Frankly, my Dear!

It always seems to me that rock climbing presents different rewards to different people.  For many people, it is a deeply spiritual activity; for others it represents the opportunity to challenge oneself physically, and compare their achievements to the efforts of others; to many, climbing represents adventure and excitement, tinged with danger.  These rewards are not mutually exclusive, of course.  Many climbers experience all these rewards, and more.

However, there is a limited subset of the rock-climbing population for whom climbing offers an additional reward; the chance to explore new places and terrain with the goal of finding something completely new and unclimbed.  For boulderers, this translates into something akin to a global easter egg hunt.  Maps, Google Earth, binoculars, and rumor are all employed in the search for the perfect boulder problem.

The view of the vast boulderfield of Frank Slide from high on Turtle Mountain. 

It was the hunt for new bouldering that found Kyle, Mark, and I half-way up Turtle Mountain on Saturday morning.  An adventurous hike was made much more so by the fact that we were carrying bouldering mats and that the steep limestone talus was covered by eight inches of snow.  Our goal was to look at several promising-looking boulders high on the mountain.  Passing several decent but smallish boulders, we finally arrived at our first destination, a cluster of moderately-sized boulders in the talus.  Two boulders looked especially good, one with a leaning arete and one with a long, slightly overhanging face with a great landing.  Still warm from our hike, we cleaned up the arete and threw down the pads.  For a half-hour, we worked to figure out the technical sequence necessary to climb the sloping arete. Heel hook, crimp, move the heel, bump to another edge, cross to the sloping arete, high-step; it slowly came together until we had deciphered the necessary sequence of moves. We traded high-points on the problem, until I finally sent the problem, naming it Indian Tacos (V6) after a infamously mysterious sign at the side of the highway to Frank.  Mark and Kyle sent it in the next few minutes, the perfect conclusion to our first ascent. 

Mark riding the 'Send Train', as he dials in the second ascent of Indian Tacos (V6).

The topout of the second boulder was too snow-covered to climb, so we packed up and continued up the mountain.  Another ten minutes of trudging through the snowy talus and we arrived at the highest bench in the talus.  Several big boulders (including one huge house-sized boulder) littered the bench, and we saw several excellent-looking potential problems.  It is a little dubious that any boulderers (a notoriously lazy tribe of climbers) will make the trek up the mountain to climb them, but it was still exciting to see so many virgin lines awaiting ascents.

Kyle on the third ascent of Indian Tacos.  Notice the vastly different body positions (and thus beta) adopted by the two climbers for the same move (i.e. Kyle has better skills).

Eager to do more climbing and less trekking, we started the long descent down the mountain to the van below.  We finally made it back (although not without mishap; I managed to hurt my previously-sprained ankle... again), and after a little lunch we headed over to the House Boulder area to do some climbing.  Parking the van, we ran into Justin, another cold-tolerant Lethbridge climber.  With mats to spare, we lent him a pad, then headed up to look at the House Boulder.  I was excited, never having seen any of the bouldering north of the highway.  The aptly-named House Boulder is a huge block of limestone sitting just a short distance from the highway.  It lies immediately adjacent to the Cartel Boulder, which hosts several of Frank Slide's hardest lines, including Cartel (V9), Salacious (V8), and the somewhat contrived eliminate Vlad (V10).  Mark was really keen to try Cartel, which is easily the best of the three lines.  Surprising himself, he sent it in just a handful of tries (!) in a solid effort.  I tried it a few times, but because crimpy traverses with huge dynos aren't really my thing I lost interest and went for a bit of  a walk.  I scoped some new projects in the area, including a couple that looked fantastic.  I am glad to see that there are lots of new problems yet to be done at Frank, especially many of the taller aesthetic lines.

Mark throwing a lap on Cartel (V9) for the camera.  I was jealous.

With temperatures dropping, we packed our shoes and walked back to the van.  Grabbing coffees for the drive, we turned east and headed back to Lethbridge.

