The List for 2014 (with a few previously unpublished photos)

Late afternoon photo taken last summer near Deer Park.

It's been a big year!  Below is an attempt to compile the Lander area bouldering first ascents from last year.  We've got at least 167 new problems, put up by 20 first ascentionists, including two named Justin and three named Matt!  A few of the problems listed below went up earlier, but the vast majority of the listed lines were done in 2014.  The order of the list for each bouldering area is pretty much random.  I just listed the lines as they came to mind, or I found them online, and then cut and pasted them into the right geographic area.  This list will help me make sure that I don't forget lines when it's time to write the next guide, and give all of you some idea of the amount of development that happened in the Lander area over the last year.  But this list isn't comprehensive yet.  Many problems done during the last year are missing from this list.  I'd love to include them, but I don't have the necessary information yet. Names in quotes are descriptions rather than names.  If you have any ascents to share, or can fill in any of my question marks, or see a mistake, please send info to davlloyd3@yahoo.com or message me on Facebook. I'll update this list as soon as I get new info.  Thanks!

Sinks Canyon: The Beach
Soft Like Me V5 Justin Iskra
Bad Girls at the Beach V5/6 Ashley Lloyd
Starting Over V2 David Lloyd
Dune V3 David Lloyd
Black Slabbath HB V0+ Shane Williams
Truth Hurts V5 David Lloyd
Get Shorty V4 David Lloyd
Scalpel V1 Shane Williams
Surfer's Paradise V0 Ashley Lloyd
Mirage V4 David Lloyd
Step Right Up V3 David Lloyd
Chobra V6 Matt Harrison/ lower start Justin Iskra
"Straight up from Chobra start" V3/4 ?
Turdy Harry V8? Justin Iskra
Lioness V7 Ashley Lloyd
Dusty Springfield V2/3 David Lloyd
Big Jugs at the Beach V0 David Lloyd
"Ashley's V2 Traverse" V2 Ashley Lloyd
Sure Thing V3 David Lloyd
Sand Cat V3 David Lloyd


Sinks Canyon: Sandstone
Into the Mind V? Jason Burleson


Sinks Canyon: The Upper Cabins

Calen climbing "Zoloft."

Zoloft V4 Justin Iskra
Trailer Tears V4 Jesse Brown
Money for Nothing V7 Justin Iskra with a jump, Chris Marley from the ground.
Maximum Overdrive V7 Justin Iskra
Ocean Man V5 Justin Iskra
Scrub a Dub Dub V3 David Lloyd
Three Men in a Tub  V1 Calen Campbell
The Mollusk V5 Justin Iskra
Bananas and Blow V5 Justin Iskra
Dark Horse V6 Justin Iskra
High on Fire V6 Justin Iskra


Sinks Canyon: The Summit



Warm Up Wall (5 lines V0-1) David and Ashley Lloyd
Riversong V3/4 David Lloyd
Walk the Line V4/5 David Lloyd
Buttercup V2 Ashley Lloyd

The Source
Diamonds, Guns, and Money V7 Justin Iskra


Worthen Reservoir
Worthen Prow V5 Davin Bagdonas or Dave Nash many years ago
Shadow Boxing V7 Jesse Brown
Lapis V6 Jesse Brown
"Chris Marley V10" V10 Chris Marley
"Big Boulder" V2 Jake Novotny


Roaring Fork
"Junker Boulder maybe 4? V4s" multiple V4s Ana and Devlin Junker
Slippery Nipple V4 Jesse Brown
Sweetwater Rock Traverse V3 David Lloyd

Behind Closed Doors V7 Jesse Brown (done earlier than 2014)
Slip and Slide V8 Jesse Brown (done earlier than 2014)
Too Close for Comfort V5 Ashley Lloyd
Short Stuff V3/4 David Lloyd

Roaring Fork: White Stripes Sector
Old Mountain Chrome V8 Davin Bagdonas
Guardian Angel Arm V5 Davin Bagdonas
Legend V6 David Lloyd
Mini Mini V6 David Lloyd
Mountain Dharma V4 David Lloyd
The Mummy V2 Justin Loyka
"The sharp one that I forgot the name of" V3 Justin Loyka
Tic Tac Crack V3 Justin Loyka
That's Pretty V6 Ashley Lloyd
Kewpie V1 Ashley Lloyd
Chia Pet V3/4 David Lloyd
V2 Records V2 David Lloyd
V0 Corner V0 David Lloyd
Sticky Slab V0 Davin Bagdonas
Sticky Roof V4 David Lloyd
Justin's Arete V1 HB Justin Loyka
Justin's Warmup V1 Justin Loyka

Deer Park
Dracula V5/6 Jesse Brown
Horror Show V1 HB Jesse Brown
Spooky V6 David Lloyd
Ghost Story V7 David Lloyd
Thomassons SDS V1 David Lloyd

Oz
Mark It 8 V9  Mark Avery
Ivy League V5 Mark Avery
Minor League V3 Jesse Brown
Camp Boulder V6 Chris Marley?
The Wonderful Warmups of Oz V1-3 David and Ashley Lloyd
"Jon's High Warmup" V? Jon Glassberg
"Unknown V4 SDS in the gulley" V4    ?

