Western Gold V11 FA Jimmy Webb

more info at www.jimmywebb.blogspot.com

The Chattanoogan V12

The next day we headed up to Dayton so Ange. could finish off her project Sandblasting Skin V8. The problem climbs out the right side of the massive roof on big spans and perfectly sculpted sandstone holds. She did the end a couple of times and fired it. I also quickly did the 4th ascent of Matt Bosley’s Crazy Craver V11. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to climb on any of the things I cleaned up, so I leave them, ready to go, for all of my southern friends.

Crazy Craver V11

The Dayton Roof

As we left Dayton, we got word that Ronnie Jenkins had climbed “the whole shebang,” the hardest line out the cave from a sit start. This is at least V12 if not harder and very cool.

Our last day was at HP40. I had nothing pressing to send, but Ange was psyched to finish off Slider V9, which she did in good form.

Slider V9

I just ran around climbing some amazing sandstone boulders, including Chattanoogan Plow V7, Ghetto Superstar V9, Boogie Wonderland V3, Skywalker V9 and Trick or Treat V6. It was such a fun day.

Ghetto Superstar V9

One final word about the sandstone experience. I must emphasize that if you are looking to pad your scorecard with big ticks, the South is not the place to do it. If you care about rock quality, movement, self-improvement, and a humbling experience then I hope you find yourself in the Alabama woods on a crisp winter day, high off the ground and about to fall, before reaching out to the most improbably rounded and sticky hold you have ever grabbed.

w3rd

Perfect sandstone edges on a riverside boulder V12-V13?

Amazing hard project in the V15 range on the same river boulder

Gorgeous vertical face

Incredible 20ft face, probably V10-V13

A King Line?

With the end of our southern tour approaching we headed back down to Horse Pens for another day on perfect sandstone. I was happy climbing on more moderate things just running around enjoying the day. The high yesterday was around 35 and dry, perfect conditions. Ang. and I warmed up on the classic problems Bum Boy V4 and Millipede V6.

Classic moves

Perfect rock

Millipede

We then walked over and Ang did the classic problem Landslide V9. After falling off the very easy last move, she did it twice in a row. Very well done.

Landslide

I was psyched on a very nice Randy Puro problem called HotnTot V10. I had tried it on a previous trip and fallen off the top several times. I think this problem should get more attention than it does and I was psyched to finish it off. Video is off to momentumvm.com, but here is a picture of me cleaning off the top, and more importantly the boulder itself.

HotnTot climbs the green bulge

We finished up the day on a bunch of great problems, Ang falling off the top of Slider V9 and me topping out the amazing Skywalker V9, and Bradiation a fun V9 campus problem. We also played on Mortal Combat V3, an amazing tall arete and some other fun problems.

Bradiation

Mortal Combat

It was a great day and I am going to be sad to leave the South.

Yesterday we made our way back to Dayton, and I finished off Matt Bosley’s Vapor Lock V11. The problem climbs straight out a very steep roof on amazing sandstone pinches and pockets. It is a classic problem. It was originally graded V13 but the Chattanooga locals have suggested otherwise.

Vapor Lock

I also did another nice line, The Honeycomb Roof V9/10. When I asked our tour guide Ronnie Jenkins, how hard this line was he replied “Traylor says its as hard as The Receptionist (a classic V10 in Flagstaff, AZ)” “So what do you guys call it?” “V9″ Classic. I can’t emphasis how much fun we have been having with Ronnie in Chattanooga. He has shown us some great local areas and his never ending motivation is contagious.

Angela has been climbing well with a quick send of Bedwetters V10 at LRC.

Wednesday we decided to head out to a newer area known as Dayton. It is in central Tennessee. Most of the hard problems here were put up in the past two years and it sounded like there was potential for more. Just outside of town a dirt road heads up into the hills . In a matter of minutes, the rural countryside falls away, and the road drops into a beautiful river valley and a large parking area. A wide path parallels a gorgeous green river. There are boulders everywhere.

We made our way up the side of a steep hill to a large overhang.

The cave has hundreds of sculpted holds. Our tour guide, Ronnie Jenkins, shows us the best lines. It is peaceful at the cave and for the next few hours we have a great session with our small crew pulling down in the woods
Afterwords we head up the trail to check out a bunch of great new boulders.

I found several projects to go back to if we have time.

All in all, a great day, another great area to go check out, and more amazing problems to go try. Video of the cave shall appear shortly.

