Memorial Day Afternoon

We added a few new problems to the Dam Boulders today. I made a few half-hearted attempts with my line at the Gothic Boulder and quickly realized i needed to come back with much more focus than what i had today.

Heather did add her new route to the left corner/face on the Gothic Boulder. (top photo)

We did two routes on an overhanging erratic north of the Gothic Boulder. Well, i guess it was actually three on this little boulder if you count the sit start left edge/rail. The line coming out of the pit is great pulling on good holds while the other line starting to the right is a bit more tricky with slopers and a fun "cut your feet loose and heel-hook to your left" sequence to it. I'll put some names to to these problems and i think we'll just call the feature itself the "Brad Pit Boulder".

I thought I'd remember more than what i do about the various problems i explored on the many small erratics littered along the canyon floor, but as i walked through, my mind seemed as dusty as the problems themselves. I guess it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just so excited to see this place getting the interest it deserves.

Speaking of such interest, we witnesses some terrifying displays of poor judgement at the Quarry. While i feel bad about yelling at some guys for climbing the hillside above the bouldering zone while their friends bouldered unaware of the impending barrage of big rocks that would soon be carelessly kicked off; narrowly missing the two guys below as large rocks passed by at terminal velocity, i don't feel bad about caring if people get hurt. Please understand that your actions as someone who climbs and/or recreates ANYWHERE does effect the overall understanding of what we do in the eyes of the general public and, more importantly, the various Land Management Agencies who could easily close access to the places we love to recreate. In short: think about what you are doing as one careless action could effect and entire community of climbers and recreationalists. Climbing is a privilage not a right.


.

Well... this is pretty much how my day went. I could blame it on the rain and wet foot holds, but it still wouldn't help my cause! These are a couple of short clips of me on the right trending rail that we called "Lily's Man-child" which is left of Lily's Mantle. Wait for IT at the end of the seconde clip!

This is a great problem! On the west face of Lily's Boulder start low on the flat topped big edge on the left corner. Go up and follow the rail to the right; topping out on the highest peak of the boulder. It's much more difficult than it appears... well at least it was for me. And for the record, i was finally able to do all of the moves without falling off athough, it did take me the better part of our afternoon!

Also, we each did the Lily's Mantle problem and i thought this was a unique and very worthwhile little problem! Nice job Blair and crew!

In this video, Heather dances up Lumber Jill during one of our many afternoon sprinkles of rain.

Gothic Boulder

A few days ago Heather and I explored a bit more down canyon from the Teton Dam to look at some features i remembered from several years ago. I am finding that it helps to revisit places and look at options with a bit more vision and experience. One feature in particular was exciting enough to suffer copious amounts of rain today while preparing a safe landing zone. I think the smart climbers where climbing and training in the gym today instead of hiding underneath a massive boulder digging out mud and rolling rocks around, but hey, the Gothic Boulder is mostly ready to go once the weather clears up a bit. We prepared two separate landing zones which will hopefully offer three or four individual lines; two that utilize the roof feature, one on the nice left wall, and one just left of that on another overhanging boulder/chockstone.

My knee was a bit sore after several hours of digging and twisting but i seem to be getting by well enough. Hopefully next week I'll feel good about falling off tall things. Monday should bring some additional base work and brushing of the problems along with a core group of motivated friends to work hard to play hard! In the meantime, here are a few photos and videos to pass the time!

Being a dork to keep our motivation up in the rain!

Rolling some flat rocks into place for our sweet landing zone! Do you think it's raining??

obsessed

Heather and I headed out to the Teton Dam site again this afternoon. The weather was a bit threatening as we drove through patches of scattered showers. For some reason the showers seemed to float around the Lower Teton Canyon and the bouldering area stayed dry for the most part.

The canyon was busy with off-road vehicles and a large flatbed and crane plucking boulders from various piles of stone. Likely for landscaping of fill material. It was a bit odd really, but I'm sure they thought we were just as strange wandering around with our crash pads!

