Upstate Bouldering

The Upstate Bouldering Guide

2012-02-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

I've hinted to the fact that I've been putting a guidebook together to the main spots I discuss on my blog...and its almost ready for the final print run! The guide will contain all of the mini-guides that have been available in this website, but updated and edited to show new routes, and also photo topos have been added to the mini guides that did not have them when they were first published on Upstate Bouldering. The guide will cover around 300 routes, provide info on spots for future development nearby, and contain beta on other outdoor activities (road and mountain biking, flatwater and whitewater kayaking, hiking/backpacking, camping, etc) to do within the Jocassee Gorges.

Areas covered in The Upstate Bouldering Guide...
Jocassee Gorges Area of SC:
-Little Eastatoee
-Beasley Gap
-Sasquatch
-Big Eastatoee
Gorges Area of NC:
-Whitewater Falls
-Granite City

I know that a bunch of folks are chomping at the bit to get their hands on the guides for Bearfields and Jedi, but they will not be in this version of the guidebook, due to the fact that the approach to these areas is still under discussion with the land managers...my hopes is that this issue will be solved shortly and the 2nd edition of the guide will contain the over 500 routes in these 2 areas.

These guidebooks will be available at the Jocassee Gorges Bouldering Trail Day on March 23rd or by preorder ONLY!!! And the supplies will be ULTRA-LIMITED...only 20-25 will be printed!!! Also...a reminder that 100% of the profits for this guidebook will be put directly back into the area for further access!!!

This is a great opportunity to not only get this limited edition guidebook, but also help further access to more bouldering areas by helping the Carolina Climbers Coalition do their thang!!!

At this point, I haven't decided if it will be full color (approximate price would be $30 for guidebook) or black and white (approximately $20 for guidebook)...and remember, I'm not making any money off of these, simply donating it to help the CCC with furthering access in the upstate of SC. The color version is so much nicer than the black and white version, but it will cost more and generate less profits than the black and white version. Most of the cost is simply for the price of printing, and each guide will generate about $5-$10 in profits for furthering access. I will take preorders for both versions, but will most likely only have the black and white version available at the Trail Day.

If you would like to reserve a copy of the guidebook, please e-mail me at UpstateBouldering@hotmail.com with your name, contact info and if you would prefer a color or black and white copy, and I'll get you on the reservation list. I will set up a paypal account very soon, where you can pay for the guidebook ahead of time and have it shipped, instead of waiting until the Trail Day to pick it up.

As I mentioned, this is a very limited edition guidebook and will only be available for this one print run...if you want a copy please reserve one by e-mail, otherwise you can take your chances on getting one the day of the Trail Day directly from me (there may not be any left over if the preorder sells really well though). I will also be giving away a few copies of the guidebook to some of the lucky folks that come out and volunteer for the Trail Day, so make sure to come out and support local bouldering and our bouldering areas by giving back a little love to these great places!

I'm super excited to have this project almost finished and almost ready for the final print run...the beta copies of the guidebook look amazing and the final copy will only look better. Please consider preordering one of these incredible tomes and helping us keep the access ball rolling for more upstate bouldering spots!

Float The Boat 2012

2012-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday was a beautiful day in Atlanta for the annual Float The Boat bouldering competition at Boat Rock! Boat Rock is one of my personal favorite areas to boulder in the Southeast, and Float The Boat is my favorite comp every year (yep, even more than the Triple Crown comps), mainly because of the similarity to the style of bouldering common in the Upstate and Jocassee Gorges that is dominated by slab problems. I didn't make it to last years comp, so this is the first year I've competed in the "Geritol" division (for all of y'all out there that didn't realize I was that old school) which is for folks 35 and up. You can see the crowd gathering before the comp and some shoe companies offering demo shoes to try out during the comp in the picture above. I didn't get any pictures of actual climbing during the comp, because I was too busy climbing. I ended up getting the highest score I had ever gotten in the comp, which was very satisfying considering that I haven't been able to do much bouldering in the last month or so, and in the process I sent a couple of new routes I hadn't sent before. My biggest point routes among my 10 routes that counted were Deweese Slab V4 (new route for me) and Marvin Webb Slab V3/4, and then I filled in the rest of my score card with a bunch of V3's (Nosey Women, which was the other new route for me, The Shield, Yellow Mon, Spiderman, Lost Digits, Rockhouse Traverse, Sourwood Arete, and Dream Scoop). When it was all over, I was very close to a podium spot (less than 20 points away if I read the final score tallies correctly), so I ended up settling on 4th out of around 10 or so competitors in my division. I love to try to compete at a comp, but its usually just with myself, but I was hoping that I had done enough to get at least 3rd...even though I fell short, I had a great time, I still beat my personal best from previous years, and feel even more motivated for next years comp.

Now to turn the focus back to local areas and projects (found a sweet new boulder with 4 awesome projects, only a 5 minute walk from my house) before this warm winter heats up even more and puts a premature end to the Southeast bouldering season. The CCC and I are still in the process of working towards access in the State Parks and on State Forest lands and hopefully will have some new news by the time the Jocassee Gorges Trail Day comes around on March 24th!

Jocassee Gorges Bouldering Trail Day!!!

2012-01-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

That's right folks...the first ever Jocassee Gorges Bouldering Trail Day has been scheduled for March 24th 2012!!! Put that date on your calender, ask off of work, tell the wife and kids they need to fend for themselves that day (or bring them with you) and come help clean up the parking areas and trails to the easy access bouldering areas in Jocassee! All of the plans are still in the work, but the date is set and its sure to be a great time. If you weren't able to make the Table Rock Adopt A Crag, this is your chance to give back to the local area and maybe even discover a new spot to shred your tips. If you were at the Table Rock Trail Day, then please continue your support by coming out and helping us with this project too. The more folks that get involved, the better the trail day will be. After the morning work (scheduled from 8:30am-1pm), we'll take to the pebbles and wrastle as many routes out of them as we can! Camping will be available only 10 minutes from many of the boulders and a good time is guaranteed to be had by all! Click on over to the CCC announcement for all of the details! And also check out some of the pictures of some Gorges bouldering after the Table Rock Trail Day at this address...http://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyup/sets/72157628410086725/

Below are a few pictures of boulders in the Jocassee Gorges too...

Life, New Guidebook, Recent Route Development and Float The Boat 2012

2012-01-17T05:43:00.000-08:00

So...I haven't really posted much lately, even though I've had the time off from work for the holidays...I've had my hands full with all sorts of other fun stuff. The main distraction (not like its a bad thing) from posting is my daughter, Lily. I've tried to dedicate more time to being with her and helping out with all of the usual baby duties (or doodies, either way). I haven't been bouldering much, maybe once a week, compared to before Lily arrived, usually 4-6 days a week...so I have a lot less to talk about on the blog lately. I've also been focusing a lot of my efforts on publishing a set of guidebooks to the Upstate Bouldering areas that I talk about on this website...basically a souped up version of the mini-guides I have made available on this site with updated info, new routes and more local info on other activities to enjoy. I'll definitely let everyone know when the first edition of the main guidebook has been released...I plan on selling it for as cheap as I can and a major portion (if not all) of the sells will be donated to the CCC to help with future boulder purchases!

The times I have been able to get out and grope some stone have been great though! I have been sessioning at many of the local boulderfields, Little Eastatoee, Beasley Gap, Bearfields and Jedi, and sending a few new FA's almost every time out. I have added around 20 new routes, from V0-V4/5 at Bearfields and Jedi in the last week or so and have thoroughly enjoyed it! Some of the highlights have been Crocodile Smile V4 that has 2 powerful high step and rock over moves to a blank bulging Font-esque slab, Terrapin Station V5 (aka Friday the 13th) which is a tricky steep slab that has been a long time open project (sent that last Friday, the 13th), Tiger In A Trance V3 that requires a stretched out, marginal toe stab in order to move through the cruxy deadpoint to the top, and Storm Shadow V2 and Snake Eyes V4 that both start on some super sharp and painful crimps and Snake Eyes traverses on more of the same crimps before an exciting top out, while Storm Shadow skips the crimp traverse and traverses into the same finish by using some tricky slab moves. Just before the Table Rock Trail Day, I also FA'ed a super long term project I called Cryptical Envelopment V5 which starts on Walter's Wild Ride and moves around the bulging arete to finish on the same top out as Grind Of Sound Mind and Ground Chicken V4/5, a different start to George Evans's route, Grind Of Sound Mind V5.

After being a little more sessile and feeling disconnected from bouldering a little, I have had a big fear that by climbing would take a big hit and I'd never be able to send much harder than a V3 again...but these sessions have helped me to see that I can still concentrate and project routes as hard as I ever have. V4 and V5 are not easy to me and to add a handful of these lately has definitely been fulfilling!

I'm also super stoked to be travelling down to the Dirty Dirty (Atlanta) for the Float The Boat bouldering comp this coming weekend! It's always a good time with friends you already know and friends you meet during the comp...I haven't been to Boat Rock much lately, but I'm so looking forward to getting back to one of my favorite Southeast boulderfields and hopefully sending some new routes!

Be on the lookout for an upcoming clean up/trail day for the bouldering areas in the Jocassee Gorges...we plan on helping out with the areas I mention here on this site and possibly bigger projects that could finally provide a better access to Jedi and the Bearfields without a nearly 3 mile hike in!

Annual Winter Portland Bouldering aka Climbing On Snot

2011-12-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

The annual voyage out to Portland Oregon to spend time with my wife's family is in full swing...but this year has been sunnier than any of the previous, giving me hope of finding some dry boulders to pull down on. I made my way 30 minutes outside of Portland to the local boulderfield at Carver today (you can see the main Carver cliff in the background of the above picture), expecting to find at least a few routes to climb. I was treated to...the usual snotty conditions.

Most of the holds on most of the routes were still pretty slippery and especially on the footholds, it felt like I was trying to get friction on a wad of snot. I looked around and found a few climbs that had dry enough holds to pull on and ended up sending more than I thought I would.

I started out sending Left Arete, seen above on the Super Cool boulder, a V0 that felt more like a V2 with the slippery conditions.

From there I went around the corner to the Columbia boulder and sent another V0, Jugs, seen climbing the arete on the bigger boulder on the right side of the picture below.

After that I was feeling somewhat warmed up and hit the Carver Classic boulder and sent Go Again V1, and followed that up with a surprise send of Even More Classic V3. Go Again follows the chalked holds on the boulder to the left in the above picture and Even More Classic starts on the boulder just to the right of Go Again and moves low into the start of Go Again and climbs that same route. Both were good routes, but once again, the snotty rock conditions made these routes feel much harder than their ratings.

Almost dejected and thinking about heading out of the boulders, I decided to check out a few chalked up routes around the corner on the Dig Out boulder. I climbed the fun V0 Maintenance Men and then climbed the V1 traversing extension called Rally On Traverse.

On my way to the Dig Out boulder, I caught a glimpse of a sweet looking route on the Wrecker Anchor boulder that seemed to have perfectly dry feet (at least until the upper section) and was begging to be climbed. So I went back to the route and thumbed through the guide to find out it was Barfly Betty, one of the classic V3's at Carver. After pulling onto the starting moves and seeing that I could make my way past what seemed to be the crux, I loaded up for the send. After moving off of a low jug under a slight overhang, I matched on a sloping and slippery lip and made my way out to fall into some big sidepulls/pinches. At this point, I thought the route was over, but found myself towards the top of the route cruxing hard on some slimy holds...but I focused on a single small mushroom growing near the top out and pushed for the send. I barely snatched the top before I almost slipped off and onto a bad landing (I only have a 2'x1'x.5" start pad out here, so I really didn't want to fall). I truly enjoyed this exhilarating route and was psyched for the send...especially in such bad conditions. You can see the whole route in the above picture and the top section of sidepulls/pinches and the little shroom in the picture below.

Despite the off conditions, I really enjoyed today's session and climbing some new routes I hadnt done before. I love spending time out here with family, but it always makes me thankful for the perfect wintertime sending conditions we have in the southeast, and the plethora of great boulders we have to climb on!

New Horse Pens 40 Triple Crown Video

2011-12-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

George just recently put up a great video of the Triple Crown comp at Horse Pens 40 this past November...if you haven't checked it out over at his blog, then feast your eyes on the sends below!

Triple Crown HP40 2011 from George Evans on Vimeo.

I'm out in Portland on our usual Xmas Northwest trip...the weather might actually cooperate for me to hit some outdoor bouldering while I'm here this year, I'm psyched! I hope that everybody gets a chance to pull down on some boulders over the holidays and get their psyche on as well!

Pictures From Table Rock Adopt A Crag

2011-12-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

Matt Riley took some fantastic pictures of the Adopt A Crag and quiet a few pictures of the boulder session at Jedi...
Click here to check out the entire photo album!

Table Rock Adopt A Crag Was A Super Success!!!

2011-12-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was a very successful Adopt A Crag at Table Rock South Carolina! With nearly 40 volunteers, the trail work took half as long as expected and included quiet a bit more work than originally thought. After meeting around 8am, the volunteers were split not 3 teams of workers to maximize the man power...one group went all the way up to the saddle between the East Face and the Stool and worked their way back towards the beginning of the trail, another group started in the middle of the trail and the final group started at the beginning of the trail and worked towards the group in the middle. One major task was relocating the start of the trail as to avoid interrupting the cabin users when approaching the cliff (originally the trail started beside the parking for cabins 15 and 16 in the park...please use the new reroute to minimize complications between climbers and cabin users). The crew made short work of this new .1-.2 mile reroute by trimming trees, levelling trail sections and installing a fence to separate the climbers trail from the back yard of the cabins. The middle group cleared the trail as they made their way closer to the saddle and the steepest and most eroded part of the trail. With incredible efforts by all involved (especially 5 year old Phineas) a series of 20 or so rock steps were installed to minimize erosion and make the steep hike a little easier on the way in and out. If you get a chance to go up there before the season ends (December 31st), I highly recommend checking out the steps! The last group trimmed trees, removed downed trees and park staff used a chainsaw to clear the larger trees that weren't able to be carried.

After clearing the trail, installing the fence, finishing the steps and the park staff cleared out the big stuff with the chainsaw, it was only 12 noon...and everybody was treated to some incredible SC climbing! Several groups headed up to the East Face to climb some of the heady face climbs that characterize Table Rock, while another group loaded up and headed just a few miles down the road to go bouldering at both Jedi and the Bearfields. Good times were definitely had by all, and the stories around the dinner table and fire confirmed it! Around 6pm, BBQ and veggie chili was served and soon after, a raffle full of killer prizes was held, raising almost $400 and culminating in a nice North Face jacket and Mammut Rope as the 2 big prizes. A South Carolina climbing slide show and video were shown after the raffle and then the festivities started to wrap up. The park graciously donated the White Oaks campground for the weekend so all of the volunteers would have a place to stay...many thanks goes out to the park for this nice gesture! Several folks stayed around for the incredible climbing weather on Sunday as well, ending a perfect weekend of events and climbing. The climbers trail has never looked this good, and the hard work we all put in is sure to let the state parks know how much climbers love and care for their crags, approaches, and the parks that allow us to enjoy these awesome natural playgrounds. So the trail day was a HUGE success...and on top of the almost $400 raised at the raffle, Sunrift Adventures from Travelers Rest donated another $300 to bring the total raised for the CCC to around $700! A GIANT thanks to anyone that came out and worked hard to help out...you efforts were greatly appreciated and mean more for future access than you may know! Here is a quick write up about the event from the SC rep of the CCC, Stephen Scoff...

BOO-YAH! SC TRSP Adopt A Crag!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nearly 40 participants warmed up a sharp and frosty Saturday morning by really shaping up SC Table Rock's climbers' trail. Deadfall removal, fence and step installation, and general grunt work were cranked out by all. Thank you volunteers and park staff!!

A few remaining daylight hours allowed for some quick cragging and bouldering. (STAY TUNED: Pics coming soon!)

The complimentary BBQ and vegi chili hit the spot and we raised nearly $700 for the CCC thanks to our gear raffle and a generous cash donation from Sunrift Outfitters!

The slide show and a bit of exciting video brought the evening to a close with a great tour of NC/SC classics and obscurities.

I'd like to especially thank:

Poll Knowland and all of his park staff

Brad Caldwell, Partner in Crime

Mark Hinen, Palmetto Pig

Laurie Aker, Earth Fare The Quality Supermarket

Sunrift Outfitters

The Access Fund

The Backpacker Quality Gear

Recreational Equipment Incorporated

Matt Riley, Riles Images (Plus his wife's brownies)

Andrew McDowell and Marvin Dawson (topo creators)

MY Mom, (Awesome oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies!)

And of course all the volunteers!!

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing everyone next year!

Stephen Scoff

I have a few pictures still in my camera of the evening festivities and Matt Riley will also be posting some pictures soon that I'll link to in a future post.

Quick Trip To The Bald

2011-12-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

With the end of the semester comes a few opportunities for me to get away a little early from work and head up to the Bald for a chill afternoon session...and yesterday was a great day for it! I've had a hit list of routes I've been wanting to tick off for a long time and one of my main goals at the Bald has been to climb all of the V0-V2 routes there (which is around 300+ routes) and to send all of the 3 star classics that are V3 and below. My last 3 star classic V3 was Red Clouds Above in the Southeast area on the East Side, which can be seen riding up the oblique seam/crack in the pictures. I've worked this problem a few times before and honestly couldn't make ANY headway on it, even from a stand start...it just seemed to perplex my body as to which way to move and pivot to stay on the rock. So, with that goal in mind, I took off to the Bald ready to test out the healing tweaked finger and hopefully mark Red Clouds off of my hit list!

I first headed over to the Eight Ball and Winter Of '99 boulders to warm up, and I sent all of the routes (Winter Of '99 V0, Winter Of '06 V1, Eight Ball V1, Corner Pocket V2 and a V1 traverse that went out left below Corner Pocket) on both of these boulders first try. I felt strong warming up and had high hopes heading over to Red Clouds Above. Once at the Red Clouds boulder, I flashed Lizard's Lounge V2 first and then felt like I could flash Red Clouds...until I sat for the start and fell soon after making the first move or so. Its at that point that I realized I was getting seriously pumped! So I started working the stand start and sent the top half of the problem a few times before I tried the sit start again. Being confident that I could send if I could just get my feet under me instead of under the roof, I flailed and flailed on the SDS for about 30 minutes before it just came together and I linked into the stand start and topped out...I was so stoked to finally send this fun and classic problem! I put a couple of bad pictures in this post, I only had my phone for a camera and the sun was setting fast, so the lighting was bad...or at least that's my excuse for putting up such fuzzy pictures;) After the send I noticed my hands were practically numb from pulling so hard and not giving up on the final send, and then I noticed that I had a nice big pinky flapper (on the middle phalanx, below the top knuckle). After taping it up and feeling near spent, I decided to just hit a few cool down routes at the Breakfast area and take off. While sending the Unknown V2 on the Warm Up boulders, right at the entrance to the Breakfast boulders, I realized that I had put my crashpad in some dog poo:(

I was furious that some moronic boulderer or hiker would allow their dog to take a shit right in the middle of a landing zone and not have the decency to clean it up...knowing that if they didn't clean it up that other boulderers would end up putting themselves or their gear in it!!! I'm not one to let too much shenanigans go on in a boulderfield and not say something to the idiots causing the problems, its called taking personal responsibility...and I expect that out of everyone that boulders at the Bald. If you just HAVE to take your dog to the Bald (pretty much a bad idea from the get go due to all the reoccurring problems dogs have created over the last 5 or so years at the Bald), then please keep them under control, on a leash and for god's sake, please clean up their poo and pack it out with you...leave no trace applies to boulderers and their dogs! If you see some moron letting their dog cause problems, then don't be afraid to stand up to whomever it is and let them know that is not acceptable...even if it was John Sherman, John Gill or Chris Sharma themselves...it is all of our responsibility to tell folks that are jeopardizing all of our access to straighten up or get the hell out!!! I have 2 dogs myself, and love them to death and enjoy taking them with me on hikes and the occasional boulder session, but I always have my dogs under control and never allow them to cause these sorts of serious problems...in general though, I just leave them at home to avoid any problems all together. If you are not willing to take personal responsibility for your dog, and realize that you will have to sacrifice part of your bouldering experience in order to do so, then just don't bring your dog with you...its that simple! If you aren't prepared to keep them on a leash and pick up after them, then leave them at home or just don't show up at the local bouldering areas!!!

Slowly Getting Back On Track

2011-11-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

So I've finally started to dip my toes back into bouldering after taking a few weeks off due to the finger tweak. Aaron Parlier, the guy that's getting the Grayson Highlands Bouldering Guide together, came into town last week and sessioned with George and myself at Bearfields and Jedi. I ended up just climbing a few slab routes, but the finger felt like it was time to start pushing it a little. Aaron had a great time at the hidden boulderfields, sending a low start to an established problem and bumping it up a grade to V5 and then he FA'ed a very odd bulging roof problem he called Graysland V7/8. This adds another higher grade problem to these areas, which lack very many problems over V5. Getting back out to one of my oldest and most favorite haunts got me yearning for more rock groping...so I made a couple of trips out to the Bearfields and Jedi to see exactly where I was at. I played it safe and mainly stuck to slabby problems, FA'ing a sweet slab problem, that felt like it was straight outta Boat Rock, that I called Lost V3, on my first solo visit out. And I ended up sending some crimpier stuff on my next trip out to Jedi...Turtleneck V2, Turtlehead V2 and then I shocked myself by linking the 2 for the send of Fear The Turtle V4, a real shock since it was very crimp dependent. After FA'ing a few more V0-V1 routes and sending a few more slabby V2's, I felt like I was getting back on the right track!

We also went up to Asheville to see one of my all time favorite bands, String Cheese Incident, last Friday night and had an absolute blast! They haven't played Asheville in 4 years or so after breaking up and only playing limited shows last year...so it was awesome to reconnect with the music and people that make the Incidences so unique and extremely enjoyable, and the 20 minute Best Feeling to open it up was amazing! Here is the link to the show that you can download...but one of the highlights for me, a 12 minute Black Clouds, is free for the listening!

I hope everybodies Thanksgiving was grand and you had a chance to get out and boulder or climb as well...and DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE TABLE ROCK SC ADOPT A CRAG COMING UP THE WEEKEND AFTER NEXT, MAKE PLANS TO BE THERE FOR THIS AWESOME EVENT!!!

