Yesterday, Tuesday October 18, 2011 I had to do some field work in Tupper Lake, NY for one of the resort projects that my company has been working on. I was really psyched because I knew that this put me only 25 minutes away from the McKenzie Pond Boulders...an area I typically only see once a year on Memorial Day Weekend.
For the past week I had my sights set on one boulder problem in particular, "Stanfields"; a crimpy V9 that had eluded me for the past few years. As the day approached, I was becoming more and more anxious to try the climb again. Yesterday morning I left my house at 5:00 am to get an early start to the day so I could finish all of the my field work and still salvage some daylight to do some McKenzie Pond bouldering. The weather forecast looked prime and I was hoping to capitalize...
And then it rained, or should I say poured! For a solid hour on my 2 1/2 hr commute north towards Tupper Lake it rained non stop. My psych was slowly diminishing...I mean more rain, really? Come on man! I finished all of my field work in a timely manner and decided that being as close as I was to the boulders, I may as well swing thru to have a look and maybe look around to scout some new lines.
I did in fact find an additional 15-20 house sized boulders in the forest past Flux Capacitor on state land...which is really exciting. And somehow I did do some boulder problems...one in particular being the one I had my sights set on! I'm not really sure how I pulled it off, the tops of all of the boulders were dangerously wet, covered in moss, and coated in pine needles. I even had to use the tree on the top of Slobodon to avoid a fall. Even with the use of the tree, the climb was not over, you can see my hesitiation in the video below...
Media Update: WET SENDING>
Never Been to Hueco- V7
Tomas Donoso photograph scanned from Rock and Ice
Mr. Smiley
Mr. Smiley- V5 at Moss Island
Is Stanfields pretty close to the road? At 2:37 I saw a white blur at the bottom right corner.
ReplyDeleteStanfields in on the first boulder...right off of the road.
ReplyDeleteI am really psyched on the additional boulder sets that I saw in the forest around McKenzie Pond! Also, noticed some large glacial erratics near the Second Pond canoe launch, right off the side of Route 86...20-30 feet tall with holds and features>>destiny? I will know more after this weekend.
ReplyDeleteHey Jut, that massive boulder you found beyond set 3... did it have a ladder leaning up against one side of it? Zac did a little bushwacking back there recently and reported the same stuff (massive boulders and a lot of potential).
ReplyDeleteGREAT send on Stanfields -- you made it look easy, even in the wet conditions. Well done!
Andrew...I actually borrowed that ladder for a bit to help me dry some things as best as I could! That one boulder had 4-5 really good looking lines on it. There are also a handful of other boudlers right next to it that had good potential. I am led to believe that there are MANY more in the immediate area.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Stanfields shout out...I can't wait to try it again when it is dry, I was fighting so hard to not slip off of that topout. Thankfully the arete was dry for my hands, but man I think my heel hook and toe hooks on the arete slipped off 6-7 times before it finally stuck...epic!
My two cents:
ReplyDelete1. The tree is definately off on the first climb
2. You know that Buzz did the topout to the second climb differently, so I'd have to call it a not legit send
DESTINY KID IS LEGIT!!!
ReplyDelete"2. You know that Buzz did the topout to the second climb differently, so I'd have to call it a not legit send."
ReplyDelete...straight from the official rulebook of upstate bouldering!