In the Moonshine

Tom on Toblerone

Tom, Whitmore, Derrick and I all ventured back to the newly discovered area now dubbed "The Moonshine Boulders" again this weekend with some more pads and man power to give some of the taller gems a go.  The morning started in the single digits but soon warmed to the upper 20s- prime Montucky crimp crushing temps.

Whitmore sampling some Toblerone

After warming up we ventured over to "The Moonstone" to figure this awesome boulder out.  After some attempts of different variations we finally unlocked a killer highball 'Heavier than Heaven'.  Sorry no shots of the FA but you get the idea.

Whitmore feeling out the holds

The Moonstone is a sketchy techy dream

Tom then ventured down to a weird feature below The Moonstone a small opening in the ceiling between two boulders.  After multiple attempts he finally squeezed through this crazy small hole.  Oh yeah and he had to drop down to his onezie long johns to send the squeeze the "Breached Whale".  Sorry no photos of  that either.

Breached Whale 1st attempt

Hangin at the Two Bit

L8er,
Podenbeck

Years Later...

About 6 years ago, I went and checked a small piece of BLM land out in the Boulder Batholith. There was a handful of decent looking problems, and one gem, but none were climbed that day...just out looking....and I never went back...until the other day.

I showed Odenbeck a pic of what I considered the best looking problem out there, and it didn't take long to find motivation. Soon enough we were back on the hill.

Beyond the Breakers

It climbed like a dream... A few tech slab moves and it blanks out to a long reach.

Then a nice combo of balance and gusto to move the feet up.

and one last reach to gain some great topout holds...which is helpful, as the landing is a bit dicey.

Perhaps the best ~V3 I've climbed in the Boulder Batholith, and a stellar way to round out a great year.

Cheers!

Tom

More Holiday Treats

Over the weekend I made another recon mission out to the area that is in the previous post.  Yet again this new zone does not disappoint at all.  This place is amazing- here are a couple photo excerpts.

Just the beginning

large slab

Interesting patina arete

Cracks

Tall slab

Tall, featured and scary

Across from main gully

 I had seen some of this gully from another vantage point previously and this is where I really wanted to check out.  It appeared to be chalked full of boulders and it turned out that it is.  Lots of potential in here and it is not at all like any of the other areas in the Batholith that I have seen before.  These pictures do not do it justice some of these blocks are 25-30' tall.

The gully

Crazy blocks

 

Overhangs

Crazy tall and featured dolum!!!!

Cool overhang

Rail

Classic 70s graffiti 

Overhanging seam this is huge like 15-20" deep

Big traverese

More unexplored

More unexplored

Tall and interesting

Big Boy

Huge Slab

 These hallways I mentioned in the previous post but got no photos.  This is the first climbable rock that you come to on the approach.  Looks like some great warm ups.

Hallway 1

Hallway 2

Hallway 3

Hallway 4

Yeah there is a lot to do here.  Starting to get a feel how to approach the goods.  Can't wait to pluck some of these gems!

L8er,

Patrick