Videos to Keep The Psyche Up

2011-11-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

So...while I'm sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the finger to feel better, I've been catching up with a slew of videos from the Southeast to keep me psyched. There are some great vids of some classics at Dixon School Road and several from the Bald to begin with, and then there's a little tour of some of the best boulders elsewhere in the Southeast...and in case you're craving a serious road trip instead, I included the absolutely incredible full length movie of Rocklands called "Tomorrow I Will Be Gone" I hope you enjoy these as much as I have!

Rumbling Bald - A Three Star Day from Joshua on Vimeo.

Rumbling Bald - Crowbar from Joshua on Vimeo.

Rumbling Bald -- The Uplifter & More from Joshua on Vimeo.

Mount Yonah Bouldering Sesh #1 from Joshua on Vimeo.

Shaking Rock Bouldering -- Lexington, GA from Joshua on Vimeo.

The Beta - Alabama Spring from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

The Beach - V4 from Daniel Steele on Vimeo.

Stone Fort Triple Crown 2011 from Zachary Lesch-Huie on Vimeo.

Lilly Boulders Fall 2011 from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Rocktown - Sherman, Skin Graft, Tooth, Little Bad from Jonathan Carter on Vimeo.

Tomorrow I Will Be Gone from Outcrop Films on Vimeo.

Busted Finger

2011-11-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post about what I've been up to lately...
I have not been able to get out and boulder lately, like usual. One reason is the time change, another is having a 6 month old little daughter, but most disappointingly is the fact that I somehow snapped a pulley without knowing it:(

A couple of weekends ago I was only able to get out for a super quick, less than an hour session on a boulder on private property. I ended up FA'ing Totem Pole V0, The Sandman V2, Slam Dunk V3 and Rampage V4...all in all, a good hours' worth of work sending some really fun problems. But after I packed it up and headed home, I started to notice a problem with my ring finger on my left hand, like I had popped the pulley/tendon near the proximal knuckle. The most odd thing is that I didn't hear it pop or even feel it tweak while I was climbing...but then again, I was "Rampaging" through the routes due to my lack of time and aggressive nature of climbing at the time because of being pent up too much lately. I thought it was just an acute pain and that it would go away quickly, or at least in a couple of days, but instead it has only gotten worse. Now it is to the point that I cant even put my wedding ring on my finger and the knuckle and tendons around the knuckle are constantly throbbing. Needless to say, this is going to take me away from bouldering for a little while...maybe even until the new year:( I finally felt like I was regaining some sort of bouldering form with the end of summer and the fall, and was looking forward to crushing in a couple of comps (btw, Dixon Crushfest at Crowders Mtn State Park in NC has been cancelled for this weekend also), but instead, I feel like I've been set back to square one. I'm trying my best to approach this from a positive standpoint and instead of seeing it as not being able to boulder, I've tried to convince myself that this is a good time for me to get back on the mountain bike and enjoy one of my first outdoor loves a little more...but no matter what, I'm still a little bummed letting a day with perfect sending conditions go by without getting any bouldering in....I hope that everyone that reads this post is not in my same situation, but instead in crushing mode on their projects!

Afternoon Delight: A Guide to a Few Quick, Local Bike and Boulder Sessions

2011-11-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Daylight Savings Time ended and the afternoon sunlight has now dwindled to only a short window after work. If you're like me, and have a day or 2 during the week that you finish work a little earlier, you want to get your bouldering fix without touching any plastic. Little Eastatoee and Beasley Gap are great places for a quick hour long afternoon session if you're near the Jocassee Gorges. Both of these spots have a short approach, Little Eastatoee is less than a minute to the Bridge boulders and Beasley Gap is a fast 5 minutes, and a nice circuit of fun problems to satisfy the afternoon craving. Here are a couple of recommended 10 problem circuits at these spots...if the easy circuit is too easy and the moderate circuit is too hard, then mix the 2 as you make your way around the boulderfields.

Quick Little Eastatoee Circuits:
Easy Circuit:
Kang Solo V0->Super Scooper V0->Dread Scott V1->The Finger V1->One Hit Blunder V0->Sock Puppet Smile V1->Ragdoll V2->Peking Wing Left V2->Just A Little Light V0->Pigface V0

Moderate Circuit:
Space Together V4 or Space Feeling V3->Best Feeling V4->West LE Fadeaway V4->Elephant Back V5 or Elephant Back High Start V3->Outta Sight V3->Two-Face V3->Scarecrow V3->Bruce Wayne V3->The Dark Knight V4->Yeti Areti V4

Quick Beasley Gap Circuits:
Easy Circuit:
PBR V0->Bob's Place V2->Hang Loose V0->Beasley Bulge V1->Beasley Bowl V2->Crystal Crymps V2->Old Bolt V0->Lower Beast Traverse V2->Middle Beast V2->Sweatin It V1

Moderate Curcuit (may be one of the best set of 10 problems of any boulderfield in SC):
Bob's Place V2->Eastatoee Trail V2/3->Roadkill Grill V3->Scatterbrains V4->Beasley Gap Traverse V4->Crimpy Sidepull V3->Sassafras V3->Rocky bottom V3->Crystal Crimps V2->Early Bird Direct V3 or Early Bird Special V5

As for the bike rides...this area has plenty of double track loops on gated fire roads for mountain biking, and perfect slightly hilly road bike loops too! Here are a few of my favorites of each.

Mountain Biking...for these loops (at least the last 2), I recommend using a map of the Jocassee Gorges (free at Keowee State Park) and a GPS or bike computer so you know your distances and turn down the wrong trail or road.

1) Little Slickrock Loop 6-7 miles: I suggest parking at the bridge on Highway 11 at the Little Eastatoee boulders, simply to add the heinous uphill (downhill on the way back) on the road to the true trailhead...if you park at the true trailhead instead, the ride is around 4-6 miles, depending on which way you finish the loop. From the parking, turn right (west) onto Highway 11 and pedal about 1 mile up the steep but not too difficult hill. At the top of the hill, look for a small turn in on the left with a red fire hydrant nearby, and turn left into this turn in (this is the true trailhead). Go around the red gate to the left, after turning into the small parking area, and follow this next to the road for 100 yards before turning right into the woods. Soon after this turn into the woods, the road forks with one fork heading uphill to the left and the other staying fairly level to the right...turn right here and start a fun little descent. After approximately 1/2 mile and after a couple of wildlife cuts/openings, turn right onto a downhill, slightly grown over road (if you miss this turn, you'll continue downhill to an area that has been recently logged and is completely open...you've gone too far), and follow this down and around the corner and over an old wooden bridge (if you don't see this bridge within 1/4 mile of turning right off of the main road, then you're on the wrong path). Stay on this road through a slightly swampy area and around to a big loose gravel uphill...try to ride to the top, but you may have to get off and push when it gets steep...to another wildlife opening at the top of the hill. Just past this opening is a short section of slickrock, similar to Big Rock and Cedar Rock at DuPont. Go to the right of the trees at the other side of the slickrock to stay on the trail, and at the next fork just up the hill a little bit, stay to the right. From here, a fun gradual downhill takes you deeper into the woods and winds its way past several roads that branch off of the main road. Continue on this road, following the main road (there's really only 1 more confusing fork that you stay right at instead of heading down a hill) for another mile or so until you come to a clearing with some old equipment and a red gate about 100 yards farther past the clearing. From here, you can either turn around and backtrack to the original trailhead (longest way and most off road miles), or you can go around the gate and turn right onto Highway 133 for about 100 yards before turning right onto Highway 11 and riding back down and up the big hills to your car. As I mentioned, I like to park at Little Eastatoee, ride this loop/lollipop from there and then return to the car where I don't have to drive anywhere else to boulder.

2) Cane Creek Loop: 4 miles with option for more smaller loops
This ride, and the next one, starts at a different trailhead...the Shooting Tree Ridge Trailhead. To get here, turn left from the Little Eastoee Parking are onto Highway 11. Follow this for around 2 miles and turn left onto Roy F Jones Hwy. Follow Roy F Jones for around 2 miles, past the parking for the Big Eastatoee Wall, up the big hill, under the powerlines with the good views and take the next right onto the road the the Vineyards Fire Department is on. At the stop sign at the end of this 1/4 mile road, turn right onto Cleo Chapman Road which drives through the Eastatoee Valley (a beautiful area if you've never visited). After about 1/3 mile, turn left at the obvious sign for Shooting Tree Ridge and the green gate (green gates are open during hunting season and red gates are always closed and just used for fires) and park on the gravel to the side of the gate.

Bike around the green gate, past the very informative kiosk on the left, and continue on this gravel road for 2 miles and a major intersection in the road. Turn left onto Cane Creek Road (there's a sign near the junction) and ride on this road for another 3/4 mile or so to the red gate. Go around the red gate and get ready for some of the most fun steep downhills around! Stay on this road, past all of the other roads that fork off, for another mile or so, up and down some great hills, to another red gate. Go around this red gate and turn left onto Cleo Chapman Road and bike about 1/2 mile back to your car. You can add some fun extra shorter loops by taking any of the dirt roads to the left (there's one at about .3, .35, and .5) off of the main gravel road and you will come out at a different red gate on Cleo Chapman, just make sure you turn left off of the dirt road you choose and then at the red gate, turn left to go back to your car. The first dirt road loop comes out to be about a 1 mile loop and has some fun downhill sections that make it a worthy addition/warm up to any ride. There is also a red gated road to the left around 1.5 miles up the main gravel road, that will connect back near the end of Cane Creek Road for a loop of around 3 miles...using all of these trails and loops, you could easily put together a 10 mile off road ride just within this area.

3) Mill Creek Loop: 10 miles or so
From the parking are at Shooting Tree Ridge described in the previous ride, go around the green gate and stay on the gravel road past the left turn for the Cane Creek Loop. A little before the 5 mile mark on this gravel road, you will come to a huge designated campsite, mainly used by hunters, and a bridge and a ford over/through Cane Creek...go past this and head up the steep hill for another 1/2 mile past a grown over fork to the right to a better used fork with a red gate on the right. Turn right here onto a fun double track and follow it over a mile, down the hillside and eventually to a small stream crossing. Cross the stream and continue following the main double track around to the right and past a left hand fork...in less than 1/2 mile, you'll go around a red gate and onto the end of Mill Creek Road (many times the dogs at the house at the end of the road are barking and sniffing you as you ride by, but they have never tried to bite or threaten me before...the owner is very pleasant and has always tried to keep his dogs up most of the time, so please don't start any trouble if the dogs scare you.) Follow Mill Creek Road for a little over a mile to the stop sign at Cleo Champman and turn right. Bike a little less than a mile back to your car to finish up this great bike ride. This one is much more remote, so make sure you know how to handle yourself if there is an emergency!

Road Bike Loops: I recommend using Little Eastatoee as the start for all of these rides.

1) Eastatoee Creek Loop: 6-7 miles
From the parking area at Little Eastatoee, turn left onto Highway 11, using the bike lane to stay out of traffic. Follow Highway 11 for around 3-4 miles, past Little Eastatoee Road on the right and the nearby first turn for Eastatoee Creek Road on the right and turn right onto the second turn for Eastatoee Creek Road. Stay on Eastatoee Creek Road until it loops back to Highway 11 and turn left onto 11 to start heading back to your car. You can add a 4 mile out and bike on E Preston McDaniel Road (up to Nine Times Road and back), near the end of Eastatoee Creek Road that rides through the Nine Times Tract Nature Preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy.

2) Holly Springs Loop: around 15 miles
From the parking are at Little Eastatoee, turn left onto Highway 11 like you are riding the previous loop. At the first turn for Eastatoee Creek Road, turn right onto the road and then turn right again less the 1/2 mile later onto E Preston McDaniel. Ride through the Nine Times Preserve and past Big Rock (the big rock face) on your left and take a left turn onto Holly Springs School Road at around the 3 mile mark on E Preston. Follow this twisted road for a few miles to its end at Holly Springs Elementary School and turn left onto Highway 178...follow 178 for a couple of miles to the junction with Highway 11 at Holly Springs Grocery and the 4 way stop. Turn left onto Highway 11 and ride about 7 miles back to your car at Little Eastatoee.

3) Eastatoee Valley Loop: around 15 miles
This is my favorite road ride around...From the parking area at Little Eastatoee, Turn left onto Highway 11 and ride for around 4 miles or so just past the Sunset Post Office on the left and take a right onto Sunset Community Road. Follow this slightly hilly road for 2 miles until it comes to a stop sign on highway 178, and turn left onto 178. Ride up 178 for a couple of miles until you get to Bob's Place bar on the left and the end of Cleo Chapman Road...thurn left onto Cleo Chapman and get ready for a fun twisting downhill into the Eastatoee Valley. Stay on Cleo Chapman, through the Valley and past the Shooting Tree Ridge trailhead for the last 2 mountain bike rides, and turn left to go past the Vineyards Fire Department. Immediately past the Fire Department, turn left at the stop sign onto Roy F Jones Highway. Follow Roy F Jones under the powerlines and down the super fast and steep downhill (I've hit over 55 mph going down this on a bike before), over the bridge and past Big Eastatoee and eventually to it's end at the stop sign on Highway 11. Turn right on 11 and bike around 1 1/2 miles back to your car.

Rumbling Bald Updates

2011-11-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Some big news has come out this week about the CCC's purchase of the tract of classic West Side boulders...IT'S PAID OFF!!! If you've been following this blog for long, then you've noticed the push to help out with events or donations that can get this loan paid off...and now these absolutely awesome boulders belong to us, the climbers! Follow the above link to the official CCC release on their website for full details and a personal thanks to the CCC for getting some of my favorite boulder routes in the word saved in perpetuity!!!

And the bad with the good...the daylight is getting shorter and shorter as we race to the winter solstice, and so the hours of the Bald are changing with this lack of afternoon daylight too. The park has just announced that it will be closing the gates at 6pm sharp until the end of spring. Follow the previous link for the full details, but please don't be the douche bag that doesn't follow this rule and gets the rest of the climbers/boulderers in trouble!!! Otherwise, be mindful of the busy weekends and get there early, before 9am, to guarantee that you'll be able to climb on a Saturday of Sunday...and enjoy the great sending conditions that have started moving in:)

New Video of a Few Classics From Jedi!

2011-11-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

George and I hit Jedi last Sunday and sent til our hands were screaming at us! Here's a little video he put together of the day and 3 of the area classics...that's me climbing Lightsaber, one of the best V1's around! If you havent been following Georges new blog, click on over and check it out. He's been posting some great videos of recent trips and sends. Enjoy...

Hiking on Rocks: A Few Upstate Classics from George Evans on Vimeo.

Upstate Bouldering is now on Facebook and on T Shirts

2011-11-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

There's now a new way to keep in touch with Upstate Bouldering...on Facebook! You'll notice the new Facebook gadget over on the left side of the screen where you can simply "like" Upstate Bouldering from this webpage, or you can search for Upstate Bouldering while on Facebook. I plan on using this as a way to keep everyone in touch with recent posts, new areas, access updates, suggestions for where to boulder in/near the upstate of South Carolina on each weekend and FAs as they happen in the boulderfield!

I also had some emails asking if there were Upstate Bouldering t-shirts available, so I opened a Cafe Press store with a variety of items for sale. Check out the hoodies and water bottles, I've really been digging mine, and the stickers are sweet too! Here's the link to the gear.
And as you can see in the picture above of Lily working her baby Rock Rings...there's even something for the little ones:)

Also...don't forget to attend the Table Rock Adopt-a-crag on December 10th. I promise that the boulderers that attend and either join the CCC or renew/extend their membership, will be treated to a sweet day of bouldering in the Jocassee Gorges the following day, December 11th!!! I'll be posting more about that real soon, so stay in touch!

Otherwise, the sending conditions in the Gorges are getting much better...if you haven't checked out some of the local boulders, download a mini-guide from one of the links to the left and go check em out!

Fall Projects

2011-10-26T06:02:00.001-07:00

After having such a great day at the Bald a few weeks ago and sending a few projects I had been working on for years, I've kept that sending flow going by ticking off other projects at various boulderfields lately...and the Lily project at the bouldering wall at the local park in Pickens, seen in the above photo;)

A few weekends ago, we made our way down to one of my all time favorite boulderfields in the Southeast, Boat Rock. One route that has always eluded me, for various reasons, is Lost Digits V3. This is a great problem that is much easier if you have a longer reach, but for me, the crux hold has always been just out of reach, and my shoes never seem to stick well enough to help me elevate up to it...until this trip. As soon as I got to Boat Rock, I headed straight to Lost Digits and started working the problem...it only took about 5 tries and I had finally snatched the crux sidepull near the top and I was topping out. It was so good to mark this one off the list, and I almost sent another project while I was there too, Watermelon (Bob's Arete) V4. I didn't snap a photo or anything after the send, but I did find this fuzzy video showing the route on the internet:

I also made another trip up to the North Face of Looking Glass and some of my personal favorite boulders in the area. I have long been infatuated with a thin crimpy arete just above the Warm Up Wall that some old schoolers have called V4/5. I have attempted this route for years and just couldn't ever seem to put it together for the send, but it all came together on this trip and the slabby bulging arete with some finger chewing crimps finally went down...it was so nice to finally top out after so long (honestly, I'm still savoring this send)! While I was there, I also sent a highball-ish V2 problem on the Loose Flake boulder that I hadn't sent in years. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was more focussed on sending than anything else that day.

On more of a local front, I've been sending a few FA's and projects in the Bearfields and Jedi lately too! These incredible boulderfields seem to keep giving up awesome routes, even after I start to think the areas are tapped!

In the Bearfields, I FA'ed Anklebreaker V3, Pumking V1, Jack-O-Lantern V1, Simon SDS V4/5 and Jump...Mantle...Good Dog V4/5 and finally sent Walter V4, a sweet problem I've been trying to send from the original lower start holds than an easier, higher start. Simon SDS was a long time project to an older problem, Simon V2, that I had named after one of my dogs...it felt really good to make the odd beginning moves and link into the stand start problem. Jump...Mantle...Good Dog is a variation of Simon SDS that uses a deadpoint to a lip to the left of Simon and a tough mantle to finish it up. In the picture below, you can see Simon SDS following the thin seam up into the scoop to the right and Jump...Mantle...Good Dog deadpoints left to the lip once you hit the well lit hold in the middle of the face.

In Jedi, I FA'ed a LONG time (like nearly 10 years) project called Anakin Skywalker V5...this is one of my favorite sends in a while! It starts high on a 1/4 pad, 3 finger crimpy sidepull with a high foot and makes a powerful pivot move to get your other foot on and then follows a thin seam to an easy top out. After looking at this route and trying it off and on for years, it was awesome to send it finally! I also FA'ed (could be a Alzheimer FA...after sending it, it seemed like I had sent it before, years ago) Mace Windu V3 that starts on a pair of crimps with bad feet, to the left of Anakin, and throws high for a good arete. You can see the seam that Anakin climbs to the right of the crashpad in the picture below, and Mace Windu on the two spread out crimps above and to the left of the crashpad...and while you're looking at this picture, you can see Use The Force V2/3 to the right of Anakin (it climbs the seam in front of the small tree), Lightsaber Crack V1 following the crack to the left of the tree on the left side of the picture and the Padawan Arete V0 behind the biggest tree in the picture. All of the routes on this boulder are super classic and super fun!

I also FA'ed R2D2 V2 and Boba Fett V3 in Jedi, both being slopey and slabby problems with a few crimps on the other side of this same boulder...and I finally sent another project of mine, Luke Skywalker V3/4 similar to and in between R2D2 and Boba Fett.

On a little bit of a sadder note:
I am very close to my dogs...we have 3, 2 (Luna and Simon) are around 14 years old and I have raised from puppies or young dogs, and the other (Butter) is around 9 or so. Luna and Simon have been my best buddies through more shit than I can describe and helped pull me through a lot of the bad times. Both have been through hell themselves...both have had heart worms and were successfully treated and both have had their bouts with cancer. Recently, Luna's cancer has come back and is overtaking her very fast...and soon we will have to put her to sleep:( She is the reason I've been climbing with more determination and visiting Jedi more lately, its one of her favorite places to sniff around while I boulder. She has been my "warrior princess" in the woods for years and here companionship and ferocity to defend me from whatever we may encounter (bears especially) will greatly be missed! Here is a shot of Lily, myself and the dogs in Jedi.

And here is a picture of Luna giving me a good spot while I'm sending Obi Wan Arete V4...I renamed the easy, bailout version of the route Luna Wan Kenobi V2 in honor of her:)

Thanks for being the best dog in the world Luna!!!

Table Rock State Park Adopt-A-Crag!!!

2011-10-11T08:54:00.001-07:00

So the official info release for the upcoming Table Rock State Park Adopt-A-Crag has come out and the CCC and Upstate Bouldering are super excited about this event in our own back yard! Check out the flyer, post it on your Facebook page, e-mail it to all of your climbing buddies, repost it on your blog...we are wanting as big of a turn out as possible!!! The trail day, slideshow and free food is set for Saturday December 10th and the climbers day is scheduled for Sunday December 11th...come help with the trail, camp out and check out the incredible climbing at Table Rock or take a tour of some local boulders near the park instead the next day! If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at the link at the top of this webpage or e-mail the SC representative of the Carolina Climbers Coalition, Stephen Scoff at SSCOFF@CarolinaClimbers.org. If you haven't seen the official release on the CCC website, click on over and check it out!

The Sasquatch Boulders Mini-Guide

2011-10-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

So I've finally finished my initial development of the newest bouldering area in the Jocassee Gorges, the Sasquatch Boulders. I havent sent anything harder than a V4, so there are still plenty of projects, as well as many unclimbed boulders up in Shangri-La to clean and FA. Why Sasquatch you may ask? Download the mini-guide and read the bizarre story that dominated so many conversations between me and my friends when I was younger and exploring the Jocassee Gorges! Sasquatch is not an area for everybody, especially beginners. There are a few easier routes, but the isolation of the area, coupled with the desperate feeling on some of the top outs and the bad landing zones overall make this a place the experienced boulderer can get away from the crowds and truly experience more of a wilderness bouldering adventure. If you have any questions, or add any FAs to the area, please feel free to e-mail me for answers or so I can update the guide with your new route info.

