6-8-08: Live and Let Die & You Only Live Twice

On the eastern edge of Curry village uphill from the tent cabins lies an incredible boulder with two stellar problems on it. The problems start on a steep face; one on the left, one on the right. The left and right lines share the same tall and committing top-out but both are still unique and equally fun. The right line, You Only Live Twice, was the first to go and is probably a v8. The day I sent it, it was quite dreary and started to rain as I was topping out. Needless to say the down climb was not much of a down climb at all but rather a slip n' slide. Don't worry though, when its dry the down climb is a piece of cake. I came back a few days later and climbed the left problem, Live and Let Die, which is a bit harder making it v9.

To find the boulder, park at the eastern end of the Curry Village parking lot and hike straight uphill a couple hundred yards. You will pass several large boulders on the way up. The problems are located on the east side of the boulder between two trees. Sorry for the lack of better directions; GPS coordinates coming soon.


Raza sending You Only Live Twice [v8].


Scott with the FA of Live and Let Die [v9].

Cheers!
-Scott C.

6-5-08: Tombstone

Courtney on Tombstone [v9]

There has been a lot of development around the woodyard this spring. One of the original projects that helped start the development surge was found by Scott Frye in the spring of '07. He thought it would only be v5, but it rebuffed all attempts until Randy Puro got the FA in the late fall of that year.

The Tombstone boulder is located up the hill from the main woodyard boulder. There is an old road that you hike up and the boulder is on your left. Start the problem in a dihedral and climb up and right through crimps to an exciting topout.

-Raza

5-5-08: French Quarter

Brian Hedrick with the FA of French Quarter [v7?].


Scott Chandler sticking the crux move.


Last year while exploring around the Bridalveil Falls area, I stumbled across an incredible boulder. It was not until this spring (just a couple of weeks ago) that I actually got around to inspecting it further and cleaning off the holds. The boulder is probably close to 30 feet tall, although the second half of the problem is very easy climbing. Here's how it goes down: Stand on a rock under the roof and start on a blocky jug. Climb up to a sloper on the arete, grab another sloper and throw for a crimp out on the face. Proceed to the top without falling. Brian Hedrick nabbed the FA and dubbed it French Quarter and we both thought v7 was a fair estimate for a grade. The approach is fairly simple: From the main Bridalveil boulder (the really big one near the parking lot) walk up the hill on a climber's trail. When the trail starts to flatten a little you'll see a large decomposing tree on the ground to your left. Walk along the tree and you'll see the boulder straight ahead. Bring your pads for this one and have fun!

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

3-13-08: Retrofit & others

Another two problems that were discovered, cleaned and climbed in short order are located on an unnamed boulder about 100 meters up from the Bridalveil Falls parking lot. Their discovery begs the question, "how many climbs have been found while searching for a good place to pee?" The first problem to go down sit starts in the obvious dihedral and climbs right with much awkwardness onto positive holds. Not to sound like sour grapes (since I was never able to escape out of the damn dihedral), but folks with a good arm span have a SERIOUS advantage here. In all fairness, tall folks in our group still used a tiny and rather heinously sharp crimp to gain the better holds out right, so it isn't all sunshine and roses being 5'10" and up on this problem. Paul named this line "Escape from Alcatraz" and Scott suggested a grade of v4, which besides hurting my ego, seems a bit sandbagged. Here's a video of Scott making it look at least v5.




The arete to the left is the problem that actually drew us to the boulder in the first place. The line is aesthetic and there are some obvious start holds. The one drawback is the tree directly to the left of the start, but by careful body placement, it doesn't get in the way too much nor pose a hazard in the fall. Here's a video of Paul on the attempt before his send. The move that he falls on appears to be the crux. The grade for "Retrofit" is in the ballpark of v7.

3-12-08: Hero & Others

Randy Puro on Hero, v8

What a great weekend! Several new problems were established, the weather was beautiful and everyone in the crew finished a problem they'd never climbed before. One excellent new line that was done by Paul and Randy is called "Hero" from the sit and "Crouching Spotter, Hidden Sloper" from the stand. Located in the shadow of El Cap, this climb tackles a cool arete that has surprisingly fun and powerful moves. The crux involves a poor right hand sloper and a tenuous move to a left hand jug. Randy makes the crux look easy in the video, but there was plenty of blowing off the top. The SDS tacks on only a few moves, but manages to add considerably to the burn at the crux. Possible grades are v7 for the stand and v8 for the sit.


Randy Puro on Jet Li, v6

On Sunday, we ended up at the Bruce Lee boulder spotting Randy on a very inspiring send of Jackie Chan. It was the first time I'd ever seen anyone get established on that problem, much less do any moves. The surprises didn't end there, though. Just to the right of Bruce Lee is another problem that I had never noticed before, perhaps given the lack of any discernible holds. Jet Li is an excellent, albeit sharp, climb that starts on the slab on the right side of the Bruce Lee arete and ends on Bruce Lee. The start is the crux for both tall and short due to a dirth of good feet and the high top adds a little spice to the end. Here's another video of Randy (it's a good thing he's so photogenic) sending the problem.

-Lyn