The Jackal. This visit was the first time I had seen draws and tick marks on this undone project. I was instantly curious. Something about the chalk and draws made it seem more possible - perhaps the mere implication that another person had done or at least tried the moves. If I remember correctly, I sent the 13a to the left that day, a nice line called Cyclops. Sub-par compared to others on the wall, but brilliant were it at any other crag on its own. Having wrapped up one of the last worthwhile pitches at the crag, I decided to check out the project. 

Until this point, I had rarely tried anything undone. The bottom compression V6 is shared with The Jackal, but you clip a different bolt. This is the only shared section. From here, I quested into new holds. I was able to get to the 2nd bolt pretty easily, and then found myself at what was obviously the blankest, hardest section. This was the same shield of rock that hosts the dyno on The Jackal. Unlike the dyno, this section had a couple of features, albeit abysmal ones. Given the feet and the placement of the ticks, the obvious sequence revolved around a flat gaston for your left hand and a shit 2 finger pocket edge for your right hand. It was relatively doable to get matched on these two, but to bump your right hand into a slot under the next roof seemed both difficult and low percentage due to the precision required on such a large move.

Setting up for the dyno on The Jackal, where the project breaks left
(note the bolt down and left of my foot - this is the 1st bolt for Injective).
Photo: John Heidbreder

After some contemplation, I began experimenting with a finnicky left heel-toe, which allowed me to grab the gaston as a sidepull with my right hand. Miraculously, there was a tiny knob-like feature I could reach up to with my left hand, just at the apex of my lock off ability (it would be too shitty to go to dynamically, so it really was perfectly placed). From here, I tried bumping the left hand into the precise slot that was too difficult to get with the alternate sequence. 

That day, I didn't stick the bump, but I knew it was possible. I aided past this section and found the moves off of this slot to be just as hard! There was a slopey dish above a small roof, and it felt like a solid v8 sequence to throw from it into another jug above. Oof. I sussed one final hard section above this jug, but it was pretty reasonable. Again, the perfect feet appeared, and a gritty crimp at the apex of my reach allowed this section to go at maybe hard v5ish. Certainly a  hard enough sequence to make you nervous from the ground, yet easy enough to qualify as a "punt" if you biffed it here on point.

From here, you get your first rest, and a really good one at that. The route splits two ways from here, with one line of bolts angling slightly up and left, and the other angling slightly right. I tried both, and although both were roughly 12a/b in terms of difficulty, it was obvious that going right was both better quality and better movement. 

At the rest, above the crux, from here is roughly 12a/b.
Photo: Nathalie Dupree

I returned several times in the next couple of weeks. I struggle to remember how many visits, but I think perhaps 4 or 5 in total. The next visit I did the couple of moves in the crux that I hadn't been able to do previously, and from then on I was more or less in redpoint mode. I struggled with conditions despite it being winter, as I distinctly remember having a day on it where the crux sidepull was in the sun. I couldn't even hold onto the wall, much less do the moves, and redpointing was a pipedream.

However, I came back on a pretty cold day after some rain with Lu, Nik, and Nathalie. Nik was there to do Jackal, and to be honest I felt mixed emotions about him trying the project. I really wanted to see him on it, because he's so damn good and I draw a lot of motivation from watching others. Conversely, the selfish part of me wanted to be the one to send it first. I knew he would do it in a couple of goes, and I felt really close myself. 

That was a rollercoaster of a day, because the bulk of the 12- section through the top was running with water. Most problematic, however, was that the crimp in the v5 just after the crux was wet. That day, I climbed through the crux from the ground 3 times in a row, only to fall off of this wet crimp. I was a bit bummed, but Lu reminded me that had it been dry, I would've just sent the route 3 times in a row.

The left hand in this photo is the wet hold. I fell here 3 times in a row
from the ground, this photo is from one of those 3 attempts!
Photo: Nathalie Dupree

The next day back, the whole bottom was dry, and the only bit of water was at the final bolt in the12- section. I sent on my first try, and the entire second half of the route (from the rest after the crux until the chains) I was climbing with sheer joy, gratitude, and just a hint of nerves for the last wet bit. I stayed at the chains for a moment before getting lowered, taking in the whole of my surroundings. 

I originally had a long winded bit here explaining how this route's personal significance stretched beyond its FA status, but I have to consider what this route would have meant for me had I not been the first. Frankly, it would have meant less. For almost as long as I had been a climber, The Jackal had been my dream. It had tested me for years. To this day, I can still recite most of Tyler Willcut's words on the Vimeo short film about his first ascent. Climbing this undone project felt like walking the same path. In the days leading up to and including the send, I got the chance to hear from legends in the Southeast - Jerry Roberts, Tyler, Lu, JB. These guys have had my respect for a long time, and because Chattanooga is a community that demands you earn your stripes, I couldn't help but feel I'd proven myself to some degree. 

Earning my stripes on Injective. This is the last move of the crux v8 or so.
Photo: Nathalie Dupree

All that was left was to name and grade this route. For the first time in my life, my opinion on the grade would actually mean something! I knew this route was a bit harder than The Jackal, which had been my first 13d. The breakdown was essentially a mirror image - v6, v5,v8, 12a/b. The difference was that the new route didn't have the good rests between cruxes. Compared to a lot of 13ds in and around Chatt, such as Apes on Acid, Oracle, Man Show, and Prodigal - it seemed harder. However, it was certainly easier than the couple of 14as I had been on, such as Southern Comfort and Tears of Unfathomable Sadness. I decided to pay homage to the unspoken rule of Chattown - no route shall be graded greater than 13d! Haha (but really 13d in Chatt can range from 13c-14b).

As for the name, Sean Kearney had named it "Datura" when he bolted it, but gave permission for me to rename it as I saw fit. I almost named it "Secret Stuff", as a sort of double entendre to the fact that I had used the Friction Labs liquid chalk for the first time with this route, and as a slight to the Chattanooga community for being way too secretive about many of "their" crags.

Ultimately the nerd in me saw too perfect a chance when I described the breakdown. "Injective" is a math term for functions for which every element of the codomain is an image of exactly one element of its domain, and this route is like an injective mapping of The Jackal, if you consider the boulder problems as elements of the domain/codomain of each route/function. Basically they both have 3 crux boulders, and they are all v6, v5, and v8. 

As I publish this, the route has yet to see a second ascent! Too many people hike out to do The Jackal and never return. Every route on this cliffline is a gem, and I KNOW there are plenty of people stronger than me going out there. Sack up and try it guys, you won't be disappointed.