I hope you enjoy!!!

Click here for the Sasquatch Boulders Mini-Guide

Hound Ears Comp Video...Another Good One!

2011-10-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

Matt De Camara has a great photo gallery of last weekends Hound Ears competition over on his Cruxn post...click on over and check out the eye candy! If you havent seen this great video he and Zach Lesch-Huie put together of the comp, then check it out as well...

Hound Ears 2011 (Triple Crown Bouldering Series) from Far From Home Productions on Vimeo.

First Rumbling Bald Trip Of The Season!!!

2011-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so psyched that the temps have finally fallen to the point that bouldering is no longer super sweaty with 100% humidity! I like to schedule the classes I teach easch semester so that I have at least 1 afternoon off during the week that I can go climbing during. I usually like to hit Rumbling Bald on these half days, but the weather hasnt cooperated with the temps that are better for sending until this past week. So, the first chance I got to head up there with the thermometer below 70, I took it in a heartbeat!

I got up to the Bald around 1:30 Monday, packed my Behemoth crashpad (I like to bring the BIG one when I'm flying solo) and slowly meandered up to the West Side boulders. The breeze was pleasant and despite the poison ivy still covering many boulders and landing zones, the rock felt sticky and easy to grope. I headed straight up to the Terraces to work on Liza Minelli, a V3 I always seem to hit at the end of a long day and always seem to almost send but never really top out. It only took me 3 attempts to send and finally get that monkey off my back. You can see a shot of Liza below...it climbs up the short dihedral and out to the right onto the bright hanging block in the picture.

From there I went over to another long term project of mine, Shinister 2 V5. This felt even tougher than it ever has and might just be marked off of my project list for something a little better. While I was near the Run and Jump boulder, I sent some of my favorite warm ups at the Bald, Short Arete V1 and Short Face V2. I had passed by boulder 25 for so long without trying either of the V4's on it, so I decided to finally see what these routes were about. As soon as I started the moves on the Unknown V4 (problem 25a in the guidebook) I knew this problem was for me. The first moves are tougher and lead to a BIG jug halfway up the route and another good rail above it. It took me about 10 tries to send it, but this problem may just be one of my new favorites at the Bald! You can see the line climbing out the short roof and up to face below...

Feeling a little ahead of where I thought I would be, I pulled out the project list and headed out to some other problems I've been working on.

I headed to the Cluster and the French Maid area to send a couple of problems that climb slightly slanted fins of rock. The first went quick...Wooly Sacketh V4. I've worked this problem before and swear that I've sent it before, but I dont have it ticked off in my guide, so I thought I'd send it just to make sure. It was a fun problem and very similar to its tougher cousin next door, Ameliorated Anomoly V5. I didnt really think I'd have anything for this route, but after making a few grunting and grovelling moves to get higher on the route to some better holds, I sent the V5 with more ease than I expected. I'm a firm believer that some problems fit some peoples style better than others...and these 2 fin problems seemed to fit me very well! Ecstatic with the last 3 sends, I worked the top out to Ameliorated Anomoly a few more times to get it dialed, when "California Joey" walked up looking lost and confused. I had met Cali J at the bouldering tour of the North Side during the WNC Climbers Weekend...only a few days after he had arrived in the Carolina's from the left coast. So from here, feeling pretty pumped anyway, I decided to give him a quick tour of some of the better warm ups in the area. We hit the Simpsons Boulder first and sent Marge V1, Lisa V1 and worked Bart V1 before we moved on to the Classic Overhang Boulder and sent the Classic Overhang Traverse V2, a fun and classic traverse. From there we toured around the West side and I pointed out some great problems he should check out on his next visit...and we eventually made our way to the main trail and out of the boulders to our cars. I'm so used to bouldering solo, and that solitude and time to think and decompress are actually part of the reason I enjoy climbing by myself, but its always good to boulder with someone else that's psyched, motivated to send and have a good time!

No Bald trip report would be complete without mentioning the amazing quality and quantity of boulders found in the newly purchased CCC property on the West Side! As you can see in the photo above, many classic boulders (this is a shot of the Fun-Filled Boulder) are included in this property and signs are posted near the boundaries of the property to inform boulderers of the land their on. If you enjoy these boulders, please consider donating to the CCC to help pay them off. Right now, every spare dollar that is sent to the CCC is used to pay down this debt...that's what the WNC Climbers Weekend was all about, raising money to pay for these boulders (and it raised $4000!!!)

Also...I didnt want to let this new video of Hound Ears (and a Lost Cove route) from Brion Voges pass by without posting it up. Its impressive to see these southern boys tearing up the boulders no matter where they go...keep crushing fellas!!!

Hound Ears Video and Results

2011-10-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend kicked off the first leg of the Triple Crown Bouldering Competitions at Hound Ears, near Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The comp was rained/sleeted/snowed out on Saturday, but that just made for cold and crisp conditions on Sunday. If you havent caught this video of the comp and the results...check it out! Evidently Ben Newton was just getting warmed up at the bouldering tour of the North Side of Looking Glass during the WNC Climbers Weekend the weekend before, because he took 3rd in the Advance division...way to go Ben and everybody hopes Chewie gets well soon!

WNC Climbers Weekend Was A Success!!!

2011-09-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Updated:
Here is the updated write up from Fox Guides...The event raised $4000!!!

For those that made the pilgrimage to Looking Glass this past Saturday, and for those that didn't, the event seems to have been a big success!!! Trail work was taken care of in the morning on the main approaches to the Glass, and climbing followed for those that could find dry rock.

The Bouldering Tour was a ton of fun! We didn't connect with Ron Funderburke, the guy who was giving the tour from Fox Guides, until we were almost finished bouldering, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves! All but 1 of the winners couldn't make it to the tour, but Ben Newton was able to get in touch with 2 of his friends, Colle and Mike, and we all had a blast sending some fun routes. I was able to send a couple of V3's and made progress on a V4/5 project (I made it past the crux but didn't top it out for some stupid reason) I've been working on for a while now. Colle went on a rampage sending everything in sight and gave us all the psyche we needed to do the same ourselves. After tearing the North Side up, we headed back to Fox for the festivities.

The BBQ and silent auction were a big hit! There seemed to be 3 times as much stuff at the silent auction as there was last year and plenty of goodies for whatever style of climber you are, and for the ladies as well. I snagged a sweet circuit mat from Misty Mountain along with a great bouldering tote from Tsuga and a snazzy water bottle from the Access Fund (and I got my wife some nice yoga pants...couldn't forget a gift for her letting me go play all day). I cant wait to put all of the new gear to work soon!

If you follow Misty and Fox on Facebook, then you've seen their posts about how successful the event was...

Misty Mountain wrote...
"Misty Mountain
We want to give a big thanks to Fox Mountain Guides and everyone that came out for the Western North Carolina Climbers Weekend!! With your help, Misty was able to raise another $240 for the Carolina Climbers Coalition!! Thanks everybody!!!"

and Fox hinted at the success with this post...
"Fox Mountain Guides
It’s looking like the WNC Climbers Weekend made over $3,700 for the Carolina Climbers Coalition! Whoop whoop! Good Job everyone! Just waiting for some final $$ to come in for the grand total. Thanks to ALL involved, full report coming soon...."

I'm proud to announce that Upstate Bouldering also donated a total of $175 to the weekend and the CCC and I couldn't have been happier doing so...I know that money will be well spent!!!

If you were unable to get out to this event, keep your eyes peeled to the CCC site for all of the upcoming trail days and events (The Scene is being shown at several locations soon too)...and mark your calendars for December 10th and 11th for the Table Rock Adopt-A-Crag and SC Climbers Weekend!!

Here's a video of Travis Gray sending some of the routes we ticked off at the North Side...check it out!

summer tour of the northside boulders from Travis Gray on Vimeo.

Events Coming Soon...

2011-09-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few events planned in the next few weeks for the Southeast climber and boulderer...

1) This weekend (September 24th and 25th 2011) is the WNC Climbers Weekend at Looking Glass, North Carolina. Come on out early and pitch in with some trail work on one of the approaches to the South Face, North Face and the Nose...and then stay for the climbing/bouldering, food beer, and tons of fun. As I've mentioned over and over lately, there will be an awesome silent auction where you can get some incredible gear for just a little coinage!!! Even if you don't help out with the trail day, you can still attend the climbing/bouldering and pay $8 for your dinner (dinner is free if you did trail work) and good time afterwards!

2) Triple Crown is coming up in 2 (Hound Ears is on October 1st) and 3 (Little Rock City/Stone Fort is on October 8th) weekends from now...if you haven't signed up yet, you might want to get on it before slots run out (which they usually do for Hound Ears and LRC). Here is a link to last years post about the comps with the older Beta videos from the amazing Andrew Kornylak...and here are a few new ones for this year. Anybody got what it takes to send a project on the golf course?:)

The Beta - Clinch Knot from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

The Beta - Hole 18 from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

Here is a link to all of the Beta videos on Vimeo also

The Horse Pens 40 comp is scheduled for November 5th also...so get ready for that one as well.

3) Last but not least, some new or revamped blogs have popped up lately. If you haven't check out Eddy Ramirez's blog "Climbing Edventures", then click on over there and check it out. Eddy lives in Columbia, South Carolina and blogs about his adventures in the SC/NC area. He also keeps folks up to date on whats happening in the Columbia climbing scene, as well as the Western North Carolina scene.

And finally...my home boy George Evans is shutting down Huckleberry George and starting Press It Out instead, so make note on your blog rolls and follow George on his adventures as well.

Keep an eye out for the new Sasquatch Boulders Mini-Guide to pop up on Upstate Bouldering any day now! And the good news is that the problems listed are only the tip of the iceburg...literally...I have found an even bigger set of boulders past the Sasquatch Boulders, that I'm calling Shangrila, that are sure to provide some of the best routes in SC (the place reminds me a little of Jedi from what I've seen so far!)

I hope that everyone is stoked about the cooler temps down south and getting themselves ready for the best sending days of the year here soon! If not, then get out this weekend and find yourself in a boulderfield near you:)

Bouldering Tour Winners For This Week's Adopt-A-Crag!

2011-09-19T07:41:00.001-07:00

I have calculated the winners of the bouldering tours for this coming Saturday's (September 24th) Looking Glass Adopt-A-Crag day....here they are:)

-Erich Purpur:
My favorite boulder problem in western, NC would have to be “Roof of Death” v5 at Blowing Rock Boulders.

-Eddy Ramirez:
A long endurance route, reminds him of longer roped routes, at Peachtree Rock Preserve in SC.

-Matt Bielejeski:
Favorite boulder problem - Hooked on Chronic V3, Grandmother Boulders, Boone, NC Why - Overhanging, committing crux, heady topout, but the grade makesthe moves accessible to many boulderers. Even if you are crushing V-sick testpieces, H.O.C. is a great problem worth doing, especially since it's just to the left of the uber-classic Ebonics V6. 80% of the moves on H.O.C. stay dry in the rain, so even if most of G-ma is wet, you can probably work on H.O.C.

-Benny G:
My favorite problem in NC just might be Chapter 13 at Lost Cove- fairly overhanging with super positive (and fairly small) crimps makes it difficult to latch the upper slopers and the huck to the odd hook move up top. One of my favorite things in a problem is when its techy feet with one of the key beta pieces being to let your feet cut just gently enough to maintain an overhanging sloper.

-Erica Lineberry:
The Claw V4 at Hound Ears - Tall but not too tall. Long moves to beautiful sharp crimpers. Technical face climbing at its finest!

I'll be sending you an e-mail with information about the tour, meeting time and other important info for this Saturday...dont forget its 1:30-5 and then beer, food and fun at Fox's place! Congrats to everyone and I look forward to having a killer time on some killer blocks!!!

Dixon School Road Boulders Guidebook Review and Author Interview

2011-09-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've been posting often recently about the new Dixon School Road Boulders Guidebook...and for good reason! This was a great project to help out ALL Western North Carolina boulderers...it provides solid info and history about Dixon and takes some of the impact off of Rumbling Bald by providing an alternative for the pebble wrestlers. I wanted to do a quick review of the guidebook, but I wanted to mainly spotlight the author, and his efforts to help not only local climbers, but the CCC also. Thanks Matt for all of your hard work!

The Review
After the dedication to Shane Cobourn, the table of contents, and a nice intro to the Carolina Climbers Coalition (CCC), a colorful first hand history of Dixon is presented by “Uncle Gus” Glitch, one of the Dixon old schoolers. Beginning in 1983 and taking you through the years and influential climbers, Gus fills the reader in and entertains at the same time. Anthony Love, the CCC president, gives a detailed geology of the area before the usual driving directions, area description, and approach info. The guide uses detailed topos generated with super accurate GPS data, and makes it easy to navigate between boulders and to each route. Beginning with overview topos and proceeding to close up topos of the 2 main areas, Upper and Lower Dixon, then each boulder and each problem are presented in an easy to use spreadsheet format. After some notes on Lower Dixon, the first boulders and routes are introduced. With high quality black and white photo topos, the guide makes it easy to find you way to the correct route and not get lost along the way. Action shots, thrown in between the photo topos and route descriptions, get you psyched! 3 different indexes (alphabetical, by grade and by star quality) make it easy to find the route info you’re looking for in the guide.

Last, but not least, is some info and a map of the CCC’s purchase of 6 acres of SUPER classic boulders at Rumbling Bald. Including incredible problems, on amazing boulders like the Washing Machine, the Classic Overhang, Shady Grove, The Simpsons Boulder, Liza Minelli, and the French Maid Boulder, this tract of land has more classic problems concentrated in one area of NC than anywhere else…folks, this is the crème de la crème of NC boulder problems. This purchase is still not paid off and needs to be as soon as possible so the CCC can pursue other purchases and opportunities to provide Carolina climbers with new and further access. Part of the entire reasoning behind this guidebook is the Bald…to help pay for it and to help provide an alternative for those super busy weekends when the Bald seems to get way too much attention. If you weren’t around toward the end of last Rumbling season, the parking situation got to the point that if you didn’t get there by 9:30 on a Saturday or Sunday, you were turned away by the ranger who was enforcing the parking limit. Instead of taking the chance of not getting into the Bald on the weekends, Dixon makes an incredibly awesome substitute…especially if there isn’t a difference in driving time! Not only has Matt Bielejeski donated his time and effort to create a nice guidebook and donate ¼ of the profits to the CCC, but he has also helped to relieve the biggest issue most western North Carolina climbers have during the winter months, the Bald parking problem! I’ve climbed with Matt a few times and have always wondered what motivates Matt and the answer to a question I’ve always wondered…what’s pumpin through those headphones he wears while he’s sending? So, I got in touch with him for an interview…

Bio stuff…name…age…occupation…years climbing
Matt Bielejeski, 33, Recording Engineer and Studio Producer for Davidson College
16 years climbing

Favorites…music…bands…boulder area…boulder problemsMusic - Underworld, Trentemoller, Timo Maas, The Martin Brothers, Steve Lawler, Angel Alanis, Umek, Quivver, Plump DJs, Meat Katie, Loco Dice, Leggo Beast, Lee Coombs, Koma & Bones, General MIDI, Funkagenda, Dylan Rhymes, Dopamine, Diplo, Dave Clarke, Darren Emerson, Claude VonStroke, Circulation, Booka Shade, Bassnectar, Bassbin Twins, Bingo Players, Atlantic Connection, Carl Cox, James Zabiela, Tiga, Slam, Stanton Warriors, Joris Voorn, Deep Dish, Behrouz, Hernan Cattaneo, Coldcut, Crystal Method, Mark Farina, LTJ Bukem, Scott Allen, Dave Seaman, John Digweed, Sasha, Medway, Nick Warren, Luca Bacchetti, Oliver Klein, Pan Pot, Paul Woolford, Riva Starr, Tania Vulcano
I don’t listen to bands that much anymore - I’m usually listening to and buying tracks for ammunition in my DJ mixsets.

Boulder Area - Grayson Highlands, no question.

Boulder Problems - Highland Highball V2, GHSP; Classic Overhang V3, Blowing Rock Boulders; Hooked on Chronic V3, Grandmother Boulders; Haptos V4, Grandmother Boulders; Classic Arete V4, DSRB; Throttle V5, Grandmother Boulders;

How long have you been climbing and where did you cut your teeth/build your skills?
I started climbing in 1995 at Vertical Edge in Durham, but when I lived in Boone from 1996-2002, I got into bouldering so much that I sold my rope.
I hadn’t done loads of roped climbing up to that point, but I had done the requisite climbs at Pilot, been to Sauratown twice, followed at Moore’s three times, and been to the NRG three times.
With the quality and quantity of good bouldering in a 30-minute radius from Boone, bouldering meant more time on the rock, especially on days during the week when I could get in a 2 or 3-hour session.
2002 began 5 years of living in Orlando, 8 hours away from real rock.
Although I worked at the local climbing gym for awhile, it was really tough to get motivated while in Florida.
Upon relocating to Raleigh, NC in 2007, I returned to Grandmother Boulders, 221 Circuit, Blowing Rock Boulders, and smaller, lesser-known areas.
When I moved to Davidson (north of Charlotte) in August of 2008, I was much closer to real rock, and started exploring new bouldering options, including Grayson Highlands State Park in VA.

How did you find out about Dixon and long have you been climbing at Dixon?
I found out about Dixon through the CCC website, a few months before the official opening in April of 2009. I’ve been bouldering there since May of 2009.

How long have folks been bouldering at Dixon? And give me a little history of the place?
According to Gus Glitch, who wrote the history section of the DSRB Guide, Eric Zschiesche had done some problems there before Doug Reed explored the area.
In 1983 (the pre-bouldering pad era), Gus Glitch, Shane Cobourn, and Diab Rabie began developing DSRB through gritstone tactics - toprope to get the sequence wired, then the first person to solo get the FA and the naming rights.
Unless I could get definite name info for known FAs, the names in the guidebook are all provisional.

What made you want to do the guidebook to Dixon?
After discovering that I had a “home court” bouldering field, I poked around on the CCC forums to see if a guide would be kosher with the climbing community.
At the time, the only NC bouldering guide was the Rumbling Bald guidebook by Chris Dorrity (grab one if you don’t own it!).
I posted a specific question on the CCC forums - would it be OK to publish a guide since legal access was no longer an issue?
Valid discussion points were raised with regard to the extra traffic a guidebook creates, and how the extra traffic can affect future access.
At the time, the Rumbling Bald parking lot was seeing a lot of use, with cars parking illegally outside of the designated parking lot.
Ultimately, it was agreed upon that if anything, having increased traffic at DSRB could possibly lessen traffic at Rumbling Bald, which is a win-win for everyone.

How long did you spend making this guidebook?
From the day I got the idea “blessed” by the climbing community via the CCC forums, a little over 2 and a half years.

What are the classics at Dixon?
It really depends on how hard you’re pulling. There’s something for everyone. In ascending order:
• Classic Overhang V2
• Galvatron V3
• Which Came First? V3
• Venom V5
• Hard-Boiled V6
• Leaning Tower V8
• Incinerator V10

What’s your favorite problem?
Final Thought V1 is my favorite warmup. Classic Arete V4 is the favorite mid-grade for my difficulty. Shoulder Jam V5 is my favorite personal project.

Tell me a little about the upcoming bouldering Crushfest comp.
Saturday, November 19th - mark your calendars. Dixon Crushfest is sponsored by the CCC and Inner Peaks. Chip Ratteree from IP and Anthony Love from the CCC will be heading up the comp. I’ll be there selling books and taking some pictures, and Gus Glitch will be competing in his own special “Father Time” division, and still plans on sending many of his old problems. Stay tuned to the Facebook Group page for DSRB for more info.

Any other similar areas you’ve bouldered at before?
The main quality I noticed about DSRB was the sharpness of the rock. In my opinion, it’s on par with Hound Ears or Grayson Highlands boulders.

Why did you decide to give 25% of the proceeds to the CCC?
It was really kind of a no-brainer. The CCC provided legal access to the boulderfield, and as a way to thank the organization for access, donating a significant portion of proceeds from the book just made sense, especially with the recent West Side Rumbling Bald boulders purchase. Every dollar counts!

What else about the CCC do you like?
They’re a local climbing advocacy organization that does projects which directly impact my climbing experience.

Tell me a little bit about your musical preferences and the music you create.
In 1995, I started listening to EDM (electronic dance music), the larger umbrella genre which is home to all sorts of sub-genres (house, drum and bass, techno, breakbeat, dubstep).
http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/ is handy if you’d like explore the differences in more depth.
After returning from 2 weeks of behind-the-scenes club photography in Glasgow, Scotland, I bought my pair of Technics 1200s. I began DJing locally around Boone, NC and maintained a popular 6-month residency at an underground club in Hickory, NC.
In 2002, I moved to Orlando to learn audio engineering, studio recording, and music production.
The music I produce is mostly dance music tracks, although I’m finishing up a downtempo 7-song project with Sanskrit vocals by Charlotte yoga instructor Christine Navarro.
You can listen to these tracks here:
soundcloud.com/mokolai

Give me a link to a website folks can go to and download/listen to your favorite “techno bouldering” (as you so often post on Facebook) setlist that you have created.
http://diffuseaudio.com/index.cfm/member/profile/index/memberid/41
6 downloadable mixes are located in the lower right-hand corner of the page. Throw them on the iPod and try crushing to tech house, electro, breakbeat, and techno.

Final Question…My moment of Zen came when…
I realized that my technique and power allow me to boulder on par with some of the skinmonkey types, even though I’m a big guy at 6’1”, 210lbs.

Matt is currently enjoying working on V4s and 5s, helping Aaron Parlier with grade confirmation for lower-grade problems at GHSP, cursing while doing any kind of crack move, and occasionally clipping bolts just to throw everyone off :-)

Bouldering Tour Giveaway Entries and Videos To Get You Psyched!

2011-09-09T06:35:00.001-07:00

I'm shocked that only 3 people have e-mailed me their entry for the chance to win a bouldering tour of spots that rival Rumbling Bald and Boone, but just don't get the hype these other spots get. If you haven't seen or heard of these boulders before then you're not alone...but trust me when I say that the quality of routes and the atmosphere of being in Pisgah make for some pretty amazing boulder session! There is still one week left to get your entries in and at least give these 3 guys a run for the money:)

-Erich Purpur:
My favorite boulder problem in western, NC would have to be “Roof of Death” v5 at Blowing Rock Boulders.