I am excited by the upcoming season of bouldering in Frank.  My list of potential projects grows every time I go to the area, and now includes an amazing sloper and compression problem high on the mountain (V6-V9ish), a short compression problem (V4-V5ish) near Indian Tacos, a tall arete near the river (likely V5 or V6), and a very hard, VERY tall steep line on a huge block half-buried in the talus (V9 or V10, I think).  Time to get in shape; 'Frank Season' has almost arrived!

To Be Frank...

Being fixated on a particular goal can lead to spectacular rewards.  At other times, it merely results in wasted energy and lost opportunities.  Most often, however, it produces a mix of the two, where the benefits of singular fixation are coupled with the costs associated with attaining those goals.  A winter day of bouldering at Frank Slide perfectly illustrates this situation.

Mark, the perennially psyched Lethbian (yes, that IS what you call someone from Lethbridge, apparently) boulderer, was adamant.  "We've GOT to go up to the Ridge."  From the 6th Avenue car park at Frank Slide, the boulders of the Zombotron Area are clearly visible across the river; high above them, on an exposed ridge, is another cluster of boulders.  These boulders had seen little exploration, and Mark was certain that there were new classic problems to be found there.

We met, as usual, in the parking lot of McDonalds on Sunday morning.  Mark, Dave, and I were joined by Kyle, who is arguably the most accomplished of all Lethbian (is that REALLY the right term?) boulderers.  Kyle has been heavily involved in the development of the bouldering at Frank, and it was great to have him along for the day.  After grabbing a coffee and carefully stacking bouldering pads into the back of Mark's ancient van, we headed off to Frank.  The weather forecast was decent - a daytime high of +2C, and sunny - but the infamous wind of the Crowsnest Pass would undoubtedly determine how comfortable we would feel.

A panoramic shot of the Frank Slide from the Ridge Area by Dave.  The blue blip and the slightly smaller red blip are Mark and I about to try Wind War.

Arriving at Frank an hour and a half later, we piled out of the van and checked if the river was still frozen.  It was, and at Mark's insistence we were soon climbing up a steep scree slope to the Ridge.  Unfortunately, a half-hour of exploration revealed only a dozen decent-looking potential projects.  We also found that the Ridge is extremely exposed to the cold west winds sweeping eastward down from the Crowsnest Pass.  Still determined, we cleaned up a few projects, warmed up as best we could, and started climbing.  I had spotted a nice easy-looking arete-to-lip traverse project, and it turned out to be a gem.  I sent it in a few tries, and was quickly followed by Mark and Kyle.  In reference to the ever-present chinook wind, I called it Wind War (V2 or V3).  Since we had the mats down and were warmed up, I quickly added a direct mantle version (Wind War Direct, V2) and an easier, but incredibly fun problem that trended leftward to a fun mantle and a tall slab (Wind Chill, V1).  Mark and Kyle added another tall easy slab problem, and cleaned off a hard-looking traverse project, but by this time we were getting quite cold despite the sun.  The wind had beaten us, and we headed down the mountain.

Me, sending Wind War (V2 or V3) in the wind.  First ascent fun!

Eating lunch, we discussed our next objective.  Dave was really keen to try Albatross, a tall and delicate V4 on the Albatross Boulder that he had tried several times before.  Albatross is a really distinct problem, in that it starts on a slab, reaches through a overhanging pane of limestone, then finishes up another taller slab.  The line is about 15 feet high, which was just tall enough to make me worry about breaking my ankles on the initial slab.  Mark was keen to flash the line, and he did; his long arms making short work of the huge "albatross-span" which forms the crux of the problem.  Kyle, who had made an early repeat of the line, repeated it again, quickly and smoothly.  This left Dave and I standing on the mats, trying to keep our hands and feet warm.  I was fairly optimistic about flashing it; after all, Kyle and Mark had made it look straightforward.  I bouldered up, made the reach... and found nothing.  "Just a bit further!" I could hear.  "No, left! Higher!"  I hopped down, confused. 

