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After Hours Climbing sent the stand start on Central Park's hardest boulder

The sit start on the same Manhattan line is V13, and only two climbers had topped it before.

After Hours Climbing topped the stand start on a boulder the group called the hardest in New York City. The sit start on the same Central Park line is V13.

Central Park holds a network of outdoor boulders among Manhattan skyscrapers, with problems that reach that grade. Magnus Midtbø joined After Hours Climbing and Darren, who knows the area, after warming up at one of the city's climbing gyms.

They opened on Polish Traverse, a popular traverse Darren called sandbagged for its grade. A nearby V10 felt harder to Daniel Woods, who once tried it and thought the line was V12, Darren said.

The final boulder sat in a tucked corner of the park. After cleaning the rock, the group found the landing tight enough that one person had to spot while another moved pads between attempts.

The group struggled on the stand start as attempts piled up. After Hours Climbing sent it.

Source video: I Investigated New York's Secret Climbing Scene...