Some Things To Be Excited About

With only ten days remaining in the crazy of Semester's end, my excitement is close to completely over taking my other emotional fronts. In fact, it may only be hours away. Excitement has grown from a few seeds this time around. Of course the local boulders of past posts have provided a heavy load in my mind to grow a motivation, but other happenings have too.
My research in geology has taken me through the depths of central Wyoming, primarily through the Granite Mountains or Sweetwater Rocks as they are known to locals. I've known a huge amount of rock there, but now the scope of the range is better understood and damn if I'm not surprised. What a gigantic pile of great bouldering! The area is now my Master's Thesis area and will have to be looked at in it's entirety from West to East, North to South. All 500 square miles of it and it is not all granite. There is gneiss in there, hence the detailed study, and it is good gneiss. I've already found, in a couple of weeks of walking, more rock than can be climbed in this life and the next. Admittedly, most of the rock is not prime, maybe only ten percent, but that ten percent is great. The cherries will be the only focus for this life time.

The Lander crew has been active in the Granites for years, but has really focused on it in the past few seasons. Some really good stuff has gone up and some new areas found. Old areas have been rediscovered and a resurgence has begun just in time for this life time. If it's not yet clear, I'm attempting to at least see the vast majority of the very best lines in Wyoming, if not climb most of them.
Not all the excitement is in the central expanse of Wyoming. The northwest corner is a seed of great motivation. I lived up there for a number of years and return as often as possible. I had always wondered how to get it all done up there and who would eventually take over. Once again the Lander crew is doing the job and a admirable one at that. The new stuff at Falcon's Lair and Devil's Kitchen is only a fraction of the goods that has me all jazzed up. Torrey Valley has always held my imagination and in many ways is the place that transformed me to a boulderer for life. It is a bouldering paradise. Despite the amazing quality, repeats are rare in that valley. Most of the best stuff has not yet been done. This summer will help with that!

So, to hear that Chris Marley had visited and is now fired up to spend some time there, I too want some time there. It may be his visit to the valley and repeats of my now dated problems that started this whole excitement thing. He managed the second repeat of Poho Kanhi V10, one of the prouder lines I've ever put up and one of the best in Wyoming. If that weren't enough, he finished the sit start too! Here is some video of Chris on Mead boulder in Torrey Valley.

Guili Zavaschi, back a few years, on the first repeat of Poho Kanhi V10

There are a few other things that have me excited, but I'll wait until chalk is on the rock to show those things.