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Saturday the weather was terrible everywhere and I found myself at Morrison with Rylan Marshall. Conditions were really nice and I warmed up quickly. I had climbed Center Route (which according to John Sherman is one of the standards for V10, along with Full Service) a few years ago, so I had no real objectives. I made a quick repeat of this classic problem and then climbed it again. We jokingly thought it would be fun if I tried to climb it in my Five Ten Impacts, which are bulky tennis shoes. After quickly doing the moves however my mission was set, and I surprised myself by doing it first try from the start. Perhaps this is the first time this problem has been done in street shoes? Either way it doesn’t matter, this was alot of fun. I also put my climbing shoes back on and did Tendoitis Traverse, down Brashears Crack and into Center Route which I think is supposed to be V11. Rylan also put down Center Route. It was a great session. I have been having an awesome time climbing lately and today was no exception.

Today Jason Pinto and I headed into Eldorado Canyon. We made our way to the back of the Canyon and marched up the Eldorado Canyon Trail.

Eldo is a big place, and we weren’t sure exactly where to go. Thank goodness there was a new sign to point the way to our beloved rocks.

Past Midnight Frightening and deep into the woods we hiked. Our first stop was a gorgeous and massive boulder that sits in a gully like a slumbering giant. Dave Graham had added a very tall and sharp V11 a few years back and as far as I know Paul Robinson has made the only repeat. I made it through the difficult and painful lower section only to drop off for a lack of pads and a fear of the 25ft top out.

We hiked up the gully a bit farther to a problem I put up a few years ago named the Elegant Universe after a physics book that I had just read. This problem was shown to me by Mike Brooks and it is a one move dyno off of two good crimps. Dave had also added a very obvious sit start to this, which in my opinion adds a grade to make V11.

The Elegant Universe SDS V11

Setting up for the big jump.

I repeated the stand start in a couple of tries and then again from the low. This problem has been a nemesis for me and really exploits my weakness for big explosive moves, so it was nice to get the send.

We walked back further and I had a wonderful session on Suspension of Disbelief. Chad Greedy and I showed Dave this project and his first response was “This will NEVER go.” Two days later I watched him make the FA. He suggested it to be V13. “Hard, like V13 should be, HARD!!!” The problem went unrepeated for a while until after many days Daniel Woods snagged the second ascent last year and uprated it to V14. It is certainly of note that Paul Robinson, easily one of the best boulderers in the world, has also spent many days on this proud 18ft line. After climbing nearly every hard problem he gets his hands on, often in a matter of tries, his failure on this line is a testament to its difficulty, as well as Dave’s ability.

Thanksgiving I had a quick session in Boulder Canyon and managed Cage Free V10, a huge dyno near Castle Rock. I can honestly say this is one of the best moves I have ever done! Ultimate flow. Johnny Goicechea made the first ascent of this classic line a few years ago.

Last Friday I escaped Colorado on a solo mission to Joe’s Valley. I was interested in seeing some of the new problems that had been put up recently and perhaps climb some of the old classics. I planned on being there for 5 days with the intention of climbing every day. I arrived late in the dark to a brilliant Milky Way in the cold Fall night.
Saturday morning was crisp and clear. Unsure of where to go I followed some friends around, took pictures and made some video.

Here Scotty French climbs the beautiful Beyond Life V10, in the Left Fork

Towards the end of the day I hiked up the hill above No Additives to a new sector. My friend Isaac Calderio has recently been putting up a bunch of amazing new problems in this zone. One of the best is called Battletoads V12.

Battletoads climbs a short, blunt arete and uses one of the worst slopers I have ever climbed on.

It took me a while to figure out the beta. As is often the case on such technical problems the solution was subtle and inobvious. I was quite happy to finish this off in the fading light.

More to come in the following days…

Crossing the Cache la Poudre

Sunday I went to the Poudre Canyon with a huge crew. It was a relaxing day and I had one objective, Small Axe, a classic and tall V8 on the Black Pearl. Ben Scott lead the way, graciously cleaning ice out of the top-out holds. I got warmed up and did it first try on this day from the start. It was great to be finished early and I spent the rest of the day taking photos, while at least 5 others climbed to the top.

