Brian Kim Puts up new 5.13d in Gunks: Monumantle

If you climb in NYC gyms, you'll see Brian Kim all the time. I don't know him at all, but I've seen him at the gym so many times over the years that I feel I do. He's a quiet, unassuming guy who isn't built like an ape. But he climbs like one. Last year he was recorded on video repeating a 5.13d line called the Cybernetic Wall. That climb scales a wall of the same name near Bonticue, off the beaten Gunks track. It's a nice video, worth checking out:

Cybernetic Wall from paul jung on Vimeo.

Now Brian has put up a new 5.13d of his own, called Monumantle. And he found this line smack in the middle of the Trapps, on the right side of the "Mantle" Block! Brian's 8a.nu page says he did the climb back in July and that it is a "new school" trad climb, which I presume means he may have worked out all the moves on toprope before even trying to lead the sucker. Alternatively it may just mean he kept working the route over and over again until he could do it, which isn't a "new school" technique at all, but rather dates back to John Stannard in the late 1960s. In whatever way Brian worked the moves, he obviously gave this thing a lot of time and thought before the video-taped send; there are chalked-up holds all over the thing and he has each piece of gear perfectly prepared for the effort. This is not surprising, as the route looks crazy hard.

Watching Brian Kim ascend this line is like attending a clinic on balance and footwork. And his confidence above tiny stoppers is pretty impressive.

I can't embed the video but here's the link: http://www.deadpointmag.com/videos/watch/monumantal-13d-trad-climb-gunks

Go take a look. And someone tell deadpoint magazine how to spell "mantle."