Great Barrington MA- Tomahawk, Sit (V8/9)

The video below is from an outdoor session that I squeezed in with Greg Stone back on January 7th which marked my first official outdoor bouldering session of the new year.  It was an excellent day and timed perfectly since the weather has been very difficult for outdoor climbing ever since.  I was able to send the sit start to Tomahawk which has been called V8/9 by various climbers and after the send, Greg and I spent the remainder of the day projecting problems like Something From Nothing (V11) and Pins and Needles (V9).  We were able to do all of the moves on the latter problem and Greg has had some excellent work on SFN and has done all of the moves in isolation.  The infamous New England gem for me on the other hand felt damn near impossible and I wasn't able to do any of the difficult moves, BUT it got me super motivated to train hard this winter season for more dedicated attempts later in the year.

Happy training and climbing!

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Adirondack Park's First V10- Nick Stoner

The Nine Corner Lake bouldering area is home to the first V10 that was established in the Adirondack Park.  Back in the early 2000's, a local climber named Tommy Durant got the first ascent of this problem when Adirondack Bouldering pioneers Scot Carpenter, Arien Cartrette, David Buzzelli, Andy Scheiderich, Andy Salo, and Garrett Koeppicus were actively working on developing of Nine Corner Lake as a new bouldering destination.

After Durant's first ascent (circa 2003/2004), the boulder problem sat there unrepeated for a very long time.  To my knowledge, the second ascent did not take place until December 2011 when I was able to finally top the problem out after countless sessions and attempts.  Since that 2011 ascent I know that Evan Race has successfully climbed Nick Stoner as well as Nathan Furst-Nichols (youtube discovery).  Do you know of any other climbers who have topped this problem out?  If so, please share!!!

Since my ascent in 2011, I have not been able to repeat the problem mainly because a sharp left hand crimp shreds my fingertips after a couple of attempts.  Last week just before Christmas and the first measurable snowfall in Caroga Lake, New York, I was finally able to get a personal repeat on this notorious problem before winter set in.  Big thanks to Kenta Yamada for his spotting and encouragement!

Media Update: