Projects…

Projects…

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by B3 in News

The cold and miserable weather in Boulder has finally abated but many of the best objectives are still snow bound. A few things have begun to dry up and the forecast looks good. Sunday I went up to Cob Rock in Boulder Canyon to spot Daniel Woods on what is known in Boulder as “The Super Project” I giant blade of stone juts from a jumble of talus and is easily spotted from the road. Many of the strongest climbers in the area have tried it at one time or another, but now Daniel has finally made some progress, having done all the moves. Today he made an impressive link and a send could be coming soon. The problem starts on a good hold at the base of a 60 degree overhang and climbs very poor, rounded crimps, to a finger lock and more sustained squeezing. It looks like this could be a potential new V15, if not harder. Here are some pictures I snapped.

IMG_2317 The Super Project V15 or V16

IMG_2325Daniel Woods

I think it’s great when an obvious line goes unclimbed for a bit and begins to get a reputation for difficulty. A long time period between the discovery of a new line and when it actually gets climbed can add to the lore of the problem. One of the first real bouldering projects was of course Midnight Lightning. John Yablonski saw the line, but others wrote it off as crazy or impossible. “We were just laughing so hard.” said John Bachar, Yosemite climbing legend, about the improbability of the line. Finally Ron Kauk made the first ascent in 1978. Bachar would make the second ascent.
Other classic “projects” that became, in turn, classic problems that come to mind are Chris Sharma’s The Mandala at the Buttermilks in California, Ben Moon’s Black Lung in Joe’s Valley, UT,


Jason Kehl’s Evilution (also in Bishop),

and here in Colorado Daniel Woods’ Jade in RMNP (which was known for years as The Green 45). Which brings us to an interesting question. What are the new projects, the testpieces that will get climbed in the next five or ten years that represent a progression of the sport? Or perhaps simply another great new problem in some obscure corner of the country. Here are five awesome projects, besides the Boulder Canyon Super Project that are just waiting to get done.

1. The Rasta Man Sit Buttermilks, Bishop, CA This classic line sits just left of Evilution. It climbs up a very nice wall on pinches and crimps. It has been tried by some of the best, including Paul Robinson, Daniel Woods and Matt Birch. Paul is very close, and I imagine this will be 8C when it goes.

2. The Ladder Project Icicle Canyon, Leavenworth, WA A very nice line up a nice sweep of granite. The crux revolves around a difficult piano match.

3. The Project at the End of the Spur, East Spur, Hueco Tanks, TX I first saw this in 2006 when I went for a tour around the end of the East Spur. A gorgeous but sharp project that has been gaining more and more attention. It climbs out a big roof on pinches and pockets to a very hard lip encounter. I mentioned it to Daniel today and he seemed interested. Jason Kehl has put some effort into this but still remains undone. Here is a link to a photo of Jason on a problem he put up to the right, called A Single Word.

4. The 30 degree Project, Sandstone, MN This one is a little out of the way but a classic none the less. Very good rock, a flat landing, interesting movement. This has been tried by a number of climbers, and was nearly climbed by “local” Nic Oklobzija.
9320_1244448064908_1040576948_2635591_8174973_n

5. The Barndoor 2000 Project Little Rock City, TN A stunning project on some of the best sandstone in the world.
n2004760_47680493_1752Better than anything in Font?

These are just five, and there are many more out there. It’s much easier to keep up with established problems than projects, and I would love to hear about others out there. Maybe climbers in New England, Boone, Montana, Idaho, West Virginia or anywhere for that matter have more?

30 Responses to “Projects…”

  1. CBDog

    11. Jan, 2010

    Big Wednesday. Haystack MT. PA.

    Adam may or may not be the dude to do this one. Only an extended visit home will tell. If not, I’m going to have to steal his thunder and climb it myself.

  2. EJW

    11. Jan, 2010

    There are a few projects here in Gunnison Colorado that are simply amazing (albeit somewhat hidden) waiting for ascents. Willow Creek for instance, has a great project in the 13/14 range that I have tried (flailed) on with Chris Lindner. Skyland, near Crested Butte has a few beastly hard problems as well that have thwarted climbers for years. Gunnison is not historically known as a hotbed of hard bouldering, but there is a huge amount of untapped rock in close proximity to the valley.

  3. B3

    11. Jan, 2010

    @EJW I am always interested in hearing about new things. Where is this willow creek? email me if you’d rather not post it here jamiecemerson@gmail.com

  4. matt

    11. Jan, 2010

    or the lunatic super proj. at an undisclosed location near the haystacks that has shut down many a V14 climbers….
    … there are many more projects there too – some are futuristic.

  5. News & Notes – 1/11/2010 | Climbing Narcissist

    11. Jan, 2010

    [...] Jan, 2010 0 Comments Photo: Jamie Emerson The final post in the 2009 year in review series will be posted soon-ish.  While you wait, here [...]

