The Mine Boulders

We finally received a clear and sunny late afternoon/early evening yesterday. Dasha, Noah and I took advantage of it by heading to the Mine Boulders. We haven't spent much time there this summer, choosing to go to the Ilium Boulders or The Cove instead, but this place really is incredible. Tucked high into a steep mountain valley, surrounded by waterfalls, are some of the best boulders in the Telluride area. This is the place to go for steep Telluride bouldering. Only one wall is crazy overhung- the nearly horizontal east face of the Gym Boulder- but almost every boulder has at least one gently overhanging side. The Mine Boulders are deceptively pumpy. Before you know it your forearms are burning, and your last bit of strength is gone.

The conditions yesterday were spectacular. We met a number of nice people who were enjoying the guidebook and the sunny weather. Dasha and Noah climbed a bunch of problems. Here are a few of them: 1-Dasha pulling through the hard starting moves of 'Broken Ankle' V1+. The crux comes early, the anxiety comes later. 2-Noah Sheedy spotting Dasha on the incredibly pumpy 'Jug Traverse' V0+ (sandbagged).

The Riverview Boulders

We've been getting a lot of afternoon rainstorms lately. This has forced Dasha and I to head a little further west to find dry boulders. Yesterday, Ilium and the Cove were both wet, so we kept driving all the way to the Riverview Boulders. This small, but quality area is located along Sanborn Park Road, a few tenths of a mile before the parking for the Clay Creek climbing area. A little further up the road are the Sanborn Park Boulders, another outstanding little spot.

These two areas are excellent for Norwood locals, or Telluride boulderers looking for a change of pace. They are dry most of the winter, and they are often dry and tolerable (as far as temperatures) during our typically stormy summer afternoons and evenings. If you're sick of the same old Telluride bouldering, this could be the ticket for you. Check out all the beta in the new guidebook- 'A Guide To Bouldering In The Telluride And West End Areas' by Christian Prellwitz. Here's a few pics of Dasha climbing a fun problem at the Granary section of the Riverview Boulders.

Dreams Of Long Island Bouldering

Eight weeks. That's how long it will be until I climb again.

For those of you who don't know, I severely fractured my thumb while ski racing up on Mt. Hood. I will be having surgery on Friday to re-attach a large piece of bone to the rest of my thumb. I will be in a harder cast for two weeks, and then it will be a softer splint and physical therapy for six weeks.

Until then I can only dream of the places I'll visit, the problems I'll climb, and the way cold granite feels in my hand. Here's one of my dreams. A beautiful highball problem, located in Southold, Long Island.

It won't be super hard, the features are all there. It's just a super clean and aesthetic line. (The line climbs the left center of the overhanging side facing the beach.) Getting off will probably involve either a sketchy downclimb and jump, or a butt slide/jump into the shallow water off the backside. Either way, the problem can only be climbed within half an hour of maximum low tide. That is the only time the base of the problem is dry.

There are many other boulders with great problems in the area. But, this is the one I dream about as I count down the days until I will be able to climb again.

One More From The Cove

Christian Prellwitz silhouetted against the sky on the awesome 'Pine Tree Left Arete' (V2+).

New Problems At The Cove

The Cove, located in San Miguel Canyon, is one of my favorite bouldering areas. It is not a big area, with only around 30 problems, but the rock is outstanding and the climbs are superb. Combine this with easy roadside access, close proximity to Telluride (20 minutes), mild temps that make it climbable year round and the fact that no one is ever there, and you have an area worth visiting. The potential for new problems at The Cove is fairly limited. However, there are some new problems that have been put up since the publication of the guidebook.

Here's a sampling: 1-Dasha Zamolodchikov on a new short, but stout V2 lay down start (with both hands starting matched in the crack under the roof) located between problems 5 and 6 in the guidebook. 2-Dasha Zamolodchikov on a new V0+ located across from problem 1. 3-Christian Prellwitz staring down the arete on the powerful start to 'Ashes to Ashes' (V4). 4-Christian Prellwitz sticking the lip on a tricky new V1 SDS on a small block to the left of problem 7.

Back From Mt. Hood

I'm back in Telluride- a month early. I severely fractured my thumb running GS and will most likely need to have surgery on it. As I wait to see how long I'll be out of commission, I thought I'd share some more photos of bouldering in the Telluride area. Some of these were featured in my book A Guide To Bouldering In The Telluride & West End Areas. This spring I wrote mainly about the new development going on at Ilium, but there are new problems going up at other areas as well. The Cove, located in San Miguel Canyon, has seen several new problems put up on high quality blocks in the past year. The east end of the Telluride valley, home to the Mine Boulders, is littered with dozens more beautiful boulders and will be the focal point of Telluride bouldering development in the coming years.

