August pt 3

The next problem on the tick list was "Poverty Line" a tall V6 at the talc mine boulders in manuels. I went out with Jamie hoping to lap the problem quickly and then start working on a v8 I have not sent in the same area.

We warmed up and then started working the problem. It is quite tall with the crux moves coming high off the deck so it took us a little while to get our heads around committing to the moves. After a few goes I slapped for what I thought was the hold on the crux move but hit blank rock instead.

Thinking I had remembered the beta wrong we started trying other options and spent a long session trying to find a way up the problem. After falling for quite a while and trying to figure out what we were missing I tried slapping for the same hold I had earlier, this time I found the crimp I had missed earlier and stuck the hold. I came off that go but we both sent the problem shortly after we figured out the original beta had been the right sequence after all.

After a long session on small crimpers we were not feeling in the mood to try any other hard problems so we packed it in and called it a day, happy to have another problem ticked off the list... even if it took longer than it should have.

August pt 2

The next day out was with Giz to Flatrock. Giz is just trying to get back into bouldering after a forced hiatus, so Flatrock was a good are for having lots of easy problems.

We warmed up in the sun at The Crab House and the Two Boulders, doing laps on easy problems I have done countless times but still enjoy.

Then we headed down to see if "Making Love to a Kenmore" V4 was dry. Kenmore is a really cool problem, one of my favourites at flatrock; you squeeze your way up an over hanging fridge shaped feature. The sides are completely blank and almost textureless so you really have to squeeze to keep yourself on. Near the top there is one hold on the face that lets you get to the top-out. Unfortunately seepage from the grass above the problem tends to run directly down over this one hold. So it is rare to find it dry enough to use.

As expected this was the case, but we decided to get on it anyway, Giz worked on the squeezy moves while I managed to complete the problem by chucking for the top past the wet hold.

A few days later we came back so Jamie could do the problem and found the hold surprisingly dry... oh well.

"Making love to a kenmore" V4

After sending Kenmore we went to the trailer boulders, Giz worked on "Nazi's and their chickens" V3 until his skin hurt to much to keep going, then I got on "the Bundaberg Arete", a crimpy balancy v7 that feels really hard every time I try it. After a bit of work I was relieved to get the send as my fingers were starting to protest about the amount of crimping they were doing.

A video of "Rading Gorbachov's wine Cellar", "Finger Fried" and "The Bundaberg Arete"

Bouldering Newfoundland, August 2011 from Dave Stack on Vimeo.

August pt 1

After that first sunny day climbing it proceeded to rain for nearly two straight weeks. Apparently that was par for the course for the summer...but I was not used to it and started to get a bit frustrated with the lack of climbing and always biking to work in what felt like a hurricane.I managed to get out to blackhead with Kaleb one grey afternoon that was a bit dry despite some light drizzle. Otherwise I was stuck with gym climbing as my only option for a while.

Eventually the weather finally shifted and I was able to get out again. After being shut down by "Beat it like a red headed step child" again last time I was keen to finish it off.

Despite the lack of warm up problems on the boulder I went straight there with Erica on the first sunny day we'd had in ages. After a few attempts to get the fingers warmed up I was finally able to get through the whole problem. Feeling solid the whole way was a huge relief after flailing on my last 3 visits.

Here's a video from the first time I sent the problem... over 3 years ago...

Which shows that my self made video techniques have not changed much over the years...

After sending that we made the trek out to the Red Army Boulder to get on "Raiding Gorbachov's Wine Cellar" a fun V6 that was also on the Sendage list. After a few tries to pull past the start move crux I was able to send that problem quickly as well and was starting to feel like getting through this list wouldn't be too tough after all.

We headed back to town for a lunch/ supper at Sun Sushi where we met up with Jamie and Claire, then myself and Jamie headed out to Fort Amherst to try and tick two V7's off the list.

Jamie warming up at Fort Amherst with the battery in the backround.

After warming up we went to was "Green Eggs and Ham" a V7 Thomasina and Greg put up... last summer? or was it the summer before... keeping track of time is hard....

Anyway the problem is basically just a heinously hard start move on terrible crimps and then it's over. Working it last year I managed to find some way to haul my butt off the ground to do the moves... but when we got there this day neither of us could figure out how to pull the first move...

So we gave up on that one and moved on to "Ketamine", a tall technical climb with powerful and interesting moves, which i feel is the gem of the area... and not just because I did the FA.

Jamie showed me some new beta he figured out which avoids relying on a really tenuous heel hook. At first I thought his new beta was going to make the problem easier... but after sessioning the problem for about an hour neither of us had sent.

Jamie sighed "I guess it's just not going to go today" Right before he pulled on for a final attempt and sent the problem. Inspired by Jamie's send I got back on and... fell past the crux move. After waiting a bit to recover I got on again, this time getting past the crux and up into a good crack near the top of the climb... when my feet cut and all my weight fell onto what was basically an accidental hand jam... which surprisingly held and I was able to regroup and send the Climb.