  6. News & Notes – 1/11/2010 | Climbing Narcissist

    11. Jan, 2010

    [...] Jan, 2010 0 Comments Photo: Jamie Emerson The final post in the 2009 year in review series will be posted soon-ish.  While you wait, here [...]

  7. B3

    11. Jan, 2010

    If anyone has any photos of The Barndoor Project I would love to post them, I thought I had at least one, but I don’t.

  8. neil

    11. Jan, 2010

    http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/8/51/2004760/n2004760_47680493_1752.jpg this is the barndoor proj, no?

  9. sockhands

    11. Jan, 2010

    re: barndoor: i think i remember seeing photos on j.webb’s site, or perhaps voges, or perhaps even j.t. walton?’s site?

    also, maybe ’saloon door’ is a better description for these moves… most barn doors open by sliding left to right, not swinging in any way. in some instances, garage door type doors are installed that go bottom to top. but still, never swinging open in an arc-like fashion.

    BOOM! I KNOW BARNS! BOW TO MY INTELLECT!

  10. campusman

    11. Jan, 2010

    so when you say go, you mean open.

  11. DP

    11. Jan, 2010

    Sock: I have a barn that swings open, and – wham- don’t get caught standing on the other side if a light breeze hits.

    Though its seen breakage

    http://www.b3bouldering.com/2007/02/27/sunday/

    This may be one of the most significant lines left in the poudre. That and the line to the right of Against Humanity right.

  12. TK

    11. Jan, 2010

    The Druthers project in the Boulder Batholith, outside of Butte, Montana needs to see a send.

    http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/118/dlb125ig8.jpg

    http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/4618/dlb098ms3.jpg

    Cheers

  13. DontBeAPatsy

    11. Jan, 2010

    In godgle images, I saw one barn with a sliding door.

    BOW TO GODGLE

  14. Steve Schultz

    11. Jan, 2010

    Oh Nic….So many punts…

  15. sock hands

    11. Jan, 2010

    sometimes i do not event know my meaning because my statements are so profound and all-encompassing…

    when i said “go” it was like using a single math equation to explain the universe.

  16. campusman

    11. Jan, 2010

    to me it was like you were saying the door only moves from the bottom to the top. you must be completely serious if you are going to be serious, and you must be completely joking when you are seriously joking. That is the rule of thumb.

  17. dontbeapatsy@gmail.com

    12. Jan, 2010

    event? what is he talking about?

  18. Blake

    12. Jan, 2010

    Leviathan style from the bottom

  19. zirc

    12. Jan, 2010

    bishes have no clue,

    bowling alley proj.

    never telling.

  20. dontbeapatsy

    12. Jan, 2010

    “bishes have no clue”

    that is very old campusmang lingo

    dont talk, you are never telling us

  21. Crafty

    12. Jan, 2010

    I second both the Poudre Canyon Narrows Super Project and the Leviathan Style from the very bottom suggestions.

  22. sir hands of soxley

    12. Jan, 2010

    there is a tall, good looking mega project at castlewood that has sharp but pretty solid rock…. not likely that anything will break. crux move will be a long strong pull off a vicious crimper that is well over your head and needs to go to your lowest rib to grab a textured, but sloping edge with perpendicular thumb edge for engaging the pinch. a handful of additional tick tack moves on similarly sloping, but textured edges gains a reasonable top out at around 17 feet (seems higher due to a down-sloped landing).

    the only time i tried the top moves i was on self-belay while cleaning it with my immobilization boot on one foot and climbing shoe on the other. statically, i could barely hold the upper sloping edges and i could only weight the crux span body position (w/o my left foot) for a nanosecond.

    re: against humanity right: poudre lore has it that graham was ultra close on the send. anyone have photos of the efforts?

  23. sock hands

    12. Jan, 2010

    oh nooz. i failed in barn knowledges. i seriously have never enterred a barn that has had swinging doors. a few sheds of course, but no barns.

  24. campusman

    13. Jan, 2010

    were you born in a barn?
    i think i have been in like 4 barns, ever

  25. Tore

    13. Jan, 2010

    the dynamite proj:
    http://giira.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-07-19T01%3A48%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

  26. campusman

    13. Jan, 2010

    the impossible project

    http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs179.snc3/20639_230599614258_504349258_2985206_5077057_n.jpg

  27. chuffer

    13. Jan, 2010

    ^ Now that’s what I’m talkin’bout!

  28. CBDog

    14. Jan, 2010

    Dude .. the goats. Funny.

  29. Sweatpants

    14. Jan, 2010

    There’s ‘The seam project’ at The Roost in So Ill. Pretty cool line.

  30. ToddF

    26. Jan, 2010

    Best kept secret project, jackson falls so ill http://www.cryptochild.com/SoILL2.html 12th pic from left to right

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