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Updated 5/29/02

Bouldering News

3/31/02 Great Barrington, MA
     At Great Barrington on Friday, Joe Kinder completed the Speed Boulder project, naming it Something from Nothing. Joe felt it was one of his hardest sends and suggested a grade of V12/13. Joe said the problem "is 7 moves long and requires strange bicycles to keep your feet on. That is one of the most important things about the problem, you must keep your feet on. The boulder is pretty steep and all the holds are perpendicular to the wall." Joe immediately began working on another project on the Speed Boulder and said about Great Barrington,  "The number of beautiful undone lines is overwhelming. The locals have shown me many impeccable lines that are quite hard and waiting to be climbed. I am so impressed with the quality of stone. To me, it is some of the best stone in New England."

Joe Kinder on an early attempt of Something from Nothing, V12/13 at Great Barrington.
Photograph by Matt Stark.

3/29/02 Great Barrington, MA
     Joe Kinder had an amazing day at Great Barrington last weekend. He started with a quick warm up and then turned it on by sending The Bump, V7/8, Fotowa (from a stand start) V9, Echo, V9 (second ascent), a late day flash of Big Big Love V7, a second try ascent of The Remedy, nearly topped out the "Karma-esque" project at the lower area, and with totally new beta, came real close to sending the obvious center line project on the Speed Boulder. All of this only cost him six bloody knuckles, and one split tip.

Joe Kinder sending The Echo, V9, at Great Barrington.
Photograph by Matt Stark. Stay tuned for a slideshow from Matt.

3/19/02 Lincoln Woods, RI
     After much hard work, Mark Sprague recently sent his first V10, Conquest of the Irrational at Lincoln Woods. Conquest has become the V10 of choice as Tim Kemple, Joe Kinder, and Dave Theriault all sent it over the last few months. Also, Ben Fuller sent Sewing Up Avenues with Power Moves, V10, one of the harder V10s at the woods.

Ben Fuller sending SUAPM. Video still by Derek Hanrahan.
Full video will be coming out shortly.

3/16/02 Happy Valley, MA
     Yesterday, Joe Kinder sent a nasty new problem at the Happy Valley. Brothers Keeper, V11, climbs up a 16 foot 30 degree overhanging face on perfect crimps that get progressively smaller. It's one of those problems that combines really little holds with precise dynamic moves to a desperate finish. Joe said, "It starts on a perfect one handed jug and then goes through some crimp moves to find yourself right hand on a small three finger edge and left hand on a decent edge and a big ass move to a bad sloper. It was really hard to keep my feet on when I hit the sloper. Yesterday, I pulled out some of those skills to climb up rocks...you know when you really have to focus and try your hardest? Well it worked. The last couple of moves were pretty desperate for me."

3/16/02 Rumney, NH
     The Spring rock climbing season is kicking in early. The snow is pretty well gone and people have been out cragging for the past couple of weeks with some awesome days in the full sun. Some huge ice falls have been seen; watch out for ice fall that can build over night and crash down during the day. At the main cliff, Mark Sprague sent Thin Man, 5.13a, in very good style on February 23rd. At Waimea, on March 1st, John Mallery sent Overseas Tides,  5.13b/c, a new link-up of Coral Seas, 5.13b, and Man Overboard, 5.12d. This awesome route involves a final thought-provoking crux and a tricky mantel on the big roof at Waimea after climbing the cryptic and powerful 5.13b crux of Coral Seas. This power and endurance pitch is destined to become a classic because it combines high-quality continuous climbing with some of most exposed positions at Rumney. The French Canadian contingent is on the 5.14 roped-bouldering program, working Parallel Universe and The Fly with some considerable success. Some of the bouldering contingent are starting to turn up and are looking powerful, if somewhat light on endurance.

