Love Mattress

2 Realizations:

-My climbing ability/psych fluctuates in 4 month cycles.

-I climb better when I'm having fun with my friends and I don't care if I send or not.

Tyler on Bessie

We rolled up to Guanella Pass yesterday despite the terrible weather forecast...and had perfect weather the whole time! Plus we had the whole area to ourselves. It was a great day. Geoff sent his first V10-in-a-day with Crimping Matters, Tyler FLASHED Dark Horse (V10), Paul had his first alpine bouldering day after driving in from PA, and I sent Bessie (V10), Crimping Matters (V10), Earth Matters (V10), Life Matters (V7/8), Love Matters (V6/7), Beyond Matters (V8), and a new line that we are calling Love Mattress (V11/12).

Geoff sending Crimping Matters

Hooray!

Love Mattress starts on Love Matters, but instead of making the move to the left hand side pull to finish straight up the arete, it climbs into the start crimps of Earth Matters and finishes that. The moves on Love Matters aren't hard so they don't really affect the grade, but the transition into the crimps and gaining the position to make the first move on Earth Matters is probably V9+ by itself. Then you have to actually do the 3 move V10 that is Earth Matters. I think V11/12 is a fair grade since I think it is harder than all the other V10s at Guanella and similar in difficulty to Mind Matters which is considered V11/12.

Finishing the second crux on the FA of Love Mattress

The bad news is that the boulder was severely dug out by Brian, which I consider to be an ethical no-no. I almost didn't go to the boulder because of this, but I got sucked in by the quality of the rock. I understand the need to groom certain landings to make for a more enjoyable experience, but I also think there is a line that should not be crossed. In this case the ground is soft and has already begun eroding beyond the initial excavation/landscaping. Is the boulder going to fall over? No. After a couple of decades could it slide into the trail? Probably. In the grand scheme of things I guess it isn't a big deal and I did enjoy climbing on the boulder. All I know is it makes me feel bad when I see stuff like that and I hope people will make better decisions and think about the long term impact of what they do and how their actions could influence the actions of others. Rant over.

EDIT 9/8/14:

I received a great response this morning from Brian K. Though we still disagree a bit, I have a lot of respect for his willingness to discuss the situation in a really constructive way. It should be noted that he did not act unilaterally in this situation and had the support of much of the Guanella bouldering community.

Whether a person agrees or disagrees with the decision to move this much dirt, what's done is done, and we all may as well enjoy it without too much grumbling. It is just a boulder after all!

Lincoln Lake!

I have been spending most of my bouldering time at Lincoln Lake recently. While it isn't the best rock around, It really is a cool place. The boulders are very striking, with a minimal amount of holds. The granite has a pretty large grain compared to Area A at Evans. It reminds me of Taylor Canyon outside of Gunnison, so even though it can be a bit sharp and sometimes chossy, there is a nostalgia component for me and I love the climbing style.

The other cool thing about Lincoln is the high concentration of hard boulders. I love going out there and getting thoroughly shut down. Right now I am getting destroyed by The Great War For Civilization, a really powerful compression climb with a bunch of slopers for the right hand. Definitely not my style at all. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off this season, but if I do it will be a big step up in my pursuit of being well-rounded.

Here is a video of some sends I was able to film:

https://vimeo.com/103625215

How to Grade

The only grades that matter:

1: Did it!

2: Tried it and haven't done it.

3: Haven't tried it.

"Cleaning"

Digging out and chipping boulders seems commonplace in many bouldering areas in Colorado. It seems like most people know exactly who is doing it, but nobody says anything and the community seems content on allowing it to continue. Yet we completely ostracized Ivan Greene for doing the same thing? This seems extraordinarily hypocritical.

Here, the rock behind the flake was chipped away to create this starting jug.

Much chipping sneaks by under the guise of "cleaning" and these people are quick to defend their actions by stating that their critics don't understand what it takes to clean and develop boulder problems. I have cleaned and developed over 100 boulder problems and a few sport climbs and I understand that there can be a grey area when cleaning a new line, but some of the things I have seen out here are outrageous and blatant manufacturing. 

STOP CHIPPING!

Seriously.