Hidden Gems

Went to Ilium again today. Seems to be an ongoing theme. It's not that I'm avoiding the Mine Boulders or other areas, I just have been having a fun time cleaning and climbing new problems at Ilium and spending time in some of the more obscure areas. Today, Dasha and I climbed all of the problems at Rivendell and some problems in the North End. Here are the photos.

(above) Me on the sit start to 'Bilbo Baggins', a hard V3.
(below) Dasha midway through the sit start to 'Shadowfax' (V1+).
(bottom photo) Here is me again, this time on 'Heroine' (V2+). The left hand edge of the sit start has broken, so this now starts standing, as shown. Right hand on original low pinch, left on bad pocket, finish straight up. The grade is pretty much the same.

Exploration

The weather has been pretty poor the last two days. Snow. That's right, snow.

All of this moisture puts a damper on the climbing. Dasha and I decided to try and put a positive spin on the situation and go exploring for some new boulders. We spent a lot of time at Ilium giving it a thorough exploration. We confirmed what we already supposed- there isn't much left to find. However, I did find a couple overhangs up one of the drainages that were pretty high quality and will yield about half a dozen problems. No pictures of those, but perhaps you'll hear more about them in the future.

We also checked out the talus field just down valley of Lawson Hill, along the Galloping Goose trail. It was quite a grovel with the talus being so wet, but we did find some fun boulders and good rock that would yield about a dozen problems. So we might do some development of that in the near future. It should be noted that there is also a small but good boulder located along the Galloping Goose trail about two minutes from the trail head in Lawson Hill. You can see it from the Keystone Hill Overlook. It's got three fun lines on it, all starting from a sit on the obvious low rail.

I hate posting without pictures so here's one of me on a fun problem at Chebucto Head in Nova Scotia. Dasha and I will be heading back there in August to sample some more of the excellent bouldering. Enjoy!

Ilium Boulders Update

The time is here again, when the evenings grow long, and temperatures at Ilium are perfect. Since we got back from our trip, Dasha and I have been spending the evenings climbing at Ilium, cleaning old problems that have grown a little licheny, and even putting up a few new problems. Nothing super proud, just fun lines on some of the more obscure blocks. Damon Johnston and I also talked about bouldering the proud face of the Black & Tan Boulder. It's almost certainly been climbed before, but probably not ropeless. We agree that it's probably in the V4/5 range, so not super hard, but certainly tall, with a bad landing. But, there's some cleaning to do first. I'll be heading back out there again today, focusing on cleaning a couple of the Black & Tan problems that need love.

Each spring it's interesting to head back out to Ilium and see if anything has changed- if holds have broken, if any new rockfall has come down from the cliffs above, if some hidden block in the forest has revealed itself. A few of the more obscure problems have had some holds break. The 'Pool Problem' at the Shire had a key hold break, but it still goes at the listed grade of V2. Both this problem and 'Elf Magic' (V2) right next to it appear harder than the listed grade, but go at V2 with tricky beta. For more problem info, check out the new bouldering guide, written by yours truly- 'A Guide to Bouldering in the Telluride & West End Areas'.


(above) Dasha Zamolodchikov on a new V1 just left of 'Video Killed The Radio Star' in the One Hit Wonder area. It starts off two opposing sidepull/edges at 3 feet, and goes straight up on good holds. 'Video Killed The Radio Star' (V1+) had a key hold break this winter, but still goes at the same grade via a sit down start right of the dihedral with your left on a crimp and the right on a good edge just right of the flake. The problem still avoids the flake, instead moving to a left undercling and then up. Here Dasha shows us the beta.