My next day out was with Jamie and Giz. We headed out to the Barrens boulder, which has a bit of an epic hike in, but also has two of the best problems on the send list. Finger Fried V6 and At Play in the Fields of a Warlord V9. Both are very crimpy climbs up slightly overhanging granite. Skipping a warm up Jamie sent Finger Fried after a few tries for his send of the problem and I repeated it for the list afterwards. Then we moved on to Warlord... which at first felt impossibly hard but after a bit of work trying to remember the moves and body positions I started to trust the painful crimpers a bit more and nearly sent. However we were severely limited for time because I had a wedding to go to that afternoon. So after a few more attempts we had to pack it in and head back.

I was getting picked up for the wedding at 2:30, so we left the boulder at 1:00 to do the 20 minute hike out, then a 20 minute drive back would leave me plenty of time to shave, shower and change for the wedding.

When we made it out to the car Jamie put his hands on his head with a look of disbelief... he had left his keys behind at the boulder. Without saying much else he dropped his pad and sprinted back off into the marsh.

With a 40 minute round trip ahead of him I started to worry for my chances of making the wedding... However Jamie ran like a Champ and made it in and out in just 20 minutes and I still made it home with plenty of time to get prepped for the wedding.

Ok... not going to get caught up in one post apparently... more next time along with that video I promised...

Back Home

So I have been back home for about 3 weeks now but have been too busy to update the blog.

At the beginning of the summer Kaleb posted a tick list of 25 boulder problems on Sendage. With the idea that whoever climbed the most of the boulder problems from the list before september 1st would win a free pair of shoes from Evolv. Most of the problems were climbs I had done before, but in order for them to count for the list I would have to repeat them this summer. I thought being away for 3 months would give me a fun handicap and I would have to catch up by sending as many as I could in just the month of august.

However it seemed like while I was away everyone else lost interest in bouldering... choosing instead to spend what few dry climbing days were available this summer hanging around on ropes down at flatrock.

So I found when I got back I was not as far behind on the list as I had anticipated. Still the list includes many of the hardest boulder problems I have ever done around here (and a few that I have not been able to do yet) So I decided I would spend august trying to tick as many of them as I could.

The very first day I arrived back in St. John's was a clear sunny day so a very jet lagged version of myself went out with Jamie Robbins to try to start ticking problems.

We went to the Vacation Boulders, a cluster of three short boulders on the highway barrens. They've never been my favourite spot to boulder but they had a few of the easier problems from the tick list so we decided to head there first and get them out of the way as a warm up and then head to hard stuff.

We made short work of both

"Monkey Trainer" V3

and "Hula Girl" V4.

Both low to the ground traverses on grainy slopers.... which reminded me why I was not so keen on the Vacation Boulders....

So then we headed on to try "Beat it like a red headed stepchild" a V8 that I had only climbed once before. I had already spent two sessions in the spring before going away trying to repeat it but despite doing the problem in two sections on both occasions was unable to link the whole thing. I was hoping a summer of regular bouldering on steep terrain would let me finish it off quickly. But after a prolonged session I had to give up once my fingers hurt to much to grab a painful jaw-like hold any more and leave without finishing the problem.

Ok, out of blogging time for today, so this is to be continued, next post should be soon and include a video of some of the problems climbed from the list so far.

L'Enflure*

*(too much detail on climbing one problem.)

After a weekend off to recover and let my skin heal I went back today with high hopes that I could put away one of my projects quickly.

After warming up I felt fresh and confident. I hopped on "L'enflure" and felt good through the openings moves only to come off at the same crux move I had already fallen on countless times on the previous two sessions.

Several attempts later I was still no closer. The crux move that has been shutting me down involves taking an awkward, crimpy, sidepull, high stepping with the left foot, and then bumping the right foot high enough with a drop knee to allow the right hand to make a big move to the finish. I've already seen two people do this move with ease but whenever I got up there I felt like I could barely hold the sidepull well enough to move my feet, let alone do a long reach to the finish.

So today, after several attempts I was starting to get discouraged when I was again surprised by another climber showing up at the crag. After he warmed up while watching me fall repeatedly at the same move he commented that I was "presque la", I told him I had been "almost there" at the same move more times than I could count.

The new climber then asked me if i was using my thumb on the sidepull. I said that I was because there was a small divot I was putting my thumb in which seemed quite obvious to me. After falling off several more attempts I asked him where exactly he meant to use the thumb. Despite my french, which is seriously lacking when it comes to climbing jargon, I eventually understood that there was another thumb catch on the sidepull above the one I was using which he admitted was quite hard to get set up on, but would make the hold feel better.

