As I pull onto the limestone wall I realize I’m being watched by an elite cadre of 20-somethings who have gathered beneath the Project Wall in Rifle Mountain Park.

Well, this is embarrassing, I think quietly. It’s my second time trying this route and it feels way too hard for me. If, over time, I can unlock each sequence, I’ll set the eventual goal of climbing it without falling. To do so will require specific training, singular focus and multiple seasons of effort on my part.

But to the young guns watching and waiting for a turn — most of whom had driven to Rifle straight from competing in the North American Cup Series that had just taken place in Vail — this climb represents a fun distraction from indoor climbing and competitions, though not a particularly difficult distraction. As one of them said to me later that day, “This is a volume trip, so I don’t want to try anything too hard.”

Back in April I penned The Learning Curve, highlighting three outstanding achievements by local climbers that took place within a single month. Since history tends to repeat itself, here’s a second chapter to this story, echoing the first: local climbs or climbers and back-to-back unprecedented feats within different genres of climbing.

The carefree comp kids at Rifle reminded me how young climbers today have barely scratched the surface of their potential to take climbing, in all its forms, to the next level.

One form is bouldering, which has advanced so quickly it’s hard to keep track of who’s currently pushing standards. That is, until May 4 when Hamish McArthur, a 23-year old from England, climbed one of the world’s hardest boulders in a single session.

No One Mourns the Wicked is tall, steep and tucked away in Colorado’s South Platte. It’s one of only a handful of boulders in the world given the grade V17, and it took Nathaniel Coleman, the first ascensionist (and 2020 Olympic climbing silver-medalist), 22 days of attempts to succeed.

McArthur needed just two and a half hours to link the problem, which involves sticking the crux jump — a maneuver many consider one of the hardest single moves ever done.

On a much larger canvas, CU student Will Moss “flashed” El Capitan’s Freerider (5.13a, 3,000 feet) — the route Alex Honnold climbed without a rope in the movie Free Solo — in a day. A flash is a first-try, no falls ascent — an exceptionally difficult task given a climber has just one shot at it.

Most people who free climb El Capitan dedicate weeks, months, even years of rehearsal to climb it without falling. Last November, Austrian climber Babsi Zangerl became the first person to flash Freerider, which she did over four days. Moss repeated this feat in just over 22 hours.

Finally, you may recall the names Kate Kelleghan (of Boulder) and Laura Pineau from my April article. They’ve mastered the speed climbing game once again, only this time on a much grander scale than Eldorado Canyon.

On June 7 the duo began a massive linkup of Yosemite’s three tallest walls: the south face of Mt. Watkins (~2,800 feet), El Capitan via The Nose (~3,000 feet) and the Northwest Face of Half Dome (~1,950 feet). After six weeks of training on these walls, learning each route intimately and dialing in hydration and nutrition, they became the first female team to send the so-called “Triple Crown.”

Not only that, but they finished this unbelievable journey in 23 hours, 36 minutes — within the 24-hour goal they’d set for themselves and that has become tradition among the few who complete this vertical ultra-marathon.

Each of the climbers behind these accomplishments harnessed a unique form of next-level effort to push the edge of possibility further and higher. Thanks to climbers like these, the rest of us benefit from a dose of inspiration, a glimpse at our future potential and a little more belief that we, too, can rise to the challenges we choose.

Sure enough, the young crew at Rifle literally warmed up on my long-term project, floating up moves that feel utterly desperate to me.

With a hearty laugh, I realized I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Contact Chris Weidner at cweidner8@gmail.com. Follow him on Instagram @christopherweidner and X @cweidner8.