Dave set to work on the problem, falling at the same cruxy reach.  "I'm curious," said Kyle, "What you're planning to do on this move, Dave."  He went on to say that he hadn't seen anyone of Dave's height (Dave is inches shorter than either Kyle or I, and a full half-foot shorter than Mark) actually do the problem.  I tried - and fell - again.  And again.  I changed my beta to trying to hold a sloper at the lip... and fell again.  I did finally manage to send the problem, pulling through the spooky last moves to the top of the boulder.  I was glad to have done it; it's a great line, albeit a reachy one.

Dave past the giant reach of Albatross (V4), on his way to sending his nemesis.  The next three moves are spooooky.

Meanwhile, Dave continued to work the problem, determined to send it that day.  Finally, by holding the sloper at the lip, and by jumping off the lower slab, he was able to send Albatross as well.  The "Send Train" had finally arrived at the station.

Mark basking in the sun.  Not spotting.  Basking.

Mark had been busy looking at the moves on Road Runner Excavation Company (V8), but was getting cold.  Trying to find a warmer place to climb, we decided to move the lee side of the boulder and try the classic problem Shutdown (V5), which follows an incut rail out a small but steep cave, and then finishes up a tall juggy slab.  Kyle and Mark had both done the problem before, and repeated it quickly.  The problem was really reminiscent of Squamish, and I was happy to flash both Shutdown and the leftward extension of Shutdown.  Still psyched by the line, I also briefly considered adding a much longer left-trending extension to the problem, but as the sun went down behind Turtle Mountain the temperatures started to drop.  We called it a day, and headed for the nearest coffee shop.

Kyle and I sending the not-so-aptly named Shutdown (V5).

Another stellar day in the mountains!  Every time I go to Frank, I grow more convinced that Frank Slide is a worthwhile bouldering area.  The vast sprawl of talus can seem a little post-apocalyptic at times, but the setting is spectacularly beautiful, and the problems are fun, and the movment interesting.  Sometimes, being a little fixated goes a long way, especially when you're out in the mountains with a few good friends.

All photo credit goes to the incomparable Dave Cassidy, except for the pictures of Dave (climbing) and Mark (sitting), which I think I took.  Check him out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-by-David-Cassidy/145063505593003

Back to Frank!

Last week, I was sitting in the bouldering gym, waiting to take a burn on the latest green-and-blue project.  With a glint in his eye, my friend Mark turned to me and said "Hey. Do you want to go to Frank this weekend?"

I had seen the weather forecast; it called for relatively warm winter conditions (a daytime high of 3C).  Mentally juggling my priorities, I paused, trying to determine how a day of mid-winter bouldering might fit into my weekend.  "Sure." I said. "I'm in."

Two days, a few phone calls, and dozen texts later, I found myself in the backseat of a car belonging to Dave, another keen Lethbridge boulderer and a talented photographer.  I had relinquished the roomier front passenger seat to Mark, who is a veritable giant at nearly six and and half feet.  I was comfortably sequestered for the hour-and-a-half drive to Frank, nestled among a stack of bouldering mats; I sipped a cup of coffee and watched the winter prairie landscape roll by.

In Alberta, "rock climbing" and "winter time" are, for the most part, mutually exclusive phrases.  Ice climbing, sure.  Skiing, certainly.  But rock climbing?  Not really; it is generally far too cold.  The lone exception to this rule is Frank Slide, which regularly experiences Chinook winds funneled through the Crowsnest Pass.  As such, Frank Slide will often be 10 or 15C warmer than other climbing areas just a few hundred kilometers north.

During the drive, we discussed whether or not the temperatures over the past week had been sufficiently cold to freeze the Oldman River.  If it was, we might be able to cross on the ice and climb on boulders on the far side of the river.  The Oldman River runs right through the heart of Frank Slide, and in summer is dangerously difficult to cross.  There are, however, several excellent problems on the far side, including Zombotron 7000 (V7) and Rising Tithes (V8). We were curious to see if winter had made these usually forbidden fruit accessible.

