Hiking for naught

Went for a biiiiig long hike today to look for new boulder problems. The place we went was a bit of a drive and a bit of a hike to get to the rock. Then once we got to the rock it was simply amazing.

Amazing in that a mile of talus there wasn't one single worthy boulder problem. There wasn't even really almost boulder problems. We did find one pretty wall but that's it.

At least now we know.

Carriage Road is STILL blowing up...NBT/Boxcar/New Proji

So... it has been a productive month or so for new Carriage Road bouldering.

A couple of weeks ago Margaret and I found an unclimbed line that turned out to be as classic as they come. I worked a little bit on it with Andrew and he snagged the first ascent. I followed suite a few days later with quick repeats by BC and Matt as well. The problem itself is steep and perfectly tall. It starts sitting on a jug. You paste a foot and then heel hook. Move up to a side-pull and cruise through some awesome grippers and after that comes the meat -- a long move to an ok hold followed by high feet high off the ground. Bump to a small intermediate nothing-crimp and pop to an ok hold. Breathe in, and top out. Yum. Here is the vid:

I had also spent a day working on the moves to the Boxcar Arete, (which was the same day Bismark Direct went down) which is a classic Carriage Road v8. I didn't expect much in the way of actually doing it, but the first day I worked on it I made pretty good progress. So, with that in mind, I set out to climb the thing. Yesterday Margaret and I got out for an afternoon session and I fell off the top twice! I went back today and brushed-it-and-crushed-it. Yum.

And finally, in the excitement of new Carriage Road boulder problems, Andy and I went out to look for more. We found one. It's pretty sweet. I went out there today after climbing the Boxcar to put some chalk on it and try some of the moves. First move is a campus. That's all I know...Here's what it looks like:

I think I'm going to try and head back out tomorrow to try it again. It's pretty YUMMY.