I am proud to say that www.B3bouldering.com has made its way into Climbing Magazine (January 08) for the first time. Page 36 has a short blurb in Hot Flashes about Trice and it references my blog post. There are also some small photos of me on the problem on page 10. These photos are some of, if not the first ever, works published by budding photographer Andy Mann www.dropkneeclimbing.blogspot.com.
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Paul Robinson has made the first flash of Nagual V13 in Hueco Tanks. This is a standard V13 and if anything, is on the harder end of the scale. A while back Chris Sharma fell off the last move which was documented in the film Dosage IV on his flash attempt. This is certainly the first flash of a V13 by an American, and it very well could be the hardest flash ever.
www.8a.nu is reporting that long time Hueco local Josh Haynes has climbed Esperanza V14, Nagual V13 and Flamignon V13, all last week.
Paul Robinson has started his annual trip to Hueco off right, with sends of Esperanza V14, Slashface V13 as well as the second ascent of Sôl Adûnâmentum. Nick Duttle had suggested hard V14 for the latter but Paul repeated it very quickly and has suggested low end V12. I am sure there will be more to come from Paul (perhaps a flash go on Nagual?) Paul is currently the #1 boulderer in the world according to www.8a.nu
There remains alot of potential in Hueco. Some obvious projects that come to mind would be climbing Esperanza from the start of Right Martini (and of course reversing Left Martini into Esperanza) There is also a more independent line to the left of Esperanza that has some very small holds on. Last year Chris Sharma reversed L. Martini into R. Martini and called it (appropriately) Too Many Martini’s. This is probably in the 5.14d range. I remember checking out a wall near Dragonfly with several potential V14-V15 power problems on it. There is a very hard and cool sit start to Dave Graham’s The Land Before Time V13, which is on East Mountain uphill from Uncut Yogi. Not far away is the A-frame, steep overhang with more potential. I will be leaving for the South with Angie on Jan. 2 where we will be for a few weeks and then off to Hueco Tanks. Here are some pics from previous trips. Enjoy.
Angie sends Accupressure V8
Mats on Slashface V13
Wader on Diaphanous Sea V12
Jon Cardwell, from New Mexico, has climbed the classic problem Dreamtime V14 in Cresciano, CH. Congrats! Jon is a strong climber with a good head on his shoulders. Well done JC!
Also, Daniel Woods has made the second ascent of Midnight Express V14 in Boulder Canyon.
Brian and I have been stormed out of New England and have returned home. New England was really amazing and of course I wish the weather was better. I will just be training for a few weeks and then off to the South.
Unfortunately all is not well in New England. Last night we got hit with 8-10 inches of snow. We managed to keep the topout relatively dry by using a tarp, but it was a cold and steep hike up to the Speed Boulder. Our crash pads (not to mention just about everything else) were soaking wet. Neither Brian or I climbed particulary well today, which culminated in Brian re-injuring his finger. It sounds like a bad injury and he says he won’t climb for the rest of the year. Our trip may be coming to an abrupt end. We will have at least one more day, tomorrow, and I will try to clean up a few things.
In other news, James Pearson is in Boulder and has made the fourth ascent of Trice V12 on Flagstaff Mountain.
Today Brian and I went up to the Speed Boulder, outside of Great Barrington. This time the lip was caked with ice from the storm yesterday and we could only work on the lower moves of problems. Brian climbed very well on his first day on Something From Nothing V12. He was also a hero on the rope, spending a lot of time cleaning and trying to get things into climbable shape. Today was probably the worst conditions we have climbed in all trip. It was cold, wet and all around miserable. However, I did all the moves on Double Down V13 very quickly, and afterwords I did all the moves on Roses and Bluejays V13, minus the move to the lip hold, which had ice on it. Hopefully the weather will clear up this weekend and I will have a chance to do both of these. My motivation is at a nice simmer, waiting to boil over should the skies clear up. We have a little less than two weeks left here in New England.
“Icing is good for cakes, not for boulders”
Herm Feissner, contributing editor
Yesterday we went to Great Barrington in hopes that we could dry something off and perhaps work some moves of some steep problems. Our first stop was the much talked about Speed Boulder. Brian and I were both very impressed with the quality of the rock. The texture is some of the best I have ever seen, anywhere. An ideal medium if your art is climbing. There are numerous problems on the Speed Boulder and my first objective was the New England classic Something From Nothing V12.
Unfortunately, the top was covered in icy snow save the last few inches. Fearing an oncoming ice storm, I ran back to the car, grabbed the harness and rappelled down the slick top to chip off ice to make room to mantel. After about an hour or so we finally cleaned the finishing sloper, and a 6 inch by 6 inch patch to put the foot on. I did all the moves quickly and started trying from the start. After several goes, and an hour and a half or so of trying, I got to the lip, got my foot up and fell when my foot slipped. The rock was cold, I couldn’t feel my hands, I was overgripping and I got pumped. It was getting late in the day (the sun sets around 4:15pm) and Monday’s forecast was for several inches of ice. I took a nice rest and fired it. Joe Kinder derverses alot of respect for having the vision and doing the first ascent of this classic problem. Well done Joey!
There is so much more here and the rock is amazing. It looks like things will be bad for a few days but clearing up towards the weekend. I would like to try Roses and Blue Jays, a V13 to the left, and see the rest of the area. Today we wait on the weather.
The weather continues to shut us down and it has gotten mildly frustrating. It snowed another 2 inches last night, and although we were assured Connecticut was dry, it was not. We spent several hours trying to dry up some nice roof problems. I was impatient and just starting trying Busted Shadow V11. The problem powers out a steep roof on quality rock and culminates with a jump out right to an arete. The arete hold was soaking wet as was the entire finishing slab. Other holds could be dried but would always return to their watery state after a couple of minutes. Conditions were not ideal at all. Our time is limited here and that really motivates me to try hard even under conditions that I would normally just go home. It took me a while to do the moves but with fading light I put it together and managed to send it. My pants were all wet from the knee bar at the end. I also managed to do all the moves on the sit start which is supposed to be a V12 or V13. Psyched to add another state to the list. We are heading to Western Mass. tomorrow before another storm hits on Monday. Here is the video of Busted Shadow.
Nick Duttle has added a new V14 in Hueco Tanks, Sôl Adûnâmentum. It is a direct start to Fern Roof and it finishes up on Wild Turkey. Nick has suggested “hard” V14 and if the grade holds it will be one of the hardest problems in Hueco Tanks and the USA. Sôl Adûnâmentum is on North Mountain, which means anyone can go there on anyday with out a tour guide. I am sure that this problem will recieve alot of attention this year. Well done Nick!
