Elijah Mercado is for sure one of the best boulders in the country at the moment and you probably haven’t heard of him. His list of V13 ascents in the last few years will make your eyes wider than diner plates. Think Cherry Picking, Ammagamma, The Last Resort, J1, X-Pinch, Mana, Manhattan Line, Substance of Everything, Genesis and Double Demerit, the guy throws them down like nothing.
Recently he added another one to the list by climbing the first ascent of an old Sydney project, Motorhead. We sent him a few questions to find out more.
Hey mate, awesome job on knocking off the first ascent of the Motorhead project. Can you tell us a little bit of the history behind the project? Was it one of those old school Sydney test pieces or a modern era discovery?
Cheers! Motorhead sits at a crag called “The Frontyard” which was found sometime during 2010. I don’t personally know the crew that developed the crag, but after all the development was done, Motorhead remained as an open project.
What was the projecting process for you? When did you first try it and how did it feel? Did it put up a fight?
I started trying Motorhead during the winter of last year. I came in with no expectations, Sam had tried it briefly before and said that the rock was choss and that he kept breaking footholds. Thankfully, when I got there I was pleasantly surprised – what could have broken off was probably already broken off, and what remained was some quality Sydney sandstone.
My first session I managed to stick the first hard move, a bunchy drive-by off a sharp left hand mini crimp-pinch sort-of-thing to a three-ish finger gaston crimper. The second hard move eluded me for quite some time. After doing the drive-by, you need to walk your left foot up just above your left hand, then lock reeaaaally hard to a decent left hand flake. Or so I thought…
below, sequence of the first hard throw to the gaston edge
The send looked effortless. Was that how it felt? Or do you just have a good poker face?
Funny when that happens. I remember feeling real bouncy that morning, maybe last night’s dinner or the morning coffee kicking in. Anyway, I pulled on, did the drive-by, and instead of going for the deep lock off, I took my left hand off and arm pogo-ed up to the flake. Next thing I know, I was gracefully mantling (belly-flopping) to the top!
below, the arm pogo. there’s a new one to add to your bag of tricks ;)
You told me it was probably hard V12 or easy V13. Our mate Liam Healy told me not to believe you, that it’s probably extremely hard V13 and that you’re ‘a strong idiot.’ Explain.
Grading is hard… You can try something for sessions on end and get absolutely shut down, but then on that one attempt, everything seems to just fall in place and you find yourself at the top wondering “how did that happen?”
Are there any other projects around the Sydney boulders that you're keen to try?
how good is that feeling. you all know it!
I’ve got a few loose ends here and there that I should go and try finish off, other than those, I’d like to make my way back up the mountain and try finish off the “Cold Comfort Cuddle Machine” and “And the Ass saw the Angel”. Maybe not in the middle of winter though, I like having feeling in my extremities.
When are you going to tie into a rope? There are some sick boulder-on-a-rope routes around. Anything you’ve seen that inspires you to learn to tie a bowline?
Lead climbing is hard and terrifying. I’ve only tied in a couple of times before, and even then it was in the safety of a gym, with a top rope also attached. I did nearly get psyched to go try “Sack of Woe” with the twins before though, until I learnt that clipping counts as a hard move, and there is a real chance of decking…
I’ve decided you and Liam and Sam Healy are the three muskateers of the Sydney bouldering scene. What’s it like having a psyched group of mates to train and session boulders with?
Pretty awesome. We’ve all got different strengths and weakness, so it helps a lot for training when you’re trying different woody boulders which aren’t in your own usual style. Climbing with such strong mates also gives you good motivation to try hard and continue getting stronger, possibly out of fear of the greatest disrespect one can experience – your project being flashed.