-Eddy Ramirez:
A long endurance route, reminds him of longer roped routes, at Peachtree Rock Preserve in SC.

-Matt Bielejeski:
Favorite boulder problem - Hooked on Chronic V3, Grandmother Boulders, Boone, NC Why - Overhanging, committing crux, heady topout, but the grade makesthe moves accessible to many boulderers. Even if you are crushing V-sick testpieces, H.O.C. is a great problem worth doing, especially since it's just to the left of the uber-classic Ebonics V6. 80% of the moves on H.O.C. stay dry in the rain, so even if most of G-ma is wet, you can probably work on H.O.C.

I'm looking forward to seeing some boulders that I regularly climb on in a new light and also seeing some new boulders I've never seen with this tour! Here are some videos to get you psyched on the bouldering in Pisgah...the first 3 are of the North Face/Side of Looking Glass and the last is of the Nowhere Boulders at Johns Rock...enjoy and send your entry in today!

The video below doesnt want to play all of the time...if its not working when you load this page, either reload the page or go to this link to see it on RC.com. I really dig this video a lot!

This isnt the best video, but you can see some of the boulders...

And one of the godfathers of southeast bouldering, just crushing the North Face Boulders granite!!!

Nowhere Boulders...much less known, but still plenty of fun routes!

Dixon Crushfest Competition, Crowder's Adopt-A-Crag, Training & A Great Amenity Lost To Upstate Boulderers

2011-09-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

This post is covering a few odds and ends and setting the stage for my next post, which will be a review of the Dixon Boulders Guidebook and an interview with Matt Bielejeski, the author of the guidebook.

First thing, Matt Bielejeski posted recently on Facebook that The Dixon Crushfest Bouldering Competition has just be set for November 19th! This adds excitement and another great stop to the Southeast fall bouldering comp season...Hound Ears on October 1st, LRC on October 8th, HP40 on November 5th and now Dixon on November 19th! This works out well with Adopt-A-Crag days in places like the Obed (9/10), Looking Glass (9/24), Crowder's Mtn (10/1) & Table Rock SC (12/10) also...so plan on cramming your fall weekends with tons of climbing related activities, either by working on a trail or flailing in a competition!!!

Matt has also announced that the first bacth of Dixon Guidebooks has sold out! He is getting ready for the second batch of guidebooks, but I recommend if you want to get one, you go ahead and preorder one before they get here and sell out also. Click on this link to take you to the previous post about how to order the guidebook.

And that brings me to another new piece of info...there will be an Adopt-A-Crag at Crowder's Mountain State Park on October 1st. The focus is to clean up some graffiti that has popped up on some of the rock faces, and there will be some anchor replacement on the Red Wall and Resurgence Walls. Donations are being accepted in order to purchase the new equipment and folks are being asked to "sponsor a bolt" by donating $5 each. Even if you have only climbed here once, $5 is a minor cost to help keep this incredible resource in safe shape. If you are interested in helping out or getting further information, then check out/ask to be added to the Facebook group "Belayed Gratification and Palmetto Pebble Wrestlers Columbia, SC" or "Dixon School Road Bouldering". Both of these FB groups are great for keeping in touch with locals, learning about upcoming events and meeting new climbing partners...check em out!

With the onset of fall and the fact that the leaves are finally giving up their chlorophyll and falling from the trees, that means bouldering season around here is just about to get cranking! I've been trying to make up for all of the time I've been spending inside with our new family lately by getting as many bike rides and bouldering training sessions in as possible. I've been biking between 10-15 miles a few times a week and then pulling down at Big Eastatoee afterwards. I haven't really "trained" for bouldering in a couple of years...I've always seen it as something I just jump back into when the season gets here and bouldering will train me back into shape. But after taking my focus almost completely away from bouldering for a few months, I realize that I need to get back into reasonable shape or I cant enjoy my time on the boulders as much. I've been doing sets of boulder problems...5 of the same route (with 1 minute rest in between each) followed by a 2-3 minute rest before I jump on the next harder problem. I've typically been climbing 5-7 different routes, from V0-V3 in a session for a total of 30 or so routes in less than an hour. When I first started doing these sets, I couldn't make it through 4 problems and I would flail on many problems I used to send in my sleep...but now, after about 10-12 training sessions, I'm feeling a little more like normal. I'm still not that strong, but I feel like I'm a little better prepared for the upcoming season and I'm getting really excited about sending some projects from last season and developing some new stuff along the way!!! I hope you've been getting yourself ready for the cooler sending temps and you're as stoked as I am about this fall:)

On a little bit of a sad note...for someone like me that spends A LOT of his time up on Highway 11 enjoying the plethora of outdoor activities, The Market At Keowee Towne has been my go to spot for incredible quality food, beer and wine. They are famous for their Blue Plate Special for lunch that Lee and crew always cook up to perfection. They always had fresh organic veggies and fish, the BEST tenderloin you could ever sink your teeth into, and they always had a nice specialty beer that made me smile even more while I was eating lunch there after a good boulder session. The Market sent out an e-mail last night informing its loyal customers that they will be shutting down on September 6th, only a few short days from now! I for one will miss the class, awesome variety and quality they always provided...thanks for treating this dirty, chalk covered hooligan with the same respect you gave the obnoxious golf crowd (if not more)! You will be greatly missed in the local community (and by this boulderer especially) and we hope that you can find a way to reopen soon!

Free Bouldering Tours...Again!

2011-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to link up to my post on Cruxn, in case its more informative than the previous post on the Bouldering Tour Giveaway!

Get your entries in and share your favorite boulder route with the Upstate Bouldering community!

WNC Local Spot-Corner Rock

2011-08-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to act like I'm an expert of this area near Asheville...in fact, I still haven't gone up to check the area out. But with so many hard problems and with easy access, this place is destined to see more use! Dave Sharratt has put some great topos and a nice video up on Cruxn.com of the place, so click on over there and check it out! I hope he doesn't mind me reposting the video, its got some great climbing in it!!!

Corner Rock, North Carolina bouldering from david sharratt on Vimeo.

Upstate Bouldering Sponsors Adopt-A-Crags...Win A Bouldering Tour!!!

2011-08-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

Upstate Bouldering is proud to announce that it will be sponsoring 2 upcoming Adopt-a-crag days!!! As I’ve mentioned in many recent posts, there are 2 local Adopt-a-crag days coming this fall/early winter, the WNC Climbers Weekend/Looking Glass Trail Day on September 24th and the Table Rock SC Trail Day on December 10th, and I have decided to officially sponsor each one of these events! So what does that mean to you??? Besides seeing a couple of snazzy new UB Sasquatch logos on some flyers and t-shirts…

Free Stuff!!!

Specifically, the chance to win 1 of 5 free bouldering tours at each event! Fox Guides will guide for the tour of the Looking Glass and Cedar Rock boulders on September 24th and I will personally guide a tour of some of the best Jocassee Gorges boulders on December 11th, the day after the Table Rock SC Trail Day.

How do you win one of these insider’s tours of such incredible areas???

Easy…post a comment on this page or send me an e-mail with a picture, video link or just a description of your favorite boulder problem from the Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina or Northeast Georgia areas! I will also give everyone that follows Upstate Bouldering on e-mail (see the link at the top of the page) an extra chance to win!!! Send me your favorite boulder problem stuff and follow Upstate Bouldering on e-mail and you'll have 2 chances to win one of the awesome bouldering tours! It doesn’t matter if it is a V0 or a V10, a lowball or a highball, a well known or obscure route, rated highly in a guidebook or a piece of garbage in many folks’ eyes…send in the name of the problem, the area its located and a reason why it’s your favorite problem, along with any pictures or video links (send the url, youtube or vimeo link) you might want to add and you’ll be entered to win! 5 Winners will be chosen at random out of all that enter and I will announce the winners for each of the 5 bouldering tours 1 week before the trail day! If you would like to go ahead and book a slot on the Looking Glass and Cedar Rock tour on September 24th, then click here and follow the link on the Fox Guides page…if you win a tour from Upstate Bouldering, and you’ve already signed up, then you can bring a friend along and give the tour to them!

Also, if you havent noticed Upstate Bouldering's ads in the new Dixon Guidebook, then look again or order your guidebook! The UB Mountain Silhouette ad shows Table Rock, Pinnacle Mountain and some of the best bouldering in the Upstate that's hidden in the Jocassee Gorges near these prominent SC images.

WNC Climbers Weekend Bouldering Tour!

2011-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

If you haven't signed up for the Bouldering Tour of Pisgah at the WNC Climbers Weekend coming up on September 24th, what are you waiting for? This is a rare chance to get shown around some of the best boulders in the WNC area, by a local with lots of knowledge that you cant find on paper anywhere!!! A $20 donation to the CCC is next to nothing to pay to see these incredible boulders and routes and have a sweet guided tour of one of the most beautiful areas in the Southeast. The webpage says that boulders at Looking Glass and Cedar Rock will be toured, and I for one am stoked to see some boulders I haven't ever seen before up on Cedar Rock! Click on the 2 highlighted links in this post to take you to the info page on the WNC Climbers Weekend and the registration form for the Bouldering Tour.

Dixon Guidebook Is Here!

2011-08-25T07:16:00.001-07:00

So the Dixon Boulders Guidebook has finally hit the hands of those that had preoredered it...and it is a nice addition to the NC and bouldering guidebook collections! Thicker than expected and chocked full of great info, the guidebook doesn't disappoint! I plan on posting a review of the guidebook, along with an interview with the author, Matt Bielejeski, early next week. If you haven't ordered one yet, what are you waiting for? The morning temps are hinting that fall is just around the corner and the Dixon boulders will soon be in prime condition for sending! Order your guidebook today and help out the CCC, the organization that has helped you out by procuring access to these and other incredible boulders across the Carolina!!!

Sasquatch Boulders

2011-08-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

I posted a new logo of a bouldering sasquatch/yeti on my previous post to hint at things to come...towards the end of this past spring's bouldering season, I went up to a new small set of boulders I had had my eye on for a couple of years. The approach was a little hideous, straight up a steep hill, and the boulders were well hidden and very elusive to track down. Due to the solitude and remoteness of the area and how it eluded me for a couple of years before I finally tracked these boulders down, I decided to call them the Sasquatch Boulders. I had originally wanted to use this name for the top half of the Jedi boulders, but the reference was soon lost and that area just became known as the "Top of Jedi". I immediately started development of the boulders on my first visit and sent around 15 or so routes in the V0-V3 range. I'm still in the process of developing all of the routes in this area, and with the temps soon to drop, hopefully I can finish the initial routes up very soon. With the end of this initial wave of development, I plan on releasing a mini-guidebook, similar to the Beasley Gap Boulders, to the area so everyone else can enjoy these new routes too...until then, here's a look at one of the topo's and one of the better projects, route "b":)

If you are in this area and want to get in on a day or two of route development, shoot me an e-mail (upstatebouldering@hotmail.com) and we'll try to organize a day to get out and send some new stuff!

Jocassee Gorges Boulders Clean Up Days

2011-08-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on having a few mini-clean up days for some of the bouldering areas in the Jocassee Gorges of upstate SC! Unfortunately, many of the local "outdoorsmen" tend to throw out their trash near several bouldering areas and I think its time we lead by example and show the land managers, DNR, that unlike some of the other user groups, we're willing to clean up instead of destroy these beautiful foothills. Besides picking up litter, we'll also make minor adjustments to approach trails by clearing debris or downed limbs so pad people can have an unempedded path to the boulders. The best day to avoid hunters will be on Sundays and I wanted to do them in October or November so the temps would be great for a big boulder session after the clean up! If you would be interested in helping out and getting a tour of some of SC's boulders, please let me know and I'll start organizing for the Sunday that fits into most people's schedule. I dont mind grilling out afterwards to feed everybody too:)

E-mail me at UpstateBouldering@hotmail.com or pm me on the CCC site (my user name is "phoenixfire") to get in on this chance to get the best tour of these local boulders you could ever get and help keep them pristine for everyone to enjoy!

Updated info about the Dixon Boulders Guidebook

2011-08-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

Matt Bielejeski got in touch with me last week about some changes that have happened with the Dixon School Road Boulders Guidebook. There is a new, snazzy cover (seen above) and the internal pages are now going to be high quality black and white...but besides that, its going to deliver all the beta mentioned in the previous post! Don't forget folks, a major portion of the proceeds for this guidebook will be donated to the CCC to directly affect another NC bouldering mecca, Rumbling Bald! This is a incredible opportunity to get some much needed info on the Dixon Boulders, with great problems on par with the Bald, and help pay off the West Side Boulders all at the same time...for me, that just sounds like a win-win situation for everybody. Thanks again Matt for giving back to the organization that helps to maintain access at ALL of NC and SC's boulderfields!!! Here are some updated images you can expect to see in the new Dixon Guidebook...don't forget that the guidebook is expected to arrive in folks' (that have already ordered) mailboxes any day now AND with fall arriving soon, its best to get the guidebook at the beginning of the season so you can conquer as many routes as possible this year!

Upcoming Adopt-A-Crags and Summer Trips

2011-08-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Wow...I didn't think it would take this long to get this post out, but having a kid really does change your life (and free time)! Now that the Fall semester has begun, I should have a little more time, while Lily is hanging out with Nanna, to get posts out a little more regularly...and there are lots of things happening this fall to post about! If you haven't heard about the Western NC Climbers Weekend/Looking Glass Trail Day and Pisgah Boulder Tour or even more local, the first ever Table Rock, SC Adopt-A-Crag, then save some dates and join a bunch of like minded hooligans in helping out with some trail work and then enjoying some climbing/bouldering and good times afterwards! I am also trying to find out if anyone would like to get together on a few Sundays in September and October, tour some of the boulderfields in the Jocassee Gorges and clean up litter and do some minor trail work. If you would be interested in meeting up one Sunday, doing trail work for a couple of hours and then bouldering for the rest of the day, get in touch with the e-mail link at near the top of the page or just leave a comment on this post, and we'll get something organized. I thought this would be a good way for folks that dont have much experience bouldering in the Gorges could get a tour of some of the boulders and give back at the same time!!!

This summer has been focused on my daughter Lily more than anything else...and with that and the unbearable heat, I lost a good bit of muscle and gained a few unwanted pounds. So I'm really looking forward to the cooler temps and chances to steal away to the local boulders and get back into bouldering shape!

Besides a few bouldering day trips to Granite City, the North face of Looking Glass, and the Nowhere and Roadside Boulders, my big trip this summer was to Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia, last month. Only an hour or so north of Boone, NC and just a hog snort north of the NC/VA border, Grayson Highlands is an incredible summer destination for the Southeast boulderer. Aaron Parlier has put the place on the map with his voluminous work on Mountain Project, and is in the process of writing a guidebook to this scenic area. We made the 4 hour trip last year and stayed at a sweet cabin only 3 miles from the gates to the park…so we went with the same plan this year too. Highlands Hideaways has some reasonable prices for a variety of lodgings with all the luxuries a climber needs. We stayed for 4 days and despite the daily rainfall, I got to boulder for 2 sessions each day!

We arrived at Grayson in the early afternoon, and after dropping the wife and sleeping baby off at the cabin, I headed straight to the Contact Station Boulders to check out True Grit, one of the ultra-classics in the park...turns out that unless you have some damn strong pulleys and tendons, the crimps on this route feel like hell and flow very oddly. After not wanting to tweak a tendon, I stepped around the corner to the Periscope and Ranger Rick Boulders and ran into Jim Horton, one of the Triple Crown Bouldering Comps Co-Organizers, and some of his friends.

I was still pretty cold and needed to warm up a little, but I jumped in with them anyway and was barely thwarted by Periscope V3, Bombsight V3 (both of which can be seen on the photo above...Bombsight goes up and left while Periscope heads out and right to finish on the top point) and Ranger Rock SDS V4. Jim and pals sent these with style, while I sent some V0's and V1's to warm up, and then we headed down to the Contact Boulder where I repeated Copperhead V3. From here the other guys took off and I headed up to the Listening Rock area and sent some more easier warm ups. After feeling warm and ready to pull harder, I headed back and sent Periscope V3 & Bombsight V3 without a hiccup. I sat under Ranger Rock SDS V4 looking up at what boils down to a 1-2 crimpy move V4. After a few tries and feeling like it wasn't going to go, my shoes stuck the starting holds just enough to allow me to bump up to and past the bad crimp and send what would be my hardest route of the trip. I felt on top of the world, right out of the gate and had high hopes for more quality sends for the other 3 days. Below is the Ranger Rick Boulder...

The next 3 days were not as productive as the first...

I climbed at the Listening Rock area a good bit and sent some fun lines like The Hive V3 (seen in the above photo) and Lingual Arete V2/3 (seen in the photo below).

We went up to the Highlands Area, hung out with almost 20 wild ponies at one time, and sent a few fun routes while we were up there. This was the first time I hit the Highlands Welcoming Boulder and I actually really enjoyed these odd, shorter routes. The other area that I enjoyed was the Fantastic Four area, near the entrance to the park. I enjoyed sending Quartz Caterpillar V1 and the lower start version of the route, Metamorphosis V3 on the Thing Boulder. Besides these highlights, I also checked out the Campground Area and I went back to explore a little more in the Picnic Area, but I didn't send anything worth a mention there.

Overall, it was a great getaway from the oppressive heat of the South Carolina summer, and I was glad to tick off a few fun routes I hadn't sent before!

As I mentioned, hopefully my posting wil pick up and I'll be putting out some more content a little bit more regularly. I've still got some reviews coming of Flashed crasphpads and a variety of brushes...they're taking a little longer than I expected, but they should be out here soon:)

New Dixon School Road Bouldering Guidebook!!!

2011-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Dixon School Road Boulders were once an insider’s crag and considered to be on the border of a legal/illegal place to climb. In the mid-late 90’s, rumor’s used to fly in the local climbing gym about a bouldering spot near Crowder’s with a quick approach and fun routes…most folks I knew called it the Buzzard Roost back then, but it soon became known as the boulders on Dixon School Road. When I finally got the lowdown about the place it was, “No need for beta…just drive down Dixon School Road and look for the boulders. Parking is an issue and climbing is kind of illegal, I think…but if you’re into pebble wrestling it might be worth it.” Since I was mainly a roped climber at the time, I didn’t really care to push possible legal limits just to get on some boulders. As the years progressed, many of my climbing partners bowed out of the game and left me with a climbing jones that bouldering finally satisfied. I pretty much forgot about the place until the word started circulating around the CCC (Carolina Climbers Coalition) website in 2009 about the Dixon Boulders officially opening with a new parking lot. Finally, after the official opening of these boulders nearly 10-15 years after first hearing about them, I visited this sweet little boulderfield and truly enjoyed these pebbles!

Now, for the first time, these excellent blocks and routes have been showcased in an incredible new guidebook, Dixon School Road Boulders: Selected Boulder Problems by Matt Bielejeski, that’s guaranteed to show you around to this once mystical area. Not only is this valuable information finally available to everybody, not just those in the know, but 25% of the proceeds will be donated to the CCC to help pay off another awesome set of boulders on the West Side of Rumbling Bald! This is not only a great opportunity to finally get the beta for Dixon, but to help out the grassroots organization that helped to bring you this bouldering area! This is a limited time, limited release guidebook…the first run is only 100 copies and there may not be a second run! Check out the ordering info below and go ahead and order your copy of the guidebook for only $25. The guidebooks are expected back from the printers any day now and will then be sent out to those that have already ordered immediately…so don’t miss out on this exceptional chance to help out the CCC and get some sweet beta at the same time!

Here's the ordering info posted by Matt Bielejeski just a couple of days ago...
The guide is done and going to the printers next week.

It will be $25, with 25% of all proceeds going directly back to the CCC.

The first run will only be 100 books.

If you would like to ensure you receive a copy, PayPal $30 ($25 + $5 shipping and handling) to firesnakestudios@gmail.com.

Please include a shipping address for USPS.

After all pre-orders have been distributed, the remaining copies will be available directly through me via Paypal, or available at Inner Peaks in Charlotte, NC.

Other retail locations may become available if sufficient books remain.

To reserve your copy, preorder today by Paypal-ing $30 ($25 + $5 shipping and handling) to firesnakestudios@gmail.com

Be sure to include a shipping address for USPS.

If you have any other questions, feel free to email me directly at firesnakestudios@gmail.com

Matt is also the main administrator for the "Dixon School Road Bouldering" group on Facebook...if you are a fan of Facebook, then this is a great way to meet other Dixon climbers, find out beta, post pictures or gawk at shots of other folks, ask questions or just set up a quick boulder session with others. Keep a look out for an interview about Dixon and the new guidebook with Matt coming soon!

Too much to do lately...

2011-07-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd have some extra time over my break to bust out a few posts...but I was wrong. I was hoping to get out the reviews of the brushes and Flashed Tonto, Ninja & Samurai pads, but things never slowed down enough for me to sit in front of a computer and get them done. Hopefully I can get those out sooner than later!

We had a great time up in Grayson Highlands, VA, despite the heavy showers that seemed to show up at least once a day. I was still able to get 2 sessions a day in and send a handful of V3's and a V4...a full write up will come before the reviews, so keep a look out for that too. We also took a quick trip up to the Graveyard Fields on the NC section of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Pisgah...at the top of this post is a shot of Lily, chillin' at the base of Upper Falls, with a few fun boulders in the background. The main slabby boulder, I've been calling it the Salamander Slab, has a few nice V0-V2/3 routes to check out while you're up at the falls. Below is a shot of me on top of Big Pinnacle with the Highlands bouldering area is on the ridge just behind my head and Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia, is the taller peak in the background.

On a different note, the first ever Table Rock (SC) Adopt-a-crag is coming December 10th, 2011...mark your calender and go ahead and plan on coming out and helping us work on the trail and then climb some routes before we have a cook out and silent auction. Our focus is specifically on the climbers trail at Table Rock and getting it back into good shape, but we are also trying to show off this great, underused SC climbing resource and help introduce the area to folks that might not be familiar with it. After working on the trail for half of the day, then folks are free to hit some of the routes on this impressive face (and a group may head to the Jocassee Gorges for a boulder session if there's enough interest). And finally end the day with some good grub and a silent auction to help raise money for the CCC and the Rumbling Bald Boulders Purchase. We need as many volunteers and as much help as we can get...if you would like to volunteer or donate food, silent auction swag, or money to help out with this event, please feel free to contact me through the e-mail link at the top of the page, or by getting in touch with Stephen Scoff, the SC CCC rep. Here is a link to Stephens recent post on the CCC website.

