YMCA

We spent most of our time this weekend bouldering at the YMCA area of Black Mountain. The results were amazing.

The YMCA area is named for an old camp on the backside of the mountain that burned down a few years ago. Here you will find an impressive cluster of large, well featured boulders. I started by climbing a line that Ian put up last season called Ghost Dog V7/8. It is a gently overhanging wall with thin crimps and pinches leading to a long committing move to the lip of the boulder at 17 feet. On my first try I fell for the two ‘sucker holds’ at the top, but managed to send on my second go. It is a great line and worthy of four stars. Here are a few pictures of Nick on Ghost Dog!

Next up was an amazing line that had been done from a stand-start but the sit-start was presumed to be undone. It begins on a perfect incut hueco, followed with some powerful moves on buttermilk-quality crimps, ending with a huge move to the lip to gain a good rail. All told, about fifteen moves of hard roof climbing, then one more hard move on the face sets you up to enjoy thirty feet of beautiful, well featured, exposed arete climbing. It is a peabody sized boulder approximately 40 feet tall. The last 30 feet is V0/5.8 but so much fun!

Last time Ian had attempted the lower moves he thought it was going to be V12 or 13. But this time we quickly worked out some new beta that likely makes the sit start V10 or 11. On Saturday, Ian, Anthony, and I got agonizingly close to sending! We managed to pull through the lower crux, stick the long move to the lip but we couldn’t hold it together for the last two hard moves!

On Sunday, we started off at the Sombrero which is a new line just uphill from Captains Junk. Nick and Anthony made quick work of the roof problem. I put up a right exit to the line which is twice as easy and more fun than it looks! After that I gave the original line a burn and barely made it to the top! I was feeling tired and didn’t think I had any juice left for the project at YMCA.

After finishing up with the Sombrero, we headed back down the mountain to the YMCA camp. I decided I wanted to clean up the arete more since it has really amazing features that were a bit difficult to trust 30 feet off the deck. I spent a good 20 minutes on the wall cleaning it up as well as I could without a rope. Isaac and Anthony sent Ghost Dog while I was on the arete.

Ian booted up for his first attempt of the day while I looked on through my video cam. He pulled the lower crux easily, fired off the second crux, and this time he saved some energy for the last move to pull onto the face! It was great to see him top out the boulder to make the FA!

At the time I didn’t think I had enough energy left to finish such a long climb, but after I pulled onto the starting holds, I realized that the conditions were much improved from the day before and I was able to climb through the moves much more efficiently. I stuck the huge move to the lip and managed to match the hold, swing around, and make the last big pull onto the face! It was a good feeling to complete this climb and cruise up the beautiful arete. Anthony was extremely close to sending; he climbed to the lip about five times from the start! He’ll do it next week for sure!

As with all FA’s, it’s difficult to grade. Considering Ian and I both sent on our first try of the day Sunday, it may ‘only’ be V10. But regardless of the grade, it is a four star line, as good as (or better than?) anything in SoCal.