We added some additional stone and wood to the landing zone on The Thing That Only Eats Hippies and did more brushing and cleaning before giving it a good session. Heather worked on it for a bit while i shot some photos. But before you view the photos you should understand where the name of the route comes from!

After The Thing That Only Eats Hippies Heather and I wandered down the canyon to explore before returning to Hot Lava. On our way out of the canyon we passed Jaren on his way down. I have to admire his obsession with the place given the fact that he only had a half hour before needing to return home. NICE WORK DUDE!

Heather on the right way variation of Hot Lava

That's me on the left way variation of Hot Lava.

Heather flashing on her first attempt... until she fell off!

The full video beta for The Thing That Only Eats Hippies

Project Topo

**UPDATED

Chelsea Wood Rollins working on the newest addition to the Quarry. "The Thing That Only Eats Hippies" is located up and left from Hot Lava. Just look for the three foot tall landing zone made of logs and rocks beneath the lip of the boulder. We're not sure what lives in the cave but it leaves big turds!

The Quarry - Lower Teton River Canyon

click for a larger view

Photo: Justin B.

This is definitely premature in arrival, but i thought it would be good to give a brief overview of what the Quarry looks like. I have combined some select info to the photo and info Justin Brunson put together. This is only a selection of what has been done and not a full listing of the boulder problems. I believe Justin B. and Joel Nielson are putting together an Internet site with all of the info available. Which will serve the east Idaho community long after this blog post gets buried.

DIRECTIONS:

Find your way to the south side of the Teton Dam Site. Access is off of Hwy 33 east of Newdale, Idaho. At the end of the paved road turn right onto the dirt road and park. Hike due north, descending directly down into the Teton River Canyon. Bear northwest for about 50 yards once you drop over the canyon rim and follow a nice grassy clear cut between the trees and brush. Once you reach the bottom of the canyon, turn left and walk 50 yards to reach the Quarry on your left. Approx 3 minutes! Essentially you are descending the gully and bowl to the left of route 1 on the topo.

ROUTES:

RED: info gathered by Justin B.

The Thing That Only Eats Hippies - just up the hill and left of Hot Lava. Look for a large overhanging cave like boulder with a large pile of logs and rocks below the opening of the cave. Start on the right side and traverse the lip of the cave. Pull out and get serious about topping out!

1. Hot Lava - Shallow pocket with the right and move up to the corner with the left, then huck to the lip. OR, pocket with the left, hit the crimp up and right, then PULL to the lip.

2. Not Cho Cheese - Stand or Sit Start. Crimp up the triangle shaped face. The right edge of the boulder if off

3. Cool Ranch - Sit start. Follow the left trending right side rail/outside edge of the Doritos boulder. Holds on "Not Cho Cheese" to the left are off. First known ascent (FNA) Beth Avenius

4. Baby Slab - Easy and fun.

5. Jack in the Crack - Inside corner. Easy... but if you blow it, you're gonna fall a long way. The crux is near the top.

6. Killing of a Flash Boy (Dean Lords Project) - Two really difficult pocket pulls to a sloper finger hold, then the lip. Dam hard for just three moves.

7. The Floor is Liquid Nitrogen - Easy. Needs to be brushed and cleaned up a bit.

8. Bazooka Joe - Incredible and difficult outside overhanging corner. This route is identical to the famous sport route at Smith Rocks called "Chain Reaction"! It looks the same, climbs the same, and is about the same height; only Bazooka Joe doesn't have any bolts! Stack a lot of pads for this highball.

9. Vendetta - Cool techy face climb. High.

10. No Name - FA, Chad Witbeck. Tall techy slab climb.

YELLOW: Dean Lords info

0. Biggy Slabs by Tom Smartt - Easy but tall slabby face climb.

1.Through the Never (open project) - Underclings to half pad crimps. Slightly overhung and very, very difficult. Don't fall off the left side of the landing!

2.Sippin' on Sunshine - Fun slab climb to the right of Vendetta. Make sure you pad the tall block on the right side of the landing zone!