July Roadtrips

2011-06-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

The time is almost here for my July road trips! I'm so stoked to get back up to Grayson Highlands in Virginia...if you have no clue what I'm talking about, then fill yourself in with some beta:) We're gonna spend this Sunday through next Wednesday up there soaking up the perfect weather and awesome bouldering! I cant wait for Lily to see the wild ponies...she may not remember it, but we'll have some great pictures to remind her! Towards the end of the month, I'm planning another trip, hopefully, up to Grayson Highlands and Boone...if weather doesn't permit, then I'm gonna hit whichever southeastern boulders will have the best weather. Summer is usually a down time for me, but I'm so happy to be taking a few trips to some stellar bouldering areas instead of just getting fat and old:)

Here is a link to last years trip report and the video I threw together to intro the place to new folks...check it out!
2010 Trip Report
2010 Video

That Hooker Left Me With Something I Didn't Want!

2011-06-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post...
So, almost two weeks ago was the Lilly Boulders trip and what I didn't mention in my trip report post was that I thought I might have tweaked my ring finger on my left hand while I was pushing hard to send Hooker. I've had a few sessions since then...one at Big Eastatoee Wall, one DWS session on Lake Jocassee, a fun trip up to Granite City where I almost repeated Moonshine Still V4/5, and a sweaty trip up to the Bearfields...and each session seemed to make the finger hurt more and more. Its now hurting to the point that I can barely get my wedding ring on without a little pain, and it is the same pain I had when I popped a tendon in the pinky right beside it last August on Hades V3. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to admit that I'm sick or injured until I really have to shut it down, and i was hoping it wouldn't get to this, but it looks like I'm gonna have to take a few weeks off to let this thing heal up a little before the summer road trips really start up. Once again, we have reserved a cabin up near Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia, about an hour north of Boone, for the July 4th break. We had such a great time up there last year and we're super psyched to be able to take Lily with us this time:) Then later in July, I'm planning another trip up to Grayson and Boone and maybe over into Tennessee if the weather looks good. Until then, keep a look out for upcoming reviews of a few Flashed Pads and a big review of 8-10 brushes!

Evolv Shaman Climbing Shoes Review

2011-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually one to buy into the hype of the newest and latest climbing shoes. I've been climbing long enough to know that its more than a shoe that makes the biggest difference in performance. But I have also learned over the years that shoes have the ability to pull your performance down, if they are not the right shoe for the right type of climb. When I first started climbing, I wore La Sportiva, and went through 3 pairs before I switched to Five Ten due to what I thought was the stickiest rubber in the business. I wore through many many pairs of a variety of Five Ten shoes before Evolv finally came out and the Defy's became my shoe of choice. The Defy shoes were comfortable and in my opinion had stickier rubber than any other shoe out there. I have blown through more pairs (somewhere around 6 or 7) of Defy shoes than any other shoe I can think of...and sent some of the hardest routes I've ever sent in them. The areas I mainly climb tend to be more slabs than overhangs, so I wasn't in direct need of an aggressive shoe that would hook me to a tiny overhanging nub like a bat. But when a half price deal came up on the Optimus slippers, I bought them up and learned that even an aggressive shoe can also be a good slab shoe. Since then, I've mainly climbed in the velcro brother of the Optimus, the Optimus Prime. Before I move on any further, let me say that I have a large foot, long and wide, and this has caused trouble from time to time when I look to buy climbing shoes. I am a huge fan of the wide toe box and the more rounded than pointed toes. These shoes fit like a dream and still climb slabs better than any other shoe I've ever tried. So recently, when the Shaman came out, I was reluctant because I felt like I had already found the best climbing shoe for me in the Optimus Prime.

The Shaman is an aggressive shoe that's closer to the design of the La Sportiva Solutions than any other shoe I've seen...this shoe is obviously intended to be Evolv's answer to the Solutions. Solutions have been the gold standard with many climbers for years now, but once again, due to the size of my foot I have yet to find a pair that fit me (I've tried on the biggest size and still need some room). So when I was recently looking for a new pair of Optimus Primes to replace my stinky and slowly wearing out old pair, I decided to go out on a limb and for once try the hype of the new shoe design. I've been able to session with these shoes in a variety of conditions and types of climbs and have found some great qualities and a few not so great.

Overall, the Shaman is designed for overhanging and heel hooking routes. Straight out of the box, they fit very comfortably for my foot, and the 3 strap system pulls the shoe tighter to your foot than any other velcro shoe I've used. The middle strap did add a little bulk to the top of my foot, but I thought it was this strap that really locked my heel into the heel cup like no other shoe ever has. The downturn is as expected, a little odd feeling, but the "love bump" and extra room in the knuckle area form my forefoot into a comfortable downturned shape that feels a little less forced than other aggressive shoes I've tried. I was a little surprised at the level of comfort before I had even worn them on the rock, and was looking forward to giving them a few test drives!

Of course, the first test I gave them were some of the classics in the Jocassee Gorges! I tried some classic slabby routes on the Meat Grinder boulder in the Bearfields first and found out that these guys don't really have a slabby secret like the Primes do...bummer in that aspect, but then again I was expecting a different shoe to compliment the weaknesses of the Primes, so for me, it's just fine. From here I went to the delicate face climbing of Best Feeling at Little Eastatoee...they performed about as well on this route as the Primes, pretty much what I was expecting. I think that I have gotten too used to the rounded toe box of the Primes and the more I climb delicate faces in the Shamans, I'll start to pick up the nuances and find them to be possibly a better shoe for this type of route. I then worked some of the only overhanging stuff around on the Batman boulder at Little Eastatoee...this is what they were obviously designed for, hooking and sticking into the smallest numbs so you can focus more on your hands. This is when I started to like them a little better, but I was still a little reluctant about my purchase.

I wanted to try the shoes on some plastic also to see if they are designed for gym rats instead of outside boulderers. I hopped on my home woody in the back yard for a couple of sessions and was treated to some of the stickiest shoes I've ever climbed plastic in. These guys stuck to newer holds with good texture like a dream and performed almost as admirably on 15 year old slicker holds. From the slopers on my Font wall, to edges and crimps on another wall, and the overhanging features on the 45 degree wall and roof, these shoes gave me all the confidence in my feet to push hard for the send on some project routes. I noticed a big difference in HIT training also...almost making it feel like I was cheating with the feet instead of struggling with them late in the training session when they become more problematic. Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of these shoes in a gym setting!

Luckily, I had just received a copy of The Obed: A Climber's Guide to the Wild and Scenic from Greener Grass to review and so a trip to The Obed would really give me an idea of how effective these shoes are in their perfectly intended environment. The Obed is notorious for huge overhanging roofs that require precise and powerful footwork to save your arms for the real cruxy parts of the route. I was hoping to see how comfortable they were on some longer sport routes, but having our newborn Lily with us made it a little difficult to rope up...but the Lilly Boulders provided an awesome proving ground for the Shamans. The first routes I hit were on the Beer boulder, which is severely overhanging with big reaches between incut edges...the Shamans ate it up! The toes hooked into the incuts and stuck like glue to allow me to move out the roof with much less effort than ever before. After sending a few routes I hadn't expected to on some other overhanging boulders, I put the heel hooking to the test on the area super-classic Hooker. Hooker moves out the edge of an extremely overhanging boulder, heel hooking the whole way on some slightly sloping blocks and edges that leads to a tougher move to the lip and finally a mantle. I've never been a good heel hooking climber, I always prefer to turn it into a toe hook and I tend to lose the send many times because of that. I loaded up at the base of Hooker and was extremely shocked at how good it felt to move through the series of heel hooks and out to the lip...what once was a crux for me was now nullified and I could focus on other parts of the route that challenged me instead. After not being able to send first go, I put it together and sent second try...and I give much of the credit to these shoes!

I also discussed these shoes with a climbing buddy that works at an outfitter and has had a little experience selling these shoes. He is very critical of shoe performance and felt that these shoes are perfect for larger volume feet, but are also just as effective for narrower footed individuals too. He has an average sized foot that is slightly a little narrow and he mainly climbs in Solutions. After wearing the Shamans for a few sessions, he felt that he didn't lose any performance and sent at his top level. He's been frustrated also on the business side of things due to the lack of larger sizes being available in the Solutions, but thinks his customers have been very satisfied when they've purchased the Shamans instead.

I haven't had the shoes long enough to find out if they get the same "dead dog" stank as many other Evolv's or if they are built for longevity, but most everything else about these shoes impressed me. If you are like me and prefer to have a few shoes to climb in for different circumstances, the Shaman can fill a big void and help you to push your limits without falling short due to less effective footing! They may not be designed for V5 slab, but they eat up the V5 overhangs and roofs. If you have a larger foot and have had trouble finding a comfortable fitting aggressive shoe to send hard in, I highly recommend the Shamans!

Here is a link to the Evolv website and more info on the Shaman

Outdoor Guidebooks Now Available In The Greenville Tech Library!

2011-06-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have worked at Greenville Technical College in Greenville, SC for the last 10 years as an Anatomy and Physiology professor. I love my job and seeing the new opportunities in life I'm able to provide my students by helping them progress on towards their degree goal. I also like to encourage my students, along with most anyone I meet, to get active and outdoors...it's always been the easiest method for me to decompress from work and the sometime difficult times in life. I'm also very passionate about the environment, sustainability and conservation biology...so while I was working with the librarians at my campus (Northwest campus in Berea, SC) on a project to order eco-topic items for the library, I had them order some of the local guidebooks for rock climbing (Selected Climbs of NC), bouldering (Rumbling Bald Bouldering Guide), kayaking (Carolina Whitewater), mountain biking (Off the Beaten Track: Pisgah), and hiking (Hiking South Carolina and NC Waterfalls). More books are going to be ordered soon also! I wanted to make this aware for any Tech students in the area that may be interested in checking these books out and experiencing a new outdoor activity. Thanks to Adele Webb and Michele Rubino, the Northwest campus librarians, for ordering these books for everyone to enjoy!

The Obed: A Climber's Guide to the Wild and Scenic Guidebook Review

2011-06-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Andy Wellman over at Greener Grass Publishing has been so awesome to hook me up with a pre-release copy of the new The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic guidebook by Kelly Brown, and I was not disappointed! If you’ve not seen the other 2 guidebooks released by Greener Grass, Horse Pens 40 Bouldering or Stone Fort Bouldering, what pebble have you been hiding under? These guidebooks have set the precedence for future bouldering guides, and now, Andy is bringing this same vibrant, eye catching style to trad and sport climbing guides. The Obed Guidebook is designed around the plethora of incredible sandstone sport and trad routes found in this beautiful area of Tennessee, but also delivers the first easy to understand guide to the Lilly Boulders, one of my all time favorite boulderfields.

Outline of the Book:
Starting out with the forward from Rob Turan, long-time Obed Ranger and route developer, the tone is set for the guidebooks verbal presentation…respect and reverence for such an amazing climbing and outdoor recreation area. The Introduction that follows walks you through climbing the best routes at the best areas for each different time of the year…I really enjoyed this method of introducing each area. The history lesson that followed was rich with details of development and those that pushed the standards and grades. I assume this history was written by Kelly, but another developer’s, Chris Jones, view of the history is included later in the book to provide more info and insight. Plenty of info for the travelling Obed climber is presented next, including airplane and driving beta, a satellite image overview of the climbing areas, yearly weather info, and amenities in the area, with a spotlight on the Lilly Pad climbers camp and the Obed Hostel. After a take on The Obed from the perspective of one of the Lilly Pad’s dogs and some important climbing ethics all Obed climbers are asked to follow, the Best of the Best routes for each area are laid out in a ticklist format to give you all the motivation you need to plan your next road trip. Scattered throughout the rest of the book are perspectives of Obed experiences by Brad Carter, Frank Harvey, James Gose, Glenn Ritter, and James Litz that helps to bring different views of the Obed from different times during development.

The Obed:
If you’ve never been to or heard of The Obed, you may not be alone. This awesome little climbing secret, hidden on the Cumberland Plateau in northeast Tennessee, has seen development since Southeast legends Bob Cormany and Craig Stannard first laid into the Lilly Boulders and Lilly Bluff back in the early 70’s. Since these early adventures, more and more southern climbers have held Obed in high regards for its impeccable sandstone, steep walls and incredible roofs. I have never seen the sheer quantity of amazingly featured roofs at any other climbing area I’ve traveled to in many different states and countries! If you want powerfully pumpy, overhanging endurance routes, look no further. The 478 trad and sport routes are laid out into the different climbing areas, North Clear Creek, South Clear Creek, Lilly Bluff, Little Clear Creek, Y-12, and The Obed itself. With incredibly sharp and vivid photos and photo topo’s and approach info, it’s finally easy to find your way to each area…especially compared to the previous guidebook beta of The Dixie Craggers Atlas. This guide includes a few new routes in each area, compared to the most recent Dixie Craggers, and with more than line drawn topo’s and fuzzy black and white photos from far off distances, getting to the crag and to the route you want is now easier than ever. At the beginning of each area, photos of the cliff, parking and approach guarantee that you are at the right place and on the right route. Hiking time to the cliff, best season to visit, sun/shade info and if this is a rainy day crag info is also included to help plan your visit.

The Lilly Boulders are a miniature version of the nearby cliffs and are a little bouldering oasis in practically any season you visit. As a boulderer mainly, I have visited the Lilly boulders many more times than the different roped areas around the Obed. In the past, a slightly off (OK, way off) Dr Topo guide was all most folks had access to in order to guide themselves around these boulders…and if you dug deep enough on the internet, you might find a copy of the much better, old hand written competition guide Kelly put out years ago. This kept the traffic down in the boulderfield for a while and kept people at the more popular bouldering destinations in the Southeast…I have a feeling that the volume of boulderers is about to increase now with this updated and easy to use guide. 164 problems from V0-V13 are listed, and just like the HP40 Bouldering guidebook, there are plenty of easier warm up routes that still aren’t listed (I honestly think there’s probably 50 more V0’s or V1’s scattered around the area that have never made it to a topo, so beginner boulderers, don’t think it’s for hardmen only). A correctly oriented and displayed overhead topo finally guides you right to your boulder and the photo topo of most routes reassures that you’re not climbing the wrong route. A few boulders and problems have had name changes, and as with bouldering grades from guide to guide, some grades were adjusted also. No matter what though, the classics remain the same…KB Arête V2, Buddha’s Belly V4, Hemlock Arête V4, and Hooker V4 are some of my all time favorite routes I’ve ever sent in any boulderfield.

The only problem I could find with the guide is minor at best…a handful of the routes were left off of the ticklist in the back. But as long as they weren’t left out of the guidebook, I think most folks will be fine with just checking the box beside where the route is listed and not doing it on the ticklist in the back. It doesn’t matter if you are a local or travelling from far away, an old school tradster, new school sport climber or boulderer of any grade, this guidebook is an awesome purchase and guaranteed to get you to the best routes in the Obed, or what many folks think may be the best routes in the world!

Conclusion:
Besides a minor ticklist mistake, The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic is a homerun of a guidebook. With more pages of info than the HP40 or LRC Guidebook, and the first trad, sport and boulder guidebook offering by Greener Grass, this guidebook is destined to find its way to every Southeastern climber’s bookshelf! Don’t forget that now is the time to order your copy of this incredible tome…the pre-sale special gives you $5 off the purchase price, enters you in a drawing for the $200 road trippin’ gift and as Andy has become known for, 5% of the proceeds will be donated to a great cause, the East Tennessee Climber’s Coalition! Thanks again Andy and Greener Grass for putting together another great guidebook, for giving back to the community that these guidebooks service and for hooking this Upstate Boulderer with a copy for review...keep up the good work and I'm always looking forward to the next Greener Grass release!

Click here to pre-order your copy!

Check out a sample of the guidebook here

Stay tuned to Upstate Bouldering for the next review coming this week…the new Evolv Shaman climbing shoes!

Lily's First Trip To Lilly

2011-06-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of The Obed: A Climber's Guide to the Wild and Scenic Guidebook this past week, a road trip was in order! We left Thursday morning and were in Knoxville by around 2-3pm...but as soon as we hit the exit for UT and downtown, the skies opened up and down poured the first day session away. My hopes were to get 2 days of climbing in, but now I was thinking I would be lucky to find dry rock on Friday. I've been to Lilly plenty of times when it was wet, and thankfully the plentiful roofs always provide some dry routes, but I was looking forward to some of the slopier routes there. Unlike the sandstone at Horse Pens 40 or Little Rock City, Lilly tends to be overhung and blocky, with the occasional Fontainebleau full hand sloper thrown in for good measure. I had recently bought a bunch of new gear I was looking forward to trying out, including some Evolv Shamans, a new Flashed Toolbag chalk bucket and a couple of new Flashed brushes, one with boar's hair and another that looked like the usual Metolius brushes. I've tried the Shamans out at Little Eastatoee once, but the heat and slabs were not the best combination to get a feel for some new shoes. Keep an eye out in the next week or so for some reviews of all of the above products, including the new Obed Guidebook also!

When we got there Friday, the ground was still wet from the storm the day before and many of the topouts were wet too. I had my ticklist ready and my plan was to climb all of the V2 and below routes I hadn't climbed before and I had a few V3 and V4 targets that would be the icing on the cake if I could send any of them. I haven't been bouldering all that much lately because of the heat and the fact that new babies require a lot of attention, so I wanted to be realistic with my expectations and I thought a few V2's would probably be about the best I'd send. I started out on the Beer Boulder, warmed up on the easy V0's facing the trail, and then had at the roof problems High Life V2 and PBR V2. I gained a little inspiration from a Red Eft I saw climbing on a mini-boulder nearby...

After flailing for a little while every time I hit the lip and then finally remembering how to boulder again, I sent both of these great routes! Check out High Life below...

I was feeling pumped already, but that satisfaction of sending some new routes pushed me on to an area I hadn't checked out much before, The Maze behind Jr's Corner. As you are approaching the intersection at the end of the first corridor, this incredible arete/prow, with a drawing to the left of it, jumps out at you and begs to be climbed. Here's a shot of the drawing...

Across from the prow, I sent the Corridor Arete V1 and Stashbox V0 to warm up and looked in the guide to find out the prow was called Pow Wow V4. It wasn't on my target list for the day, but Pow Wow was too much to pass up. It took a few tries, but after a couple of power moves to bump up to a big greasy slopey sidepull, I got my feet up, tossed my left hand for the skinniest part of the arete, barndoored my left foot out into the air and finally brought it back in to be able to finish up the route and an incredible unexpected treat for the day! Below is a sequence of 3 shots from what I felt was a cruxy barndoor...

From here, my photographer and Lily decided to head for the hammock and leave me to myself to finish the session. I headed to the Backdoor Boulder and sent Sidedoor V2 and then bounced over to the Transformer (Turansformer after Rob Turan an amazing ranger and route developer) Boulder and sent Sideview V1 and Olive Oil V1 before getting a few futile tries in on Iron Man V3. Iron Man is listed as one of the area's best V3's in the guide, but this thing is way too reachy for me! I was able to get a send of Autobots V3, that went to a big undercling and then on up a short section of overhanging edges...fun route. With that send, I "sent for the cycle" by sending a new V1-V4 in the same session, always a goal of mine on a road trip! Feeling a bit winded and wearing out quick, I headed back to the hammock for a break, check out the happy baby below:)

After resting up a little, and sending Europa V3 (awesomely fun sloper top out that totally reminded me of Fontainebleau) right around the corner from the hammock while the ladies were napping, I headed out to the Lilypad Boulder and the Dungeon Boulder to try to tick off most of the rest of the V1's and V2's that were left on my target list for the day. These boulders were soaked and seeping so even the V1's were unclimbable...oh well, its always good to have something for the next trip! So I headed over to the last few routes I wanted to work at the Leper and Hooker Boulders. Hooker V4 was one of my main targets for the day, because its one of only 3 routes in the guide below V10 that gets 5 stars (the other two were Hemlock Arete V4, which I've already done and Jr's Corner V6, which was out of the question). I got the blood flowing again with Missing Finger V0 and Banished V2 on the Leper Boulder and immediately jumped on Hooker to spend anything I had left in the tank trying to capture the send. Hooker is one of the poster child routes for Lilly for sure...very bouldery with overhanging heel hooking to an OK shelf and then a mantle made tougher by the fatigue factor. Surprisingly, I almost made it out to the shelf at the tip of the boulder first go, so I loaded up big for the second attempt. I'm not usually a heel hook fan, and don't feel secure in most shoes heel hooking, but the Shaman's heel hooking ability is absolutely amazing and stuck me to the slopey blocks like glue! After barely reaching the lip on my second try, I mustered every bit of strength I had left to toss for the higher hold and turn it into a mantle to top it out. I got back down to my pad with the biggest grin on my face and my body feeling like it was refuse left on a battlefield. While I was packing up and trying to beat the next round of thunderstorms rolling through the area, I felt so satisfied with the day and the 2 V3's and 2 V4's I had unexpectedly sent! Grades aren't everything, thats for sure, but achieving a goal you originally didnt think was attainable is so satisfying and always the cure for a bouldering drought!

The Clymb Members Only Sales Events!

2011-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've just recently joined The Clymb and love how they send you deals on some of the best climbing and outdoor stuff. The Clymb is a new member only shopping site that focuses on good quality outdoor equipment...and right now they have some great deal on Revolution and Pusher gear. The crash pads are at least 1/3 off and if you join using the link below, you will be given $10 off your first purchase! I've been wanting one of the new Pusher Spot pads, and I was able to order one just now for $80...what a deal! They also have a good variety of Revolution pads for around $100, some chalk bags for $15 and the best brush kit you can buy for only $12! If you are stocking up for the summer or getting gear slowly for the return of cool temps, The Clymb is a great way to save some money that you can use to fill up your tank for the next road trip!!!

