Memorial Day Weekend Washout...

"Flux Capacitor" was one of only a few dry boulder problems at McKenzie Pond this past weekend.  Not wanting to leave the Pond without climbing something, I got a nice session in on this classic line.  Looking forward to heading back north once the weather clears up to revisit some old projects.

Caroga Lake Highballin'

This weekend marked the 7th annual Memorial Day Trip up to the north country near Whiteface Mountain to camp, fish, canoe, and naturally Rock Climb.  Mother nature was against us the entire duration of the trip.  It stormed every day we were there (Friday-Monday), the Ausable River was at record levels making the trout fishing non-existant.  No fish were pulled from the river this year, that is a first for our camping group.  I was able to make it to McKenzie Pond for two hours on Sunday to find everything soaking wet, it was nearly 80 degrees outside, 90% humidity, and the bugs loved the way I tasted that day.  I was able to repeat the notorious "Flux Capacitor" to the upper jugs (with only one pad, no spotters, and an extremely low psych level, I wasn't about to try and top the problem out).  I will post some video up later this week.

All of these poor conditions from the weekend  forced a resurrgence of psych, thankfully I stumbled upon some of these older highball bouldering photos from the Caroga Lake region....ENJOY

Pottersville: Video Update; Continued

Below is a different perspective on the sit start to squibs which was established two weekends ago and the FA of "Truffle Shuffle" last Saturday after a rain storm.  The location of this boulder allows for the sun to dry the boulder problem quickly after a rain.

Pottersville: Video Update

A Stormy Session at Pottersville

Back into the mythical forest in Pottersville, NY this past Saturday to recheck the psych for new rock and boulder problem potential and to test our luck with the nasty stretch of weather we've been enduring.  Not even 30 minutes into the day and the sky opened up on us unleashing a relentless downpour that lasted for nearly 30 minutes.  Trying to salvage what was left, we recleaned and dried a few boulder problems and somehow managed to get a somewhat decent session out of it all.

After a few initial visits and climbing sessions, I still feel that there is some good potential at this collection of boulders. 

Largest Erratic in Caroga Lake?

Over the course of Murph's hiatus from the working world, countless hours were spent scanning aerial imagery online followed by recon missions to loactions he thought might have the most potential to have large boulders and cliff bands.  One of the discoveries he made was a small group of boulders along the nothern shore of Pine Lake with one boulder in particular being one of the single largest boulders (with features conducive to climbing) in the Southern Adirondacks.  Of course some of the boulders in the tallus beneath Good Luck Lake Cliffs are similar in size, but recon missions have determined that they're aren't any holds! There have been a few cleaning/climbing sessions on this monster which have unearthed some stellar boulder problems...all of which are falling into the "Highball" category due to the size of the main block.  I am interested to see just how many boulder problems this one boulder can produce.  If I have to throw a number out right now, it would be in the lower 20's. 

Boulder Problems Less Traveled...

This slightly overhanging face on the Prison Boulder in Caroga Lake holds some high quality boulder problems.  A mere 2 min. walk from the parking area brings you right to this massive glacial erratic.  Depicted here is Murph on the notorious traverse sequence on "Luck of the Irish".  The stand start has seen multiple repeats but the sit start has gone unrepeated for over two years now.  Over 20 hand movements throughout the sequence, rumored to be around the V11/12 range.

About 5 miles southeast of the Nine Cornered Lake parking lot and Pine Lake is a small collection of boulders/cliff bands adjacent to the Pinnacle Restaurant property.  We developed this area about 5 years ago when frequenting the boulders at Nine.  The boulder problem shown above is an undone climb up a prominant overhanging face.  Here Nile Baker (AKA Icey) is wrapping up the stand start that I established during sessions of working out the beta.  This problem does go...but who can link it all together?  Another possible Caroga Lake double-digit boulder problem.

Hogwart's...and a few project's

The first picture shows a nice slightly overhang face with decent crimp edges which lead to a nice topout at about 15'.  The crux for me revolves around matching on a poor crimp edge after the sit start and then making a long lock off to good incut holds about 3' away.  All said and done, from the sit start to the top, this problem could fall in the V8-V10 range.

The second picture shows the overhang arete/face from the video posted below.  This climbs really well and we were surprised when we determined that the left hand sidepulls did have to come into play.  At first glance, this appeared to be an easy lip/arete traverse, but we could get off the ground until we used the left hand sidepulls.  Lots of core tension needed on the "Truffle Shuffle".

Pottersville, NY: and a place dubbed "Hogwart's"

I got some great beta from Adam and Ben on their initial development efforts and info from Murph on what to check out at the newness. Hogwarts seems to have potential for numerous boulder problems with neat features, solid/course rock, various angles, and sloping topouts! The day was cut short by the downpours and the 10-day forecast doesn't look very promising... Parking seems legit at the old information center and the neighoring property owner's have not objected to the visiting boulderer's. Keep your fingers crossed and hope we can continue to play in this boulderfield. Excellent find Murphy...we'll take care of the rest especially that Sorcerers Stone...ha ha