Arriving in Frank, we piled from the car and walked down to the river.  It was frozen... partially.  It looked thick enough to cross if we stuck mostly to the boulders protruding from the ice.  We hauled mats from the car, and proceeded to warm up on the Teardrop Boulder before attempting to cross the Oldman River.  We did the fun Bearhug (V2), The Teardrop (V3), and Teardrop Right (the problem immediately right of The Teardrop; it is a V0 in the book, but holds have clearly broken, rendering the line more like a V2).  Packing up, we headed for the river.

Me on The Teardrop (V3).  I am starting to suspect that bouldering in Frank involves precarious balancing on really tiny feet. (Photo: Dave Cassidy)

We crossed on the ice without serious mishap.  I DID almost plunge from a boulder into the icy rapids when the bouldering mat I was wearing started to slide sideways on my back, but in a few minutes we were up the slope checking out the V7 dyno Zombotron 7000.  Mark attempted to flash it, but had to settle for a third- or fourth-try ascent.  (I always imagine that dynamic moves MUST be easier for tall climbers, but I suspect that my jealously stems from my apparent inability to do dynos myself.)  Nonetheless, I was making good progress too, almost sending the crux dyno.  Dave was making good progress as well, getting closer to the lip with every attempt.  Unexpectedly, on his next try, Dave went flying from the boulder.  The starting hold of Zombotron had broken, leaving a still-decent but notably smaller edge.  Zombotron had become harder (maybe a LOT harder), and now awaits a new 'first ascent'!

Mark crushing Zombotron 7000 (V7), shortly before it was literally crushed by Dave.  (Photo: Dave Cassidy)



Looking for the next problem-of-the-day, we explored the adjacent boulders.  We quickly did Cyril Sneer (V0 or V1), and I started cleaning a new line on the opposite side of the boulder.  Dave and Mark headed off to look at the next boulder over.  They soon came back with grins on their faces; they had found what looked like a fun new problem.  Dragging the mats over, we queued up to try their new line, a great-looking compression problem up a blunt arete.  Unusually for the Frank, the rock was light grey and incredibly compact, and the problem featured beautifully rounded slopers and sidepulls.  It took a little time for us to unlock the sequence, but soon Mark had sent the line, naming it Squeeze Theorem (V5).  I quickly sent it too, and agreed that it is a great addition to the area, a quality line!

I quickly added a new problem to the left, a very fun line on crisp edges and sidepulls, calling it Friction Factor (V2).  However, the wind was picking up and the temperatures were dropping, so we headed over to try the testpiece of the area, Rising Tithes (V8).  Rising Tithes is a stellar line, a right-to-left rising lip traverse.  While it is very similar to the famous Squamish problem ATD (V7 or V8), Rising Tithes is about twice as long, and the crux is at the end.  Mark made a valiant onsight attempt, flashing to the last three moves, while I slowly worked my way further and further along the arete with each attempt.  Heel-hook trickery is vital to success on this problem, and although we were making good progress deciphering the necessary movement, the temperatures continued to drop, and we had to pack it in.  We'll be back, though!  It's a stellar line, likely one of the best at Frank Slide, and certainly worth the effort it takes to cross the river.

Me on Rising Tithes (V8).  This is an amazing line, really a classic problem.  Note the size difference between spotter and climber. (photo: Dave Cassidy)

We packed the mats back in the car, but instead of heading back to Lethbridge, I convinced Dave and Mark to drive west a few more minutes to check out the wall at Emerald Lake.  The wall at Emerald Lake is about 4 pitches high, and represents some of the most accessible compact limestone in the Crowsnest Pass.  Braving the howling winter wind of the Pass, we spend a half-hour looking at potential routes.  While it is not as steep as I would like, it still looks like a worthy summertime adventure!

Calling it a day, we headed to Subway.  Fast food makes a surprisingly good way to end a day of wintertime bouldering.  Until next time... cheers! 

Frank!