Click here to join The Clymb and receive $10 off your first purchase!

Update (6-11-11)...Looks like the $10 off offer is over now, but there's still a little while to snag the good deals on the Revolution and Pusher products and all kinds of other good gear, clothes and shoes!

New WNC Local Spot: Whitewater Falls Boulders

2011-06-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

So, this is not really a spot that you would travel to visit, but if you're already in the area, this makes a nice stop for a picnic, sight seeing and a quick boulder session. I've played around on these boulders for many years, well before they built the "new" bathrooms and "new" parking area, and have always had a smile on my face on the way home. There are around 10 routes worth climbing, from V0-V4 or so, and quite a few of these are pretty fun routes...Lightning Arete V4 is the best problem here and well worth climbing! Combine this stop, with a visit to Granite City, a dip in the Chattooga to cool off and then Cashiers for lunch or dinner for a great day of bouldering, outdoors and food in the upper Jocassee Gorges!

I've put together another photo topo mini-guide booklet that you can print out and take with you to the boulders...here it is. Hope you enjoy!!!

Whitewater Falls Paking Lot Boulders Mini-Guide

The New Obed Guidebook Is Smokin!

2011-06-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

I got an advance copy of the new Obed Guidebook in the mail Friday (Thanks Andy!) so I could review it for this website and Cruxn.com...what an incredible guidebook!

I've already compared the Lilly Boulders section in the book to the old topo's (old comp topo and the Dr Topo version also) I used for years, and finally the overhead topo to these amazing boulders is easy to follow and then the photo topo's help you figure out what route you just sent! Same goes with the sections of North and South Clear Creek, the sport climbing areas I'm most familiar with in the Obed...easy to figure out topo's and now some great photo topo's to make sure you're on route. This is the thickest guidebook so far from Greener Grass, and delivers more beta per page than any of the other two. With boat loads of roped routes and half as many boulder routes as the Horse Pens Bouldering Guidebook, this is a value packed volume of sandstone delight! We're taking a road trip to Knoxville and the Obed next weekend and after that, I'll be posting my full review of the book and its nuances. Below is a link to the pre-sale...order now, save some dough, help out the East Tennessee Climbers Coalition and get a chance to win some road trip cash!

The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic
Including a complete guide to the Lilly Boulders
By Kelly Brown
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-SALE! All Pre-Sale copies are $5 off the retail price and will be shipped on the same day they arrive at the warehouse. The bulk shipment is expected to arrive around the beginning of July. All Pre-Sale purchasers will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win $200 for a climbing road trip from Greener Grass Publishing!

Don't forget to follow Upstate Bouldering on your e-mail by simply entering your e-mail address above...I promise there is no spam involved and you will only receive up to date posts, and the occasional chance to win special prizes and top secret topo's!

Besides this guidebook and the new Dixon Guidebook review that's coming soon, I'm also going to give some reviews for the new Evolv Shaman climbing shoes, 3 different crashpads, a side-by-side review of 4 different brushes, and a chalk bucket that any boulderer would drool over! I'm also going to start the "Dirt Baggers Delights" series of posts with some of my el cheapo tips on good gear for less. Keep you eyes peeled for all of this to start in a little over a week!

New Local Spot- Big Eastatoee Bouldering Wall

2011-06-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

One of the spots in the Jocassee Gorges that I've been bouldering at the longest, 20 years or so, is a small mini-cliff on the side of Big Eastatoee Creek. The Big Eastatoee Bouldering Wall, Big Easy or Big E, a chossy mini-bouldering wall, always provides enough routes to get a good pump in and still cool off quick if you get too overheated! Odd for Jocassee Gorges Bouldering, Big E is more of a late spring, summer morning/evening, or early fall spot. Big E is easiest accessed by crossing the creek from the Dug Mountain Fishing Access, which is located only minutes from highway 11, the Little Eastatoee boulders and the Beasley Gap boulders. I recommend going in a swim suit and sandals and packing your important stuff in a dry bag, just in case you take an unexpected dip while fording the creek. Most of the routes here are sit starts on slopey crimps, that follow small edges to a top edge and then downclimbs back to the sitting position…for the full grade difficulty on all of the routes (except the traverses), you must get both hands on the uppermost point of the route and then downclimb back to the starting position. Climb all 21 of the routes in a session for the Big E Circuit, then cool off with a dip in one of the swimming holes upstream or downstream of the bouldering, before grabbing a good beer with some good lunch down the road!

Directions: From the 4 way stop at the junction of Highways 11 and 178, drive west on Highway 11, towards Lake Keowee and Walhalla, for approximately 5 miles and then turn right onto Roy F Jones Road. Follow Roy F Jones for approximately 1.3 miles, over the bridge, and turn right into the Dug Mountain Fishing Access parking lot, just after the bridge. The bouldering wall is located immediately across Big Eastatoee Creek, past the gate in the parking lot used by DNR to stock the creek with fish.

I've also included some ideas on other summer time activities to enjoy while you're in the area. Enjoy!

Big Eastatoee Bouldering Wall Mini-Guide

I had a little trouble printing this guide, but here is how I figured it out so it would print into a nice little booket format...
1. Click the above link,
2. Click "File" on the webpage under the Google Docs logo, not on the main toolbar for the browser
3. Click "Print (PDF)"
4. When the print window comes up, under the Page Handling section, change "Fit to printable area" to " Booklet Printing"
5. Make sure that the booklet Subset is set to "Both Sides", the "Auto-Rotate" button option is checked and "Left" Binding is selected.
6. Hit "OK" now to print
7. Do not rotate the paper when asked to while flipping the paper to print on the back side of the pages...if you rotate the paper, it will print the backs of each page upside down and out of order.
8. After its printed, fold the paper in half to make an 8 page booklet!

Follow Upstate Bouldering On E-Mail!

2011-05-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

I've just installed a new gadget to the top of the website...simply type your e-mail address into the blank above and you will be sent a copy of each post made on Upstate Bouldering. Get the latest info, news and topo's as soon as they are posted!

New Southeastern Guidebooks On The Horizon

2011-05-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard yet, there are a couple of new Southeastern guidebooks with release dates rapidly approaching!

Greener Grass Publishing has a new guidebook coming out in the beginning of July...and it has just recently become available for a discounted pre-sale. The Obed: A Climber's Guide To The Wild And Scenic by Kelly Brown will be the definitive guide to one of my all time favorite places to climb, boulder, and swim when all of that gets too hot to do! I've posted many times about the time I've spent in Knoxville with my wife, then girlfriend/fiance, while she was finishing up grad school at the University of Tennessee...and my happiness with hitting the Obed a couple of times a week as my local crag. I mainly bouldered at the Lilly Boulders, but Obed was where I also cut my teeth sport climbing and made plenty of lasting memories with my wife. Andy Wellman at Greener Grass has been kind, again (he's been so awesome to hook me up with copies of the HP40 Guidebook and LRC Guidebook to review in the past!), to me by sending me a copy to review hopefully this week or next. To honor his trust in my reviews, we're scheduling a road trip to K-Vegas and The Obed for one of the coming weekends! Take a peek at a sample of the guidebook if you haven't already.

Here's an excerpt from Greener Grass...
"The Obed Wild and Scenic River is a magical landscape of meandering rivers, dense forests, breath-taking vistas, and for the climber – miles upon miles of sandstone cliffs. Located in Northeastern Tennessee, about an hour outside of Knoxville, the Obed has been a secluded and peaceful climber hangout for more than 30 years. Originally a traditional only climbing area, the early 90’s sport climbing revolution transformed the Obed into one of the finest sport climbing areas in the United States. Known for its unrelenting steepness, the Obed is host to the largest collection of horizontal roofs (equipped for your climbing pleasure) anywhere in North America. The rock at the Obed is a very smoothly textured, but well featured version of beautiful Cumberland Sandstone that many climbers describe as nearly perfect. Combine these amazing attributes with one of the friendliest and easy going climber campgrounds to be found – Del’s Lilly Pad – located mere minutes from an assortment of crags, and you have a playground that should be a mandatory visit for all traveling climbers.

The Obed: A Climber’s Guide to the Wild and Scenic is the first ever exclusive and comprehensive guide to the climbing at the Obed. Included within are a lifetime’s worth of routes found at six separate crags – The Obed, Y–12, Lilly Bluff, North Clear Creek, South Clear Creek, and Little Clear Creek – as well as a complete guide to the largest and most popular bouldering area in Northeastern Tennessee – the Lilly Boulders. The book is authored by Kelly Brown, a longtime Knoxville local, and one of the primary route developers at the Obed. Kelly has had a life long relationship with the Obed, where many of his most powerful and memorable experiences have taken place, and does a fantastic job of sharing both his love for the area as well as more than 20 years of history that only he knows."

If you are planning on getting a copy of the guidebook, you might as well click on over, get a $5 off discount, be entered in a $200 road trip drawing, and help support the Eastern Tennessee Climbers Coalition at the same time! If you've never been to The Obed or haven't heard of it before, then do yourself a favor and visit soon...you won't be disappointed!

The other guidebook I wanted to mention is just being finalized and is getting ready to be sent off to the printers...The Dixon Boulders Guidebook should be out pretty soon also! If you have never been by the Dixon Boulders, or Dixon School Road (DSR) Boulders, at Crowder's Mountain State Park in North Carolina, you should really check them out. Sometimes referred to as the Buzzard Roost, the Dixon boulders have had a jaded history of kind of legal, to being completely poached, to now being completely legal and encouraged! Thanks to the work of the NC State Parks and the Carolina Climbers Coalition, the Boulders Area of Crowder's Mountain State Park were officially added to the legal bouldering scene last year, and thanks to Matt Bielejeski, the guidebook isn't too far behind. I've always found Dixon to be very similar, but very, very different from the roped climbing at Crowder's...lots of sharp edges, but a different variety of features. If you're interested in the latest on Dixon and on the Guidebook (he's looking for pre-sale numbers and advertisements right now), check out the "Dixon School Road Bouldering" group on Facebook...its a great community to ask questions and share pictures and info with! I'll be reviewing this guidebook also when it's hot off the presses, so stay tuned. I'll also be interviewing Matt soon about the guidebook and his other passion...making and enjoying techno music.

Jocassee Gorges Bouldering Home Page

2011-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is the new home page to centralize all of the beta about bouldering in the Jocassee Gorges of the Upstate of South Carolina. If you want to boulder in the Jocassee Gorges, its a good idea to get a map of the Gorges from the Jocassee Gorges Visitor Center at Keowee State Park or one of the other locations they are available around the Upstate. Use this map, along with the topo's available on this website to guide yourself around to the different bouldering spots. Please read the link below about bouldering in the Jocassee Gorges and abide by the rules and wishes the Department of Natural Resources has asked us to follow...this will ensure access and not jeopardize the efforts the Carolina Climbers Coalition and myself are putting forward to increase the climbing spots available in South Carolina! Thanks!

Jocassee Gorges Bouldering Info...PLEASE READ THIS if you plan on bouldering in the Gorges!

Bouldering Spots in the Jocassee Gorges:
Little Eastatoee
Beasley Gap
Big Eastatoee Bouldering Wall

Beasley Gap Boulders Home Page

2011-05-27T20:15:00.003-07:00

This is the centralized location for everything about bouldering at Beasley Gap.

Beasley Gap Bouldering Guidebook (with photo topo's)

Directions, Approach and Basic Beta

Beasley Gap Bouldering Video

Little Eastatoee Boulders Home Page

2011-05-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to organize some of the content of this website and I'm going to start using this post/webpage as the centralized location for all information dealing with bouldering at Little Eastatoee. Check back every now and then to see new additions to the photo topo's and mini-guides!

New Photo Topo's:
Batman & Saw Boulders
Best Feeling Boulder
Rhodorete Boulder

Mini-Guidebooks:
Little Eastatoee-Bridge Area
Little Eastatoee-The Bubbles

Beta/Info Posts:
General Page
Little Eastatoee on Rock Climbing.com

Odds and Ends

2011-05-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post and link up to a couple of climber interviews lately, but I just haven't been able to find the time...but finally...here you go!

Brad Mcleod, of SCC and southeastern access fame, has a great training/work out website over at http://sealgrinderpt.com/...if you haven't checked it out yet, you should. He'll get you strong and keep you strong if you follow his work outs! I spotlighted his interview with John Gill back a few months ago, but he has also done some other awesome interviews lately too.

Here is a link to his interview with climber/poet Pat Ament and more recently, his interview with training guru Eric Horst.

If you haven't seen any of these interviews yet, click on over and eat em up...this is some good stuff!!! Thanks Brad for all the hard work you've been doing on all fronts and everyone is looking forward to what you've got for us next:)

Another great article that has got me pondering lately, especially since the arrival of Lily and my priorities have changed a little, was written by Matt Paden over on Cruxn a couple of weeks ago. The article is called Climbing: Compulsion, Habit, Escape, Pure Joy or All of the Above...click on over, check it out and ponder yourself about exactly what climbing is and isn't to you.

We had planned on taking Lily out to Oregon for the 4th of July break this year to visit her aunt and cousins, and so I could go check out Smith Rocks and some other Oregonian bouldering (when it wasn't soaking wet, like our usual winter trip) too, but fate has twisted us in a different direction and postponed the trip for a little while. Instead of hitting Oregon and Smith Rocks though, we just made our reservations to rent a cabin up near Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. If you haven't heard about Grayson...should you really call yourself a boulderer;) Nah...Grayson is destined to become the southeast's best summer time bouldering destination and with good reason, plenty of rock, beautiful settings and wild ponies make for a unique and memorable trip. We went last year for the 4th and had a blast and look forward to showing Lily the ponies and taking her on her first bouldering road trip!

Here is a video of our trip last year...check it out if you haven't already:)

Last but not least...I'm also planning on posting up, real soon, a new topo to a small bouldering wall in the Jocassee Gorges that I haven't given beta out for before, Big Eastatoee. Hopefully that post will be up today or tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for some new (actually one of the oldest Gorges spots I've been bouldering at) beta for a summer morning session!

Little Eastatoee: Spotlight on the Saw and Batman Boulders

2011-05-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

So, I've gotten a few chances to get out to Little Eastatoee and enjoy the slight cold wave, if you call 70's a cold wave, we've had over the last week or so. My wife has been so kind to see how tough it is on my to go without doing something active outdoors every now and then, and her and baby Lily have encouraged me to get out to keep my sanity. As I've been spotlighting some of my favorite boulders and routes in the Jocassee Gorges lately, and providing you good folks with the topo's to go and enjoy these routes yourself, I want to continue that tradition with this post and hopefully add a few new pages here soon to organize all of these recent (and future) beta/topo posts, so they will be easier to access from a link on the side panel.

Today's featured boulder is the Batman boulder...one of the best lowball boulders I've ever seen! At 5 feet tall, it seems like another typical Little Eastatoee boulder...it doesn't immediately strike you as a boulder with good routes on it until you actually get on them. I passed by this boulder for years before I took the brush to it and cleaned away some of my favorite, short but powerful routes at Little Eastatoee...and possibly the best lowball problems in the Jocassee Gorges. This development occurred during a Batman movie marathon I was in the middle of in my off time, so I decided to name this the Batman Boulder and the routes after some of the characters in the movies. All of the problems are basically of the same design...butt draggin starts followed by a stout move or two to hit the top lip and finally a tricky mantle to finish it up.

On the first of my recent sessions, I felt very out of shape and like I hadn't bouldered in a while. Lily has taken up most of our time lately, and luckily I'm only teaching a partial load this summer so I can spend more time at home with our new family. The time that I used to spend running out for a quick session (Little Eastatoee is only 10 minutes down the road from me), is now usually filled with housework or baby related stuff. I now really value what it means to get out and be able to go on a bouldering trip, even if it is only for 45 minutes to an hour! So, hitting the boulders after not climbing or biking or hardly exercising at all, seemed like I was doomed to fail...and fail I (almost) did.

Before I hit the Batman Boulder though, I warmed up on a couple of easier, tricky mantle problems on a nearby boulder called the Saw boulder. Another of my favorite movie series, this boulder was named because of the "pig nose" feature climbed over on the problem Pig Face V0/1. Pig Face is a short but fun problem that uses a sidepull and sloper to mantle up onto a low angle slab, and is one of my favorites in that grade range at Little Eastatoee. To the right of it, and a small tree, is another interesting slabby/tricky mantle problem called I Wanna Play A Game V0. Both of these routes are located near the Batman Boulder and are some of the only easier warm ups to practice the delicate and sometimes awkward mantles on the Batman Boulder. Below is the topo for the Saw Boulder...

Saw Boulder Routes:
1. Pig Face V0/1
2. I Wanna Play A Game V0

For so long, Scarecrow V3, Two Face V3 and Bruce Wayne V3 on the Batman Boulder were routes I could hike fairly easily almost every time I showed up at them...but these guys were making me feel like a gumby flailing in the gym on a V0! I worked Scarecrow for a while without the send, so I decided to move over to Two Face and give it a try. After struggling for a while just to make the first move, I finally snatched the edge and sent the awkward mantle to top it out. Feeling like I was building momentum, I went back to Scarecrow and barely caught the edges with my finger tips before I almost lost it on the last part of the balancy mantle. After Scarecrow, I gave my best shot on Bruce Wayne and was thwarted every time. This was about it for the first session, and since the time I FA'ed these routes, this was the happiest I had been to struggle to send 'em.

The next session took a little while to arrive and so I figured that I would have lost anything I could have built on from the first session. I went to the boulders with low expectations and ended up sending Scarecrow and Two Face first go instead. Feeling pretty good, I really wanted to send Bruce Wayne, which for me feels like a hard V3, so I sat down on its cramped awkward start thinking I was gonna first go it also...didn't happen. It took me the whole session to send the route, in gumby flailing style no less, but I sent it...reward enough.

The third session came the day after the second and I was feeling strong and ready to send Bruce Wayne with style instead of bumbling through it. I sent Scarecrow and Two Face again first go and then did the same to Bruce Wayne...what a great feeling to have gained a little ground I had lost since my lack of activity hit. Since I wasn't spent for the session, I had to jump on the other routes on the boulder. The extension of Bruce Wayne that traverses left and mantles either on the slopey short mantle problem Utility Belt V3 or around the corner past Utility Belt, is possibly the best route on the boulder...so it is fittingly called The Dark Knight V4. After hopping onto Utility Belt and barely sending it, I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to add The Dark Knight to the days tick list. I was thwarted by the route after 10 or so tries and decided to hit the other side of the boulder and The Clown Prince Of Crime, the other V4 on the boulder. This route starts with a hand high on the sidepulling fin and the other on a small divot just to the left of the fin and fights an oddly tough barn door and moves up to a mantle near the top out for Two Face. After fiddling around with my foot position, I stuck the hard move from the barn door and mantled it out...this was my first V4 send in a while so I was totally stoked! Feeling like a superhero myself at this point, I loaded up and tried the squatty and really awkward super low start to The Clown Prince Of Crime called The Joker V5. This is the hardest problem on the boulder and one of the hardest at Little Eastatoee and requires a move off of some small crimps to the fin and divot start on TCPOC...reminds me a lot of the first move of the Unknown V5 on the Warm Up Boulder in the Breakfast Area at Rumbling Bald, so I gave it the same rating. After a few miserable attempts, I started to pack it up before I decided to give The Dark Knight one more go. After making it out to the sloper on the corner, I knew I could dig deep and finish the mantle and the route...and that's exactly what I did! Rolling with sweat and starting to notice the humidity rising with the sun, I was completely exhausted...but the feelings culminated from those 3 sessions were priceless! I really felt that once I had a kid that my skills would drop off quick, and they kind of did...but its good to know that when I put a little time back into it, I can still tick a few routes that surprise and excite me. Bouldering has had a very useful place in my life for quiet a few years now, and this was the first time I've been forced away from it for any length of time, so it was nice to feel that familiar feeling of a send hard earned and the satisfaction in the rest of my life that it gives me!

Here are the topos for the Batman Boulder...enjoy!

Batman Boulder Routes:
1. Utility Belt V3
2. The Dark Knight V4 (top out on either Utility Belt or traverse around the corner as shown and mantle)
3. Bruce Wayne V3
4. Scarecrow V3
5. Two Face V3
6. The Clown Prince Of Crime V4
7. The Joker V5

I added this old video of mine because the last routes on it are footage of me sending Bruce Wayne and Two Face...check it out if you havent seen it before.

Little Eastatoee: Spotlight on the Rhodorete Boulder

2011-05-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry its taken me so long to get this post up...the little one has kept us pretty busy since we've been back home...but I'm still anxious to share this next boulder with everyone!

Rhodorete is another hidden treasure at the Little Eastatoee boulders. Most of the boulders at Little Eastatoee that I've talked about are located at the Bridge area, practically in the parking lot, near the bridge over Little Eastatoee Creek, on highway 11...but to find Rhodorete, you're gonna have to do a little hiking in the woods. Tucked away off of the trail near the confluence of Big and Little Eastatoee Creeks, and hidden behind a cluster of rhododendrons, the Rhodorete boulder offers a few great lines, along with a couple of short but sketchy slabs and a project line, for someone that likes pulling over a big sloping bulge and mantling onto a slab.

Rhodorete may have been one of my very first projects, before I really started bouldering, back in my high school days. A bunch of friends and I used to haunt Little Eastatoee all the time...exploring the woods, swimming in the creeks, camping out for long weekends, and hopping on and over boulders like drunken toads. Rhodorete was tried by a few friends and myself...but none of us topped it out back then. Since then, I have sent Rhodorete V3/4, or Rhodorete Right, but the official FA of Rhodorete Left or Rhodorete V4/5 is still up for grabs. Rhodorete V3/4 climbs a slightly overhanging arête, with a couple of tough crimps, that leads to an odd move over onto a sketchy slab. A tougher V4/5 variation moves out left after the crimps and grunts over onto an even sketchier slab to finish. A few shorter slab routes to the right of Rhodorete V3/4, that feel sketchier than they should, are the warm ups on the boulder. Here are a couple of topo shots with the routes listed after them...enjoy and let me know when someone bags Rhodorete left or that project so I can add them to the upcoming 2nd edition of the Little Eastatoee guidebook!