3. Long Black Cadillac - Hard start to the pocket. Hard pull to the crimp. Hard pull to the rail. Hold on and don't fall off the top. The area classic!

4. The Seven Deadly Sins - Fun and moderately hard outside corner/rain problem. To make this legit, don't use anything to the right of the corner/rail.

5. Dirty Lieback - Crack that needs to be cleaned.

6. Sidewinder - On the upper most Tier is a diamond shaped block that looks like the head of a Rattlesnake. Sidewinder follows the right side of this feature. Sit start. Move up to the lip and traverse right on a series of pumping moves. Heel-hook and press out the top.

7. (Dean Lords) - needs to be brushed and cleaned. Name forthcoming.

8. Fun slab. Needs to be brushed.

9. Lumber Jill - Follow a line of holds on the left side of this left facing dihedral.

10. Lumber Jack - Sit start for full value. Follow a line of campus board crimps that trend right to left on the face of the dihedral. CLASSIC!

A couple of things to consider:

*I am not assigning V grades to any of my routes. Please feel free to do so if you'd like. I say just try hard if you like the problem!

*Lots of ticks in the spring.

*Lots of Rattlesnakes in the Summer.

**IMPORTANT... Please use chalk! This type of stone gets greasy very easily and will make the place a lot less enjoyable once it gets all greased up. Use chalk. If you are going to brush holds, please use a nylon or non metal brush to do so.

** If you're going to do the high ball problems, please do it right... with good attentive spotters and several pads. Accidents and injuries involving the Sheriff and/or EMS are never a good thing!

* There is a lot of misc trash down there; broken beer bottles, shot gun shells, etc. I've been packing a little bit of trash out every time i am down there. Maybe bring a small trash bag with you and pack a few things out from time to time!

the latest rage

Images from the Quarry at the Teton Dam.

Tom Smartt and his massive index making the 4th ascent of "The Seven Deadly Sins"

Heather Lords with her shorter than average index fighting hard to make the reach on "The Seven Deadly Sins"

Heather Lords giving her finger tips a rest by palming her way up the pumpy lip traverse of "Sidewinder"

"Sidewinder"

Working on my project "The Killing of a Flash Boy"

Heather Lords flashing the highball plus bad landing boulder problem "Sippin' on Sunshine"

Chad Alldredge setting up for the crux reach on "Long Black Cadillac". This WAS the One Eyed Willie project.

Chad trying for the higher crimp on "Long Black Cadillac"

In the beginning...

the Teton Dam Zone was a place i would visit often by myself during the day while Heather was teaching school. At that time, we lived in the nearby town of Teton, Idaho and access was just a few minutes away by car. I had a fun circuit of crack and face boulder problems at the Quarry before jogging down stream to the Big Dam Boulder for the overhanging jug hauls. During the Autumn of 2004 i was able to convince several close friends to join me for bouldering sessions, mainly at the Big Dam Boulder Sector.

The nearby college brought a lot of the people i am now close friends with to this area. And with most college towns, those friends have moved on to pursue life in other areas of the country. As our small group of motivated friends dwindled, so did our visits to the Lower Teton River Canyon and our interest in developing other regional climbing areas picked up.

Hearing about rekindled interest for several new college kids in the Teton Dam site peaked my excitement once again for this area.

Along with my new found motivation for further development in the Teton River Canyon, Heather and i, once again, have a strong friendly group of motivated climbers that we consider close friends to help us find meaning in what we do. For us, it's not so much about how cool climbing might be, but more so about being part of something that creates life long memories and close friendships. Seeing a line, cleaning it, and sharing that experience of development with our friends is a lot of fun and extremely motivational for us.

I guess I'm just trying to say thanks to all of those good friends we've been blessed with over the years. The memories and experiences Heather and I own are some of our most valued possessions.

back for more

Another fine afternoon in the Lower Teton River Canyon! We returned to the Quarry sector equipped with an assortment of scrubbing brushes and additional crash pads. The result was nearly seven hours of scrubbing, bouldering, and falling. All of which left us with sore, skinless finger tips, motivation, and one injured knee... mine.