1-Scotty cruising up 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' (V7), one of the benchmark Telluride boulder problems. 2-Leah Boelman on 'Karma' (V3+) at the Mine Boulders.
3-Catherine Gilb looking smooth on 'Sometimes I Still Feel The Bruise' (V0).

Bulo Point

Dasha and I were fortunate enough to get an unexpected day off yesterday. We decided to spend the afternoon bouldering at Bulo Point. Up to now we've only explored the roped climbing there, but given that I've climbed every route, we decided it would be more fun to see what Bulo had to offer bouldering wise.

Most of the blocks are on the smaller side, and a lot of the tall blocks are slabby. But there are worthwhile problems mixed in. The rock is grippy and featured so the problems are primarily in the V0-V3 range. Here are some of the problems we found.

1-Dasha Zamolodchikov cranking a sweet arete. 2-Christian Prellwitz moving through the crux pull. 3-This was the best problem we climbed this day. We did it straight up and then as a low traverse in from the left. Probably like V2 from the left, V1 straight up. Really good rock and fun moves.

Leavenworth, Part 3

We're up on Mt. Hood now. It's been snowing since we arrived. Back to winter.

There won't be too many personal climbing trips over the next two months. Possibly a day at Smith Rocks, and some afternoons at our local climbing area here- Bulo Point. We've mainly spent time route climbing there, but we've explored the bouldering in the area as well and there is some fun stuff. I'm sure we'll explore it a little bit more this summer (especially since I've climbed every route at Bulo).

That's all for now. Here's a couple more pics from Leavenworth. 1-Dasha on the sit start to 'Sunny and Steep' (V2+). 2-Me climbing a V4 on one of the coolest boulders I've ever seen- the Twisted Tree Boulder.

Leavenworth, Part 2

It rained on and off today. Never super hard or sustained, just enough to make you think your climbing day was going to end soon. Or to make problems feel a grade harder.

But, we persevered and were able to climb a lot of fun problems. I wasn't feeling 100% today. The problems here are steep and powerful- something we don't get a lot of in Telluride.

We're going to try to get one more day of climbing in tomorrow on our way to Seattle. Hopefully we don't get rained out. Anyhow, here are some pictures from today.

1-Sticking the crimp on the short but stout 'Swordfish' (V4). 2-After the big lunge on 'Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Throw' (V3). 3-Dasha cruising along on 'Scram' (V2).

Leavenworth

The warming temperatures signal the nearing of summer, and a change in scenery. For the last three years, I have spent the summers up on Mt. Hood, coaching ski racing for the National Alpine Ski Camp. It's back to Oregon for me.

We decided to head up to the area a week early in order to spend four days climbing in Leavenworth, Washington and to explore Seattle for a few days.

Leavenworth is a strange place. The whole town has a Bavarian theme going. The authenticity of that Bavarian theme is questionable. For instance, not a single one of the pretzel shops has butterbrezeln. This is one of Dasha's favorite German dishes- simply put, a buttered pretzel. We asked some of the owners of one shop and they had no idea what it was.

But, put that strange Bavarian theme aside and it's a beautiful place. The town is situated in a beautiful narrow valley with canyons leading up in every direction. For kayakers, hikers, mountain bikers, and most importantly climbers, this place is one of the best in Washington. Lots of granite boulders (with a little schist mixed in) and exceptional scenery.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides is the weather. Pacific Northwesterners can say whatever they want about outsiders' misperceptions about the weather here. But I've spent a fair bit of time in the Northwest, and it rains...a lot. We are being rained out again today which will make the number of days I've climbed in Leavenworth equal to the number of days I've waited out the rain.

I will admit that when the weather is nice the bouldering is outstanding. The areas are fairly small and spread out but the rock is very high quality and most of the problems are fun, proud, independent lines. Here are some pics. Hopefully, I will post more if it ever stops raining.

The pics: 1-Me warming up on the super fun and tricky 'Fun House Stairway' (V1+). 2-Dasha rising above on 'Jetsam' (V0+). 3-Dasha busting through the opening moves of 'The Fin' (V2). 4-Me on 'U2' (V3).