Monday, September 30, 2013

Great Day at Nine Corners Lake (September 14, 2013)

So I held off on this post for a couple of weeks for the mere fact that I have been so busy with work, bouldering, life in general and even more importantly, the Adirondack Bouldering Guidebook tasks.  Anyways, back on Saturday September 14th I headed up to Nine Corners to meet up with some friends to do our last photo shoot for an upcoming bouldering article in Adirondack Life.  It rained considerably for a couple of days prior to that Saturday so we postponed the meeting time until later in the afternoon and I am really glad that we did.

With a strong breeze throughout the entire night and no rain predicted for that day we ventured up to Nine Corners to climb on some of my favorite boulders while Aaron Hobson (http://www.aaronhobson.com/) documented our lifestyle as boulderers in the Adirondack forest, our successful and failed attempts on boulder problems and our overall team energy and psych throughout the beautiful fall afternoon.  I was able to establish a new boulder problem that I starts as "Try or Cry" and traverses to the left on sharp crimps to get into the boulder problem "One Might Think".  I was able to link through this section earlier in the year (April/May) but fell over and over again on the big dyno move on "One Might Think".  With renewed energy and psych and a large audience on that particular day, I was able to successfully stick the dyno and "Didn't Think"-V8 was born.

Shortly after the send of "Didn't Think", we all got to witness Zac W. successfully top out "Pop or Drop" for his first send on the boulder problem.  It was one of the most inspiring attempts and sends that I have ever seen first hand...big props to you Zac for keeping it all together.  After the sending spree on the Fortress Boulder, we headed over the "Tower of Power" for some dramatic highball bouldering photos.  Ron, Andrew and I all took turns enjoying the 25 foot boulder problem and even Amanda couldn't resist the temptation to get on the line.  On her first attempt she reverted to down climb to evaluate the problem again from the ground.  On her second attempt, she passed her previous high point only to reach another committing and scary sequence.  From here the down climb was not an option so the SAC crew had to get creative and we were able to build a human pyramid for Amanda to stand on so she could safely bail off of the side of the boulder that would typically be a "death fall" zone.  The smile never left her face despite being in a dicey situation for a minute or two.  The epic scene of everyone scrambling to help get her off of the massive boulder sparked a very creative video idea for Aaron who plans on shooting something for the Banff Film Festival...so stay tuned for that!!

All in all, it was one of the most enjoyable days I have had bouldering in a very long time.  Everyone was really motivated and energetic and it couldn't have turned out to be a more beautiful day.

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Additional Crane Mountain (AKA Boulderwoods) Information

Here are some web sites from Jay Harrison that I found while trying to locate more information on the Crane Mountain Boulders in Johnsburg, New York.  I am really looking forward to spending some more time up there as I work on the guidebook.

http://www.mtnsideview.com/articles/articles.php?id=sadkrock2009p2

http://www.mtnsideview.com/articles/articles.php?id=bldrwoods08

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Boulderwoods: Crane Mountain

Below is a short video from a  recent recon bouldering session at Boulderwoods:  Crane Mountain, New York.  I have not been back to the Boulderwoods set in a couple of years because I was under the impression that the area had been "climbed out" and that the potential for new lines was minimal.  Either way, I wanted to get back there to map out the boulders, get GPS locations for all of the developed boulders, as well as scout for new potential for the upcoming Adirondack Bouldering Guidebook. 

Let's just saw that I was taken back with the amount of potential that I saw up there and that I will definately be heading back before the snow falls to clean and climb some new lines along with climbing some of the existing problems that I have never tried.

Has anyone been bouldering here lately???

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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Second Pond Development: August 2013


As promised, but slightly behind schedule...some video coverage of the SAC crew's recent weekend of development at Second Pond in Saranac Lake, New York. This three day weekend was packed full of good times and great sends between close friends.

I got to watch my utility float sink in the middle of the lake with all of my gear for the weekend (including cameras, cell phone and GPS unit), most of the items were successfully retrieved, a 12.5' telescoping aluminum ladder is still somewhere on the lake's bottom (Pooler thanks for trekking back with me to retrieve my gear!). Keith Banta bouldered despite the fact that he had knee surgery scheduled two days after the trip; Kippy tried harder than ever before and actually topped out a slew of boulder problems in his typical 'ninja' style. Ron Manning brought his "A" game on his first ever trip to the Second Pond boulders...he snagged a sweet first ascent and nearly sent a project of mine in a handful of tries until loss of skin on his digits deterred anymore attempts. Brad was back out to boulder after taking an extended break due to an ankle injury at Snowy Mountain. He also picked up a burly first ascent on the trip. Johnny Sullivan tried every boulder problem like he meant business and was able to successfully send his project from last year on his first try this trip. The psych for this "new" bouldering area continues to rise as we unearth more and more potential.  Stay tuned for a return trip and more updates within the next few weeks.


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Friday, September 6, 2013

Can Anyone Confirm Gull Pond Potential?

I know that both Kippy from (adkbouldering.blogspot.com) and JP from (weekendbouldering.blogspot.com) have visited Gull Pond in Schroon Lake, New York but has anyone else done any exploring of these boulders?  It looks extremely promosing from the aerial images that i've found and some online photographs as well.  I'd really like to know if there is potential for some classic boulder problems in this beautiful Adirondack Lake settting.

http://adkbouldering.blogspot.com/2012/05/this-is-where-you-are-headed-next-time.html

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