But what of things to come?

USA climber Ethan Pringle (who is Ethan Pringle, and what has he done), who has just flashed a V12 (report here) might have just spilled the beans. It involves a climber called Sharma and one of the most impressive limestone cliffs in the USA. Ethan writes at his blog at Climbing.com:

"Since my last blog it feels like I've been to hell and back. Well maybe not, but I did go to Vegas, which can feel like hell sometimes. I made a special trip down to Vegas to hang out with the Chrises (Lindner and Sharma) and climb at the one and only Mount Clark, specifically the third tier, AKA The Monastery. The Monastery is probably the single most underappreciated cliff in the country, or at least in California, or at least it will be when Sharma finishes his project. I'm not really supposed to talk about it, but I will say this: When it gets done, it will be the hardest, most badass sport route in the world. There you go, that's all I'm going to say. So now you know where it is, all you have to do is go there, and climb it. But good luck. You need fairly accurate directions, a four-by-four vehicle with plenty of clearance, and legs of steel for the hour long, very steep, maze of an uphill approach. Oh, and a solid 5.15 climbing ability."

Well we can't help with the 5.15 climbing ability, but we can certainly help with the "fairly accurate directions."

In a 2001 Rockfax guidebook to Clark Mountain Randy Leavitt wrote:

"You could fly to Southern France to experience world class limestone sport climbing... .. or you could go to South Eastern California, within earshot of the rattle of the Las Vegas slots. What? That's no typo hombre. The finest limestone on the planet can be found here. You'll have to work to get to it though."

Here are the directions UKC article, click here

Now go get that route before Chris Sharma climbs another world's hardest.