The forecast weather for last weekend was perfect bouldering weather; 18C and sunny.  Keen to do some exploration, Shelley and I gathered up Aya and Rowan (who were both keen to get out to the mountains) and went for a drive on Sunday to Frank Slide and the Crowsnest Pass.  I wasn't planning on doing too much bouldering because my ankle had been really inflamed and painful (again!) on Saturday, but I brought some bouldering pads and shoes so we could spend some time on the boulders.

I am really keen to find new problems at Frank.  When I first moved here I was worried that all the hard and classic lines were already done, but after a couple of quick hikes around the boulders I am convinced that there are MANY lines yet to be done. 

When we arrived at the Frank boulders, I went for a short walk and found what looked like a more-or-less virgin boulder in a nice (for Frank) setting, with some trees and near the river.  With a bit of moss on the holds, and a loose hold,  I was (am) fairly certain there were new problems to be done.  A bit of a brushing (what a welcome change from Squamish!) and I was ready to start working my new project.  Three reasonably hard moves on positive edges lead to a tall arete; falling from the end of the problem would be pretty dire, except for the fact that an agile climber can jump onto the next boulder if they fall.  The arete project is probably V4 or V5, and a lot of fun!  There are three more potential problems on the boulder (all a bit easier), and two short hard problems (both likely harder than V5) on the adjoining boulder.  All in all, a nice little area, and a nice reward for a few minutes of exploration!  I fell awkwardly and hurt my foot a bit when a foothold exploded off at mid-height, but I'll be back so I can send it, hopefully this fall.

Frank desperately needs a proper guidebook, however.  The Frank section of the "Bouldering in the Canadian Rockies" Guide is poor, and finding the problems listed in the guide is difficult (and sometimes impossible) due to the overly brief descriptions and crude drawings.  Furthermore, there are many new problems that are not included in the guide, which further reduces the value of the existing guide.  It would be nice if a guide also included a listing of the local restaurants and coffee shops, although that represents my personal bias... :)  Since I was reasonably happy how my Bear Mountain bouldering guide came out, I am tempted to turn my guidebook writing attentions to Frank, next. 

At any rate, I had a fun (albeit brief) outing at Frank.  Here are a few photos of the day.  Enjoy!

 A view of the boulders from my car, looking towards the river.  The Teardrop Boulder is just out of the picture (I think), and some big boulders are visible across the river. 

Project arete!  It's probably 15 feet high, with a lot of fun climbing.  The biggest chalked hold is about 6 feet off the ground.

Take care!

The End, and a new Beginning

First, the End.

In August, the end of our time in northern Alberta was approaching fast.  We were moving to southern Alberta (Lethbridge) in September, and I had far too many projects to wrap up.  Problems to clean at Bear Mountain, new areas to explore at Babcock, and sport routes to climb at Hasler.  In particular, I had two projects at Hasler; the .12+ extension to Revelations, and a new 23 meter route (the "Agent Orange" project) that I cleaned a bolted several weeks ago.  I had worked the Revelations extension enough to know the moves, but the Agent Orange project was a lot harder, and more sustained.

Fortunately, the Revelations extension also had a short, but hard crux - really only a half-dozen moves, of which only one was really hard.  I kept my fingers crossed that I could get out to Hasler to give it a try.

On my last possible climbing weekend in the Peace River country, several of my climbing friends (Chris, Carlee, Phil, Carl, and Andrew) planned a trip to Hasler.  I excitedly joined the group, and off to Hasler we went!  A stop at Subway for lunch, and we were at the crag.  Carl and I warmed up by climbing Revelations, and trying the extension.  Maybe not the best way to warmup, in retrospect!  Still, we put in a bit of a work session (first on lead, then on toprope), and I was psyched to get all the moves.  I pulled the rope, took a bit of a break, and sent it next try!  It went pretty smoothly, but still like solid 5.12.  It's probably .12b or .12c.  I called it Armageddon Destructor (in homage to old-school sport routes like Pumping Hate, I figured that it needed a funny / intensely aggressive name).  Carl almost got it too, but it started getting hot, so we moved on to other routes.