3/4/02 New Jersey Rock Gym, NJ
     The New Jersey Rock Gym attracted 210 competitors on Saturday to their Gravity Brawl bouldering competition. The qualifying round and the women's finals went really well. The men's final routes fell short of providing an exciting final round. None of the competitors even got off the ground two of the boulder problems. Obe Carrion flashed the third, while Joel Brady. Results:
Men's open 1. Obe Carrion 2. Joel Brady 3. Ben Montgomery
Women's open 1. Jolie Matkowski 2. Charlotte Jouette 3. Cinead Kubiak
Men's advanced 1. Tom Durrant 2. Nate Young 3. Bob Otto
Women's advanced 1. Steph Wilk 2. Christina Pilo 3. Narelle Jarry
Men's intermediate 1. David Mack 2. Carmine Santa 3. Abran Strignano
Women's intermediate 1. Kim Sacchiero 2. Kira Wentworth 3. Carissa Ackerman
Men's beginner 1. Ami Setton 2. Eviator Yemini 3. Chris Donner
Women's beginner 1. Heather Williams 2. Gillian Ferguson 3. Michelle Goeman
Juniors 1. Paul Robinson 2. Jason Applestein 3. Andrew Erwin

2/26/02 Pawtuckaway, NH
     Continuing his strong form, Joe Kinder grabbed the second ascent of the sit start to Stand and Deliver, V12, at the Blair Woods area at Pawtuckaway, NH. Joe said of his recent strong climbing, "I am on point with the body position stuff. I seems that it is really clear to me right now. Body position is more clear to me right now than it usually is. I don't really know what it is man, but its working. I am really stoked."

2/19/02 Rumney, NH
     On Saturday, Joe Kinder did the first ascent of a boulder problem to the right of Dr. No at the Monsters of the Id Crag at Rumney. Joe said, "It is a really exhilerating roof problem that is scary...but easy to spot and fall on." Joe named it Supreme Clientele and said it checks in at V10. On Sunday, Joe did the first ascent of B-Boy Stance, a new V12 on the left side of the Pound Crack Boulder. Joe also did Loomit, his new problem next to B-Boy Stance again, this time all the way to the top of the boulder. Joe said this finish bumps the grade up to solid V10. Today, Tim Kemple repeated Supreme Clientele and Loomit and confirmed the grade on both.

2/19/02 Dartmouth, NH (Michael Golub reporting)
     There were 82 competitors from 18 schools at Dartmouth's 4th annual Intercollegiate Competition - sponsored by Five-Ten, Prana, Metolius, IBEX Outdoor Clothing, and The Wall climbing gym in Queechee, VT. Thank you very much to everyone who came. Your excitement and the atmosphere you created made everything amazing. I hope to see all of you at the other college comps. Great job yesterday! We'll get some pictures up soon. Here are the results:

2/12/02 Lincoln Woods, RI
     Tim Kemple has been busy at Lincoln Woods lately, adding a couple of hard problems. First up, was the full traverse into an old V8 that John McLean did many years ago. The problem doesn't look too hard, but High School Egg Project on The Egg Boulder checks in at V10 or so. Joe Kinder quickly did the second ascent. Next up was a link up in the Pond Cave. Starting on the right side of the roof, Tim traversed left to the start of Who Needs Hueco and then finished out left on some underclings and funky drop knees. Tim calls this problem Under the Big Top and felt it warranted a V11 grade. Also, after many days of effort, Tim Kemple Sr. sent his nemesis Iron Cross. 

02/02/02 Financial Meltdown at the World's Seventh-Largest Climbing Magazine
(an anonymous former employee of the Boulderdash publishing empire risks all to bring you this exclusive report)
     In a familiar display of avarice, the board members and officers of Boulderdash, LLC raided the company coffers while low-level employees, unable to sell their shares or exercise their options, watched in horror as their life savings melted away. Editor Carl Stearns was last seen steaming for the boulderfields of New Zealand on his 210 foot yacht, while credible reports place designer Lynn Willis on his private jet, heading for an unnamed mountain range in central Asia. Were it not for the heroic efforts of an anonymous gear room janitor, who spirited away top-secret subscriber records that were destined for the shredder, the Securities and Exchange Comission would have been forced to donate the company's frozen assets to the KMart Blue Light Foundation.
     Due to this unsung hero's actions, former subscribers are getting back their hard-earned jack. Subscribers who have not received any issues are at the front of the line, so to speak. Refunds will be given by Paypal - you need a bank account and an email address to do this. If you don't have a bank or email account, you can be reimbursed by check, but Paypal is preferred for those who do. Please be patient (you already have been) and if you need to update your email address you can contact us at beta@boulderdashmag.com

