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Colorado Alpine Update
After the summer of 2010 saw an explosion in development thanks mainly to the efforts of Dave Graham, the summer of 2011 looks to be one of repeats and consolidation in Colorado's alpine bouldering hotspots. In addition to some of the repeats I mentioned previously there have been some additional noteworthy sends going down at Mt. Evans courtesy of a quick search of 8a.
nu:
- Graham's proposed V14 at Lincoln Lake, Vanilla Sky, was repeated by Jimmy Webb and Brion Voges who both suggested a downgrade to V13.
- Evil Backwards, which was confirmed at V14 by several repeaters last summer, has been repeated lately by the likes of Brad Weaver, Brian Antheunisse, Kevin Jorgeson and Sam Davis. Someone is either being over aggressive with their brushing or outright chipping the problem as the crux hold continues to grow in size leading Davis to suggest the problem could be as easy V12 now.
- At Area A both both Brion Voges and Nate Draughn repeated Graham's Big Worm (V14), which is notable as Draughn completely skipped V13 saying on his 8a.nu scorecard that Big Worm fit him perfect. Check out this interview Draughn did with DPM for more of his thoughts on the experience.
- Also at Area A, Brad Weaver flashed the classic No More Greener Grasses (V12). For one of the only times in recorded history I was present for something noteworthy in the climbing world and I managed to take a few pictures:
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13 comments
Congrats on witnessing Brad's send, I guess that's what happens when the largest climbing gym on the East coast sponsors you, oh and you're crazy lean and strong.
also noteworthy is the discovery that many problems at lincoln lake were in some way chipped or manufactured.
This is completely unsubstantiated and should in no way be taken as fact at this point.
There is a group of people in the area who have either noticed the outcome or heard hearsay in regards to the culprit. One climber even claims to have spoken with another climber at the crag who was carrying a screw driver and paint scraper. It's definitely not "completely unsubstantiated" as you said.
I was not referring to the Evil Backwards debacle. I was responding to the statement that "many problems at lincoln lake were in some way chipped or manufactured," which I believe is a reference to a post on B3 from a well known Colorado climber.
Gotcha, the claim to which you refer was quite disturbing to me since it was stated as if it was common knowledge.
true.
but NARC...what have YOU been sending?!?!
Well...today I visited two Tuscan hill towns and sampled a couple different Vino Nobles. Where does that go on my scorecard?
stupid question- could the fact that the problems become covered in so much snow and ice for the better part of the year have anything to do with the change in holds?
While I'm sure that has some effect, it would not have altered the hold on Evil Backwards to its current state. Especially considering that there hadn't been snow under the climb for over a month when it was "aggressively cleaned".
In general though, that can certainly change the character of holds from one year to the next.
so cleaning lichen off holds is now chipping? you drove in in a car on a road in a sensitive, high alpine environment, that is much bigger impact than any sort of rock modification