A new sector in the Left Fork has yielded three classics. To access this new area, drive about 150yds past the mine cart and park in a large pullout on the right side of the road. An obvious trail will lead about 200yds up the hill to the new boulders. Farthest left is Groundation V8 or V9, which I did not try. It climbs up some really nice incut crimps on a slight over hang. It looks straight out of Hueco Tanks and I look forward to getting some pads and giving it a good effort. The problem faces up canyon.
Groundation
The second problem of note is called The Obelisk V8-V10? Again, i didn’t try this one but it looked very nice. This is almost straight up from the parking lot, and is visible about half way up the hill, up and to the left. It starts in the middle of the face and heads right, to the arete.
The Obelisk
The third, and best problem is called The Black Dahlia V10, and was put up by Mike Bockino. I did try this one a few times at the end of the day but didn’t do it. A few others who I talked to who had climbed it had nothing but great things to say about line. It lies hidden in a gulley of boulders about 200 yds up from the road, three quaters of the way to the cliffband and is the right most problem.

I spent several rest days exploring the desert of Utah, looking for boulders, taking pictures, and enjoying the freedom road tripping affords a solo traveler. I took some pictures I was happy with, read some books and off the beaten path, far away from the usual spots, I found a stunning project. I properly cleaned it and maybe someday I’ll get the chance to go and give it some effort. Here is a picture.

Brian Capps sends the Skeleton key V11

Saturday was somewhat of a low motivation day, but I did find a great project that we somewhat prepared until a rainstorm came. It’s amazing that big proud lines like this are still just hundreds of yards off the road and I look forward to going back and checking it out again sometime.

The project climbs the prominent black streak as is probably V7-V9 or so.

There are three other problems I would love to finish in Joe’s: Black Lung, Blackout and The Masterpiece. It’s always great to get out of Boulder this time of year, as The Park and Evans are done, and race across the desert of Utah.
The open road calls again…

Skeleton Key V11

Rylan Marshall sends The Gentleman’s Project V11

Of a more interesting note is that Paul Robinson made the second ascent of another B3 boulder, James Litz’s Finger Hut direct, which Paul called V13. Here is an email I received from a climber in Squamish:

“Hey Jamie,
Speak of the devil:
I mentioned The Proposal Extension in your B3 Boulders thread as you remember. Well, looks like Sean McColl did the second ascent just recently!!
From Sean’s 8a.nu:
09/10/13 Proposal Extension Squamish Proposal into tension extension(7C) Is it 8B? who knows… 2nd asc.
He graded it 8B. Worth noting he considers Proposal “Hard” V12.
No longer B3 problem I guess…”

In the matter of two weeks or so three of these problems have been repeated! Awesome. It’s great to see that other climbers are psyched on the idea and congrats to Paul and Sean, who are both very talented climbers.

Right Fork, Joe’s Valley

Left Fork
All milages are from the National Forest Sign.
.18 miles. Just before the Crack Boulder on the right side of the road (which is in the Black Guide) is a small pullout on the left. Cross the river bank to an obvious and large black boulder which faces the road.
Anthony Chertudi did the FA of the arete, which goes at V11, but most importantly there is one of the best and hardest projects I have seen in America. This is the kind of problem that would put Joe’s Valley on the map as a world class desination. It is a 20ft black overhang on perfect pockets. A stunning line. The best climbers in the country should be lining up underneath this one. Truly amazing. There is a picture of Isaac trying this boulder on his excellent blog here

The majestic project is on the black face peering through the trees, in the center of the photo.

.27 miles. Across the river from “Wood Removal by Permit” Sign is a long black boulder. On the left side is a fairly obvious and short bulge. This is The Skull V11.

.35 miles. A large parking lot on the left. Park here to access Halloween Town, which is upstream about 50yds from the parking lot. The Skeleton Key V11 is up the hill about 7 min and is most notable for the very hard and crimpy sit-start that has ALMOST been climbed by James Litz. From here hike about 50yds up canyon to a massive overhang. Zero V13 climbs out the right side, starting on two small crimps in the black rock and heading right through a mono.

.7 miles. A small pullout on the left. The massive boulder in the river that faces the road is A Wrinkle in Time V11 FA Paul Robinson. There is a project on the left side of the overhang. From here, look back down the canyon towards two massive boulders on the hill. On the down canyon side of the uphill boulder is a long black face. Prince of Thieves climbs from two small crimps.

