On Friday, December 9th, Will Mayo added an M12 to the already stacked Rigid Designator Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado.

Red Beard, bolted and named by Eric Malmgren, now ranks as one of the hardest mixed climbs in the world.

“It had been an oft-tried open project for more than a year, and lies between Red Bull and Vodka (M11) and Amphibian (M9),” writes Mayo in an e-mail exchange with Rock and Ice.

The crux of Red Beard revolves around a six-foot deadpoint, similar to the crux of Will Gadd’s Musashi, which is located in the Cineplex in Alberta, Canada.

“The powerful crux move is situated at the fifteenth bolt about 28-meters up the route,” explains Mayo. “[U]nlike Musashi’s crux, which comes low down at about the third bolt and four meters up.”

Mayo sent Red Beard on his fourth go, saying that the line is one of the hardest routes he has ever done.

“It’s a spectacular addition to one of the premier mixed venues in the world,” writes Mayo.

Mayo claims that The Rigid Designator Amphitheater is far from climbed out however.

“I have my eye on an even harder route between Red Beard and Red Bull and Vodka that I’m going to set and begin to work next week," he says.