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).

Psycho Tower

I decided it was time to take a break from the small blocks to go climb something a bit taller. I hooked up with my long time climbing partner Jared Vilhauer to go climb Psycho Tower. This beautiful Wingate Sandstone tower is located in scenic Big Gypsum Valley, not far from the meandering Dolores River. We left Thursday evening and camped out overnight at the nearby BLM campground. The spot was pretty enjoyable, although it was atypically busy with lots of boaters launching rafts onto the river.

Dasha came along and we were supposed to have another friend meet up with us in the morning. The plan was for Jared and I to get going early (to be off the wall before the temps really heated up) and to climb the 5.11b slab variation to the beginning of the Regular Route. Dasha and friend were to follow on the Regular Route shortly thereafter.

Jared and I moved swiftly on the route and were done in a handful of hours. Our friend still had not arrived so I had Dasha rope up and I climbed it again with her. Seven pitches of climbing for me. Not a bad day. Here are some pics. 1-Jared and Dasha trying to find the tower (hint: it's the obvious tower behind them) 2-Me starting up the 5.11b variation- 'Nameless Face' 3-Jared nearing the finish of the second pitch 4-Me on the super fun and wild third pitch traverse. The fourth and final pitch is out of view.

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.

The Latest

Mountainfilm came to Telluride this past weekend. It was a fun event. I didn't go to that many films- just 'King Lines' and 'Fitzroy' (as part of the Chuck Kroger Tribute). 'King Lines' ended up winning the Charlie Fowler Award for Best Climbing Film. It was a really enjoyable film that showed how much fun climbing can be when we forget about grades and all the other stuff and just go climb.

On Sunday, I did a book signing as part of the Reading Frenzy. It went well. I sold a few books, met some cool people, and got a chance to catch up with Ginny Fowler Hicks (Charlie's sister). We didn't know each other well while Charlie was still alive, so it gave me a chance to express how much Charlie meant to me and I was able to show her the dedication to Charlie in the book, and give her a copy. She was there signing copies of 'Mountain Star', which is a children's book about how to draw a star using the story of Charlie Fowler's life. Look for it in your local bookstore!

In addition to all of that, we've also been doing some climbing. I ran into some guys from Phoenix yesterday, and they complimented me on the book. They were giving 'Pinch' (V3) on The Premier all of their effort. I comforted them by telling them the grade was rather sandbagged. It's probably closer to hard V4, but the local hardmen say V3. I'm happy to say they pushed hard and completed the problem, sending in good style.

Anyhow, here are some pics from the last few days. First, Damon Johnston sending the proud direct start to 'Beams of Light'. This problem is listed in the guidebook at V2+ and goes at that grade if you head slightly more right and then up. This new variation moves from the undercling to crimps for the right and left, and then to a hard to hit sidepull. Pull the feet up and throw for the rail! I would say the grade of this is closer to hard V3 or easy V4. Though Damon made it look pretty easy by sending it in only a few tries.

My last photo is of Scotty Nichols climbing one of the last projects for the area- the hard arete of The Shire boulder. Scotty nailed the stand starting with a left hand undercling/pinch low on the vertical rail on the right side of the overhang, and his right hand above that on a cool vertical pinch. Foot trickery and a big throw lead to some campusing and a hard finish on crimps and a good edge. The grade is probably somewhere in the V5 range. The sit start is still a project. Here is 'Headlights Like Diamonds'.

New Problems From Ilium

Dasha and I spent yesterday cleaning problems and climbing at the Disappointment Boulders at Ilium. This rarely climbed area is actually starting to clean up quite nicely and offering more climbs than originally thought. All of the problems are short and trend towards the easier side of the V-scale, but most of them are fairly fun, and there are a couple of harder problems that will be quite good once we finish cleaning them.

Pics: 1-Dasha cruising up the super fun 'Slavic Slab' V0. 2-Dasha pressing out the crux mantel of 'Short Circuit' V0+. 3-The improbable starting crimps of 'Pumpkin' V0-one hard pull leads to a very easy finish. 4-A bad left crimp and a shallow pocket for the right lead to jugs, a dynamic move for the lip, and a satisfying mantel- Christian begins 'Le Grand Champignon' V0+.

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!

More From Ilium

Today we spent some more time at Ilium, climbing some fun problems and cleaning some of the problems on the Black & Tan Boulder. All of the problems were looking really sweet by the time we were done. One problem that we spent a lot of time on was the right arete (when looking at the main face of the boulder). This problem is listed as the 'Black & Tan Arete' in the guidebook. This problem has an interesting story. When I was researching the guidebook, I was told this arete had been climbed and went at V3. It was quite mossy, but seemed to be plausible, especially if one used the killer undercling to the right. The hard moves are all in the first half, and then it's glorious jugs to the top. I figured I would come back and clean it, and all would be good to go. Well, it took me a long time to get around to cleaning it. After vigorous removal of moss, lichen and pine needles the problem was ready to be climbed. Damon Johnston showed up shortly thereafter and started giving the problem some serious burns. We decided to do this problem the 'proud way' and started from the lowest holds- left hand on the sidepull at the right end of the shelf, right hand on a small sharp edge, both at 2.5-3 feet. We also decided to avoid the holds out right and climb the true arete, finishing up and slightly left for a tenuous, full value top out. This new take on an old problem has outstanding and hard moves with sneaky beta.

Here is Damon on the 'first ascent' of an old problem. We named it 'Climbed Out', and graded it V5. The name comes from the fact that everyone keeps telling us Ilium is climbed out but we keep finding new and fun lines. All you need is a sense of adventure and a wire brush. The stand start, off of small crimps directly on the arete at 5 feet, goes at V2-ish. Enjoy!