Joe's Valley To Do List and Beta (edited)

So I got back out to Clear Creek Canyon this weekend and finished up my business on Interstellar Overdrive 13d. I gave a warm-up burn on it and then sent it next try (4th on try on the route). I was psyched with how smoothly it went. The climbing was really fun. Apart from being a bit height dependent (not a problem for me) and having one nasty sharp crimp and some glue, this is a great climb. That sounds like a bunch of ifs, but it really is a fun line. Here's a photo of me on the lower section of the route.


I'm really getting psyched for my trip to Joe's Valley that's coming up. I feel like I'm in good shape and am excited to try lots of new problems. I've been doing some research and have put together a list of problems I'd like to try. This is my list (perhaps a bit ambitious):

Masterpiece V13
The Ghost King V11
Ghost of War V11/12
Black Dahlia V10
Skeleton Key V11
Zero V13
Prince of Thieves V11
Mask of God V13
Moment of Truth v10
Right Sign Project V10-12?
Botox Bowtie V13
Beyond Life Sit V12
Godsend V9
Kill List V12
Black Out V12/13
Black #1 V12
The Zodiac V12 (Where's this one?)

In making this list I combed a bunch of internet sites trying to get beta on where the new problems are. I've climbed a bunch in Joe's but still didn't know where many of them are. I put together an expanded list with beta on how to find new problems. I did this mainly for myself when I get there. I thought I'd share it with everyone because some may find it useful. You should know that it is probably riddled with errors because this is info I collected through the web and almost none of it is first hand knowledge. Perhaps I'll revise it after this trip. I think there's a new guide coming out soon which will be much better than this list.

Also I added links at the bottom to videos of some of these problems.

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NOTE: I owe most of this information to Jamie Emerson's blog (especially this post which has photos of lots of the boulders) and Anthony Chertudi's site. Also the stars are a complete guess on my part from photos and descriptions. Don't take them seriously... I just did them for myself because I thought they'd help me remember the ones I must check out.
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JOE'S VALLEY NEW PROBLEMS BETA


NEW JOE'S

The Ghost King V11 **, Ghost of War V11/12 **, V10, V8, V6, V5
New Joe's Wash. In a drainage on the right shortly after old mine and rusty car when hiking to New Joe's from the new access point higher up the road. Ghost King starts under and left of slopy arete lip. Big move to the right and then toe hook to get up to the upper slopers. Ghost King can be climbed straight up from the starting hold and is about V10. Ghosts of War V12 takes the white streak up the middle of the Ghost King boulder. The left arete of the boulder is V8. Line of crimps to the right of the left arete goes at about V6. To the left is a small boulder with a great slab that is V5 or so and climbs a mono.


LEFT FORK (all mileage from the National Forest Sign)

Masterpiece V13 ****
Up the Left fork just after the right fork splits off. Park about 100yds past the split. The boulder is across the river and a ways up the hill. It's the largest boulder on the hill, is long and brown, and a built up landing is visible at the bottom.

Left Arete of Majestic Boulder V11 ** (0.18 mi.)
Across river early on left fork. Maybe this is The Zodiac V12?.

Groundation V8/9, Obelisk V9, Black Dahlia V10 **** (1.1 mi.?)
To access this new area, drive about 150yds past the mine cart and park in a large pullout on the right side of the road. An obvious trail will lead about 200yds up the hill to the new boulders. Farthest left is Groundation V8 or V9. The Obelisk V9 is almost straight up from the parking lot, and is visible about half way up the hill, up and to the left. It starts in the middle of the face and heads right, to the arete. The Black Dahlia V10 lies hidden in a gulley of boulders about 200 yds up from the road, three quaters of the way to the cliffband and is the right most problem.

The Skull V11 (0.27 mi.)
Across river from "Wood removal by permit" sign. Long black boulder. Fairly obvious short bulge on left side.

Skeleton Key V11, Zero V13, V9, Proj. (0.35 mi.)
A large parking lot on the left. Park here to access Halloween Town, which is upstream about 50yds from the parking lot. The Skeleton Key V11 is up the hill about 7 min and is most notable for the very hard and crimpy sit-start that has ALMOST been climbed by James Litz. For Skeleton Key, pull on, left crimp, right hand pocket, and then jump for sloper. The arete to the right of Skeleton Key is V9. From here hike about 50yds up canyon to a massive overhang. Zero V13 climbs out the right side, starting on two small crimps in the black rock and heading right through a mono.

