The Gnar.

Setting up to snatch those half-pad crimpers! Vanilla Slice - V5

It's the post you've all been waiting for!

Yesterday, Spook, Tyler and I took advantage of the great weather by making our first nice weather trip to Gnarnia (I'll explain where it is later).

The Wardrobe - V3

The first line you come to is on the arete of a beautiful boulder. We cleaned it off and began working. After a few goes, I got the FA of The Wardrobe - V3. Balance moves lead to a (crux?) full value top-out. Psyched!

Topping out The Wardrobe - V3

Next, we moved up the hill to the Treeboob boulder. Tyler and I began trying the obvious, tall dead vertical line on the right side of the boulder. After working it a while, Tyler got the FA of Vanilla Slice - V5. Spook and I weren't able to send this tall, thin crimpfest, but I am pumped to get back on it.

Tyler psyched on the FA of Vanilla Slice - V5

Eventually we left to go get wood to build the Gnarwhal platform. We had the lumber, we just had to get it up the hill. Eventually we got the wood to the Gnarwhal, but before we started building, Spook wanted to clean off the top. He rapped down and with a little nudge, all the moss that lay on top of the monster rolled off and landed neatly, unraveled, on the slab.

Stand start on the obvious crescent, moves up into the sloping ledges. The sit starts down in the pit, a good 6-7 feet below the crescent on crimps.

The boulder looks a little less intimidating without its hair, and a little more doable. The best of the best are going to have to come out to do battle with this one, the stand may not be bad, but the sit... oh the sit...

Can't wait to get back.

Alright, now, how to get there. Gnarnia is located at Brant Lake in the Adirondacks, behind Palmer Brothers Marina. To get to the marina, take Exit 25 of I87, then make a right towards Brant Lake on Rt8, then make a left onto Palisades Road (CoRd26) the marina is visible now. If it is open, ask them where they would like you to park. They are VERY nice people (they let us bring 10 two-by-fours into the woods without asking many questions), so be courteous and respectful. Hike in on the snowmobile trail, the first boulder is against the trail. To get up to the cliff, follow the logging trails up or just hike straight up.

Good luck! Email me if you get some sends up there!

-WB

After School.

Alright, Nine Corners After School 4/20 Rap Up!

Micky, Kyle, Ben and I. We got there around 3:15.

Micky impressed immediately with getting Andrugen on LOCKDOWN. Kyle began working Thorazine, Micky began working Meat and Potatoes - V1, and we all finally congregated around Bearded Earnie - V7. Feels hard, and burly, but fun. No one sent except for Ben for like the 8th time or something.

Then, Ben and I began trying NBC you now have to match the crimp to start (the other one broke). Ben sent using the small sidepull and I sent without it. Either way it feels to be about V6... I don't know why it was harder before.

Next it was on to the Ying Yang boulder. Here, Ben worked and sent Power of the Pessimist - V7. I sent Power of Belief - V4, one of the most fun problems at Nine. Would be one of the best if not for the dab start.

Good day.
-WB

Nine Corners Grades

On my latest spraydown post on Nine Corners, some controversy over the grades came up.

Ben's argument was:

"if yoga is the standard for eight then stuff is def not graded right"

Anon (Tyler?) responded with this:

"You guys have to keep in mind that the more you climb, the stronger you are going to get...not that boulder problems need to be downgraded as a result of increased climbing abilities. I have climbed all over the world and the grades at 9 seem to be pretty accurate. In most cases, you will here people on their first visit spraying that everything has been sandbagged at 9. Ben...I recall you also thinking that boxcar arete should be downgraded because you did it easily...but remember that the V-grade comes from a climbing consenses and do you have any idea how many people think Boxcar Arete is in fact a V8? Enjoy the climbing you get in and try to forget about the number game once and a while. You might enjoy it more that way!"

Amen.

