Things That Have Happened

It is time...
A few days ago "the man" took an hour from the light of my day. The time changed and though it may have helped the working men and women of America in some way, it killed after work bouldering sessions. Bouldering in the evening light of Autumn is over. Then, yesterday morning the snow started. It continued on with inches piling up and a bad weather outlook for the week ahead. Weekend sessions will be limited now. Many of my bouldering areas and projects are under the snow and will be until spring.
It is time to work, save money, and train on the steep walls of my little bouldering gym.
It is also time to look back on the past few weeks of Autumn and the many, many boulders of that time period. So many boulders that updating this post has been impossible. Every free second has been devoted to making the most of maybe the longest fall season we have ever had here in Wyoming. The Vedauwoo Project Project of previous posts was put in the back seat, so far back, it is maybe even in the trunk. As you will see here, the reasons for the delay on the Project Project are many and all worthy. Others have been busy in Wyoming over the past month of amazing weather as well.

In recent news Chris Marley of Lander, Wyoming finished a very long standing project on the granite boulders in Sinks Canyon. It is a beautiful granite roof that I found and cleaned many years ago, back in the day 2005. I only had the pleasure of working the line a few times, but had all the beta figured out after two sessions except an early crux move. Chris figured a way to do the move and we now have Copacetic Cowboy (V12?). It is one of Wyoming's finest boulder problems and it was an honor to watch Chris come so very close to sending it just over a week ago on my last visit to Lander. It was clear that he would do the line the next time he touched it. There will be a video of the send coming soon. Chris has added several hard lines in the Lander area this season and is truly devoted to beautiful lines and good bouldering. There is a video of another hard line he has done in the Lander area War Tactics V11/12

Myself working on what is now Copacetic Cowboy (V12?) back in 2008 when the line was a project. Sinks Canyon, Wyoming.

In the Laramie area I have spent a lot of time looking for and climbing new boulders. Some in completely new areas and some in already discovered areas. Having a month long delay in getting started with my new job as a geologist helped a lot during the month of September. Some very good lines have gone up, but the best have been as good if not the best of my bouldering life. Some locations are secret at this time as requested by the daddy of the areas (he's probably already going to give me the silent treatment for this much info), while others are places I've posted about before in the Saratoga Valley. Two favorites are So Sexy So Soon V8, a 21 move roof problem and Time Bomb V8, a 27 move roof problem. Both could be done with an additional 7 moves from a logical low start in the same cave. 

Bryan Vansickle on stacked pads, cleaning the top out to So Sexy So Soon V8. The line goes from the bottom right of the photo to where Bryan is cleaning the top. Somewhere, Wyoming.

Another very good line is a problem I put up in an older area that is known for it's perfect Gneiss boulders and amazing hard lines. Crazy In The Ocean V10 is a line that I am proud to have opened. It is one of the original lines that we spotted in the area on some of the best rock I've yet climbed on. It is one of the finest V10s I have put up in Wyoming!

Bryan Vansickle on the crux move of Crazy In The Ocean V10. The move is a deep lock off on a small left crimp. Your right goes to a poor sloper edge in a slot, then requiring a four move shuffle on the sloper to set up for a toss to the lip of the problem. The problem climbs 12 moves out a steep wall of perfect gneiss.

Another photo of Bryan Vansickle on Crazy In The Ocean V10. This time setting up for the lower and slightly easier crux to perfect crimps.

  Beyond the long roof lines and hard, steep gneiss walls many moderate and easy problems have been opened too. We always strive to warm up on a new boulder each day we climb to better develop an area as we go. Some of the better lines that have come out of warm up sessions have been; The Widow And The Flies V4 which is a long roof problem on jugs and big sloper jugs. A Cow Calls Out V1 a tall just past vertical wall of in cut finger buckets, Long Ear V6 a shorter, core tension dependent prow, And A Cold Wind Blows V3 a high ball face that starts just past vertical and rolls over in a huge belly on good, but widely spaced holds. The line climbs over an aspen grove leaving your spotter to watch the top out unfold.

 Bryan Vansickle spotted by Brian Capps on Long Ear V6. A Cow Calls Out V1 climbs the tall face in the center of the boulder.

 Guili Zavaschi on The Widow And The Flies V4

Brian Capps visited for a couple of days and did the first ascent of a very unique and beautiful line on a gently overhanging face he named When Black Mambas Attack V9. It is a full problem from a sit start on a good jug to small crimps and big dynamic move to a poor pinch. It is a real gem in an area of gems.

 Brian Capps on the First Ascent of When Black Mambas Attack V9, bump slapping the sloper rail beyond the crux pinch. 

 South of Laramie, over the past two summers a small group of us from Laramie have poached some Colorado boulders and have managed to develop a beautiful alpine bouldering area. Over the past while the boulders there have also taken up a great deal of my time and energy. I put in two of my best problems of the season in our little alpine bouldering area. The Natural Order V8, power endurance problem on many sloping holds out a bulge and You Snooze You Loose V7 a tall power endurance line out of a huge belly of a boulder. Many good harder lines were found as well and projected. Now however the snow is many feet deep and the projects left there will have to wait. 

 Mike Molony setting up for the crux on The Natural Order V8, while Guili Zavaschi gives his usual spot.

 Guili Zavaschi 7 moves into You Snooze You Loose V7 with 9 moves to go!

 Mike Molony on the second ascent of You Snooze You Loose V7, showing the scale of things. luckily the ground comes up behind the belly of the boulder and the top is only moderately a high ball.

Of course Needle Peak has had some good new lines put up, but those have been on other posts. Many, many other lines were done in several areas beyond what is posted here, but I'll save those for later. Really trying to focus on harder lines, I've managed to send fewer new problems than usual for this time of the year. Yet, I am very satisfied with the season. It seams that the trend was not just my own. Every day going out bouldering with different people, they insisted on trying harder lines. Really going for a full body beat down has been the name of the game and it feels great. I'm really hoping for a couple of good days yet to finish some things. So very close to 3 hard projects where all the moves have been done, but linking the beasts is a few good weather days away. Hope your end of the seasons projects come together as well!

 The Tripple X Roof is a beauty that I found a month or so back and have spent four full sessions on. The right to left line through the roof is 16 moves long and should go around hard V12. I've done all the moves, but have yet to find the raw power endurance needed to send.

 My dog Amiee spent a day with Bryan Vansickle and I working the Triple X Roof. She got pissed with our weak efforts and started shit. Her lesson: try harder like a wild animal, seamed to work. We figured all the moves out shortly after the dog attack.

 Bryan Vansickle putting the wild animal lesson to work, getting ready for another hernia inducing pull down in the Triple X. A lesson I will keep through the cool temps this winter season.