3-23-09: Raising Arizona

Lyn Verinsky on Raising Arizona [v8]

A couple of weekends ago we had really good temps in the valley. The snow had mostly melted out, but it hadn't gotten hot yet either.

I climbed at the Arizona Avenue boulder in Camp 4 for the first time and put up a sit start to Spanish Flies,v3. It starts squeezing a slopey arete and transitions into the spicy top out of Spanish Flies. Scott Chandler and Lyn Verinsky got quick ascents right afterward, check out the video of Lyn's send above.

-Raza

3-16-09: Two Bolts or Not to Be

Randy Puro on Two Bolts or Not to Be [v10]

There are a few lines in the valley that we have found that would be under the "maybe someday" category. A line that you think about, but seems too out of reach to actually drag a crew down to try. Two Sundays agoand two years after first cleaning and scoping the line, we headed down to attempt to boulder a short Ron Kauk route down by the highway 140 entrance. I believe he did the first ascent in the mid-nineties, long before the era of big pads, but exact details are unclear.

The first part of the climb is a very technical arete which leads into a steep roof, the crux being sticking a dyno to a sloper and crossing to a good pinch. The last move wouldn't be very hard if the move was a few feet off the ground, but becomes very committing when when you have to heel hook at hand height (making you totally horizontal). At that point your back is about 18 feet above the pads.

The climb was still a little wet from the melting snow, but Randy stuck with it and by the end of the day it had pretty much dried out. More impressive, his heel flew out at the crux and he took a screamer of a fall, but he kept trying, culminating with the send captured above.

-Raza

3-9-09: Secrets of the Beehive

Lyn Verinsky on Secrets of the Beehive [v6]

During the rain & snow of winter we make the trek out to Bishop to get our bouldering fix. In January we headed out the Secrets of the Beehive area to try the classic of the area: Secrets of the Beehive. A flake has broken off in the middle of the climb, raising the grade a notch, but the mental crux is still at the top!

-Raza

3-2-09: Montezuma's Revenge

Scott Chandler on Montezuma's Revenge [v9]

We just ran a poll to name the problem left of Montezuma's Revenge, but after a quick search I realized there is no post for Montezuma's Revenge! This problem is one of the coolest sloper problems in the valley. The lower sequence is quite intricate and not that obvious, so study the video closely!

Montezuma's is basically a low start to Rubik's Revenge [v7], and diverges left along the slopey lip. The stand up problem goes at v8 and the low start adds a grade for both problems. The low start into Rubik's has been done since Montezuma's, but was never named as far as I know.

To do the problem, start on the crimps at the top of an obvious flake (not a true sit start), climb up and right to the blocky sidepull start for Rubik's, climb up to the lip and finish left.

-Raza