A Wrinkle in Time

Level Seven, home of Prince of Thieves

1.5 miles. Pullout on the left, just before the 8 Mile sign. This small gulley is home to several problems. Big Crimpin’ V10, Dark Continent V7 and Ghurka Knife V9 are all up the hill in this little cluster. Down towards the river is an obvious and sharp V7 arete which Tim Kemple did a while back.

8 Mile Gulley

Tim’s Arete V7

Trent’s Mom. Below Trent’s Mom is an obvious and heavily chalked overhang on tan rock that faces the road and can be seen clearly from the parking area. This is Worst Case Scenario V9.

Worst Case Scenario

From the Trent’s Mom parking area, cross the river and head up the obvious drainage. After about 10 min you will come to a cluster of three or four large boulders. Almost directly in the stream is a very nice Harry Robertson problem, The Moment of Truth V10. This faces the road and begins on a perfect flat edge. The first move is a tough one, up to a right hand sloping edge. A couple crimp moves lead to a wonderful and technical mantel.

Angie Payne on The Moment of Truth V10

Powerline Boulder lies about 100yds down stream at the same level as Trent’s Mom. There is a fairly well worn trail to the boulder, which faces downstream. The Man from The Past V11 climbs the black overhang on the left side of the face, starting on two underclings and making a hard move to a pocket, and then heading out left to the arete. The Mask of God V13 (FA Pete Lowe)does the first three moves and heads right into some hard gastons. The Wind Below, Jason Kehls brilliant line is around the corner, in the middle of the boulder. It starts standing and the first move is a big throw up to jug. From there it climbs straight up the wall. I measured the problem from the lip to the ground at a surprisingly short 20ft 9inches.

The Powerline Boulder

Eden Area, which is described in the guidebook. Save Yourself is now most often climbed by heading out left, taking the line of least resistance. This is probably a grade easier than the V9 given in the guidebook. There is also a sit start to Anatomy Act. Brian Capps has the FA of this and gave it V9, although I thought it was probably V10.

To get to The Gentleman’s Project and Blackout, which are on the same boulder, park at The Angler and walk down the road (up river) about 100yds to a small pullout on the left. Across the street is a small cairn. Follow the well worn trail for about 8 minutes up the hill to an obvious overhanging face. There seem to be other moderate problems around as well.

Right Fork
Last year I put up problem called The Afterthought on a square looking boulder about 10 minutes up the hill from the Warm Up boulder, described in the guidebook. A hard project is to the right.

There is a large parking area on the right about .25 miles past No Additives. From here, follow a newly marked trail up an old road grade. When the grade ends after 200yds or so, head up hill to a fairly obvious cluster of boulders. In this cluster lies Playmate of the Year V9, which faces down canyon and very nearby is Battletoads V10, a short but quality arete on perfect black rock.

I will gladly post any more information on problems that people would like to know about.
The Knocking Room, which was near Scary Monsters, broke and is no more.

Seth Allred has joined the group and he added an obvious line on the Twang Boulder, which I think could be V11. Seth climbed the FA in the morning and I returned in the evening to get the second ascent. The crux is similar to Trice, but in reverse, with a small, hard to grab pocket for the left and a bad intermediate for the right. Seth also climbed an nice arete on the left side, starting from two pockets. This is probablty V8 or so. This boulder is just past Area 51 on the right in the gulley. I will have some video of both problems going to MVM soon enough.

I climbed the Lumberjack Low, adding a really nice campus move starting from the starting holds from Beyond Life. Sander climbed it was well.

Sign in to MVM and you can watch Dave on FA of the LumberJack here: http://www.momentumvm.com/cms/?initVidURL=271

Although I didn’t manage to send Black Lung, it was still a great trip. Joe’s continues to produce incredible problems and the atmosphere here is second to none. I got to climb some of the best problems in the country. Here is a short video of a problem not in the guidebook, near The Ghost King.

One of the most important aspects of my climbing is to try and repeat problems I consider testpieces. Problems that come to mind are Nuthin But Sunshine, Circadian Rhythm, The Automater, and Slashface. I have had a lot of success in the past and I wouldn’t be trying hard enough if I didn’t fail. I look forward to trying again in the fall.

The temperature has risen after a snow storm blew through and although I have made some progress on Black Lung, it seems unlikely I can finish it in far less than ideal temperatures, as the sloping holds are extremely conditions dependent. I have turned my attention to other lines. Sander and I checked out a very nice boulder up the road from Area 51. We have talked to people that claim this has been done and others that swear it hasn’t. It certainly had been previously cleaned, however the feet were extremely dirty and there was no sign of boot rubber whatsoever. I managed to climb the line and it is a great problem, one that if it had been done, has gone surprisingly unnoticed. Anyways, until any other information arises, I am claiming the FA of The Ghost King V10. Some very nice compression climbing is followed by a tall but fairly easy slab.

