BURSTA new film from climber and film editor David Fitzgerald was just released by Mellow. Presented by ANTIGRAV, the film features a few of Fitzgerald’s sends in California. Titled résumé, the film includes footage of Big Z V16, Lucid Dreaming V15, Tierrany V14, RIP in Peace V13, and Shuriken V13.
Established by Shawn Raboutou in December 2020, Big Z V16 (8C+) went unrepeated for over three years before Matt Fultz’s second ascent in March of this year. Fitzgerald’s ascent is the third and his first of the grade.
Located in Lake Tahoe, Big Z is a uniquely delicate problem that traverses rightward across an overhanging face to an arete topout. The climber has to keep an immense amount of body tension throughout using underling and sidepull edges for the hands and a series of spanned-out toe and heel hooks for the legs.
“Finding it hard to wrap my head around this one,” said Fitzgerald on Instagram. “An intricate sequence that feels levels above anything I’ve strung together before. I first tried back in 2021 and although I took many long breaks away from the boulder, the spells of effort I gave over the years were intense. By far my longest chapter to-date. A chapter that sparked so much drive and reason to improve, that closing it now feels both surreal and bittersweet in a way.”
Fitzgerald has climbed several V15s including Jimmy Webb’s Fallen Angel and Carlo Traversi’s Equanimity – both in Lake Tahoe – as well as Paul Robinson’s Lucid Dreaming in Bishop, which you can watch him top in his new film below.
David Fitzgerald’s résumé
The post David Fitzgerald Climbing Hard California Blocs appeared first on Gripped Magazine.