Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Smackdown on Hardboiled--Ouch!!!

I have unfinished business with this V11 boulder problem near Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. A few years back I fell from the next to last move only to watch the creek rise in the next few days to the point where you would need a helicopter to get there. It soon grew too hot and I let it alone. Yesterday morning I went up very early for the cooler temps and worked out the upper moves which are awkward and technical. I was close to linking the upper half which is probably V8 by itself and wanted to remember the very end. I stepped on and set up for the very scrunchy and tenuous move to a good sidepull. My hand popped off and I impacted and slid down the adjacent boulder, probably the worst bouldering fall I have ever taken outside. Fortunately no serious injuries except some scrapes and a minor case of whiplash. I went out that afternoon and got an Asana Dynomite, which seems like a pretty good deal, as another backup pad. The landing for Hardboiled though not particularly bad demands maximum coverage and there are few climbers willing to head up to spot/work this problem at 6am. If you are one of those climbers let me know. If you see a demented soul wrestling 4 pads across the creek at 6 in the morning in the next week or so that will be me.

6 comments:

Dan Levison said...

Peter:

Did you make it across the creek this morning? I tried to get on the Graham aretes last night but got shut down tring to cross the creek w/o a tyrolien.

Dan Levison

Peter Beal said...

Hi Dan,
The creek was still well under the crossing log up by Castle but the river is constantly rising. AM it may be lower.

Taylor Roy said...

Hi Peter,

Your motivation is amazing. I can't believe you can boulder that hard at 6am.

I also wanted to say that I really enjoy your blog.

Taylor

Peter Beal said...

Thanks Taylor--I usually get somewhat warmed up by 7 and I'm done by 8:30. Good job on HB BTW, did you heelhook to get the sharp edge on the left?

Taylor Roy said...

I used the heel hook. This move felt harder every time I went up there. I don't know if this is mental or if the two finger pinch is slowly crumbling away. Either way, that move is hard!

Peter Beal said...

I think the two-finger edge is smaller than the last time I was working this problem.