Sweetwater
Silhouette V11 Chris Marley
The Grey V6 Ashley Lloyd
Tick Tock SDS V5 Ashley Lloyd
Tick Tock Arete V4 David Lloyd
"Shane's V3s" Two V3s Shane Williams
Very Blustery Day V4 Ashley Lloyd
The Ivory Traverse V2 David Lloyd
Ivory Warm Up V1 David Lloyd
Thunderbird V3 David Lloyd
Hunny Pot Roof V3 David Lloyd
The Hunny Pot Traverse V4 Ashley Lloyd
Sunshine V3 David Lloyd
Rock and Ice V4 David Lloyd

Devlin on "Rock and Ice."

The Rock Shop
True Blood V6 Matt Saunders
Grave Wave V5 Justin Iskra
Electric Storm V9 Chris Marley
Lander Before Time V7 Connor Griffith
Philanderer V10 Jon Glassberg
Lander Calrissian V7/8 Connor Griffith
Lander Calphilanderer V9 Jon Glassberg
Philander Calrissian V9 Jon Glassberg
Trick Ass Mark V10/11 Jon Glassberg
Name of the Wind V8 Connor Griffith
Name of the Wind SDS V9 Jon Glassberg
Big Fudge V2 Calen Campbell
Skid Marks V2 Calen Campbell
"Two V2s near Lord of the Flies" V2 Chris Marley and Tony Stark?
Foul Mouth V4 Tony Stark
"Swan Boulder Three Problems" V3- ~6 Chris Marley
"Unnamed Traverse and Up Problem" V5 and V6 Chris Marley
Millenium Falcon V5 David Lloyd
Stone Country SDS V7 David Lloyd
Gaston Gaston V5 David Lloyd
La Boulangerie V3 Alan Pirie
Sh#! Storm V5 Tony Stark
Perfect Storm V6 David Lloyd
The Unforgiving Tree V8/9 Zach Rudy
Smoking the Tree V12/13 Chris Marley

City Walls
Wind Tunnel V3 Ashley Lloyd
Crimp to It V2 Ashley Lloyd
Warm Up Wall Four V1s David Lloyd
Ashley's Low Traverse V5 Ashley Lloyd
Uncontrived Roof V2 David Lloyd
Contrived Roof V4 David Lloyd
Placer Gold V3/4 David Lloyd
The Lander Cutoff V2 David Lloyd
The Onion V3 Ashley Lloyd
The Other Warm Up Wall Five problems V0-2 David and Ashley Lloyd
Flaming Lips Traverse V3 Ashley Lloyd
The Oregon Trail Southern Traverse V5 Ashley Lloyd
The Oregon Trail Traverse V3 Ashley Lloyd
The Oregon Trail Northern Traverse V2 David Lloyd
Oregon Trail SDS V3HB David Lloyd
"Ben's Roof" V4 Ben Sears
"Justin's Wall" V2 Justin Loyka
Ashley's Favorite V4 David Lloyd

Justin Loyka on "Ashley's Favorite."

 Sloping Jug Traverse V3 Ashley Lloyd
"Justin's Best Line of the Day" V3 Justin Loyka
"Justin's Solo" V? Justin Loyka
Journey to "Justin's Wall" V3 David Lloyd
Short and Cool V4 David Lloyd

Rapid Lake
Jesse scoping boulders at Rapid Lake.

"Jesse's Compression Line" V5 Jesse Brown
Safety First V4 David Lloyd
Warm Up V1 David Lloyd
Shenanigans V2 David Lloyd
The Gathering Hordes SDS V4 David Lloyd

Falcon's Lair
Wheel of the Falcon V13 Chris Marley
Falcon Punch V5 Matt Pincus
Masonic V9 or 10? Chris Marley

Devil's Kitchen
Mission Accomplished V6 Jesse Brown
Lion Tamer V7  Justin Iskra
Watch Your Six V6/7 Justin Iskra
Triple Double V7 Justin Iskra
Pinches of Power V7 Kyle Vassilopoulos
Kitchen Corner V7 (consensus grade) Collin Horvat (2012)
Pinches of Power Direct V8/9 Kyle Vassilopoulos
Instant Karma V7 Collin Horvat (2011)

Last year I credited "War Tactics" V12 by Kyle Vassilopoulos as the problem of the year for it's combination of quality and difficulty.  This year it's Chris Marley who's been putting up the most difficult lines, and I've decided to award my pick for the line of the year to "Masonic" at the Falcon's Lair.  It isn't the most difficult line that Chris finished this year, but the amazing rock quality, prime location, and the fact that it's been a long standing project, make it the new problem that I was most excited to hear about.  