02/02/02 New Jersey and Pennsylvania
    Chris Redmond finally finished one of his projects at Sourland Reservation in New Jersey. Chris called the nice, slopey line Upraising, V10. Hank Jones got the second, fairly quicky. Char Fetterolf completed two high ball projects at Haycock Mountain in Pennsylvania, one at Top Rock a high arete with a bad landing, and another which is called Y-2J, second ascent by Chris Redmond.

1/31/02 Cresciano, Switzerland
    Dave Graham has been at the top of his game for quite some time now, sending hard routes and boulder problems all over the world. His ascents of Action Directe and countless V13 and V14 first ascents have become almost commonplace. This time around though, Dave almost met his match. ALMOST. Dave spent 10 days over the course of the last month to achieve the third ascent of Fred Nicole's Dreamtime, the world's first V15. The way Dave had been dispatching the world's hardest in short order makes the ten days he spent on Dreamtime seem like a lifetime, but in realizing the world's hardest boulder problem, it was time well spent.

Dave sticking the sloper on Dreamtime. Video capture by Jorge Visser, provided by climbXmedia.com.
Check out climbXmedia for more photos and comments from Dave.

1/27/02 Northampton, MA
    There were 124 registered competitors at Cave Rave VI at the Northampton Athletic Club, sponsored by NewEnglandBouldering.com and Cherry Rum Auto of Greenfield MA as well as the ABS. The Men's Open came down to the last two moves of the last Finals problem. Jason Kehl flashed all three finals problems, and Joe Kinder flashed #1 and #2 before falling on the 2nd to last move of #3. The Women's Open was even closer as Alyssa Bennett and Janet Bergman flashed all three finals problems (Alyssa did Problem #2 twice due to a technical), and were separated by a countback to their 1st round scores. We will be posting a slideshow and video from the competition soon. The entire set of Cave Rave VI pictures are available for viewing and print purchase on WildRays Photography.

Cave Rave VI open category winners Alyssa Bennett and Jason Kehl.
Photograph © Brian Post/wildrays.com

1/21/02 Western U.S.
    Here is some news from travelling New Englanders out west. Despite terrible conditions with up to five feet of snow, Joel Wolpert took time out from filming his new video to send Bar Fly, V8/9 at Little Cottonwood Canyon in 3 tries. In Bishop, Jesse Marsolais sent Old Eye, V9, Juniors Achievement, V8, and Papa Chubby, V8. His UNH traveling pals Chris Polanec and Jeremiah Johnson had successful trips as well. Jeremiah fired off a multitude of hard problems, with Iron Man and French Press being the most memorable (although not necessarily the hardest). Chris also sent Papa Chubby, and Rib Direct sds, V8 . After topping out on the latter, Chris spotted a bra-less woman changing her shirt. It wasn't until a half hour later that he realized he was staring at the only breasts to ever free the Nose. He hasn't stopped telling the story. Walter Szlegia fell off the last move of almost every hard problem in Bishop, managing to top out on Red Rum, V8, and Toxic Avenger, V10. Ken Majka fell his way up Moonraker, V9, Soulslinger, V9/10, Shizam, V9, Center Direct, V9, the low start to Gleaming the Cube, V9/10, and Toxic Avenger.

1/21/02 Rumney, NH
    Joe Kinder sent one of three projects on the roof on the left side of the Pound Crack boulder at Rumney. The problem, Loomit, V9, climbs out the right side of the roof.

1/3/02 Pawtuckaway, NH
    After much work, Joe Kinder did the second ascent of The Child of the Storm, V13, at Blair Woods at Pawtuckaway, NH. Joe had originally done the stand up, and was finally able to send the sit start first done by Dave Graham a few weeks ago.

Disclaimer

Bouldering is dangerous. You could be seriously injured or killed. Do not attempt any of the problems described in this web page unless you have the expertise to do so. NewEnglandBouldering.com does not assume any liability for your safety or well being.