4-28-08: Cougar

Sunday's search for cooler temps and more moderate climbing found us at the Curry boulders. A fun day of climbing some classics and scrubbing new problems culminated in Randy's awesome send of a listed "project" in the Yos Bouldering Guide. Whether a first ascent or not, it was the proverbial cherry atop the ice cream sunday we talked about incessantly, but never stopped climbing long enough to get. Oh yeah, for those who want to know, I forgot to ask Randy how hard it was, so no v-grade yet.



This problem is located on the Zorro boulder. Same start, but a lot more direct.
-Lyn

4-28-08: Woodchuck

Lyn on Woodchuck [v5?]


It's getting scary up here!

As if there weren't already enough reasons to start heading out to the Woodyard, Woodchuck, an excellent problem put up by climbing legend, Scott Frye, in the spring of '07, gives you yet more incentive. This devious and technical line is seriously committing at the top. More terrifying than difficult, it's all about finding the balance using fairly poor holds. It seems to be the inverse of Lumberjack, with the power moves low and the techy stuff up top. And since it was cleaned by the maestro himself, you won't feel like you're pimping moss. Give Scott a round of applause!

To the left of this problem, is another excellent Scott Frye creation: Sliver [v3]. Yes, it follows the trend on this boulder by being tall and scary, but topping out is sweet satisfaction. Start on a higher sidepull/rail feature, go left and then follow small crimps up right to an exciting slab finish. And for those who crank out v12, think of all of these climbs as a great warm up to the best line of them all: Dogwood. But more on that later.

-Lyn

4-28-08: Dream

Noah Kaufman on Dream v10


Noah sticking the money move

How many times did I warm up at the Sentinel boulders, look at this problem and think to myself, "maybe I COULD use those crimps". After a handful of futile attempts, I would shake my head and walk away. Well, early last fall Noah caught sight of this line and didn't fool around with no stinking crimps. He took the big and powerful path, making the probable first ascent of a problem often contemplated, but to my knowledge, never completed. Dream was climbed for a second ascent (?) by Steve de Lucca a mere ten days ago.

-Lyn

4-27-08: Chicken Nugget

Untitled from scott chandler on Vimeo.
Raza doing the second ascent of Chicken Nugget [v7?].

I saw this line a few of weeks ago out at the woodyard and the following weekend Paul and I went back to check it out again. We figured out the beta and both managed to send it. Its a fun problem with a large move and a top-out that lacks any decent holds. To find the boulder from the main woodyard boulder: Walk up an old road/path that heads uphill for a couple hundred yards...you will see the boulder after a few minutes on your right. Chicken Nugget starts to the right of a tree (on the downhill eastern side of the boulder) and climbs up to the nugget hold and on to the slopey top-out. Enjoy!

ps- if you click on here you can see the video in a larger format with better resolution.

-Scott

4-17-08: Wall to Wall Carpet

Paul Barraza on Wall to Wall Carpet [v9?]

It's getting warmer these days so the other day we sought refuge by warming up at the main Bridalveil boulder. The guidebook lists many projects on the boulder and we got interested in a line facing the parking lot - but one that didn't quite match any of the described projects in the book. The bottom had obviously been tried but the top was very dirty. I managed to pull out the first ascent after discovering a decent edge out left. The rest is history.

To find the problem, park at the main Bridalveil Falls parking lot and hike to the big obvious boulder that you can see for the bathrooms. Wall to Wall Carpet is facing the parking lot.

-Raza