At the end of the day, the whole group went over and we played on the Agent Orange project for awhile on toprope.  It's such an amazing route, with long cruxy sections and three reasonably OK rests.  Power-endurance routes aren't really my forte, but I did manage to do all the moves on TR, although CERTAINLY not with any big linkages of the bottom half, which is where all the hard climbing is.  It is going to be a really special route, very high quality climbing on solid sandstone and conglomerate.  It is probably .12d or so, but it will have to wait for another year! 

I would to thank all my climbing friends in the Peace River country.  They are such an amazing group of people; funny, psyched to climb, always up for sessions in the gym or trips to the boulders.  The Peace Country is slowly becoming a genuine climbing area.  Bear Mountain will have hundreds of boulder problems (albeit on less-than-perfect rock), and Babcock will have thousands of problems on bomber sandstone and conglomerate.  Hasler and Commotion Creek will eventually have 150 routes or so, from 5.5 to 5.13+.  Plus, there are many new crags waiting to be developed.  It is an exciting time to be a climber in the Peace country!  My hat is off to all the people who are making things happen!

My new guide to the Bouldering at Bear Mountain is now being hosted by the good people (well, good person!) at Sendage.com.  You can check out the guide at Sendage.  Thanks Jamie! 

Now, the beginning.

Shelley, Aya, Rowan, and I have moved to Lethbridge, in Southern Alberta.  Shelley is heading up a new research lab down here, so it's a good move for us.  I am a little sad to have moved from a land where there is SO MUCH potential for new bouldering, but I am excited by the prospect of finding new climbing in southwestern Alberta and southeastern BC.  Plus, Canmore is only 3 hours away, which will be nice.  I've been to the climbing gym here several times; it's got a great toprope/lead wall (an older but very nice EP wall), and a reasonably decent bouldering cave (ok, it's short, and really old-school with bulges everywhere, but it has good holds and it's reasonably big).  I'm getting to know the climbers here, which is an interesting process.

But I am most psyched on the potential for new things.  Everyone I have talked to has said pretty much the same thing; that the rock in the Crowsnest pass area is terrible and chossy, and that the potential for new routes is limited.  I went on an exploratory mission this weekend (aided by Google Maps, the crag-finders best friend), and I was moderately encouraged by what I found.

First, the bad news.  The rock is, by and large, choss.  Most of the mountains are rubble-covered heaps. However, two thick bands of Palliser Limestone DO reach the Crowsnest area, and this is encouraging.  I didn't find armloads of new crags, which is not surprising.  However, I did find enough to pique my interest.  Which brings us to the good news.

First stop: Frank Slide.  This boulderfield is ENORMOUS.  Unfortunately, most of the boulders are fridge-sized.  However, there are probably 100 boulders that are big enough to hold multiple problems, and I saw several boulders that had good problems that looked like they hadn't been done.  I saw three classic-looking hard projects (that looked like virgin lines, although it is hard to tell), so I'm happy with the potential there.  Next stop: the Crowsnest Pass lakes.  I checked out a wall by Emerald Lake that looked like it would hold several short multipitch sport routes.  This wall is close to the road, has a really nice view, and is in the shade for much of the day (all good things).  It is Palliser limestone, so it should be reasonably solid, although a more extensive exploration is needed to discover how good the rock is.  There is another potential sport-climbing area nearby, at Gargoyle Ridge, but I couldn't find the trail.  Next time!

Next stop was an area I had scoped out using Google Maps.  Line Creek, near Sparwood, BC, appeared on satellite images to have a number of steep limestone walls.  I was not disappointed; if the rock there is solid (and it looked reasonably so), it would have room for hundreds of sport routes on vertical to overhanging rock.  The only problem is a BIG one; it is just inside a mining lease.  The pictures I took of the area are very encouraging, but not particularly grand because I couldn't walk up the crags.  I'm going to contact the mine operators, to see if access for climbers can be arranged (climbers wouldn't have to use any roads, or come near any actual mining to access the crags, hopefully the mine operators can be convinced!).  Here are a few pictures of the area...