And some great looking walls have been found recently at Sweetwater.  So 2015 is looking good already! 

See you in the new year,
David

Sinks Canyon Sessions

Quite a few areas in Wyoming were boulderable during the past couple weekends.  But school's been keeping us very busy, and the weather forecast actually looked best for Sinks, so we spent our climbing days here.  It's really nice to have 275 boulder problems within a ten minute drive of the house.

Sierra's gotten serious about her climbing, so in addition to thinking about what Ashley and I would like to try, I'm now planning our sessions with Sierra in mind.  We went to the Slug boulder because it has fun warmups that Ashley and I could repeat, and lines that Sierra could work on.

Sierra's best send of the day was "Leeches" V3.

Later, we made the short hike over to "Buttwink" V7.  Ashley had never tried it in good conditions before.  She started to piece it together, but couldn't figure out a sequence through the long crux move.

Then we hiked to the Kingsford boulder.  My goal for the day was to climb at least one problem that I hadn't done before.  So I gave "The Seam" project a few tries.  I think it's possible, but quickly realized that it would take more than a day's work.  So I moved on to my last hope for the day, a line called "Flame" V6.

Since writing the new guide, I've had a couple people ask me about "Flame."  One person asked me for details on the sequence, and another said "There is no way that's a V6!"  I couldn't really give any advice or argue about it.  I'd tried the line on three separate days, and hadn't been able to do it either.  One of the rules I gave myself when I wrote the guidebook is that I wouldn't change historical grades unless I had climbed the problem, and even then only if I felt sure that the grade was at least two grades off.  Since I hadn't figured out the problem, I left the historical grade of V6 in my guide, and privately wondered if a hold had broken.

I won't take the time to go into detail about every sequence that I tried.  I tried so many variations.

But before the sun set that day, I climbed "Flame" V6!

And once I did it, the grade felt in line with the other dolomite V6s in Sinks.  I can usually send a given V6 in one session if it isn't a full out dyno.  But this one took me four days because it's just such an intricate puzzle!  After the nice starting edge there are quite a few sidepulls and tiny holds to choose from.  None of them had chalk, and none of them feel good, but in the right positions some are slightly better than others.  I was able to find one set of hand and foot holds that could give me the distance I needed to latch, and keep, the only good hold below the lip.

It's snowed again now, the chalk's probably gone, and if you aren't my size you might need to find your own way.  Good luck!  Sinks dolomite is sharp.  And most of the harder lines on it require perfectly done, powerful moves, on painful holds.  But it feels really good to finish some of these lines.  "Flame" isn't the hardest thing I've climbed, but it just might be the most impossible looking thing that I've done.  Standing under the line, after topping out, I still couldn't believe that it was possible to use such small holds to make such a big move.  I was quite satisfied with the day, and happy that the line does match what's written about it in the guide.

Sinks on Saturday morning.

On Saturday we were just hoping to get a quick session done before this snowstorm arrived, but we ended up getting a beautiful full day at the Beach.  We warmed up on a traverse that I put up last spring.

"Dusty Springfield" V3.

Then we hiked up to the highest climbable sandstone wall in the mini canyon.  I had brushed off some lines that I wanted to try.

On the right side Ashley added a left to right V2 traverse that she hasn't named yet.

I did a sit start from the flat hold to her right called "Sure Thing" V3.

Then I added a really nice SDS line at the left end of the wall called "Sand Cat" V3.

It could be harder than V3 if you're tall.  We brought our feet up while still using tiny crimps.

We moved on to another project, but I'll post about that once it's finished.  There's really quite a bit of potential left on the shady side of the Beach, and with some brushing on rappel, a few proud new lines could be added to most sandstone areas in Sinks.  When I get the time, I'll be excited to get to them.

That's all I've got to share this week.   But if you've gotten any bouldering first ascents near Lander during the last year, it is time to send them in.  I've already gotten started on The List 2014. All I'm asking for right now is the name, area, grade, and first ascentionist of each problem you'd like included.  I think we might have already surpassed last year's total.  Thanks for your help!