New Problems at the Rock Shop

On Saturday, I spent four quiet hours brushing, rapping, and brushing some more.  The goal was to clean enough boulders in a concentrated area so that Ashley would get a good workout on Sunday.

When you reach your mid-thirties it becomes essential that every sector of a bouldering area has good warm-ups.  Right next to "Sleepy Hollow" is a boulder named "Get to the Point."  I spent a while brushing, and now the right and left aretes are clean.  If you climb the center, and each side, using only that arete for your hands, you'll be warmed up and ready to go.  

"Sleepy Hollow" wasn't going to happen for Ashley, so we moved on pretty quickly.

Jesse said last week that a traverse into his unnamed problem looked like something that Ashley would like.  He was right.  It's a leftwards traverse that begins at a sit start.  I managed to make the first ascent one turn before Ashley got the second ascent, and named it "Left Behind."  Jesse's line has cleaned up, and with refined beta, I'd call it solid V4.  "Left Behind" felt like a soft V6.  A quality line with unique limbo-like moves.

 Just around the corner is another sit down start called "Falling Behind," a V2 with tricky beta.  An easier line traverses in from the left.

Just up the hill were a couple steep problems that I cleaned on rappel.

 It was time to put all the pads to good use.

Out the right side of the overhang I topped out a nice long line on perfect grey stone.  It starts sitting on the bottom edge of the photo and has a tiered landing, well protected with a spotter and two pads.  I was expecting V3, but it goes at V1.  It's called "Jammin was a Thing of the Past."

 The center of the roof has great features, but climbs right over a frightening chasm.  Using one large Organic pad standing on it's side like a "V" in the chasm, and another large Organic covering it and the edges of the chasm, I made a card castle of sorts.  When I tried standing on the landing to test it, the whole thing collapsed, but slowly enough that I was able to avoid injury.  It seemed like a fall onto the pad structure might be alright, but I hoped to avoid it.  The problem looked V4.  I went for it and was quite surprised that the line goes at a solid and committing V2.  It's an amazing line for the moderate grade!  I'm so impressed with the rock, and problem, quality offered by the Rock Shop.  Stone this overhanging, solid, and featured is a very rare thing.

 When I rapped this line the evening before, I had decided that it wasn't for Ashley.  I thought that Ashley might enjoy playing on some difficult moves just to the left, over a better landing, but climb over a chasm?  That's not Ashley's game.

After watching me do the line, she couldn't resist the incredible climbing.  She decided to commit, and did the second ascent.

 The line is named "Fighting Paralysis."

Bryan and Rachel were visiting from Laramie and camping in the area.  Bryan seemed excited to spend the day exploring.  I noticed that he spent some time looking at an overhanging wall at the top of a nearby formation.  After we finished climbing, I hiked over to check it out.  Bryan had moved on, but the wall he was looking at is amazing.  I know that one line has been completed on the right side.  More will be done, but the landing will require some work, or a plethora of pads.

It was a great day at the Rock Shop, and I left with another new project.  I have a feeling that I've only seen the tip of the iceberg at this point.  Chris reports that he has discovered some very promising sectors.  Lander bouldering just keeps getting better...