Rhodorete Boulder Routes:
1. Pink Lady Slipper Project
2. Rhodorete Left V4/5
3. Rhodorete (Right) V3/4 - the original line on the boulder
4. Rhodoslab V1
5. Trillium Slab V0
6. Mountain Laurel Slab V0

Off Route

2011-05-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a roller coaster ride for me and my wife...from one of the highest points in my life, to one of the lowest and back up again.

Last Tuesday morning, April 26th, at 10:31, my wife gave birth to our first child...a little girl named Lily! I feel honored that my wife went with my name choice...I choose that name because I love the flowers, especially calla lilies, but also because I love the Lily boulders in the Obed, where my wife and I spent many a day at while she was finishing grad school at UT. We had a great pregnancy, with no complications and felt very fortunate about that! The delivery went well...my wife is my hero for doing that "natural", without pain meds. But quickly after the baby was born, she was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) due to respiratory problems that the doctors feared was an infection. Our wedding was amazing, but the birth of our child was equally amazing, if not more...and this turn of events felt like we had climbed to the top of the cliff and then the rope snapped and we fell to the ground with a hard thud. We spent the next torturous week in the NICU with Lily, seeing her improve gradually and trying to scrape ourselves up off the deck. Thankfully, she is all better now and yesterday we were discharged from the hospital and finally were able to bring our little Ashe-villain home! A big thanks to all those awesome nurses in the NICU at Mission Hospital in Asheville that took care of Lily and us!!!

So this post isn't about bouldering really, but about getting off route in life...everybody does it from time to time, but it sure feels so good to get back on route and keep climbing! Thanks for the support of all my friends and family that kept our spirits high throughout this whole ordeal!

I cant leave you with NO bouldering stuff in this post though. A couple of days before the baby was born, I was at Little Eastatoee working Rhodorete V3/4...an awesome lesser known problem in the Jocassee Gorges. In the woods near Rhodorete was a beautiful Pink Lady Slipper, a unique orchid for the area, that had just emerged and was begging to be stared at...take a look at this amazing flower. In my next post, I'm going to put the local spotlight on the Rhodorete Boulder and provide a photo topo like I did for the Best Feeling boulder in my previous post.

Little Eastatoee: Spotlight On The Best Feeling Boulder

2011-04-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

With the rise in temps and loss of perfect sticky bouldering weather, I have almost stopped climbing completely and started mountain and road biking more and more. I like to take a little time off from climbing each year to try to heal up a few nagging injuries and focus on muscles that aren't overused, but out of shape from lack of use. Biking always helps me to shed a few pounds and mountain biking especially helps to firm my core up in order to hop and navigate the bike around and over obstacles. But after a week of riding all my favorite trails at Isaqueena, DuPont, Bent Creek, the Jocassee Gorges and the Swamp Rabbit Rail-to-Trail, I really started to miss bouldering and the challenge of sending new routes. That's always been one of the most attractive aspects of bouldering to me...progressing and climbing new routes (FA's or just new to me). I've grown so accustomed to being focused on projects and developing new areas, that I have yet to get bored with bouldering in over 10 years. Even when I'm not climbing my best, I still like to get out and climb something different or clean up a dirty route I've overlooked before. I almost forgot about that zest that bouldering gives my life over this past week of biking...and after a great road ride on and around Highway 11 the other day, I stopped off at Little Eastatoee at sunset to send a few of my favorites and work a few projects. After this short bouldering session, I felt so rejuvenated and excited again...and 2 days later I'm still excited. Ahhh...the power of bouldering!!!

One of the better boulders at Little Eastatoee is the Best Feeling boulder, seen above with routes drawn on it. There are a few slabby warm ups on the right side of the boulder and then there are 2 area classics climbing up each side of the bulbous arete. Space Together was a route I sent a couple of years back, and at the time I felt it was around a V5...but it felt like I was sending the line incorrectly and there was probably an easier way. After dialing the stand start in with a few sessions, I ticked off the sit start again and felt that it was more like a V4 than a V5. Another upstate boulderer sent the route a month or so back also and thought it was a 3 star V4...if you are in the area you should definitely take a stab at Space Together V4! A squatty sit start leads to a full length reach/deadpoint out to a small 2-3 finger, half pad crimp...get your left hand established on the slopey edge and your feet pasted to the rock perfectly and go to a small crimpy sidepull before deadpointing up to a small 2 finger divot/pocket near the top, before finishing on a pretty easy top out. After ticking off Space Together, I turned my attentions to the unsent route to the right of it...Best Feeling. Named after a Keller Williams song, and covered by String Cheese Incident, Best Feeling V3/4 is a tough stand start route that climbs similar territory as Space Together. Start with a right hand crimp on the face and left hand around the corner on a shallow, slopey crimp...get your feet established under you and super highstep your right foot onto the sloping edge below the right hand crimp. Ratchet yourself up to a couple of bumps and a slopey sidepull for the left hand and a slopey crimp below the mini-lip of the boulder for your right hand and then on to the same 2 finger pocket on Space Together and finally the top out. After goofing around with this route for a couple of years, I finally put it together for the send, and it felt so good.."it was the Best Feeling in the world"! Both of these routes are super classic feeling and climbing routes and absolutely amazing to be this accessible and close to the road! If you haven't visited Little Eastatoee yet, get out there early in the morning or around sunset and climb a few of the worthy routes at this outdoor bouldering gym!

I will be finishing up the second edition of the Little Eastatoee Bouldering Guide here soon and will make it available on this website as soon as I can get it ready. Until then, here is a route list for the photo topo of the Best Feeling Boulder seen above.

1) Space Together V4
2) Best Feeling V3/4
3) Super Scooper V0
4) Kang'Solo V0

Win Some Sweet Shwag With Cruxn's Launch Party!

2011-04-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Cruxn.com is having it's official launch right now, and you can win a $250 gift certificate from Misty Mountain or 1 of 3 Triple Crown Bouldering Series passes for later this year! Click on over to Cruxn and get in on the giveaway!!!

"Off Season" Cross Training

2011-04-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy with the upcoming arrival of our baby girl and work to be able to post much lately...but I was able to rattle off a post on Cruxn.com last week on activities to do here in the Upstate of South Carolina when the weather gets too hot to boulder hard. If you havent already gone over there and checked it out...what are you waiting for?! I've included some beta for mountain biking, lake and river kayaking and swimming hole hunting...and I added a quick comment about deep water bouldering on the local lakes too. Enjoy!

Retro-Review: 3 The Hard Way

2011-04-06T06:08:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my retro-review of one of my favorite DVDs of all time...3 The Hard Way. 3 The Hard Way is a great climbing flick about the first ever Triple Crown Bouldering series back in 2003. For the full review and lots of "purty pictures", click on over to Cruxn.com!

Long Time...No Blog

2011-04-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the break in posting...a lot has been going on in my life lately! I have had my fair share of bouldering sessions since last I posted a trip report, but the fact that my wife is now on her last month of pregnancy and our daughter Lilly is about to arrive has taken much of my free time I might have used to post. We are so excited about this new phase in our life and cant wait to show our little girl the world we love and play in. I know it'll be a few years, but I cant wait to take her on her first boulder session in Carolina's!

I have had a chance to get out and boulder at quiet a few spots lately. A couple of weeks ago I had the week off for Spring Break, so we did a tour of the local boulderfields...North Face of Looking Glass, Granite City, Jedi, Bearfields, Little Eastatoee and Beasley Gap. I was looking forward to heading to Stone Mountain and the to Dixon for the Crushfest during my break, but the rain cancelled those plans. I wrapped up the SC bouldering season by finishing up a bunch of projects I had on my ticklist. A few that stick out in my mind are the FA's or Higher Country V4 and Bounty Hunter Traverse V4 in Jedi, Best Feeling Arete V4 at Little Eastatoee, and Eclipse Dyno V5 and Full Moon Dyno V4 at Granite City. Its always good to send those routes that you cant get out of your head, before the heat of the summer arrives and pushes those projects back to the fall season! I hope that everyone had a chance to finish up their projects before the heat rolled in and have something to motivate you and to keep you psyched until the cool temps come back around.

I have also been working on a review of one of my favorite climbing videos "3 The Hard Way" for a few weeks now, but I just cant seem to get it finished and published...but keep a look out for that real soon on both this site and Cruxn.com.

Retro-Review: Misty Mountain Highlander Crashpad

2011-03-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

I have just put up a review of one of my all time favorite crashpads...the Misty Moutain Highlander. After 10+ years of abuse, I finally decided to give it its due props over on Cruxn.com. Click on over there and check out the full review and tell me what you think about your Misty Highlander!

Sunrift Adventures College Night

2011-03-14T04:58:00.000-07:00

Upstate SC college boulderers & climbers...the best outfitters in the upstate are helping you starving students get your summer gear for cheaper! Check out the College Night at Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest, 10 minutes north of Greenville, coming up next Tuesday. They have a great selection of climbing shoes (yep, they've got Solutions), chalk bags, crashpads, ropes, pro, biners and other accessories that every climber is always in need of. All the info you need is below...

College Night
March22nd 6-9 pm

Bring your student ID to enjoy special discounts while the store is open just for YOU. Register to win FREE giveaways. One night only! Need directions? Give us a call at 834-3019 www.sunrift.com

Storewide 15% OFF

3 miles north of Furman, stay left on 276
Great selection of clothing and footwear. All major brands!

A big thanks to Sunrift for being an upstate climbing resource and advocate (and all around cool store)!

Orangepoint 2011 Competition

2011-03-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, the 2011 Orangepoint Climbing Competition was held by the Clemson Climbing Club and the CORE at the Fike Recereation facility on the campus of Clemson University.

Here you can see the sign up table and Sunrift Adventures table with goodies for sale.

The comp started around 11am with the first 3 hour heat, and the second 3 hour heat started around 2pm.

Getting the comp started!

Competitors could climb as many routes as they wanted to in the 3 hour span, and the highest 5 problems were added up to give them their score. Here's a gallery of the first heat...

I'm still trying to track down the results of the comp...I'll post up the results when I get them.

Here is a copy of what Stephen Scoff, the SC rep of the CCC commented on the website recently...

"Clemson's Orange Point Comp Raises $202 for the CCC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Better than anticipated crowds really brought about some great energy, strong climbers, and a respectable sum for the CCC! I want to thank Michael Lacour, Andrew Brownlow and the entire Clemson Climbing Club for helping bring attention to the CCC and all its efforts.

Hopefully by next year’s comp we’ll have even more SC spots open for bouldering and climbing.

Stephen Scoff
SC Rep CCC"

Thanks again to the Clemson Climbers for hooking up this great comp and supporting the CCC...we really appreciate their help and look forward to getting these guys involved in some trail days at some local boulders here soon!

Cruxn.com

2011-03-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

You know you've been there before; high above the deck, palms sweating and rock slipping from your grasp...no doubt you were Cruxn! Now there is a new website that takes the sweat and panic out of it and just provides you with some new perspective, beta or a review of the current local climbing scene...and it too is called Cruxn (.com that is). If you're at all familiar with local climbers that blog, then you know of Frixtion, Matt Paden's website. Matt, along with a couple of other dedicated bloggers/local climbers have created a place that multiple bloggers can join together and provide more content and info on what's happening nearby. Here's a quote from Frixtion and what Matt has to say about this project...

"Cruxn.com has been a collaborative effort with Matt de Camara and Zachary Lesch-Huie. We wanted to come up with a better way for climbing bloggers to pool together and increase readership and community. We found it gets kinda lonely blogging out there solo.

So check out the site and let us know what you think. We encourage anyone who is blogging now or wants to blog about climbing to join us on Cruxn. There are no rules for how much you post, and you can keep on bloggin' on yer own blog. We're just trying to increase each blogger's awareness and make a central place for everyone to get together, which increases the amount of conversation. So far, it's been really fun and we're psyched on the response we've been hearing.

For more info, check out the about page at http://cruxn.com/about/"

If you havent checked it out already, then you've missed some great posts so far...click on over there and catch up! I was asked to write for the site also and have only been able to put up one post so far, but I'm really looking forward to getting some things out and on the Cruxn site for folks to see.

Beasley Gap Bouldering Guide

2011-03-01T10:36:00.001-08:00

Here it is...Beasley Gap Bouldering Guide.
Hopefully there aren't any problems with opening the .pdf file. This guide is intended to be printed in a booklet format in landscape view on the front and back of the page...this way it takes 6 total pieces of paper to print the entire guide and then it is folded down the middle to make it into an easy to use and carry booklet. Many of these problems have only seen 1 send and may or may not have very accurate grades. If you feel that a grade in this guide is off or you send a problem that is not listed in the guide, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail about it and I'll make an update to the guide. Enjoy some great Jocassee Gorges Bouldering!

And for those of you that didn't catch Georges latest video of Early Bird Direct V3 at Beasley, here it is...

Early Bird (V3) from George Evans on Vimeo.

New Upstate SC Local Spot: Beasley Gap

2011-02-24T06:49:00.001-08:00

My apologies for not getting the Beasley Gap Bouldering Guide up yet, it has continued to evolve over the last couple of weeks with new FA's and variations of existing problems. The guide will have around 60 or so problems from Vb-V5 and will sport color photo topo's of each the 11 boulders/boulder sets that have been climbed so far. I should have it completed and published early next week for everyone to enjoy! Until then, here is a little teaser of what you'll see as well as, enough beta to get you to the boulders and on a few of the better routes in the area. Here is the overall map of the area...

Here is an example of one of the topo's you're gonna see.

And here's a quick key to this topo too, in case you stop by and want to climb some of the problems before I can get the full guide up...
1) Beasley Bulge V1
2) Beasley Bowl V2
3) Early Bird Direct V3
4) Blue Bird Days V2/3
5) Early Bird Special V5/6
6) Crystal Crymps V2
7) Mossed Over V0

Above is a shot of me on Bob's Place V2 on the Beasley Gap Boulder, another great boulder full of fun climbs.

So you might ask..."How do I get to these sweet boulders?" Follow the directions below, beginning at Holly Springs Grocery, which is at the junction of Highway 11 and Highway 178, in northern Pickens county.

Directions: From the junction of Highways 11 and 178, head north on hwy 178 toward Rosman and Sassafras Mountain. In a little over 4 miles, and around 1 mile past Bob’s Place Bar, there is a small gravel pull off, big enough for 3-4 cars, on the right...park here. DO NOT park on 178 beside the trailhead....this can jeopardize access!

Approach: Walk along the road for another 100 yards until you see the yellow blazed Palmetto Trail cut to the right away from the road at the “No Parking” sign...go over a small foot bridge and past the information board to the first boulder, the Beasley Gap Boulder. You can approach the Beast area by either hanging a right onto the logging road that cuts away from 178, before you get to the trailhead, and then taking the first logging road to the left, which will put you out at the base of the Beast area…or you can go past the Beasley Gap Boulder to the first switchback in the Palmetto Trail and follow the small trail to the right to get to the top of the area.

Remember that bouldering is a new activity to this area and others have used this land for longer than we have…respect everyone you meet and be friendly!

The Camelback Boulder above has seen few ascents...I'm on the low crux of One Hump V2 in the above picture.

I have concocted 3 circuits of around 25-35 problems each, from beginner to intermediate, that are a great way to enjoy the area. Along with the 3 circuits, there is also a unique "4 pitch boulder problem" called The Beast, that climbs the better routes up the Beast area...a great way to climb 4 V1-V2 routes back to back (to back to back)! Stay tuned next week for the release of the Beasley Gap Bouldering Guide and beta on all of the routes, circuits and The Beast!

Jocasse Gorges Bouldering: Beasley Gap Video

2011-02-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Over the last week and some change I've spent 6 days cleaning and FA'ing some new routes at a spot called Beasley Gap in the Jocasse Gorges. Today George, Eric and I went out and caught a few of these on video...enjoy!

Stay tuned for a New Local Spot post in the next week with a full color photo topo guide and beta to the area!

Words From The Jedi Master

2011-02-17T07:37:00.001-08:00

If you havent seen this recent interview with the Jedi Master of Bouldering, John Gill, then click on over and read away. Its refreshing to see a new interview of such an influential figure in bouldering, later on in his life/climbing career. If you havent visited Gill's website either, take a look around and soak up much of the history of our passion. Thanks to Brad Mcleod, an influential southern climber in his own right, for the interview...good work!

Jocassee Gorges Bouldering

2011-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

My entire intention with this website was to bring awareness to upstate bouldering resources and to use this awareness to get more, actually establish for the first time, SC bouldering access. Late last year, after a series of meetings with DNR and state park officials, we (the CCC and upstate climbers) were given our first and biggest victory yet...bouldering will be allowed in the Jocassee Gorges! Even though we have already got the OK and have done a lot of the access leg work, I have hesitated to announce that bouldering is now legal in the Jocassee Gorges for a few reasons. One of the main reasons is that much of the bouldering lies on or near private property or that you must cross private property to get to the boulders. Please be patient until we can figure out safe and legal approaches to the best boulders and refrain from parking or crossing private property. More info will come out closer to the Fall of this year with info on legal approaches...but go ahead and start expecting some longer hikes (1.5-2 miles or so) in order to get to the best boulderfields (Bearfields and Jedi).

Some very important notes about the Gorges and our partners in this venture, the Department of Natural Resources. DNR prefers that we call bouldering "hiking on rocks" in order to avoid having to create specific regulations and guidelines for bouldering. Hiking is legal in the Gorges and so is scrambling on rocks, but if this was labelled as "rock climbing", then it would fall under different regulations and restrictions. This is an incredible gesture by DNR to not only allow us to boulder, but to also classify it as a different activity so it wont be unjustly regulated. DNR, the CCC and I also ask that we all respect the land and the other users of this land while we explore the peaks and valleys of some of the most beautiful land in South Carolina.

The Gorges are mainly used for its hunting and fishing resources, so be on the lookout for other users and be as nice and respectful as possible. You should also be aware of when hunting season is and display blaze/hunter orange while hiking and bouldering to ensure your own safety. Roped climbing is still illegal, but we have a request to pilot a roped climbing area so that DNR can make a better educated decision on its impact to the cliffs and immediate area. Please respect this request that DNR has made and refrain from roping up, causing problems and setting us back tons of man hours to get to this point.

The easiest area to approach is Little Eastatoee, which makes a good place to start out for beginners and there are plenty of boulders hidden in the woods to offer hard FA's to the stronger boulderers. Be on the look out in the next couple of days for a new area to be posted, Beasley Gap, that will offer a pretty fun V1-V3 circuit of boulder problems and potentially more problems for those looking to explore. Beasley Gap will be a next step for the beginners to test their skills on some crimpier and more overhanging routes...I know I've had fun developing the area and running the circuit myself!

Keep checking back from time to time for more beta on places to boulder and problem locations and information...until then, enjoy exploring!

Climbs That Normal People Can Do: Part 3

2011-02-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here is the final installment of George and Adam's "Climbs That Normal People Can Do", featuring more Horse Pens action...check it out.

CTNPCD: HP40 Edition Part 3 from adam johnson on Vimeo.

If you missed the other 2...here they are.

CTNPCD: HP40 Edition Part 1 from adam johnson on Vimeo.

CTNPCD: HP40 Edition Part 2 from George Evans on Vimeo.

Climbs That Normal People Can Do: Part 2

2011-02-07T04:42:00.000-08:00

If you didnt catch the first part of this bouldering video series, click on over and check it out. Here's the newest installment, featuring more great routes from the 40...Enjoy and let George know what you think!

CTNPCD: Horse Pens 40 (Part 2) from George Evans on Vimeo.

Last Weeks Trip To The Bald

2011-02-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

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!

New Video From Some Upstate Boulderers

2011-02-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

George and Adam have been climbing a bunch of sandstone lately and here is the first of what is going to be a set of 3 videos entitled "Climb That Normal People Can Do". Check out some fun routes at Horse Pens...

CTNPCD: HP40 (Part 1) from adam johnson on Vimeo.

Sweet video guys! Read more at George's blog and Adam's blog to find out what they've been up to.

Jimmy Webb's New V13 In The Obed

2011-02-01T07:03:00.001-08:00

If you havent heard yet, Jimmy Webb just added a tougher start to a James Litz V11, Manic Aggression, at the Canoe Hole in the Obed, Tennessee. He's calling it Manic Euphoria and graded it V13...another hard southern line! As mentioned in the last post, a new guidebook is due out in the late Spring of this year featuring the Obed's roped and boulder routes. I guess Jimmy just wanted to add a few more double digit problems to the guide before it was too late! Congrats Jimmy on another sweet send...check out his write up on his blog . Here's the video of his send...

Boulders at the Canoe Hole from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

New Southeast Guidebooks On The Way

2011-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Its not like this is hot off the presses, but its something that's got me pretty psyched still...our pals over at Greener Grass have not only made a nice donation to the SCC to help out with the new climbers campground that's coming to Chatty/Soddy Daisy, but they have also teased us a little with news of their 2 upcoming guidebooks. One of my all time favorite boulderfields is Lilly in the Obed in Tennessee...if you've never been there, what are you waiting for? Lilly has some of my favorite sandstone formations to climb on and I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time there while my wife was finishing up at UT. Not only is Lilly a great set of boulders, but the sport climbing at the Obed is...wait for it...legendary! Greener Grass has announced that this incredible climbing and bouldering area will be getting its just deserves in a new guidebook that should be out in May, a perfect time to check out the Obed. There's nothing like climbing all morning and evening in the summer and chilling out in the river during the hot of the day at the Obed! Don't forget to check out the video I embedded in yesterday's post of Jimmy Webb and crew crushing at Lilly. At the top of this post is a shot of Jimmy getting the second ascent of the James Litz testpiece Tilted World V13 and here's a shot of Shattered Minds V10 from Jimmy Webbs blog.

The other tome they are releasing will cover roped climbing and bouldering in Little River Canyon in Alabama and will be written by Adam Henry. I haven't been to this LRC yet, but Ive heard its amazing! I look forward to the book to give me motivation to take a couple of road trips and see some new stuff...and I hope some of this news gets you psyched about the near future of SE climbing also!

