Last Friday's trip to the Bald was a ton of fun. As I mentioned a few posts ago, one of my long term goals is to climb all of the easy (V0-V2) routes at the Bald (that's around 300 routes). After the last trip, I only have 2 routes in the West to finish, but quiet a few in the East...so I decided to head out East and just climb nothing but easy stuff all day. I started out by finishing up the Breakfast area by climbing Broadcast V2. After that, I started looking at a few new lines across from the Berry Patio, and the problems Franken Berry and Boo Berry, on a low boulder. I ended up sending 3 new routes on that boulder that I named after the other 3 Monster Cereals, which is what I ended up calling the boulder. Most folks have heard of Count Chocula, but few have heard about Fruit Brute and (the lamest named) Fruity Yummy Mummy. When I was a kid, I loved these cereals! I personally thought that Count Chocula V2 was the best of the 3 routes (you can see it in the photo at the top), but Fruit Brute V1 was actually a lot of fun too (you can see it in the picture below).
And here is a shot of Fruity Yummy Mummy V0...lame name and kind of a lame route, but still worth a mention.
I added them to the Rumbling Bald Blog under New Routes if you want to see their descriptions.
From here, I headed up to the Cereal area and climbed all of the V0-V2's pretty quickly. I also added Roy G Biv V3 to the send list...an exciting problem up a tall spire/arete. I climbed a lot of fun routes like the Unknown V2 and Unknown V3 on Boulder #60. I really enjoyed the underclings up the slab of the Unknown V3, worth a look if you're in the area. I also climbed a few that I felt were a little too tall for my comfort, especially with only 1 pad and no spotter, like Complete Breakfast V0 and Whole Grain V0. After finishing up the Cereal area, and enjoying watching folks run laps on the classic Cereal Wall routes, I headed east to the Middle East and tackled a few more highballs. The slab problems Shoe Gazer V0, The 6th Man V1, and Glass Jaw V0 on the Gammon Boulder felt a little airy, but not too bad without a spot. These were fun slab problems that any slab master would love, even though they weren't that hard. I added Crumpets V0 on the Black Pudding Boulder before I headed on to the Far East and a handful of routes I needed to finish over there. After sending the short and sweet problem Anole V0, I headed a couple of boulders over to the Forbidden City to finish up Supreme Harmony V2 (which really took a big bite out of me), Heavenly Purity V1 (another bite out of me) and Qian Long V1 before dropping down the trail and finishing on Right Hand Arm Wrestling V2. Right Hand Arm Wrestling had an odd feeling stretch of rock in the middle of the problem, but once past that, the problem felt really good. At this point, there was only fumes in the tank and after flailing on Crush V2 and not being able to mantle the top out on Milk of Paradise V2, I packed it up and headed home.
I felt like I had a full day of climbing and I forgot how much fun it was to just climb easy routes and enjoy the other nuances of the day, instead of focusing too much on a project or route that's too hard for me. Frixtion and Zach Lesch-Huie had a recent post about circuits and the fact that folks seem to focus more on projects instead. It inspired me to take a look at all those easy problems I haven't done instead of trying to tick something at the top of my range. These last 2 Bald sessions have been very fun and rewarding because of this attitude, and I have a renewed sense of drive while I boulder now. I encourage everyone that feels like their getting bogged down in projects to shed that skin and focus on having a fun day every now and then, packed with as many easy routes as you can fit in, and see if it gives you the same rejuvenation it gave me.
Speaking of Climbs That Normal People Can Do...if you missed the quick post right before this one, check out the new video from a couple of locals!
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