Here are a few photos from our exploits.

Descending into the Teton River Canyon

Chelsea Wood Rollins stepping up to "Lumber Jill"

Heather Lords bucket hauling on "Lumber Jill"

Heather Lords working out the crimpy rail problem of "Lumber Jack"

Chad Alldredge holds my wrist as i scrub the top of a new problem during an afternoon rain storm

Chad working hard on this incredible line which will have a name as soon as we come up with a good one! For now we've dubbed it "One Eyed Willie" due to the single circular pocket on this face.

Crimptastic!

Riley Everett Rollins displays the opening sequence as he pokes Willie in the Eye!

I also brushed and attempted the difficult outside corner to the right of "Willie". And keeping with the pirate theme of this block i am calling it "The Seven Deadly Sins"

Also of note: the ticks are out in full force down there!

a dam good time!

This is how the west was won.

Riley Rollins in a wild west landscape

Those of us on the east side of Idaho woke up to a lot of rain and wind this morning; pretty much dampening any motivation for climbing outside.

Well, the wind blew so hard that it carried the storm clouds into Wyoming and by early afternoon a small group of boulder happy buddies were rolling toward the Teton River Canyon.

We first tried the west side approach with intentions of bouldering at the Dam Boulder and on the surrounding erratics but the gate was locked forcing us to head east to the Teton Dam Site. With several of the Rexburg area climbers re-exploring the first area i visited on a regular basis in 2004, i thought it would be fun to go back and see what all of the excitement was about!

Riley, Beth and I wandered around "The Quarry" as i reminisced about various exploits there early on in my exploration of lower Teton River Canyon. I call this sector of the Teton River Canyon zone the Quarry as it resembles the teared and blocky nature of most rock quarry's. It was cool to see chalk on some of the problems and to see how quickly the signs of my visits from nearly six years ago have vanished.

The history lesson quickly got old and we only had a limited amount of time, so it was time to boulder! I didn't give many names to the routes or features at this sector back in 2004 and i am super excited to get with the Rexburg crew to collaborate on identifying things. Basically I'm just excited that others are starting to catch the vision of an area i thought was pretty DAM cool!

Riley warming up on a fun little crimper of a climb i humorously dubbed "Not Cho Cheeze". Crimp and edge up thin potato chip-like edges in the center of the Doritos Boulder.

Beth working on the right side rail feature of the Doritos formation on lowest tier of the Quarry. This little face kinda reminds me of a Doritos Chip. Maybe this fun problem could be called "Cool Ranch"!! Sit start and follow the left sloping corner rail to the top. Using the holds on "Not Cho Cheeze" is off limits.

Beth sending Cool Ranch

There is a slightly overhung face on the 2nd Tier just right of what folks are calling Jack in the Crack. I attempted this face a few times in 2004. One of the lines offers a couple of small, shallow and slopping pockets to reach the lip. Feet are super difficult too. In this photo Beth reduces my gravity a bit so i can clean out the upper pocket! This Pocket Project is HARD!

Even though our time was short and we only did a few boulder problems, i had a dam good time revisiting this sector of the Teton River Canyon. It is easy for me to see why the Rexburg crew is so psyched on the place. I look forward to going back for more!

images from the New River Gorge, West Virginia

I had an amazing time this past week at the New River Gorge in West Virginia. As always, the weather was mostly crap, but we managed to squeak in a few climbing days between biblical rain events.

Here are a few photos to tell the story.

The perfect West Virginia sign!

Hotel Dulles International Airport! If you have not spent the night in an airport, i recommend it at least once in your life.