A Wrinkle in Time V11 **, Prince of Thieves V11 ***, Proj. (0.7 mi.)
A small pullout on the left. The massive boulder in the river that faces the road is A Wrinkle in Time V11. There is a project on the left side of the overhang. From here, look back down the canyon towards two massive boulders on the hill. On the down canyon side of the uphill boulder is a long black face. This is Prince of Thieves and it climbs from two small crimps, then big left hand move, then grab right hold off to the right and do another big move out left to a hold. Match this hold and then move to the left again. Pretty much straight up from here to high finish.

Big Crimpin' V10/11 **, Dark Continent V7 **, Ghurka Knife V9 **, V7 (1.5 mi.)
Pullout on the left, just before the 8 Mile sign. This small gulley right of the road is home to several problems. Big Crimpin’ V10 is at the top of the cluster and faces down river. Climb a few hard crimp moves to fun moves on juggy shelves. The arete to the left of this goes maybe around V8 but is a bit scary. Dark Continent V7 and Ghurka Knife V9 are around a cave-like feature half-way up the hill. Down towards the river is an obvious and sharp V7 arete.

Trent's Mom Area (2.0 mi.)

Mask of God V13 **, Man From the Past V11 **, Wind Below V8 ****
The Powerline Boulder lies about 100yds down stream at the same level as Trent’s Mom. There is a fairly well worn trail to the boulder, which faces downstream. The first part of the trail is a bit of a steep scramble. Man from the Past is the left most problem. Mask of God starts the same and then diverges right. Wind below is the tall face to the right. Perhaps there is another problem on this boulder called Darkest Star V10.

Moment of Truth v10 **
From the Trent’s Mom parking area, cross the river and head up the obvious drainage. After about 10 min you will come to a cluster of three or four large boulders. Almost directly in the stream is a very nice Harry Robertson problem, The Moment of Truth V10. This faces the road and begins on a perfect flat edge. The first move is a tough one, up to a right hand sloping edge. A couple crimp moves lead to a wonderful and technical mantel.

Right Sign Area (2.1 mi.)

Right Sign Project V10-12? ***
Right next to the road at the start of the Right Sign approach.

Botox Bowtie V13 **
This is the short prow just below Wills of Fire (Left Sign area). Hard compression moves low to the ground. On the same boulder as the Right Sign Project. Could be easier than 13.

Beyond Life Sit V12 **

Eden V10 ***, Anatomy Act sit V9
On right side of road just past Right Sign area up the hill a bit. Eden is a classic problem up crimps with a long move in the middle. It's on the right side of a boulder and faces the road.

Godsend V9/10 **, Kill List V12 ***, Dance with the Devil V7 ***
10 min uphill from rt. sign you will arrive at a nice black pocketed boulder home to a highball Dance with the Devil V7 (like wind below with a worse landing) and Kill List to the right of Dance with the Devil. The climb to the left is a project? On your way you’ll pass a V5ish thing and if you continue over the first cliff band you’ll arrive at the Godsend V9. Godsend is also said to be 1000 yds above Eden.

Gentleman’s Project V11 ****, Black Out V12/13 **
To get to the Gentleman’s Project V11 and Blackout V12/13, which are on the same boulder, park at The Angler and walk down the road (up river) about 100yds to a small pullout on the left. Across the street is a small cairn. Follow the well worn trail for about 8 minutes up the hill to an obvious overhanging face. There seem to be other moderate problems around as well. Gentleman’s Project is on the big boulder with a big gaston move to start. Black Out is a sit start to bad crimps in the corridor past Gentleman’s Project.

Worm Turns sit V12/13
A bit before Smoking Joe and Riverside areas. On right side in low cave.


RIGHT FORK

Finger Hut Direct V13
Climb the first moves of Finger Hut and then continue straight up.

Afterthought V9 **
On a square looking boulder about 10 minutes up the hill from the Warm Up boulder described in the guidebook. Start with two sidepulls. Move to a lefthand sidepull and then dyno for the lip. A hard project is to the right.

Hydrogenated Oils V11?
Right of No additives. Obvious start on jugs and then up shallow mono pockets.

Battletoads V10 **, Playmate of the Year V9
There is a large parking area on the right about .25 miles past No Additives. From here, follow a newly marked trail up an old road grade. When the grade ends after 200yds or so, head up hill to a fairly obvious cluster of boulders. In this cluster lies Playmate of the Year V9, which faces down canyon and very nearby is Battletoads V10, a short but quality arete on perfect black rock.