The Latest Bald Trip & A Double Shot Of Videos

2011-01-25T06:48:00.000-08:00

With work back into full swing, my time for bouldering is considerably shorter lately. Since I last posted, I've made it out to some local boulders a couple of times and even found some new boulders in the Jocassee Gorges that might have some good routes on them...but the trip that sticks out to me is the trip to the Bald last Friday. My schedule allows me to hit the Bald all day on Fridays, and I plan on doing that as much as I can before the end of the season...I'm psyched! On my previous trip to the Bald, I was working St Peter V4 with the Matts and felt like I could link through the hard section for the send, so that was my project for the day. I started out by running into a couple of guys in the parking lot and walking in with Ron from Fox Guides. We stopped at St Peter first and jumped on it before I was really warmed up...he had no problems cruising the route, but I felt the need to hit some easier problems first and then give it my all for the send. So I headed over to the Family Boulder, while Ron went off on his circuit, and climbed a ton of great warm ups...all of the routes on this boulder are not listed in the guide, but they are listed towards the bottom of this page. With 12 V0-V2 routes, this may be one of the best beginner/warmup boulders in the entire field. After that, I headed back to St Peter and put a few more tries on it before the other guy I ran into in the parking lot showed up...I think his name was Matt (I'm the worst with names, sorry if you read this and I got it wrong). Matt took a couple of tries to send the route and then I ended up taking another couple of tries myself before I found myself past the crux and working the jugs up to the top out. Besides New Jedi Mind Tricks, a proud V3/4 line I recently put up in Jedi, this is the hardest route I've climbed in a long time. You can see the line, which climbs the tall prow, in the picture above.

From there I decided to work on one of my other long term goals at the Bald...climb all of the easy (V0-V2) routes in the entire place. Going into this visit, I only had 6 V2's and 1 V1 left to finish up the 135 or so easy routes in the West Side boulders. So I headed to each one of these routes in hopes of finishing this goal up today also. First I hit Bruce Lee over at the Cave/Ladder boulders and sent it after a few tries...odd but pretty fun problem. Then I headed out to a boulder I hadn't been to before, a rarity for me at the Bald, called the Cornerstone Boulder. Below is a shot of the boulder with the cliff in the background. I sent the 4 fun routes on that boulder pretty quick; Top Shelf V1, Spasm Chasm V2, Old Man Route V2 & Stepping Stone V3. I really enjoyed Old Man Route...pretty fitting based on how I feel lately:)

From here I headed down to the Terraces to work on Zwilling and the Unknown V2 on the Henkels boulder. Zwilling took me a couple of tries, but I thought it was a great exciting route. Just enough to hold on to, but not enough to make it feel super safe while looking back at the fall you could take into the mini-chasm. I think this was my 2nd favorite route of the day. After working the V2 on Henkels for a few tries, I realized it wasn't going to go and I was running out of juice for the day. On my way back to the car, I passed by a route in the Cluster that George was working last time we were up here, Sun Wall V3, and thought I'd spend the last of my energy trying to send it. Surprisingly, I sent the route on the 3rd try, and felt pretty content to wrap up my day with that send. A shot of Sun Wall is below.

I've been to the Bald hundreds of times in the last 10 years or so. The first visits were always exciting and filled with wonder at the amount, variety and quality of the routes. But after a while the luster wears off and the visits are less exciting. I was happy that this felt like one of those first days! There were very few people in the boulders, it was so pleasant to be able to hear the sounds of nature and the wind blow without it being drowned out by the masses. I'm stoked to get back and finish the other 2 V2's in the West and then turn my attention to the East Side and the 30 or so easy routes I have left to do over there.

On another note...videos
There are 2 videos I've been really diggin lately and so I wanted to pass them on to those that might not of seen them yet.

The first is from SC's native son George Evans...check out Doug killing it at the Bald!

Doug's Good Day from George Evans on Vimeo.

And the other one is of one of my all time favorite boulderfields...Lilly in the Obed. Check out this beauty from Jimmy Webb!

Lilly Boulders 2011 from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

Long Time, No Post

2011-01-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry for such a long delay in posting...its not because I don't have much too post about, its mainly because I have been so busy with work and climbing a bunch. Since Oregon and my last post, I have climbed outdoors at least every other day. I got to head up to the Bald and hang out with Matt at Frixtion, his girlfriend Melisa, Matt B.(who's writing the guidebook to Dixon),Adam and George on New Year's Eve. Much better climbing that day than the party in Greenville that night! We went all over the West Side boulders; from Gateway to Shady Grove to Hanging Chain to the Cluster...I was completely worn out from such a fun day with friends! I didn't really tick off any new routes that day, but was happy to repeat a bunch of climbs I'd already sent. Take a look at Matt's post on Frixtion if you haven't already for some great photos and a video of him sending a beautiful line out at the Hanging Chain boulders. Then work took back over my life for a week...meeting after meeting to get us prepared for the new semester can get a little tedious, but local bouldering in the afternoons was the cure for that. I ended up hitting Bearfields or Jedi almost everyday last week, adding some awesome new FA's and attempting to finish up some topo's that will be released on the Carolina Climbers Coalition website when the areas are officially open. At the present, there are problems with the parking situation, but we are investigating a new approach with no access problems that will hopefully be the answer to this issue. The new approach will take about 30-45 minutes of hiking to access the boulders, but will guarantee that we will not be trespassing at any point on private property...which is the only sustainable solution! I'll fill folks in and link up to the CCC page when they finally get the OK to release this info. Keep an eye on the CCC site in the near future for the first post about bouldering in the Jocassee Gorges. Now, after day 4 of being snowed in by this big snow storm, we finally made it out of our holler and to civilization...I think I preferred being snowed in:) Here are a couple of shots from a quick bouldering session I had in the back yard...hope you had as much fun in the snow as I did!

Pacific Northwest 2010-Wrapping It Up

2010-12-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

So, the rain moved in and the slight peeks of sunshine lasted only for an hour or so...meaning no more outdoor bouldering for me out here in the winter rainforest. I did get a chance to visit The new Circuit Gym in downtown Portland and climb all of the easy (V0-V2) routes and a big handful of V3's and 1 V4. The 2 GIANT top out boulders are absolutely amazing centerpieces to the gym and something any boulderer would fall in love with! I still cant believe how good the route setting is at this gym, and the route turnover keeps the place from getting stale! I guess they have to make up for the lack of outdoor time by having some of the best indoor facilities in the country. It really encourages me to get into the gym and train more when I get back home. Besides a muddy hike in the largest city park in the US, 5100 acre Forest Park, the holidays have been about good food and even better beer and wine with family and friends...a closet glutton like myself could really get used to this:) I hope the holidays have treated you just as well as they've treated me! Now that I feel as bloated as the Michelin Man, I'm really looking forward to getting home and back on the local boulders as soon as the snow allows. I'm also looking forward to what 2011 has to offer...for me and every other SC boulderer. Stay tuned for more info!

Pacific Northwest 2010-Carver Bouldering

2010-12-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

Our yearly voyage out to the Northwest is always a nice time to sit back, relax and enjoy family and different amenities that you just cant find back home. There are so many breweries in Portland to enjoy and the cuisine is absolutely incredible! Last night we had some of the best tacos in the world at Porque No and chased it with a great local Amnesia brew...perfect after a day of struggling to climb at the Carver boulders.

If you know anything about the Northwest, then you know that winter is NOT the season to try to boulder outside...and yesterday was no exception. I've visited the Carver boulders at the Carver cliffs on the side of the Clackamus River before, but the conditions yesterday were so wet and the rocks were seeping from under the thick patches of ferns and mosses that almost nothing was dry enough to climb. That's one of the biggest differences between bouldering back home and here near Portland...at home we have drier hardwood forests and here they have more of a rainforest environment, rich in nonvascular plants (mosses and liverworts) and ferns. Similar to Little Rock City, Carver has gone through some changes over the years and being on private property creates a unique situation that requires a unique management. Over the past year, the crag was closed due to unruly climbers and then reopened with the continuing help of the Carver Climbing Club. In order to climb here, you must be a member of the club, which requires an $8 fee, and have your membership card on hand while you climb (I dont have a card though because I signed up a few years ago...and I need to get that fixed while I'm here). There is also a small website that post up info about the bouldering, click on over and check out the saga that has unfolded.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of the old out-of-print bouldering guide to Portland and the Columbia River Gorge at Powells Bookstore a couple of years ago...so I feel lucky to actually have a topo and route list when I visit. After walking around the boulders trying to find anything dry enough to climb, I found myself at the base of the cliff on a boulder called the Standard Overhang, seen in the photo above. I climbed the stand start to the Standard Overhang route which went at a V1 and was a pretty fun route. Then I added the SDS to it and linked through for the V3 version of this Carver classic. I was shocked I found anything to climb and was stoked to pull hard enough to send a wet and slippery V3!

From here I roamed around looking for anything else that was dry and finally came upon a boulder seen above and is labelled as the Warm Up boulder on the new map. I sent an easy V0 flake/lieback arete on the left side of the boulder and then focused on a fun SDS route that followed up the broken spine on the middle and right side of the boulder. After a few tries, I finally sent the route and felt it was right around a V2. Super fun problems, even though you had to deal with some slippery moss at the top!

After this, I roamed around checking out routes in the guide for future sessions, since I couldnt find anything else that was dry. Overall it was a bad day to climb, but I felt like I had made the most out of it by "climbing for the cycle" of a V0, V1, V2 & V3. After visiting the NW a few times, I'm so grateful for what we have back in the Southeast...great boulderfields with great weather almost all winter long! Carver is Portlands local boulder crag, but couldnt hold a candle to even our worse boulderfields back home. I cant tell you how thankful I am to live in such a kick ass place in the US for bouldering!!!

Today is another typical Portland day with rain in the forecast...hopefully I'll get a chance to go back to another little area in town called Rocky Butte. It looks like the Columbia River Gorge is getting some snow over the next week, so Beacon Rock and any of the other boulder areas within an hour and a half are out of the question for this trip. It would be nice to make it to Smith Rock, but we'd have to drive over the snowed in Cascades in order to do that...something I'm just not willing to do. No matter, I'm planning on hitting Portland Rock Gym and The Circuit too in the next couple of days to try to get my send on! I hope everyone is out getting on some rock somewhere and appreciates how nice it is to have what we have in the Southeast!

Local Sessions and Future Local Sessions

2010-12-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've been slammed lately trying to finish up the semester, focus a little on helping out with SC access and then I've tried to slip a few sessions in between. As mentioned in previous posts, I've been helping the CCC work with the State Parks to try to expand climbing opportunities in South Carolina. We have had very pleasant meetings with both DNR and the Mountain region State Parks (Keowee-Toxaway, Table Rock and Jones Gap) and hope that we have set some positive wheels in motion. Over the last 2 days, I have been out early in the morning, with temps in the single digits to low double digits, working with some of the best rangers to identify areas that are of interest to SC climbers. Its been great to meet these guys, walk in their woods and inform them exactly what we're all about. All of the rangers have been receptive to our ideas and willing to find out if there are any hurdles that might stop access from happening in the near future. I'm a big fan of cooperation and forces working together so both succeed in their missions of conservation and recreation. Things are in the works and I hope to be able to tell you in the next couple of months that we will have expanded access and more places to enjoy climbing. If you are in SC and have been "scalping" some of these areas, please realize that this could really jeopardize the legitimate access work we are doing and could bring things to a complete halt. Please try to relocate your sessions to other legal areas until we can get this figured out and you'll be greatly rewarded in due time! The picture from above is taken from the Table Rock webcam...click over there and take a look every now and then to see how the park changes with the seasons. There should be some snow in the picture sometime soon!

I am also getting ready to take our yearly pilgrimage to Oregon to visit my wife's family. It looks like there might actually be a break in the usually wet weather to get a few days of bouldering in while I'm out there...I'm really looking forward to that! Otherwise, the best bouldering gym I've ever been too, The Circuit, just opened a new gym in Portland that's even closer to our family...so even more chances for me to get some crush on while I'm out in the Pacific Northwest! I'll hopefully post up some pictures while I'm out there of some bouldering at Carver Boulders and possibly Beacon Rock. Here's a sweet shot of Beacon Rock from across the Columbia River...

And here is a video of some bouldering at Carver...

Urgent!!! Help the CCC with the Chimney Rock Master Plan!

2010-12-06T07:40:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, there were 3 different proposals (1 very conservative, 1 mid ground and 1 very liberal with our climbing resources) for what will eventually become the new Chimney Rock State Park. These were made available to the public to vote and comment on and the state was supposed to take these comments into consideration when forming the Master Plan. This park will cover a lot of land and includes the existing Chimney Rock Park and Rumbling Bald, as well as tons of other cliffs that have been climbed for decades. In the recently released proposal, of which the state plans to use unless there are major complaints (hint-hint), only the south side of Rumbling Bald, what most folks just call Rumbling Bald, is the only cliff that will be allowed to remain open...and the only roped routes that are recognized are the ones in the guidebook. Now, unless you are under a rock somewhere, you know that there are more routes at the Bald than whats in this 20 year old guide (and the updated Selected Climbs book doesn't include very many new routes for the Bald, so its pretty much still the routes listed in the old Kelly guide). Besides these unlisted routes being off limits, the plethora of other smaller crags, that have seen action for over 20 years, are to be closed and climbing is to be disallowed. This doesn't make sense, nor does it sit well with those that have been using this land for way longer than the state has owned it. PLEASE do what you can by checking out the CCC Alert and clicking at the bottom and filling out the Access Fund letter to those that need to hear our voice. This IS a pivotal time in the planning and future of our climbing resources. We know that our resources are limited and not allowing climbing in all areas of the park that have traditionally allowed climbing is a deep cut into these resources. It only takes a few minutes (no lie, just a couple of minutes) to fill out the info needed to send a great form letter to the folks in charge to let them know that we wont stand for this! Together we CAN affect a change in the plan and get our resources back...please do what YOU can to help!!!!

A Lot Going On Lately

2010-11-30T05:35:00.000-08:00

I have been so busy with the holidays, climbing and access meetings that I haven't had a chance to post up in a while...

Since my last post I've been able to climb at Dixon, a couple of local spots and the Bald a couple of times.

DIXON:
At Dixon, I climbed a bunch of fun easy stuff on this boulder...

After warming up, I sent 2 super fun routes, the route up the right side felt like a V1 and the left side felt like a V2/3, on this boulder...

And then sent a sweet slab problem from a big sidepulling sit start on the downhill side of the Classic Overhang boulder, felt around a V3...here's a shot of that route.

After sending a few more routes, I packed it up and met with Stephen Scoff, the SC CCC rep, and Larry Hyde, the superintendent of Crowder's State Park, for an informative overview of how Crowder's manages climbing. If you are a long time follower of this blog, you might remember earlier this year there was a push for better access in SC. Since then, I've been working with Stephen to try to open up more bouldering and roped climbing in the state. This was one of the many meetings we have had, or going to have, to push for more access. Larry was an incredibly nice guy and a great asset for climbers in NC and at Crowder's. He helped us out by giving us a lot of information we can use to demonstrate the advantages of climbing for our meetings with a couple of SC parks. Nothing makes a day of bouldering better than doing something to give back to the climbing community!

THE BALD:
I'm stoked that I've had a chance to hit the Bald so much this fall, and each trip I seem to finally bag a route or 2 that has hassled me for a while. On one of my recent trips, I finally headed back to the Middle East and Far East...an area I don't visit too often. I sent a few fun easy routes, and Fire V3, on the Fire boulder seen here...

After flailing like a little sissy on Silver Platter V2 (is this thing really a V2?), I headed over to my real targets...The Forbidden City V2 and Rift V4. After working the upper moves of Rift and finding the best foot beta for me, I loaded up and worked the SDS until I had linked it all together for the send. This has to be one of my absolutely favorite routes at the Bald...especially due to the fact that it was named after a Phish song! Check out the beautiful music on this boulder...

From here I went out to the Forbidden City V2 and took a couple of tries to send this wonderful route. What a great boulder problem! Listed as being similar to Dime Crack, but easier, the movement felt like it was set in a gym and put a big smile on my face after the send. A sds traverses out left to a series of edges that goes up the short face to a pretty easy top out...check out the picture.

After sending a few more easy routes, I called it quits for this session...ticking off Rift was big for me, its always been a project of mine...but climbing The Forbidden City was just as fun and rewarding!

ACCESS FOR SC:
Besides our meeting with Larry Hyde at Crowder's, Stephen and I have had, and will be having, more meetings with some of the SC state parks and DNR about climbing access. We have had some successes in some of our recent meetings, and hope for the same with the next meetings. I'll fill everyone in when everything gets ironed out and this will hopefully give SC climbers a new climbing landscape in the coming year.

Besides all that, I want to wish George Evans good luck at the last leg of the Triple Crown at Little Rock City/Stonefort. George has finally (kinda) gotten back up to speed from his broken ankle and I hope he pulls hard and has a good time finally being able to boulder like he used to! I also want to wish Adam Johnson (take loads of pictures for your website) and Doug Ianuario a great comp and trip to Hueco afterwards...I'm so damn jealous:) If you haven't checked out Adam's awesome photos and blog...click your hiney on over there and check it out. Bro man got some skills!!!

G-Vegas Represent!

2010-11-17T04:58:00.000-08:00

If you havent seen the newest DeadPoint Magazine video of Eric Singleton climbing Waste Not, Want Not 5.12b/c at Looking Glass...check it out! Nice work on the send and way to represent the old school Rocks and Ropes gym crew (that was the gym I climbed at 2-3 times a week, back in the day) and Looking Glass Outfitters.

Click here to go to DeadPoint and watch the video

Slave Driver...Finally

2010-11-16T07:04:00.000-08:00

This past Friday, I had a chance to run up to the Bald and work on one of the last real "haunting routes" I have at the Bald...Slave Driver V3. The leaves were incredible and with the sun shining bright, it felt like I was wrapped up in the color yellow.

Slave Driver has been another off and on project for me over the last few years, very similar to Shady Grove/Basketball Mantle, and so I decided I had to finally take it serious and project the route until I sent it and got that monkey of my back. I've sent a lot of V3's, at a lot of different boulderfields, but this is by far one of the hardest, if not the hardest V3 I've ever sent...and quite a few strong folks have mentioned that Slave Driver might be a little sandbagged at a V3 too.

I worked the stand start until I finally had it a little dialed (am I the only one that has to bump through the little crystal at the top to reach the small "thank god" knob with my right hand?), then I gave one good solid effort on the sit start and ended up linking through it. To say the send pushed me to my limit was an understatement...I literally felt blown up afterwards and decided to call the day a success, despite originally planning on climbing for a lot longer. It felt good to send another route that has been taunting me every time I walked by it, and that satisfaction was enough to keep me smiling all weekend!

Here's a sweet video of the East Side, from a couple of years ago, that Matt Christie put together. Slave Driver is climbed at the 40 second mark and Matt makes it look easy! You can also see Crystalline Entity in this video, a sweet V5 slab that I was also working on Friday...I think this should go next time, with a spot.

Saturday I woke up early and shuttled some friends to Whitewater Falls so they could do an overnighter on the Foothills Trail...here's a shot of the beautiful morning view out over Lake Jocassee.

While I was there, I had a quick session on the small set of boulders next to the bathrooms. There are really only a handful of routes worth climbing, but I've always found them to be fun. Here are a few photos of the boulders. The first is a shot of the Slab boulder as you approach it from the parking lot. The other 2 shots are of the Snapping Turtle boulder behind it. Most of the routes on both boulders have some solid slopey crimps that make for some fun climbing.

Triple Crown: Horse Pens 40

2010-11-09T08:04:00.000-08:00

So, this past weekend was the second leg of the Triple Crown, down in Steele, Alabama. The weather was cold in the campground, but the sends were awful hot in the boulderfield! I was able to head down early on Friday and climb a little with the Clemson Crew before the comp on Saturday. Here's Autumn Parham sending Dope...

Bumboy is one of the legendary boulder problems in the world, one of my all time favorites, and I was able to send it easier than ever on Friday, with some crucial beta from Adam and George making all of the difference. On Saturday, the place was packed and hyped! Competitors were everywhere in the park, giving their all on some of the best sandstone routes in the Southeast. No matter if you climbed V0 or V10, everybody was cheering for everybody else and the smell of comradory was in the air more than the smell of competition. I was able to send a few 3's (Bumboy, Orca & Double Groove) and the rest of my scorecard was filled out with some of the most fun V2's around (Dope of course being one of my favorites)...needless to say, I was nuzzled deep in the Intermediate category with no chance of placing, but I definitely had a blast climbing!

The real competition was for the Mens Open division, which Jimmy Webb dominated. Here's a couple of shots of Jimmy climbing Skeletor V10 and God Module V11...2 routes that helped him claim first.

Brion Voges wasn't too far behind Jimmy for 2nd in Mens Open. Here's a couple of shots of Brion on Cadillac Thrills V9 and Slider Sit V10...

And rounding out the top 3 was Brad Weaver...here's a shot of him on Illusions V11.

The top 3 getting Crowned...

Angie Payne won the Womens Open division...here's a shot of her on The Flow V7.

Here is Deadpoint Mags Coverage of the event...and also some great photos and coverage by Clemson climber Adam Johnson over at Climbing.com Adam Johnson also has a great set of photos over at his website AdamJohnsonPhoto.com that I stole for this post...thanks a million Adam for letting me use your incredible images! You can get the full lowdown on the winners of each category at the Triple Crown Bouldering website, and the complete results with everybody's score should be released soon too.

Also...Here is a great video of Adam and some other climbers at the comp, check it out courtesy of George Evans.

HP40 Triple Crown 2010 from George Evans on Vimeo.

Help the SCC Win A Grant To Invest In Southeast Climbing!

2010-11-04T08:12:00.001-07:00

For some reason, the vote button wont show up on the above widget sometimes...click here to go to the SCC's page to vote if the button isnt available!!!

If you havent heard yet, the SCC is competing for one of the Pepsi Refresh Grants to help maintain and aquire more climbing areas in the Southeast.

The SCC's Goals for this project are...
•Purchase and preserve 40 acres in AL currently closed to access
•Purchase and preserve 38 acres in TN currently closed to access
•Build new and maintain existing hiking trails throughout southeast
•Responsible land stewardship and inspirational team building
•Community outreach: Promoting the joys of climbing AND preservation!

In order to help the SCC win this grant, they need everyone's help with voting. You can vote everyday and the SCC encourages you to do so...the most votes wins, so help makes this a reality for all southeastern climbers!

Here is the great video the SCC put together to promote their bid for the grant...