Hanging out with some good friends:
Lynn Hill

Britney Griffith and Chris Sharma

Ronnie Jenkins and Tommy Morrision

Hanging out on some Rocks

Tommy on "Tubin Dudes" 5.13b

Justin from the Access Fund on the classic Hawks Nest boulder problem "The White Eyebrow" V7/8

Chad Alldredge warming up on "European Vacation" 5.12b

update from W. Virginia

Well, typical to my last four visits to the this area the last couple of years, rain and generally poor climbing conditions keep us from having consistent and good climbing days. However, the fun times spent with friends like, Ronnie Jenkins, Lynn Hill, Matt Stark, and Russ Clune to name a few, keep the rainy day blah's to a minimum. We (me and Chad Sr.) have had a couple of okay days of climbing with more sampling than sending due to wet rocks and condensation on the steep routes from the correct humidity and temperatures. The 5.12b warm ups feel like 5.12d and the 5.13a's feel like 5.13c due to the extra grip and core power needed to squeeze the holds enough to stay on them!

Despite the lack of good climbing conditions, this trip has been fun. Some highlights are: Nearly getting whacked by a power pole being blown over by the wind and rain while driving down the highway which resulted in me swerving into oncoming traffic and doing a sweet 360 spin out; narrowly missing the power pole and live wires by just a few feet! This was followed by my connecting flight to Denver nearly crashing and having to return to Idaho Falls to make an emergency landing. Our return was more like riding in a bush plane than a passenger jet as the pilot flew the plane around the mountains and hills instead of over them. Have you ever been on a plane where people are screaming... "WE'RE GONNA CRASH AND DIE..." as the plane makes a nose dive through the storm clouds? I have!

Pretty exciting, eh? All the while I'm hanging out with friends here in Wet Virginia as Heather draws very close to sending her project at the Crank Cave back home in Idaho. Wish i was there sweetie! Crush it!

Ok, that's all for now!

a few more...

Crank Cave pictures.

the power of soul

The Crank Cave - Blackfoot Canyon, Idaho

Heather Lords searching for Soul Power, 5.13-

Crank Cave is a small basalt hole in the ground south and east of Idaho Falls. The bottom of the cave is lined with hideously loose river rock conglomerate. The actual basalt is sharp; bloody fingers are a given for any session at the Cave. Routes are short, powerful and would be better understood as a boulder rating than assigned a suggestion of difficulty with the YDS.

One of the four climbing sectors of Blackfoot Canyon, Crank Cave holds an array of the most difficult climbs in the Blackfoot Zone. Typically, the Playground Wall attracts the most attention with its enjoyable easy routes and classic basalt moderates. However, today there must have been some sort of orbital shift, aligning of planets, or an unexplainable sign from God. There were not any cars parked at the Playground Sector, which is weird for a nice spring-like day, but there were cars parked at the Crank Cave sector... again which is weird. In the end, 15 people from various groups throughout the Snake River Valley had all merged together for an afternoon session. That may not sound like a lot of people to some of you, but to those of us who frequent the Crank Cave, 15 people is about 13 more than any of us have ever seen out that at one time!

Some folks may have been bummed out by the sheer number of people, but the groups intermingled, shared belays and beta, and shouted encouragement to others. There was a lot of screaming for send power and a lot of soul being shared as people made new friends. I was psyched to see so many people trying hard!

Chad Alldredge rehearsing in his mind the move of Soul Power

We each did our respective warm up and watched others try hard on their projects before turning our efforts to the Matt TeNgiao masterpiece, Soul Power. This route is a brilliant line of powerful moves, some big, from large hold to large hold. Tricky feet and some cool sequences, Soul Power is in my opinion, one of the best routes in the Cave!

Heather Lords starting up Soul Power

Heather just above the crux but still having to pull hard and fight the pump!

Heather

Heather feeling the sun and the burn of Soul Power

That's me in the crux

Love it!

Chad Alldredge working out the steep moves between big pockets

Riley Rollins feeling the effects of Soul Power!

After Chad, Riley and Heather made two attempts each at redpointing the route, with each of them pulling every move and linking big section together. Especially exciting was Heather only hanging in two places on her second attempt. She has been working hard in the gym and it is paying off. I don't think I've seen her this strong... ever!

We then headed back to Idaho Falls late in the late evening and met up again for dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Jalisco's.

Left to Right:

Bree Hamel, Travis Von...., Chad Alldredge, Riley Rollins, Heather Lords, Dean Lords