That's So Gneiss: March 2007

It is generally assumed that anything worth climbing within 30 minutes of Boulder has already been climbed, or is really, really hard. Therefore, I was surprised to find that one beautiful line was passed over by strong climbers for several years. The Walker Ranch area, originally explored by Greg Loomis, contains a few scattered granite boulders. The setting is unique because of a forest fire that burned 400 acres during the summer of 2000. Rock quality and lines tend to be decent, but there is one boulder that stands out from the rest.

The "Shipwreck" boulder sits in a creek bed at the bottom of an 60 foot cliff. There are several established lines on the boulder, but the feature that makes it unique is the prow/arete on the east side.

I was first shown this boulder by Jamie Emerson. He had been there with Greg, Brian Capps, and Dave Hume several years before. They had collectively done most of the moves that day, but there was a stopper move in the middle. Various Boulder climbers came and tried the project, but they soon got distracted by other problems, and the line fell into obscurity. When I first saw the boulder, it was a hot day in August. I knew, however, that I would be back once temps cooled down a bit.

Throughout the fall, I bugged Jamie to go back to the project. He however, was distracted by other problems. I spent a day there by myself, but I really needed a group of people to spot and help work out the beta. I convinced Lee Payne (who had tried it before) and Brian Solano to spend a Saturday at the Shipwreck. We were able to figure out the mid section, but were confused by the start and the finish. Soon after, several feet of snow fell on boulder making climbing outside a nearly impossible endeavor.

Then, on Tuesday March 6, Jamie and I finally got back to the boulder. We were able to figure out all of the moves and I did the stand start, "Shipwreck," which is a V7 or V8. Jamie seemed close to linking it all together, but darkness came and we decided to come back the next day.

After I warmed up by doing the stand several times, I started to try it from the sit. Soon, I had a really good attempt and I climbed through the crux but fell on the top section. I rested about an hour before I got back on and climbed through the crux again. This time, I fought my way through the last moves to reach the topout jugs. While cutting my feet towards the end, I kicked Jamie (who was spotting) right in the mouth. At first I thought I had broken his nose, but after finding out that he was ok, I continued to the top. I went back on Friday March 16 and did a clean repeat of the problem.

Burnout is the sit start to the Shipwreck. I named it after the burnt setting and the power-endurance nature of the problem. It starts on an obvious right hand pinch and a bad left hand sidepull with a thumb catch. The first move is a slap out to the arete. From here, the problem climbs both sides of the arete through gymnastic slapping moves. Burnout is about six moves into Shipwreck. The difficulty seems to be similar to Dark Waters, but it is probably slightly easier. If I had to give it a grade, I would call it V12, but I am open to the idea that it could be a V11. I personally couldn't ask for much more from the problem. It is close to home, a good difficulty level for me, a nice line, fun moves, and a first ascent. It is one of the harder problems I have done, and I will remember it for a long time.

On Saturday, I got my 8a Yearbook 2006 in the mail from Sweden. It was slightly smaller than I had expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by what was inside. Tons of full color photos with very few ads were complemented by information on today's top climbers. It was nice to see a climbing publication go in depth on grades and rankings without calling it "heinous spray."The book also has an international flavor that you don't get from U.S. magazines. It includes articles on Patxi Usobiaga, David Lama, and other very strong climbers that we hear little about. While it isn't perfect, it blows the last issue of Rock and Ice out of the water! It would be nice to see the U.S. mags go more in this direction, getting away from 5.10 trad lines that nobody cares about or stories focused on some new sport climbing knot. BORING!!!!

A side note: This was the second publication in which my photos were published. I had 3 photos and one falsely credited to me (it was taken b y Jason Pinto) featured in this magazine. As an amateur photographer, I was really excited that they used my pictures.