Some New Boulders...

Undisclosed area for the time being, but just wanted to prove to everyone that the crew is on the hunt for new bouldering areas in the Adirondack Park!  This area is on state land, has legit access and will have a few high quality boulder problems.  Deet, daht.  To my knowledge, nobody has ever climbed on these boulders.

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20' tall boulder

 

Same 20' tall boulder, different side

20' tall boulder with cool dihedral feature

12' tall twin arete

Beautiful orange boulder, sharp arete will be hard!

20' tall orange face with ripples and dimples

Short 10' tall overhanging wall

Massive 30' tall boulder.  Anything done here will be very dificult!

This is the gem boulder.  Left arete will be 5 stars!

A better view of the gem arete

And a close up of the actual holds

Nice steep outcrop by the arete boulder

Something currently lives under this boulder (note the trail in the snow leading inside!) 
Once developed, this boulder could have 10 or more boulder problems on it!

Don't think I forgot about these boulders...

Despite the snow accumulation expected for today and tomorrow, I am still very anxious to get back outside to try some of the numerous projects and untouched boulder problems and routes that I left at the end of the fall 2012 season. 

 

Last Fall, we were having an unusually wet season, so I decided to head north to finally explore the expansive talus fields along Route 73 in Keene Valley, NY.  After only a few hours of exploration, the crew had located three main bouldering areas with over 50 boulder problems worth putting the time and effort to clean them for climbing.  I have not been back since that initial visit, but this spring, the boulder fields by Round and Chapel pond will see their fair share of climbing visits.

 

Below are some images that Josh Potter emailed me after he, Murph and the one and only David Buzzelli revisted the talus fields along Route 73 in Keene Valley, NY for a day of devlopment. 

 

Boulders at Nine Corners You've Probably Never Seen...

This past Sunday, I went up to Nine Corners Lake to continue my GPS work for boulder locations and mapping out the boulder field(s) for the Adirondack Bouldering Guidebook which is in the works and will take the remainder of 2013 (at a minimum) to finish.  Jim Lawyer and Jeremy Haas, the co-authors of "Adirondack Rock" have given me their blessing on this project and have offered numerous resources to help move the project along- thanks guys!

While up at Nine Corners, I decided to venture away from the main bouldering sets to head deeper into the woods and revisit some random glacial erratics that I had found and climbed on some 3-4 years ago.  A few fun boulder problems were established when I initially found them but there was no real effort to fully develop the new boulder set back then; mainly because I didn't have the vision that I do now for new boulder problems and potential variations.  From what I saw on Sunday, this "new set" of boulders can have anywhere from 20-30 new boulder problems when the development is all said and done this spring.  Stay tuned for updates!!!

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Remember When it was Warm???

A small sport crag I worked on and developed in 2010 with various friends.  Maybe this year it will see some more attention from the local climbing community.  In my opinion, it is a great place to work on your "lead climbing mentality".  The routes are short but demanding and are a nice transition for a boulderer who is interesting in doing more roped climbing.  Otter Lake Cliff is basically highball bouldering with a rope.

Some images to spark more interest...

 

 

 

 

 



Some Internet Photos from Farley Ledge

Farley Ledge in Western Mass. makes for an extremely long day with the round trip traveling and climbing.  The last time I visited the area, Keith Banta and I were disappointed with how wet the boulder problems were from previous rain events and unfortunately we weren't able to climb on most of the boulders that we had planned on.

The next time I make the 3 hour journey, I plan on making a long weekend out of it so we can climb at Farley for a full day and The Hideaway and Happy Valley another day before heading back home.

Some nice bouldering photographs of Farley Ledge from a google search...

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Warmer weather increases the psyche

Watching the snow continue to melt this morning has got me thinking about a few undone projects lurking in the Adirondack forests.  I cannot wait for winter to end and the warmer/dryer months of Spring and Summer. 

The first of many Winter Recon Missions

With my new Garmin GPS unit and a powerful software program called "Expert GPS", I have been scanning aerial imagery and topography maps for the Southern Adirondack region trying to determine which areas would be the most logical to have cliffs and boulder fields for some new development efforts for the upcoming season.

Below are some pictures taken from two weekends ago when Murph and I broke trail in over 36" of fresh powder in Indian Lake, New York.  We didn't find "destiny" on this recon mission, however the discovery of a free standing boulder with hueco pockets identical to those at the main Snowy Mountain bouldering area is enough to keep my psych levels high.

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A lost Thanksgiving Break Bouldering Session

Happy New Year to any readers still out there...

While tranferring and archiving some of my recent climbing pictures and videos from my laptop to my dual external hard drives, I stumbled on an outdoor bouldering session that the SAC crew had back on Saturday November 17th at the Snowy Mountain Boulders.  As I flipped through the numerous pictures and dozens of videos, my psych for bouldering quickly emerged again.  I've got to be honest, bouldering is by far my favorite recreational pursuit and I look forward to every future session that I have with the SAC crew!

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