If we continue to simply downgrade whenever we break through to that next grade, whatever it may be, we will not progress. When I first sat down under Thorazine, I couldn't move off the start holds. The problem felt as if it would only remain in my dreams, or in the ticklists of my much stronger friends. This will always be fact. Although I have progressed in my strength as a climber, the difficulty of the problem never changed. It was still the same boulder I had sat beneath and wondered how it was even possible to perform such a feat, I had just gotten stronger.

Obviously a lot of my psyche from sending Thorazine stems from the grade, but more of it comes from the amount of time I put in on the problem and the quality of the line.

Many, many other people have climbed Thorazine, and there hasn't been any significant talk of down-grading before. The consesus is that the grade V8 suits the problem well, and it should not be changed.

Feel free to tell me I am completely wrong.

-WB

The Guidebook Page

Look at the top of the page.

No, not that far. Below the beautiful picture.

You see the word "Home"? Next to that are the words "Adirondack Bouldering Guidebook Discussion". Click there, read, comment.

If anyone has a better idea of where to have this discussion tell me!

Also, I went to the Stables Boulder and it was pretty sweet, sharp and damn technical climbing. Lots of projects as well.

Good place to work anti-styles.

-WB

Nine Corners Destruction

I know, I know, I never finished the posts about Tennessee, but be patient. Once I get some pictures I'll do a huge media dump with a little write up about the sends.

For now, let me tell you about the most epic day of Nine Corners destruction ever.

Aaron on the... down climb for Tower of Power - V0

When we arrived at Nine Corners temps were perfect, psyche was perfect, and (despite 7 days of sending in the south) skin was good to go. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of my long term project Thorazine - V8.

Setting up for the bump on Thorazine - V8

First go I linked to the bump, and although I fell, I quickly got the crux move in isolation. Soon, I was getting in sequence, and despite many long breaks, I got spat off again and again. At this point both Aaron and Tyler made valiant sends of the incredible problem. I thought I was done, and walked away to go check out the Froggy boulder.

Aaron stretching for the top of Tower of Power

 

Before the froggy boulder, Aaron ran a lap on Tower of Power - V0. Although it was hard to watch, the shots are pretty sweet. 35 feet of aesthetic climbing later and we were onto the Froggy boulder.

Does not do this beast justice

According to the book, Froggy Style Sit is a V9, after this epic day it received a harsh downgrade to V7. Since I have not done the problem I'm not going to put forth a grade, but keep in mind its original grading. After some serious goes, Ben and Aaron sent, and Tyler got close. Send #2 of the day.

Next, it was on to the Saccharine set to try Instant Yoga - V8, Shapeshifter - V4, and other problems on the awesome boulder. Ben repeated Instant Yoga real fast, and Shapeshifter was sent by everyone.

Around the corner were two problems graded V7 and V6. After flashing both, they recieved a serious downgrade to Even Stevia - V5 and Diamonds are Forever - V3.

Pretty intense

We hiked back to the main set to try Bearded Earnie - V7, and I wanted to try Thorazine one last time before we left. Before I gave the final go, I told everyone that I needed some old school psyche. Within a minute I was miraculously sticking the top sloper, with screams coming from my spotters, and in a strangely surreal act I was on top of what had been my longest project.

Sick.

Aaron rounded off the day with a send of Bearded Earnie. What a day!

-WB

Day 1 in the South

I'm posting this from raccoon mountain campground, Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's about 65 degrees, sunny, and getting warmer. After the ridiculously long drive down (16 hours), and stay at a Hungry Mother Campground (There is a story behind that name, you don't want to hear it), we arrived at Rocktown, GA at around 1:00.

We immediately got to work at the Sherman Photo roof. Adam cleaned quick with a send of his project last year, Nose Candy - V6. Suddenly, I was stricken down with a nosebleed, no doubt a sign that I had to send the boulder problem day. After some work, I did, as did Ian, Evan, Kyle and Luke.

Evan also made a quick send of Sherman Photo Roof - V7, and made good progress on Brown Hole - V8.

Next it was on to the scoop, the hobbit and Pythagorean theorem. Everyone sent the Scoop in everyway possible, and we split up to try our respective projects. Jess and the girls went to pythag, and the men went to the Hobbit. Aaron flashed the cool problem, and Luke also sent. The problem boils down to a cruxy top-out.

The girls made really good progress on Pythag, as did Kyle.

Finally, we headed down to the beautiful Golden Showers. I was surprised at how good this climb actually is. Perfect sidepulls lead to a crux last move and full value top out that I am most psyched on. Aaron sent, making it six sends in 1 day for him, and I did not. Another day for sure.

I have to go eat some french toast and do something Adam is calling "Initiation", but I'll post more tomorrow.

We're heading to Little Rock City today, a spot that I have way more projects at and I am too pumped to describe.

It's warm.

-WB

Farley

On Saturday, Ben, Tyler, Aaron and I got up bright and early to venture to the far off and mysterious land of Farley, Mass.

In recent years, Farley has been home to some pretty bad access issues, thankfully the Western Mass Climbers Coalition resolved a lot of them. This is great because Farley is also home to some of the highest quality rock in the Northeast, and one of the best problems in the U.S. Speed of Life - V10.

Tyler on the stand start of Speed of Life - V8 (stand)

After getting lost many times and completely losing trust in technology, we arrived at Farley. The hike in was easy, and soon we were amidst the awesome granite blocks that litter the ledges. We warmed up on The Wave - V6. A very cool problem with a dynamic move at the end, only Aaron sent, and I'm psyched to get back to it.

Next we went over to Terrordactyl - V8. After sussing the beta, Aaron and Ben got close on this 2 move problem, but no sends.

Aaron on the crimpy and weird Terrordactyl - V8

We headed on to the next point of interest... Big - V7. The name describes this problem well, its a beautiful overhanging prow with interesting balance moves to a committing final hop for the top. Oh, and its tall. No one sent, but Aaron got very close, as did Tyler.

After Big, we headed down and began trying the start moves of the incredibly beautiful and impressive Speed of Life. Its a 30 foot block, that maintains a steep 30 - 45 degree angle the entirety of its face. The landing is stepped, so the fall from the top isn't bad. Perfect, big moves between incut crimps leads to a sloping mantel press top-out. Sick.
Maybe some other time.

JP in full send mode (Tongue out) on Tweaky Bird - V7

Finally, we tried Tweaky Bird - V7, a climb we regretted not trying earlier. The moves are great on the problem, starting with powerful bumps up crimpy sidepulls, to a sloping and kinda sketchy lip traverse, to a techy top out. Ben got VERY close, and though we could all do separate parts of the problem solid, we couldn't piece it together.

Ben trying HARD on a bottom up go of Tweaky Bird,
this photo really shows the sketchy tree.

Overall I was really impressed with Farley, the rock quality is stunning and "Exactly like Switzerland" according to Tyler. The climbs are beautiful, hard, and have good movement on solid holds. We'll be making the trip numerous times this summer.

The next day, Tyler, Ryan and I headed up to Moreau in Ryan's beater Mercedes (This point is of importance). We were lured, as always, into the woods at the sight of what looked to be a cliff. We found some cool looking slabs, and a virgin cliff, but nothing too exciting.
Next we headed over to the main area, and realized the extent of the possibility of bouldering at Moreau. The rock quality is good, and there are some really cool features, my favorite being an overhanging prow with some interesting looking moves, and a high and scary arete with refrigerator slapping on slopey edges.
We warmed up on a new piece of rock, Ryan and I both did an interesting high angle slab climb with a committing top. I got the FA and called it Black and White Praying Mantis with Night Vision - V0, after a dream I had.

We got to work, then, on the Pressure Cooker Project. I got a little closer to hitting the sloper, but realized the problem isn't over. In the picture below you can see Ryan trying some different beta.

So far, the crux is reaching the sloping ledge a few feet directly above Ryan's head

We leave for the south Friday, and I'll be sure to fill you guys in on the sends and what not as soon as we get back.

Till then.

Peace.

So this is actually the 99th blog post. Lol.

-WB