30/07/2022
with .repost
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Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama and Jay Smith have been friends since they first met on the Kahiltna Glacier in 2009, but Jumbo was still amazed when in 2017 Jay gifted him the opportunity to try a new project he was developing outside of Moab: the “King Line” project.
“I never asked him ‘why me,’” Jumbo says, “But I hope it’s because he recognized me as a climber worthy of trying it.”
Jumbo came back to the Utah desert in 2019 with Keita Kurakami and snowboarder Naoyuki Kato to give the line a go and develop other new routes of their own. (“What Nao does is more like mountaineering than snowboarding,” Jumbo says, “he just loves being in the mountains!”)
According to Jumbo, the three of them were natural partners: “For me, climbing is more about searching for something new, or finding something special and impressive, not just climbing hard stuff. Those two guys have the same sensibility.”
The team was happy to spend time at the Moab brewery on their (many) snowy days, but on days they could get up the muddy road to try the King Line, they found that the crux was its relentlessness.
“It’s not that any individual move is hard or tricky,” Jumbo says, “You just have to keep moving as lactic acid builds in your forearms.”
Since the King Line gets afternoon sun, Jumbo would try it in the morning and then switch to the more “fun and relaxing” Plan B later in the day—working new routes with Nao and Keita. Jumbo’s new route, The Big Tree (5.13b/c), has it all: “Very tricky moves and a mental crux with poor gear placement at the very top.” Nao and Keita put up their own routes, too: Subaru (5.13b R/X), Big Sexy (5.12a/b and arguably the best line of the trip) and Trigger Point (5.11b).
The King Line still hasn’t gone yet, and COVID meant Jumbo hasn’t been able to visit much—but in the meantime, he and Keita have been developing climbing areas in Yakushima, a trip shared in our short film “Connecting Walls.” Ultimately, both places are about what they love the most: “Searching for possibilities.”
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