The Tesseract

Summer continues apace here in Southern Alberta.  The weather has been hot and dry (perhaps more suited for water sports), and last Sunday was no exception (though it was perhaps only 25C).  Excited to get out bouldering, I bought a coffee and drove out to Frank Slide to find some boulders to put some chalk on.

I met up with Mark D, who was staying in the Crowsnest Pass, and after some discussion we headed into the Hulkamaniac Area to find some problems to climb.  I really wanted to try Leviathan (V9), but Mark D was more interested in finding new problems, so we cleaned and put up a half-dozen problems on the vertical sides of the Leviathan Boulder, including the fun Hippopotamus (V1) and a fun V2ish (harder?) dyno called Kmart Special.

I wanted to try Rise of The Pheonix (V5), a very cool problem I had failed on (badly!) in the past.  It pulls out of a little roof and uses leg compression to move up an overhanging face on good incut holds.  I was happy that it only took me a few tries to wrap up.  I added another line to the left of it (starting on a low right-hand edge and an incut sloper on the lip of the boulder) that I called Ash of the Pheonix (V4), which was very fun.

New, fun, but somewhat short new Mark D arete problem in the Hullkamaniac Area.  Look at the landing that Mark filled in with rocks, then mats... (Thanks to Mark D for the photos!)

We really wanted to do something new, and it was starting to get a bit late, so I suggested that we drive over and try the 'cube' project in the Farm Sector.  It sits right above the road, and looks a lot like a huge slightly tilted cube. Even though it looks fierce, it went surprisingly quickly, and was only about V4. It is an amazing (!) problem though (I called it Tesseract), with fun arete-wrapping moves and nice holds.  One of my favorite V4s at the Slide!

The amazingly fun Tesseract (V4ish) on the east end of the Slide.  Very cool movement!

On the way home, I stopped for an hour and walked into a canyon I was always curious about; I hope it will hold ice climbs in the winter.  I did find a nicely sized waterfall, though I suspect that when it freezes it will be fairly slabby / highly featured.  Still worth checking out come winter, though!

Time to get back to projects, though!  I haven't really made any progress on my list of summer projects, and it is time to bear down and get serious! 

A photo of the very fun Pamela Anderson (V4) from last weekend!  It is interesting that three of the best V4s in the Slide were put up in the last several months; Black Peter, Tesseract, and Pamela Anderson.  Would be a fun trifecta of problems to do in a day; or maybe as part of a 'Top 10 V4s in Frank Slide in a Day' day of climbing. 

Finally, I would like to tell everyone that Awesome Adventures (in Lethbridge) is now carrying Lapis Brushes, which are pretty much the best bouldering/climbing brush you can buy.  If you need a brush, swing in and pick one up!

Until next time!