The first picture shows the lowest tier of rock, which is just barely visible in the second photo (there are four tiers in total).  Although the picture isn't great, the rock looks steep, compact, and streaked (a good sign!).  The first tier is also the shortest of the four tiers, but is still probably 40 - 50 m high.  The three higher tiers look much taller, and are probably 50 - 100 m tall.  A truly amazing amount of climbing, and potentially one of the biggest rock climbing venues in the entire southeastern portion of the province.

The future?  First, a more serious trip to go bouldering at Frank is in order. After that, it may be time to start thinking about bolts...

Cheers!

Bear Mountain Bouldering Guide!

Last weekend I managed to make one last trip to Bear Mountain.  I really wanted to make some drawings for the first draft of the guide, and to do a few problems that I hadn't had the opportunity to try on previous trips.  Although I was climbing by myself, I managed to add a few more problems to the mountain, including the really easy (warmup) problems Aunt Sponge (V0-) and Aunt Spiker (V0-), as well as a few more challenging problems (12-Step Program (V4) a problem with a low roof, and The Last Day (V4), a tall arete). 

This week, working at home, I finished the first version of the guide to the Bear Mountain boulders.  You can view a Google Docs version of the guide (I think) HERE. I hope everyone enjoys the new guide, and uses it to enjoy the climbing at Bear Mountain.

I will try to get a proper PDF version of the guide hosted online as soon as possible.

Before I left Bear Mountain, I wanted to ensure that people could find the Shaman Cave area, which holds a lot of bouldering potential. I cut a new trail from the Tower of Death, past some of Andrew's new problems, over to the Shaman Cave.  I flagged it with pink flagging tape, which should make it easy to follow the trail until it gets worn in.

I am hopefully heading to Hasler Bluffs tomorrow, so I'll post again soon.  I'm heading out with a posse of the GP climbers, so it should be a LOT of fun!  Hopefully I'll get at least one of my projects there wrapped up.

More soon! 

Bouldering! Trips!

The Peace River Country continues to provide me with a fun (and satisfying) summer of bouldering.  In the last few weeks, I've managed to get out for two day trips - one to Bear Mountain, and one to the potential-bouldering-Mecca of Mount Babcock. 

Trip 1.  Bear Mountain Posse!
A few weeks ago, the planets aligned correctly for a number of Grande Prairie climbers, and a reasonably large posse of boulderers headed out to Bear Mountain.  I left early, planning to get there well before everyone else in order to do some scrubbing on toprope.  Weeks before, I had looked at a tall (!) line up an overhanging face in the Steps Area, left of the arete (Nipple Eraser V2) I had sent.  It looked like it had enough holds to make it go, including a prominent pebble protruding from an otherwise blank face.  Arriving at Windmill 34, I put a toprope on it, and started scrubbing.  The topout seemed a little tricky, but reasonable.  A high slot would provide a mental break immediately before the topout.  Then came the blow - the protruding pebble wasn't as solid as it looked, a little prying made this crucial hold disappear.  There were now only three holds in a huge blank section - a shallow mono, a terrible quarter-pad sidepull, and a high (but decent) three-finger pocket. 
Soon, Dom arrived and after showing him around the area a bit, we settled into cleaning problems, waiting for the rest of the GP climbers to appear.  We heard voices after an hour or so, but they faded away.  We decided that the rest of the group had arrived, but had headed off elsewhere, so we decided to hike over and find them.  Eventually we did (they had found some new boulders, and were climbing), and eventually the group coalesced at the Steps Area.
Armed with more mats, we tackled my newly cleaned highball.  Everyone made good progress, but we were stumped - as I thought we would be - by the huge blank section.  Chris almost solved the crux by dynoing, but couldn't *quite* stick it.  I eventually managed to do a HIGH high step, and a long cross-over, and gain the upper slot before the lip.  Unfortunately, I hadn't cleaned the holds I was now pawing at, and fell.  I cleaned it up a little more on toprope, took a good look at the mantle, then sent it next try.  At Julian's suggestion, I called it The Doctor's Office (V6-).  17 feet high, and a stellar line!  Not super-hard (maybe V5 or V6), but high enough to be exciting.  It's a real testpiece for the area, and since it's so clean, I encourage everyone to get on it!  (With a long sling, it can probably be easily toproped if the height is too intimidating.)