Black #1 aka Brenda V12
This beautiful block is located just past Dairy Canyon on the left side of the road, 20 ft from the road. Faint white streak through horizontals. This boulder is about 10 minutes up the right fork after the road turns to dirt (maybe 4 or 5 miles).

Dairy Canyon V10/11
Presumably a bit before Black #1.


UNKNOWN

The Zodiac V12 ***

Fiery Furnace v10

Death Scream v10

Barney Rubble v10

Smoken Direct v10


VIDEOS:

Black Dahlia V10
http://vimeo.com/8144967

Masterpiece V13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGwdAjqbzI (Mike McClure)
http://vimeo.com/4228114 (James Litz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxkCCOsfqQ (Anthony Chertudi)
http://vimeo.com/7457432 (Carlo Traversi)

God Send V9/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxkCCOsfqQ

Eden V10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MgK4_foOBg&feature=related
http://vimeo.com/7363495

Skeleton Key V11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfbqFeD72oQ&feature=related

Afterthought V9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaYoctxheqc

Prince of Thieves V11
http://climbingbum.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-in-joes-valley.html

Ghost King V11
http://vimeo.com/7444933

Battletoads V10
http://vimeo.com/4226249

Playmate of the Year V9
http://vimeo.com/7363495

Outdoor climbing -- What's that?

I've been cooped up climbing mostly in the gym due to bad weather and lots of work. In fact, I don't think I got outside once in the month of February! The weather is changing though and I have some fun climbing coming up in the near future.

Last weekend the weather finally was nice and I got out to Clear Creek Canyon for a day of climbing at the Wall of the 90s. I wasn't feeling super energized, but threw myself at one of the classics of the wall "Interstellar Overdrive" 5.13d. It took a bit to figure out the moves on the first go but after a while I had a sequence figured out. I lowered down to the midway rest and then TRed to the top clean. After some lunch and a long rest, I gave it a redpoint burn. I was somewhat pumped in the middle and not very optimistic, still I kept climbing through the crux moves. My fingers went numb, but I kept going move to move and I found myself at the end of the crux on a decent hold. Unfortunately, I was completely pumped and I couldn't feel my fingers. I had finished all the hard moves, but I couldn't hold on any longer and fell after my feet cut right before trying the last move. Couldn't have been closer. It was a bit of a bummer to fall so high. Still I was psyched that I got that far because I wasn't expecting much. Hopefully I'll get out soon to wrap up that project.

The big news is that spring break is in a week and a half. This means that I've got a good solid 10 days of outdoor climbing ahead of me. I've been training a bit in the gym and feel pretty strong. The plan is to go to Joe's Valley, but I've heard that the left fork is covered in snow. If it looks unclimbable there, I'll probably hit up Moe's Valley instead. Either way, I'll find some place to crank. Joe's would be the best because there are lots of new problems there I'm psyched to try. I especially want to try Masterpiece V13. This problem looks cool, hard, and a bit scary. Lots of others too. Can't wait, but I have to because I've got lots of work to do between now and then... work that I should be doing instead of writing this blog post.

Check out this site that has a lot of motivating photos and info about Joe's:

http://www.atxarteclimbing.com/

Here's a video of Masterpiece. This looks like the beta I'll use though I may see if a heel hook is possible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGwdAjqbzI

Also, I got my first round of new threads from Mountain Hardware and am really psyched on them so far. Lots of nice stuff.

Coming soon to a theater near you

So it sounds like Chuck Fryberger is finished editing his new film "Core". I worked with him a lot for this film and it should have some good clips of me including footage of Cheating Reality and the Bandersnatch. I'm really excited for the premiere of the film which will be on April 7th at the Boulder Theater. I have a trailer here for you to watch. I'm sure you'll recognize right away that the quality is top level and that the whole film is going to be a visual feast. Check this out:



In other news, you may have noticed that the logos have changed a bit in my blog title bar. As of today, I'll be part of the Mountain Hardwear climbing team. I'm really excited to be partnering with this company that makes very high quality gear and clothing. I enjoyed working with the North Face over the past 3 years and will continue to think highly of their great line of products. I chose to make the switch primarily because I believe the goals and aspirations of Mountain Hardwear are more closely aligned with my personal climbing goals. I know my climbing will benefit from Mountain Hardwear's support and I'm sure that the company will find value in my promotion of their product. I'm very enthusiastic about this new opportunity and am confident that this will be a great relationship that extends far into the future.

