J-High FNA

This just in: Joel Campbell just did the first post-break ascent of the problem J-High on Gold Bar's Beach Boulder. A certain "shamwow" individual broke the (only) crimp off of this problem several weeks ago, and Joel's in the first known ascent since.

Joel Zerr cruxing on a pre-break J-High. Photo by Brian Sweeney.
(Note Cole Allen's pretty sundress)

Joel reports that the problem is more difficult, but not "crazy hard." However, the problem's movement is much different, requiring a Karma-mirror-image slap to the sloper from the jug and then a really tough hand-foot match. Just another example of the slow but steady evolution of our bouldering here in WA...

I should take this occasion to reiterate that the adjacent landowners do not want people walking through the woods to get directly to the boulder (i.e. do not follow the directions in Central Washington Bouldering). Instead, please enter the woods directly across the street from the parking area, and walk roughly 50 yards east along the riverside to access the Beach Boulder.

Get out there!

Tumwater Canyon Rockfall

Scott Mitchell just emailed me this photo of a huge boulder that tumbled down the slopes of Tumwater Canyon in Leavenworth this weekend, closing highway 2 for two days. Fortunately, it's not a boulder with established climbs; apparently it orginated about a mile from Leavenworth, several hundred yards North of the Labyrinth area. The Wenatchee World quotes a DOT employee as saying that, after dynamiting, the boulder required 10-12 dump trucks to be removed, putting it upwards of 500,000 pounds!


The boulder was removed, and highway 2 opened, by Sunday afternoon. Here are photos of the boulder's path and the removal efforts, taken from the Wenatchee World:

GB

Here are some pictures from a week ago in Gold Bar. We had a pretty good sized group, including the typical monkeys plus special guests Benjit and my good friend from back east James Joslin. We spent most of our day in the clearcut playing on climbs we had all climbed on before, but it was a blast. The rock was dry and we had the place all to ourselves... though it definitely adds to the approach, the walk up the hill is actually pretty mellow.

I'll keep this short and sweet - here are the pics!

Drew on the Big Boulder Monkey Warm-Up on the Green Boulder

Nice Scenery

Sponch Cortney on Magic Bus (or whatever it's called)
Cortney on Sinistricity
Fun Lichen
Drew Schick sending The Xenolith
Jeff Campusing on the Rubicks Cube