This post is a couple of days old, from Friday at LRC.
We finally made our way to Little Rock City north of Chattanooga. This unique bouldering area is located on the edge of a golf course surrounded by million dollar homes. The rock is exquisite sandstone, more featured than Horse Pens but nearly perfect in texture. This area holds the highest concentration of hard problems in the South, with classics like The White Face V11, The Law V11, Flyin’ High V11, Dragonslayer V12 and the amazing Shield V12/13. I, of course, am interested in all of these, as well as the slew of more moderate but equally amazing boulders.
Today we met up with Matt Segal who showed us around a bit. I got warmed up on some classic easier lines including a really cool dyno called Spyro Gyro. Check out the video.

We then went up to the Shield and I tried this a bit. It was warm but it felt good in the heat and I am ready to return when things cool off. The rest of the day was spent spotting Ang. and climbing some of the great moderates there. Finally, I decided to try something harder. The White Face V11 is a nice crimping testpiece. Temps had cooled off a bit. It took me a few tries to trust the slopey crux foot, but I topped out just as the sun was setting. That footage is headed to momentumvm. Today we went to check out a newer area near Dayton, TN on a rest day. Great new area in a gorgeous river valley. Tomorrow, we head back to LRC.

After visiting the three main sandstone areas in the South (LRC, Rocktown, and HP40) one of the next places we decided to check out is Zahnd. Zahnd is only a 20 min drive from Rocktown, and it lies in the heart of rural Georgia.
A short hike through a nice forest leads to a small cluster of excellent sandstone boulders. The rock here forms some amazing and fantastic shapes.

The best boulder there has one of the best problems in the Southeast, Harvest Moon V8. The problem begins on an obvious jug and some long moves to a perfect sloping edge. From there a three foot blank section is surmounted by a hard throw to an absolutely perfect rounded finishing hold.

Harvest Moon

Scott Gross gettin’ it done

The sit start goes at V10 and is a nice addition for those looking for a greater challenge. It’s obscure and classic problems like these that really make for lasting memories on the trip. I am very psyched to have climbed this problem.
Today we went back to Zahnd and I did The Mantis SDS which is a right finish to Harvest Moon. I also checked out some really nice projects. Tomorrow is a rest day. The camera is back in action so there will be many more pics to come.

Here is a short video of some nice problems from Rocktown. Angie provides perfect beta on the last problem.

Also check out www.scottygross.blogspot.com, for some more Rocktown sending.

On Jan 2 Angela and I left for the first leg of our roadtrip, and the sweet sandstone of the South. After a quick stop in Tennessee to check out some old Litz problems we made our way to Horse Pens 40, outside of Steele, Alabama. Horsepens is one of the best bouldering areas in America, and it is also one of the smallest and most concentrated. It is world reknown for the amazing texture of the rock and locally known for its notoriously stiff grades. So called “elite” climbers claim that the South doesn’t have hard problems and that’s why they aren’t interested in going. It’s not that there aren’t hard problems here, they just don’t have big numbers. Genetic, a V10 put up some 10 years ago by James Litz remains unrepeated. Millipede a classic problem that feels full value V7, is a V3 for the locals. I have seen V11 climbers spend half an hour trying to warm up on the classic V4 Bum Boy. And Great Dane, another “V10” put up by Litz, would probably get V12 if it was put up in the Park last summer. However, all of this becomes irrelevant when you realize just how amazingly, incredibly fun it is to climb here.
When you go to Horse Pens 40, the most coveted problem in the area is God Module. This is certainly one of the best V11s (although originally graded V10) in America, and a classic power testpiece. I climbed this several years ago and this trip was just psyched to go back, climb some easier things and just enjoy the Southern experience.

No Tranquility V10, 2004

We woke up to perfect conditions and first on the list was Slider. I gave a good flash go but fell when my foot popped. I worked out the upper moves and then climbed it. This was one of the problems I was psyched to go back and send. Very classic. I rested a bit and then we walked over to Landslide. Landslide has some of the best rock I have ever climbed on. It also looks like a tennis shoe problem until you try and pull on. The difficulty revolves around a gym-like sloper and culminates in an amazing rock over and mantle.

The perfect rock of Alabama

Lee Payne first climbed it and he deserves a lot of respect for having the vision and talent to establish this outstanding problem. I was psyched to have the chance to climb it.
With the weather warming up this week we are heading north to Georgia and Tennessee.

Hopefully more new video and photos will be up soon.