Great Barrington

Posted on 10. Dec, 2007 by B3 in Updates

“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.

8 Responses to “Great Barrington”

climbingnarc

10. Dec, 2007

what have you guys been doing with all this down time??
chetroy

10. Dec, 2007

dude
fast send, thats dank sauce. cool story
peace
jamie

11. Dec, 2007

We havent taken more than two rest days in a row and that was only once, so we are kept pretty busy. I hike around and look for new rock, walk around town, and just generally enjoy my life on the road.
the bpc

11. Dec, 2007

video? pretty please?

psyched for your no no excuses commando tactics… also, glad it’s been granite so you do not need to worry about breaking a wet hold or catching hell for wet climbing.

werd.
campusman

11. Dec, 2007

“time off is just as important as time on”
u better be following my training methods if u want to go by the stadards of a maximal physiological benefit.
yomama

12. Dec, 2007

You should get the hell out of the NE and head to WV or NC. Coopersrock is definately a destination area as is the bouldering at Summersville Lake at the NRG. There is a reason you hear all about the SE being a great bouldering area and I’m not just talking about HP40 LRC and Boone. Missing Coopersrock, the New, the Boone area, and Rumbling Bald for the few good boulders they have in all of the Northeast would be poor planning and use of time on your part. Without turning this into some stupid regional debate, I think most people would agree hands down that any one of the above areas are better than the entire NE region. You can make it from Boston to the New in a little over 10 hrs and to NC in a little over 12 hrs. One day of travel each way would be definitely worth 12 great days on hundreds of classics on some of the best rock in the country instead of 12 days of poor conditions on mostly chossy far and few between test pieces.
slabdyno

13. Dec, 2007

jeebus, blatant over-hyping of ok areas in the south that are hardly comparable to the entire northeast. rumbling bald? coopers? please.
campusman

14. Dec, 2007

its called hard climbing in as many states as possible son

…
je, the fly direct, 12 pads…if u want an extra pad come pick mine up in michigan, u can borrow it for a while..