... she showed up last spring totin' a new crash pad and wantin' to get back to crankin' on some rock - hadn't gripped a stone for at least ten years... heres an old shot from back in the 90's...
... didn't miss a beat...
... been workin' on a mix of things - maybe 20% old established stuff and 80% new... prefer the new...
... but all is good...
... ZMan along too when not working...
... 'Kryptonite' boulder...
... was a new project for a few weeks until worked out... from a series of small crimps and off terrible feet is a long dyno to a sloping rail... gave it an old school either ya' can do it or ya' can't rating...
... some old secret stuff too...
... hidden in plain sight...
... on a rainy day we found some stuff we called the 'Bantams'...
... well, always knew they were there - a jumble of low boulders that now sport sit-starts to gain some difficult mantles or low pumpy traverses...
... quite a few routes there...
... found lots of "new" stuff - no such thing as sit-starts back in the day...
... so been walkin' right by this stuff for forty years...
... last Friday killin' a few hours...
... 'Apes, Men and Morons'...
... a bit off the beaten path here - we're figurin' no ones done the routes on this stone considering all the holds that broke off...
... two lines and a new project...
... final shot from back in the day...
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... on a rainy day we found some stuff we called the 'Bantams'...
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... training days - found a few old 'ice bouldering' images from inside the archives...
... there's an old and abandoned small quarry nearby that was a source for track ballast for the P&LE Railroad back during the formation of the local rail lines - the many water seeps flowing through and small spring flowing over the quarry walls produce some decent low height (maybe 20ft at it's highest point) ice bouldering during a cold winter...
... had just read an article by the influential Colorado ice climber 'Duncan Ferguson' regarding ice bouldering and his techniques for climbing thin and verglas ice, so had to rush right out to this thin smear... 80's leather boots, Footfangs, combo Lowe Hummingbird and Forrest hammers...
... boy is that hairy - you don't take ground falls at all wearing crampons - luckily only ever took one (from around 10ft) which was enough - concentrated like a M-F after that...
... ha-ha - this guy has read Ullman's 'Straight Up - the Life and Death of Mountaineer John Harlin' one too many times... was a warm early spring day - but we would copy his training techniques such as going without gloves when climbing or skiing until our hands were about frozen off (he would carry snowballs ta' boot) and carrying stone or boulder ballast in our packs if we felt them to be too light - our buddy Rob Goodman was a good one for loading your pack with extra stones when ya' weren't looking...
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