Vasya Vorotnikov Sends Jaws II (5.15a) in Rumney, New Hampshire
By David Wetmore

If Vasya Vorotnikov isn’t out on the rock pulling crimps down to his waist, he’s in the lab, diligently studying things like fluid mechanics and unit operations. He is a 5’10”, 160-pound route climbing assassin with the energy of a jackrabbit on steroids, and, whether you’ve heard of him or not, this 20-year-old college student is, even as your read this, crushing just about every hard route in New England. Now he’s nabbed the FA of one of the hardest routes in the country, Jaws II, graded at a brow-raising 5.15a. After over a year and a half of battle, Vasya redpointed this viciously intense powerfest, which soars up Rumney’s famed Waimea Wall (on the same wall are China Beach, 5.14b and Livin’ Astro, 5.14c, among others). This new route is sure to attract some attention from the biggest and the baddest climbers around.

How does it feel to finally be done with a route you have been slaving over for the past year and half?
I feel pretty, oh so pretty…I feel pretty and witty. But yeah, I’m really happy! Anyone would be after sending something he or she worked for a long time.

Can you give me a play by play on the send?
A play by play on the send? If you’re asking for beta, basically you do a 5.11 climb up to the first crux, clip off the first crimp of the crux, place your right toe above your right hand, throw the biggest drop-knee you’ve ever tried to do, pull as hard as you can, and stab a quarter-pad undercling.  The key beta here is to use a thumb-catch on this tiny edge that’s thinner than a credit card (but it does work!).  Then you do the hardest 10-inch foot move you’ve ever done, a quick one-arm, and you’re into a ‘relaxing’ V6 boulder problem till you get a few juggy crimps.  These are what you rest on.  Then, you can actually do the next section two ways.  Double dyno to two full-pad crimps, or you can use a little razor sidepull on the left for a huge move, keeping your feet on to those full-pad crimps.  Then you just finish up on the second part of a 5.14b…

If you’re asking about what was going on that day — Well, I came to try it, like any other day; the temperatures felt really good, the undercling and two holds following it (at the top) were wet. (I had given Jaws II a good try last spring, but slipped off the undercling as it was wet.) The windy perfect conditions allowed the holds to dry off just enough for me to send, but it depended on a lot more than that. Neil Mushaweh, who’s been with me on most of my 35 or so days working it, was belaying; Jay Conway gave me a knuckle-pound, twice actually; and I was wearing my little necklace my parents brought me back from Nepal. I ended up barely sticking the foot dyno, but zoned in on the rest of the climb, focusing on one move at a time. I could feel voices of people screaming for me (Neil probably the loudest) penetrating my head, but I couldn’t hear them; I was listening to my breath, listening to what I had to say to myself before doing the second crux and the last iron cross section.  I just naturally felt like I had to scream once I finished, so I topped out and kept going the top of Waimea wall.

Do you think this route marks the apex of your climbing career after 10 years of experience?
This is the hardest I’ve ever climbed, so I have reached the highest point of my climbing career up till now. In the future, if my tendons stay psyched, I’ll surely keep trying to reach new limits. Just remember: if you can do all the moves, then it can be done.  So I don’t think this is the apex of my climbing career.