Me working The Doctor's Office.  Photo: Julian?

The Doctor's Office (V6-) climbs the block in the background, between the right-hand arete and the black streak. Very fun. And tall. Photo:?
We spent the rest of the day cleaning and sending new lines, especially Dom who cleaned a handful of new moderate problems.  We tried (!) to send the hard 'crack-direct' line on the No Exit boulder, without success.  I managed to send a new sharp problem to the right of The Real Chris, calling it Calvin Klein (V4+ or so).  Everyone migrated over to Carlee's Cave, where I managed to send the left-hand arete project, calling it High Functioning Human (V5).  That only leaves one more project in Carlee's Cave, namely the so-called 'Julian's Crimp' project.  I did the crux move, but couldn't piece it together at the end of the day.  Next time!

 Julian, looking tanned on one of Dom's new problems. Photo: Carlee?

Carlee on Carlee's Cave (V2+), looking tough.  




Trip 2.  Mount Babcock = Bouldering Mecca?
Last Sunday, Dom and I decided to make a quick trip to Mount Babcock for the day.  When we arrived, we engaged in an obligatory exploratory mission, and ended up on a ridge overlooking the area.  It is always amazing to see HOW MUCH bouldering there is at Mount Babcock.  From our viewpoint, we could only see about 1/5 of the area, but even that amount of bouldering is staggering.  I estimate that there are AT LEAST 2000 potential problems at Mt Babcock, probably more.  Certainly, Mt Babcock rivals (and likely exceeds) Squamish as the largest accessible bouldering area in Canada.  Downside?  It is fairly remote, and has a short season. Plus, there is a coal mine across the valley.  Upside? A lifetime of bouldering, tons of steep problems, and a beautiful alpine setting.

Me, looking over the expanses of boulders at Mt Babcock, feeling like a king in his realm.  The boulders below me are only about 1/5th of the potential.  Scale?  Two of the boulders on the right-side of the boulder field have short sport routes on them.  So yep, they're big.

We started by cleaning and sending a couple of moderate problems on bullet-hard sandstone.  Both were probably V1, with a harder traverse that linked them.  We moved over to the project-of-the-day; a stellar-looking block overhanging the spur trail (in the Lichen Towers area).  We counted at least 8 independent (and all great-looking) problems on the boulder, and set to cleaning.  The boulder was fairly clean, but did have a loose-block on top that had to be shoved off (there was actually two, but we couldn't get the second one off easily; the problems underneath it will wait for another day).  We sent a *beautiful* V2 or V3 problem that would have a line-up if it were in Squamish.  Pockets, a rail, and perfect incut crimps up a slightly overhanging wall (still unnamed; I'll think of something soon).  Then I sent a moderate line through a huge pocket to the left, and started work on a harder (V6ish with a V9ish sit start) project before we had to bail for the day.  I didn't clean the topout of the project, so it's still waiting there, a prize for a motivated boulderer!

Me and Lupin, looking at boulders. The first two problems we did are right in front of me.  A V1 face to my right, and a very cool V1+ arete behind the trees I'm looking at. No names yet...

Me topping out on a fun, pocketed V0.  Amazing stone!  The uber-classic V2/3 problem Dom and I did climbs the shadowed face to my left, and the 'arete project' is on the far left arete.

 Huge overhanging face.  Lots of these.  

Me halfway up the arete project in the Lichen Towers. Yep, I'm hanging on a huge, perfectly incut slot; a big dyno looms overhead. No, I didn't do it. I look like I have huge forearms in this picture.

I hope that Canada's climbing community starts to take Mt Babcock seriously.  It is remote, but it is truly an amazing area!

SO much to do, SO little time.  I'll have to come back soon for a longer trip!