You my have also noticed that the Clif logo is missing from my title bar. I am no longer sponsored by the company. I suppose they dropped me though communication was not very clear. It seems that Clif's primary focus is on endurance sports and as a consequence places less emphasis on marketing to the climbing community. They are a great company that makes excellent and tasty energy bars and I will continue to use their product though now I will have to pay for it. I'm open to developing a relationship with other companies that make energy products if they think it will benefit their product.

Daniel Woods got the Solution

Joe Kinder put together this short on Daniel. He asked me to put it on the blog, so here it is.

Daniel Woods Loves the Solution from La Sportiva on Vimeo.

Stefan on Mangum

As promised, in short order, here's a video of one of the ABC kids, Stefan. He's climbing crimpy V9 Mangum.

Stefan Lavender on Mangum from Matt Wilder on Vimeo.

The Bandersnatch

I've been back in Boulder for a few days and have been lagging in summing up my Hueco trip. It's always the same, I get back into town and have tons of things I need to get done and always school work or research to do. Anyway, the short news is that I sent the project I was working on.

I named the route The Bandersnatch after a character in in Jabberwocky poem in Lewis Carroll's "Through the looking glass." This is also the name of my dad's sail boat and so this name is a bit of an homage to him. It's not really clear what a bandersnatch is, but they're presumably tough characters that deserve respect and a bit of fear.

This new problem is a good candidate for the list of hueco classics with its varied movement, length, ground level location, and striking feature. Like the mythical bandersnatch, this problem warrants some fear mainly because an unplanned fall from one of the several heel hook moves could result in an unpleasant tumble down the slab behind the climb. Mostly, though, the climbing is safe.

Chuck Fryberger got some great footage of the problem for his new film "Core" which will be out sometime this spring. Here's one video still that I pulled from his blog.


This is the move that takes you into the crux part. From a wide span, you heel hook next to your right hand and reach far up the arete to an edge (the one I'm grabbing in the photo). Then you have to bring your left hand into a little two-finger pocket, move the right hand to a small crimp, and then readjust the feet without losing tension. All that sets you up for a delicate dynamic move to a good hueco. From there you have to do a 6 move boulder problem that is about V8 and then an easy, classic topout.

Andy Mann got some cool photos too but might be saving them for print somewhere. If I can get his go ahead, I post some of the b shots here.

Difficulty: I'm thinking that V12 is probably a good grade for this problem but it's a bit hard because I haven't been bouldering other graded stuff recently. The problem took me 4 or 5 days to complete. Based on how long it has taken me to do other problems, that could suggest that the problem is more in the V13 range. Still I think V12 might be more accurate. I'm psyched to hear what other people think. It may be the case that the problem fit my style of climbing as well.

Here's another view of the line shot while I was brushing the holds on the first day.


For anyone intersted in finding the problem, it is on west mountain at ground level right near the wall of the rumbling rabbits which is in the guide. It's hard to miss if you walk around that area a bit. It's on the upside of a ground level boulder.

The other news from my Hueco trip is that I got to climb a bunch with the ABC kids team from the Boulder Rock Club. I also got some cool footage of their amazing accomplishments and hopefully will be posting some videos here soon.

Hueco

I'm down in Hueco right now and taking a rest day while the 2 inches of snow that fell last night melts. Yesterday I took a tour out with some of the kids from the ABC group at the Boulder Rock Club. It was inspiring to climb with those kids. They are so positive, super strong and confident, and have tons of fun. The highlight was watching Sean Rabatou climb a problem called Mangum -- V9 at age 11 and height probably just over 4 ft is super impressive.

Since I've been down here, I've been mostly just going on tours in the backcountry. My main goal is to find some new lines that are really cool. On other trips, especially last year, I was more focused on repeating established lines. This year, I'm psyched for new things. It's lots of fun to explore here. I found one line that I'm especially psyched on and have tried a bit. It's a 25ft arete with a slab that behind it at just the right distance so you can step off onto it but it doesn't get in your way when climbing. I've figured out all but one move on the problem and it has some crazy beta. I think it'll be a classic if it goes down. Here's one picture that doesn't really do it justice. If it goes, I'll probably try to get some better photos and perhaps some video.