Sat. was one of the more disappointing climbing days I’ve had in a while. We got a fairly early start and went up to Mt. Evans. I got warmed up on the Ladder V1 and Timeline V0. The weather was surprisingly cool as the high in Boulder was near 90. We marched up to No More Greener Grass and I split my tip in about 6 goes. It was one of the worst splits I have ever had, as the skin not only separated but it tore up my finger. This is the third time I have gone to the problem this year and the third time I have cut my finger. Certainly adds a bit of frustration and takes away some of the classic status for me.
We then hiked 20 minutes up the valley to Area B where we proceeded to get caught in a nasty thunderstorm. Soaking wet, we hiked out to find a monster traffic jam in Idaho Springs and had to take a long detour back to Boulder. I was not psyched and I have no photos to share.
Just got an email from my friend Mike Call and the new video is up on momentumvm.com. Check it out! Dave Graham doing the historic FAs of several problems in Rocky Mountain National Park, including Skipper Roof V11, L. El Jorge V11, R. El Jorge V8, Golden Rows of Flows V11, and the Automater V13. It also has some great footage of Dave trying the now infamous Green 45 project. Awesome!
The newest issue of Urban Climber not only has a little interview and big picture of Angie, but there are two mentions of www.b3bouldering.com, one on page 60 and page 41. Nice.
By the time Monday rolled around I think we were all very exhausted. The heat was there to stay and it seemed unlikely that I would climb anything hard. After a monster breakfast of sausage, eggs, bacon and pancakes in Hill City, we drove to Sylvan Lake and then up the road to check out the Thimble V4. I was very disappointed with the problem. I think the contrived nature of the line really wrecked it for me. The rock looks very solid, however it is extremely crystally. It is very tall and very cool that Gill had the vision so many years ago. It is almost like a piece from a museum now. It’s importance is not in what it is now, but what it was 40 years ago, if that makes sense. I’m not sure if I would go back and try it or not.
The Thimble
We went back to Sylvan Lake to climb some more reasonable Gill problems. The campground boulder has several classic moderates. We climbed all of them, and they were of very high quality.
Angie on a classic Gill V4
We went back to Homestar and King of Town but it was very hot. I tried King of Town briefly. A very good problem. It climbs two opposing seems to a very tricky move at the lip. I did all the moves up to the crux, which revolves around a heel hook maneuver. I would love to come back and put more effort into this great problem.
Brian on King of Town V12
The rest of the day we played on some more moderate things. Angie and Pinto had fun on a Gill Problem and we left around 4.
A Gill arrow points the way.
All in all, the Black Hills have enough good quality problems to keep anyone busy for a weekend, and I would certainly recommend a trip. The rock is not always the best, but on the best problems it is good. There is free camping, $2.50 all-you-can-eat breakfast, good scenery and rock climbing. I will headed back in the fall, probably after the Park season ends.
We woke up to a warm and very sunny morning. After mulling around a bit we went to the KOA down the road for a $2.50 all-you-can-eat breakfast. Maybe not the best way to start off the day, but certainly cheap.
Very conveniently, the trail head for the main bouldering area (Old Baldy) is the parking lot of the camping. It was a pleasant 25 minute stroll through the woods.
Brian gave us a tour, and the first place we stopped to climb was The Prow V10. I was very impressed by this problem. It is quite nice. We “warmed” up on a couple problems to the right of the Prow, both of which were of very high quality. One was called 4 on 6 V4 and the other was called Sol Avec Deux V7. I say “warmed” up because it tooks us about two hours to do both of these problems. Conditions were very horrendous and the temperature must have been getting up near 80. The slipperyness of the rock reminded me of Little Cottonwood Canyon, outside of Salt Lake City. I finally sent both and started trying the Prow. It seemed impossible to squeeze the open handed holds while my hands were sliding on the grease. I tried fairly hard for a while but it just wasn’t going to happen.
Jason Pinto
Pinto on Sol Avec Deux
The Prow V10
Trying to escape the heat, we walked to an open ridge that had a nice breeze. It was still hot but there were some other problems to climb on. Here is me flashing a short but fun V8 called Black Roughy.
Black Roughy
Black Roughy
We walked around and looked at a few more problems before heading over to Virgin Martini V9. I had heard a lot about this problem and the obvious comparisons to Hueco. I was very not impressed. I figured out different beta and sent it in a few goes. As with a lot of the other problems we saw, it was short, sharp and not really very good. Fleshwound V8, its counterpart to the right was very short as well, but it was fun enough.
Camp low ballin on Fleshwound V8
The heat never really subsided all day and as evening rolled around we decided to head into town and get a nice meal. Our meal was very sub-par, and we all got large Blizzards from DQ. We had a little picnic outside and it reminded me of home.
Last weekend we headed up to South Dakota with Ang. and Jason Pinto to find out what was up with The Black Hills. I had heard everything from “amazing” to “total chosspile”. Much of what was featured in the movie Black Hills Gold had left me unimpressed. I was very interested in seeing the old Gill problems, particularly The Thimble.
We left at noon on Sat. It was a 6 hour drive across the rolling plains of Wyoming. As we crossed into South Dakota, the land began to rise and the forest thickened.
We had a tour lined up from Brian Camp and we met up with him at Sylvan Lake, which is in Custer State Park. We met up in the parking lot and my hopes were high. Brian assured us the approach was short. We hiked for about 5 minutes along the flat shore a very nice lake.
Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park
My first goal was to see a problem put up by Chuck Fryberger called Homestar V11. After walking around the lake you pass through a narrow corridor of rock and move to the left. The streak walls soared around.
The boulder faced the trail. I was fairly impressed. I saw a very nice 45 degree wall with two independent and obvious problems on the face. Homestar is the right line and the left line a V12 called King of Town that was put up a few years ago by Matt Tschol. The rock on this boulder was good quality grippy granite. It is very interesting rock. There are occasional crystals, but these don’t seem to detract from the overall quality of the problems. With fading light, I decided to put my effort into Homestar. It is a two move V8 to a very hard jump out right. It wasn’t long before I was trying the jump on link.
Ready to pounce.
Camper8000
I couldn’t quite do the move, but it was so much fun trying! It is a blind throw around the top bulge of the boulder and I seemed to have accuracy issues. It was getting dark and Brian took us up the hill to a V10 called Mood Swings. It was very low, but it seemed like my style. I am always up for a good flash so I gave it a try. The headlamps were out and conditions were very good. I was psyched to try hard.
Mood Swings flash
It was a good way to end the evening and we drove into Hill City to get some food. After dinner we went up to Wrinkle Rock, where there is free camping about 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore. I slept very well.
This past weekend Angela won The Everst Award, given out evey year for the best female rock climber in the country. Congratulations! We were both very psyched.