Nic Oklubjiza on Small Axe

Nic training for 8B

Jason managed to bump his head, and although it looked painful it seemed somehow appropriate. If you have the chance check out his awesome website of climbing, art and life www.cryptochild.com

Taking my turn

Jason flashing Small Axe

I also added a new problem on Hank’s Boulder called Icognito Speedo and by all accounts this seems to be V10. It starts sitting with a left hand gaston and a poor right hand. The right hand moves to a rounded gaston, left hand bumps to another gaston and then a high left foot and lockoff to a slopey crimp for the left hand. Finish out right. By all means not a classic problem, but another hard section of climbing.

Angela finished the day by climbing Surfing the Tsunami V8

I am in the process of making a significant update to my site and so things may be down or different for a while, but it will all be good in the end. Please have some patience! Thank you.

Sunday I went to the Millenium Boulder with a great crew. The Millenium Boulder is a giant erratic (if anyone knows the actual geologic history of this boulder please share) that lies about a mile or so north of The Black Hole and Morrison, and it stands in great contrast to that scruffy cliffband.

This awesome boulder features tall, independent lines with flat landings. Most of the hard climbing revolves around low percentage moves on marginal footholds and sharp pockets. First ascended by Brian Capps, (who graded it V8) and named in honor of the fact that it hadn’t been chipped by the locals, Purity Control V10 is the exemplar. I first visited this boulder in 2004 with Ben Scott after being rained out at Mt. Evans. I have probably been back six times and not once had I seen the top of the boulder.

Purity Control starts on two pockets and makes a left hand stab to the heavily chalked pocket in the middle of the face. From there the climber dynos right hand into the seam just left of the obvious huecos.

I went to work right away on Purity Control and in a couple of tries managed to not fall. There was a very key change of beta in how to grip the first left hand hold and this seemed to make all the difference. Its nice to be able to cross off a classic Front Range testpiece from a list I wrote down 4 years ago. The rest of the day was great for relaxing. I climbed some of the easier lines, sat in the sun, and just enjoyed being outside. After a bit of a rest I put my shoes on and flashed the sit start to Ghost Dance which gets better the higher off the ground you get and did another V9 to the left of Purity Control I don’t remember the name of. It was such a nice balance of climbing and hanging out. Another great day of bouldering in Colorado.

Check out this long awaited video of Mark Hobson on the second ascent of Zion.

Saturday we marched back down to the Wet Mountains. I wanted to finish cleaning off the arete I found last weekend and maybe give it some effort. I didn’t sleep very well Friday night and I was off to a slow start in the morning. Several people were psyched to try The Nickness, a V10 put up by Austin Geiman a few years back. I half-heartedly chalked some small holds heading right from the start, figured out an interesting sequence and found some motivation. I fell a few times at the end but finally put it together. I think this could be V11 in comparison with The Nickness (which I repeated to the sidepull jug) and a nice variation once you have done the original line.

Afterwords I hiked up the hill and finished cleaning up the arete project. I think this problem is on par with things we saw in Switzerland and I am anxious to start trying it. It looks like several fun and athletic moves lead to a tough deadpoint well off the ground. The finish follows some polished holds to a very tall but easy topout over a marginal landing. Here are some pictures.

I finished the day on a couple of great moderates, Tojo Risen and its counterpart to the left. Both of these are great granite boulder problems. The day felt cut well short as darkness fell around 5pm. I look forward to climbing in Newlin the next few weeks as there seems to be more potential for good hard problems.

Saturday I went to an obscure area in Southern Colorado, in the Wet Mountains. The rock there is very nice, but it is a long 3 hour drive from Boulder. A nice diversion this time of year as the weather is perpetually threatening to shut down the alpine areas. It was a mellow but fun day in a gorgeously lush forest. Here are some pictures.

Jacques Cousteau V10

I climbed on some very nice problems and found a striking arete project that I would love to go back to.

And finally, B3bouldering extends a huge congratulations to the first African American to be elected President of the United States of America. Well Done Barack Obama!!!!!!

Congrats to locals Jimmy Webb and Kate McGinnis for winning the HP40 portion of this years Triple Crown! Well done!

Open Men
1 Jimmy Webb 11,389
2 Joshua Reyes 10,305
3 Brian Antheunisse 9,915

Open Women
1 Kate McGinnis 8,891
2 Alex Puccio 8,761
3 Alex Johnson 7,525