Trying it this new way I finally felt like I could move off the sidepull and managed to slap towards the hold, I was a long way from sticking it but I finally felt like it was possible.

A few attempts later, I was not so sure. I felt better on the sidepull sure, but I still felt like I was slapping wildly for the finish and would need a lot more control to finish it.

With 10 minutes left before I had to leave to catch my bus I came off an attempt with both my skin and my tendons hurting, I decided I was done and started to pack up. I looked at my watch while packing my bag and decided I could still give one more attempt and make my bus. I put some tape on the worst of my fingers and got on for one last try. When I got on the sidepull I put my thumb up and felt my ring and pinky finger latch on better than they had before. I let myself think it might just be possible before stabbing for the finish hold. To my surprised I reached it and held it.

It was so surprising it was actually anti-climactic. I had already decided I was not going to get it today and was giving one more attempt just to get the moves even more wired. But once again it's shown me that I seem to climb my best when I climb without expectations.

What I need to learn is how to get so I can always climb with this mindset.

Once again a very poorly quality video...

L'enflure from Dave Stack on Vimeo.

Motivation

Bouldering in Newfoundland has gotten me used to bouldering alone. I'd say it's likely that I've had more days bouldering alone in my life than I have had with other people.

I'm told that in the evenings the St. George bouldering area can get pretty busy. I've never seen it. Because I climb in the day while everyone else is at work I am usually alone. Once or twice some else has arrived as I am getting ready to leave and one day there were people there doing routes when I got there. Mostly though it's been more climbing alone.

That's why I was surprised yesterday when after I'd been there maybe an hour or so a man and woman who looked to be in their 40's arrived with a 14

year old boy and two small girls. They had ropes and a crashpad and starting scouting out the routes they had wanted to climb. Remarking with dismay that most of them were wet and they were going to have to boulder instead.

(the bouldering area stays dry even in a downpour because the overhanging park of the cliff extends quite a ways out from the base of the wall)

They put their crashpad down for the little girls to traverse over and started looking at the boulder problems, the boy got on a two move V10 and nearly flashed it, then started asking the man he'd come with what it was. I had my topo handy (and had previously tried the problem and knew very well how hard it was) so I told him it was V10 from the stand start and v11/12 from the sit. I brought my pad over so he wouldn't have to take the pad from the girls and watched in awe as he climbed the problem from the sit with ease in just a handful of tries.

The woman tried it as well and was doing well but had trouble with a long move and the man came over and did the v10 version first try and remarked on how there were different holds ticked than he used to use.

Clearly these were all pretty serious climbers and he seemed to know the area pretty well, so I asked him if he could give me some beta on a problem I'd been working for a while now. It's called "L'Enflure"a tall v8 that I have been getting pretty high on but just couldn't figure out how to get to the top. When I brought him over to it he said "Ah yes, L'enflure, I put that up. After which the boy addressed him as Francois and I realized that it was Francois Nicole. (Brother of Fred and climbing beast in his own right)

He then cruised the problem to show me the beta, and I was a little dismayed to see that the section I couldn't figure out required taking a sidepull I had written off as un-hold able and then high-stepping and pulling through to the top jug. Young guns then came over and flashed the problem as well.

I wish I could say that taking inspiration from the first ascentionist I managed to fight through and finish the problem. Sadly despite repeated efforts this is not the case. Returning today yielded similar results. However I am starting to feel closer. I also hopped on the v10 while the kid was working the harder version and managed to stick the first move, which previously had made me feel like my shoulder was going to explode, I slapped for the next hold and feel like with work I might be able to stick it.

So with about a week left of my time here in Geneva I am left with two motivating projects. Which wouldn't have happened if I had only been climbing alone.

27

Went out to St. George today for a birthday boulder session. After finishing my last project I needed something new to work on, so today I decided to try a 7a+ that I had not gotten on yet.

It's called "Cet a-plat de Merde" which very roughly translates to "A plate of shit" or something like that. It's an appropriate name, which is why I had not bothered to try it before.

It's one of the lowest finishing problems in the area, which in itself is pretty uninspiring and the climb itself does little to make up for that.You start on two sidepulls, pull up to a decent sloper, then do a couple of moves on weird crimps that ripped me a couple new flappers then try to reach out left for a sloper that leads to the finish jug.

I'm running out of fingers that are not missing chunks.

Despite the low quality of the problem, climbing it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience but only because I had to figure out the sequence. If I'd been given the beta beforehand the climb would have been as crappy as it's name. I went through a couple different sequence variations before I found one that worked, which is part of what makes bouldering fun to begin with.

It was nice to get a send on my birthday as well, and now to celebrate we are going out for korean bbq!

Here's a video of the send, along with a really fun V5.

St. George Bouldering from Dave Stack on Vimeo.