The Teva Mountain Games are fast approaching. Check out all the info at http://www.tevamountaingames.com/ev_climb.cfm
I will be part of the setting crew there and I leave next Tuesday for Vail.
It has been a really good time every year and I would encourage everyone to come hang out! You can always head down the road 10 minutes to Minturn and some great bouldering.
Ty Landman has made the 2nd ascent of Ode to the Modern Man V14 after three days of effort. Very nice work Tyler.
I will try to get some pics up from my Black Hills trip this week, but I am will be very busy setting.
Tim Clifford has climbed the infamous Room Project in Squamish, BC. The problem starts on an obvious slopey jug rail and climbs straight up flat and slopey edges to a flat lip at about 15ft. Many people are familiar with the sport route Silent Menace 5.14a that begins with a jump across a gap to a jug. When one does the jump, you are standing on the top out holds of the Room Project. It has been tried by many strong climbers, including Tim Doyle, Fred Nicole and Chris Sharma. The problem has gained some underground fame as it was the impetus for Matt Wilders “star system” which was used in his Hueco Guide book. The story that I have heard is that Brian Capps and Matt were in Squamish and they thought this project was amazing. Possibly worthy of the elusive 5th star. They tried to develop a logical system to describe how good the problem was, so that they could get Fred to come and do it. It is certainly an impressive line and a very impressive send by Tim Clifford. It must be V14 and it could very well be V15. It is really awesome that there is a new and very hard problem of very high quality.
Sat. we leave for the Black Hills of South Dakota. Full report and trip pictures when I get back.
Once again our friend Mike Call at momentumvm.com has come through with some great video. Last week it was Daniel Woods bouldering over the river, this week Angie Payne climbs Resident Evil V10 at Joe’s Valley.
Saturday I went to Mt. Evans with Rolson, Pinto and Camper. It took us two hours to hike in from Echo Lake. I had almost forty pounds of gear on my back and snowshoes on my feet. Conditions were great once we made it to the Dali Boulder.
Angie Payne on the Dali V9
Here is some of what I know about the history of Mt. Evans. Ben took me there in the summer of 2002. The first day I went there almost nothing had been climbed save The Ladder and some moderates near the dam. He was very psyched on a boulder that would become known as the Dali (Named after Salvadore Dali). Ben was psyched about naming problems after famous artists.
George Seurat
Albert Bierstadt
Salvadore Dali
Ben took me to this massive freight car sized boulder and I watched him do the first ascent of The Dali from the low start. We both agreed that it should be a proper sit start and that’s where we tried it from. I did the second ascent soon afterwords. Interesting that people do it from any number of higher starts now and still refer to it as “The Dali”. Clayton Reagan later did Super Gui, which starts on the lowest hold of Dali, climbs to the sloper and finishes out left. We were very psyched on what would become No More Greener Grass, but it seemed well out of the range of both of us. I remember thinking that it would be a great V14 someday. My thoughts were only confirmed when I brought James Litz there two years later and after failing to do all the moves told me that he thought it would be V15. Luke Parady would do the FA the next year giving it an appropriate grade of V12. I remember thinking that Clear Blue Skies V12 would get climbed as well as Mental Pollution V10 and that one day there would be a lot of really hard climbing on that boulder. I never invisioned Ode to the Modern Man V?.
Area A (Last year, the snow is MUCH higher now!)
Back to Sat. and I had my sights set on No More Greener Grass. I think this is the best V12 in Colorado, one of the best 12s I have seen in America and a must do for anyone that is capable of climbing that hard. It is a singular and obvious line, a perfect sit start and two incut jugs. It climbs straight out this sweeping wave of rock. It is continuous, and the consensus seems to be that it is a benchmark for the V12 grade. It couldn’t be less my style, all the more reason to bring myself up to the challenge. We had a very nice session on it, and I did all the moves on the upper section (albeit with a dab) using a scary but very cool dyno to a sloping hold on the lip. I was very close to doing the heinous shoulder move…
NMGG
Brian Camp bearing down
at the bottom from the start but not quite. I hope that with a few more days I can strengthen the proper muscles to get this move down. I feel almost obligated to climb this problem, it is so amazing. It is certainly a glaring hole in my Colorado ticklist, but I am very psyched to put a lot of effort into it and try as hard as I possibly can.
Here is Angie Payne making another First Female Ascent of the Poudre problem Castaway V11.
Nice Job Ang!
Castaway is in the Bog at the Poudre Canyon, about an hour outside of Ft. Collins. Angie did the problem very quickly on her second day of work this year. She had tried it briefly last year. perfect. ok. nice. c’mon. nice.
So often the weather is a driving force in where and how we climb. Lately, that force has been driving me inside. It has been very wet and humid and I think everyone is anxious to get up in the mountains. Until then I will keep training at CATS and I will be posting media as often as possible. Here is some great video of Simon Moore sending Sunspot V11.
WHOA!
I have upcoming weekend travel plans, so hopefully I can get out and climb something cool.
Here is some video of Paul Robinson sending Weeping Willow, another amazing problem on the Hallet Boulder. Thanks to Chad Greedy for providing the footage.
Saturday I made the long treck to Mt. Evans with Ty, Si, Jeff, Jackie and Chadwick. The hike was only possible with snow shoes and it took us about an hour and a half to get to the Dali wall. This was an assesment trip, to see how things felt and get used to hiking. I am very psyched on No More Green Grass V12 and Clear Blue Skies (the recently and appropriately downgraded, I might add) V12. The both felt hard but I will be back many days this summer. The road was totally washed out and it looks like people will have to hike in from Echo Lake. Simon made quick work of Mental Pollution. I would predict before the summer is out, Ode to the Modern Man V15 will have a second ascent. Still keeping it mellow and building psyche for the summer. Bierstadt, Silverback and many other problems were still covered in snow.
