Southern Sends Part 2: Rocktown

Ah yes, the dirty south. Full of hearty foods, strange fast-food joints, friendly people and of course... some of the best bouldering the world over. 

As we arrived at Raccoon Mountain Campgrounds Friday night,  camp was set up and dinner was served with a tantalizing anxiousness caused by the knowledge of what tomorrow would bring, quality sandstone at Rocktown, GA. After scanning the guidebook numourous times we all selected problems each of us wanted to 

hit up. (Taking into consideration the ticklist of problems we HAD to hit up provided by Nyle). And so we laid our heads down with a curiousness of what southern sandstone would really be like. We soon got the answer to that question.

DAY 1.

I guess I should start with where Rocktown is. After traveling across the border into middle-of-nowhere, Georgia, we found ourselves in a mess of farmland and mountains. It is upon one of these mountains where a random erray of boulders decided to rest, and it is up this same mountain that a terryfying road full of insane U-Turns and Guardrail-less drop-offs leads to a parking lot that allows access to these boulders. Now for the meat of the story.

Sandstone is amazing. If you've never climbed it, its very rough, very slopy and almost never blocky. The first problem any of us tried was one called Double Trouble - V4. Its a sweet traverse out a roof to a patented Rocktown top-out. It is in this same grouping of boulders where an area classic resides. If you've heard of rocktown, you've heard of this problem. Soap on a Roap - V4 (+2) is the HARDEST FRIGGING FOUR EVER. Fun moves lead to the top-out of all top-outs. Fortunatly two members of our group saw sends on this classic, Adam and Ben both defeated the slopers and stood valiently ontop of

 the boulder.

Jess Jablonski on Double Trouble - V4

After working a few other problems (mostly nameless) we treked to find Golden Harvest Boulder, where Golden Showers - V6 was. Unfortunatly, we could not find it, so we headed back up the hill to The Vagina - V8. The V is an endurency, underclingy problem that Luke and Ben worked hard, but, it saw no sends (Except by a local). As they worked that, Adam and I worked 

another classic, Island of Beautiful Women - V4. Super grainy rock with interesting beta leads to a commiting and exciting top-out. Adam sent, I did not.

We then worked our way over to two very aesthetic problems, Nose Candy - V6 and Sherman Photo Roof - V7. Ben hopped on Nose Candy and got the flash on this dynamic crimp-fest. As the rest of our group worked it, our fingers soon paid the price. (The holds on that problem are some of the sharpest I have ever climbed on). We spent a good amount of time on those two climbs but alas, no sends. And so, after receiving an etiquete lesson, we moved up to New Sheriff in Town - V5. Definatly a cool problem but, no sends. 

Adam Catalano on Nose Candy - V6

And that was it for Day 1. But we still had skin and there was still sandstone to be sent. We would return to Rocktown the next day to destroy what had defeated us last time. 

-WB