In the morning I had my best session yet on Black Lung and conditions were still ok. Afterwords we walked up the road to check out this boulder. We figured out the beta quickly and in a few tries I climbed it to a nice finishing jug. I was scared to continue on possibly dirty and fragile holds, so we met back at 5, with a a rope and motivation. I messed up once and then fired it, all the way to the top.

Sander got insanely close but couldn’t quite finish it up. After climbing numerous 10s and 11s very quickly Sander thought this could be V11. It’s hard to say, but either way it’s a great problem and hopefully one that sees more traffic. Hopefully we’ll get some video tomorrow.

The Ghost King V10

Two ethical issues of note. First of all, some one built a fire underneath Resident Evil and Black Lung. If I was trying to put a fire scar on both problems its placement was nearly perfect. I see this as unsightly, totally unnecessary and potentially damaging to two classic problems in Joe’s. Unacceptable! If it is too cold to climb go sit in your car or hotel.
Secondly, the classic V9 The Knocking Room broke when climbers pulled out on a crucial hold the day after a long rainstorm. While it is speculative as to whether or not the wetness caused the break, I was told that the area underneath the hold was wet. It seems like this was probably the reason. I know everyone is in a mad dash to climb stuff, but please try to refrain from climbing on incut hold on wet rock the day after a rain!!! The climbers I was with discussed this possibility and that problem was brought up as something that shouldn’t be climbed on after a hard rain.

I also hiked around to some obvious boulders near Area 51 and found some really nice projects, although some of these were an hour or so from the car.

This boulder had faint signs of traffic with a marginal landing built and some light chalk. There are several lines here.

Perhaps an hard and thin crimping line?

Here is the best line I saw, and there was no sign of any traffic.

Here is the same problem from a different angle.

The weather has turned sour and it is snowing in Orangeville as I type. Hopefully things clear up soon. One final note, I climbed a lackluster problem on the Smokin’ Joe boulder called Prophet in a Ditch V10. This was the 250th problem V10 or harder I have climbed, which was an arbitrary, but satisfactory goal. I have spent alot of life climbing rocks and its nice to step back sometimes.

I have now been in Joe’s for a week. Mostly I have been climbing with Sander Pick and Kevin Cuckavich. It has been a great time and I think we are now all in the rhythm of life on the road. Although my main objective is Black Lung, there are so many amazing problems it’s hard not to try other things. The first few days I felt quite sluggish, but on the third day of climbing I surprised myself by climbing Botox Bowtie V13.

Botow Bowtie V13

This is the short prow below Wills of Fire. It is a surprising amount of hard compression moves and it fit me really well. The rock is good and it was a nice send at the beginning of the trip. I am unsure of the grade, it could be easier but I nice problem nonetheless. It is also a nice complement to all of the slightly overhanging tall faces that are typical of the style here.

Botox Bowtie

After a rainy rest day, the weather was perfect and motivation was high. I had my sights set on one of the best problems in Joe’s, Trent’s Mom V10. I have tried this problem on several trips and it has always been hard for me. Friday I refined my beta, using a heel hook instead of a toe on the last hard move. Sunday, I warmed up by climbing the topout, and then climbed it first try from the start.

Trent’s Mom V10

I would put this problem in the Top 5 V10s I have climbed, and this was my 125th problem of that grade. Here are some pics, and here is my list:

1. Whispers of Wisdom, RMNP
2. Trent’s Mom, Joe’s Valley
3. Golden Harvest, Rocktown
4. Jitterbug Perfume, Joe’s Valley
5. Full Service, Hueco Tanks

After, we walked over and Sander made quick work of The Man From The Past V11, a classic problem in its own right.

Sander Pick sends The Man From the Past.

Kevin kept the energy rolling by sending another steller problem, Beyond Life V10. This would be in my top 5 but for the poor, but manageable, landing. It was too warm to try Black Lung, so we hiked up to The Gentleman’s Project V11. I talked to Jason Kehl earlier in the day and he confirmed that his name is “The Gentleman’s Project.” I had tried this a couple times the other day but with renewed energy I did it quickly. One of the most appealing things about Joe’s, other than the free camping, laid back atmosphere and good spring weather, is the abundance of top notch problems in the V10 and V11 grade. It was great to tick off two of these problems in one day.

San Rafeal Swell