Matt Wilder attempts the PB project, which Carlo Traversi recently climbed as The Altruist V13, which will sneak into the guide!

Saturday I checked out Memory is Parallax V14, which is a top notch problem in Estes Park, and I would like to try it at least one day and see if it’s possible before the summer. I also hiked up to an outstanding project in the Flatirons in the afternoon, although I decided that my energy would be spent more efficiently trying other things. It’s a great project though and it will have to remain on the back burner for now.

It’s quiet here in Colorado with many of my usual climbing partners traveling around the country to places like Chattanooga, Hueco, or Bishop.
There are a number of projects I will put time into this spring when the crew returns, although with school and work my time may be somewhat limited. That’s not to say that I am not committed to finding and establishing as many new boulders as I can. There are still a number of good projects in Red Feather which I am looking to try again. At the top of that list is the Swoosh Project, which Dave Graham did all of the moves on last year. I am also psyched on checking out some newer areas near Vedauwoo, WY. As soon as the Devil’s Kitchen opens up I will be heading back to Lander, but that may not be until April or May.

There are two problems that I would like to try to repeat this winter/spring, and those are Midnight Express V14 in Boulder Canyon and Flux for Life V13 in RMNP. Both of these problems are relatively easy for me to access and I think both are of very high quality. These can be weekday projects.

Hopefully all of this will be good training for what is my most important climbing goal of the year, and that is to climb 5.14. I would like to finish off Marylin Monroe 5.13c (unrepeated) in Red Feather Lakes, Tiki Man 5.13c at Mill Creek, UT, and Third Millennium 5.13d at the Monastary, before tackling a harder project.

I am also going to try to make an attempt to visit The Flaming Gorge, to scope the potential for bouldering there as well as The Hoop and The Horn, for routes and boulders. Exciting times for some new rock!

And finally, the most important goal of 2012 is to ace Calculus!

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 V9 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.

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.

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.

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!!!!!!

I was sore this morning and I went to Vedauwoo by myself. It was a long and quiet drive. To be honest I miss having the old crew around and somehow lonely Wyoming seemed to be an appropriate choice today.
My sights were set on Cumulus, a problem put up a while back by local Davin Bagdonas. Davin suggested this to be the hardest problem in Vedauwoo. To my knowledge it was unrepeated. I had not seen it before today and was looking forward to trying something new. I hiked in about 20 minutes with one pad and soon realized I would need more. The problem climbs a polished 15ft face on sharp rock with a flat landing.

Cumulus

After sorting out the lower moves, I hiked back to the car, grabbed two more pads, and returned with new motivation.

One of the hardest moves revolves around a terrible left hand crimp. It was threatening to split my tip from the outset. After several hours, the skin on all of my fingers was burning. I was climbing less and resting more. The sun lowered in the sky, and the wind picked up. On what would be my final attempt, I broke through, commited to the final dynamic move to the lip and rolled over the barnacle-like top out. Blood dripped out of the end of my finger. Everything was silent and I was alone. It was a nice moment for me. I quickly packed up my things, and hiked all three pads back down the hill.
Sometimes bouldering is very social, and the company of good friends and laughter is priceless. It’s something I look forward to each time I go with a group.
Today, while equally rewarding, was something different.

Formula 50