What about boulders?

I like bouldering. I've recently been on a bouldering kick, and one problem in particular grabbed my attention. It's called the Village Idiot, and it goes at V7. I'd seen some video of it a while back and thought to myself "That looks good." But it kind of wandered out of my mind soon after that. On a recent trip to Peter's Kill, however, my interest was re-sparked. I'd never actually seen the problem in real life before, but on that first viewing, I knew it was a beautiful line. I decided this was going to be my first summer project.

The first day I worked on it, I was with Matt. It's got kind of a sketchy landing at the top-out section, and the spotter has to be right on. So the first session I just kind of worked out the moves and Matt worked out spotting beta (Matt has some tendonitis flaring in his elbow, so he hasn't been bouldering much). It's got great moves on it. You start under this roof on huge holds, feet kind of thigh-mastering/smearing on each side of an arete. Then you reach up over the roof with a cross onto a pretty good hold. Match your heel on the same hold your starting hand is on; crimp; mail-slot; heel hook; through to a small half-pad three finger pocket/crimp; heel to toe; up over an over-hang to a crimp; match; bicycle feet; throw for a jug; top out! That's what I'm talking about. After about half a dozen sessions and probably about 50 tries, I sent it. Woo Hoo!!

Here are some photos: