Dongle Goblin

Eric and I spent the day at the Boneyard today since it was crazy windy at the Buttermilks. Conditions were just about perfect. Eric did a bunch of problems including an impressive flash of Jeff's Mantle (V5/6ish) and the second ascent of Lichen Poisoning (V8). I repeated a few problems and then set to work on a project next to Twin Dongs. I was psyched to do the stand start in a few tries since it felt impossible a year ago. It's called Dongle Goblin and I think it's hard V9 or V10.

The first move is a giant lockoff to a sloping crimp.

photo - Eric Lang

Then you setup for the crux and jump to a good sloping dish.



photos - Eric Lang

Then I figured out the sit start moves and fell off the end a few times. It will be pretty hard.

photo - Eric Lang

Another big lockoff

photo - Eric Lang

My head about to explode

photos - Eric Lang

And here's a random photo of a Joshua Tree near Las Vegas.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Keeping the Fans Happy

Okay, here's a bunch of random crap before I leave for Joe's since Andrew and Jeff keep complaining about lack of new stuff...

Eduardo trying Chumscrubber (V12) at Way Lake. This one is still waiting for a 2nd ascent despite several people (including me) falling off the end.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric teaching Wes how to kneebar on Sunshine Daydream aka Yo Picasso (V5), Tram.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Wes not kneebaring on same...

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric sticking the lip and sending Soul Caliber (V9), Tram.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric almost flashing Vanishing Point (V9), Tram... he came back from Greece weak and fat and still sent this thing.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric trying Ubiquitous (V9), Black Mountain. Conditions were not good. Quote from Eric's scorecard from that day: "baaaaaadddd conditions... water is supposed to make you buoyant..."

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eric showing off his fancy new shoes on Cosmos (V9), Black Mountain.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Jeff H. modeling for my flash at Rock Creek.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Andrew trying Life Ain't Easy (V10), Rock Creek.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

These next few are a little dark... they looked great on my computer though. Turn up your brightness if you can't see them.

Cory crushing the Campground Arete (V10), Rock Creek.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Jen Atkin trying Soulslinger (V9), Buttermilks.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Christian Griffith trying Soulslinger (V9), Buttermilks.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Somewhere between Red Rocks and the East Side.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

It's amazing how something so good (like a drive with rainbows everywhere) can turn bad so quickly...

Very flat tire somewhere between Red Rocks and the East Side.


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Unlike the last time this happened, I did have to dump everything out on the side of the road to get to the spare.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

And finally, last Saturday I put up this new line at the Boneyard. It's tall and scary with a weird landing and the hard moves are at the top. It's called Falling Star because I saw a huge shooting star that night. Probably around V7.

photo - Andrew Stevens

Boneyard Action

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Welcome to the Boneyard. This place may have had other names in the past, but with all the bones and animal parts I've seen out there, there's no better name. I feel like I'm being hunted by a mountain lion when it starts to get dark and I just have to squeeze in one more new problem.

I could go on and on about how beautiful this area is, but I'll let the photos do the talking. Let's get the artsy photos out of the way though so we can get to the climbing...


photos - Jeff Sillcox

Eric and I spent an afternoon putting up a few problems back in October. Check out the post here. But the full potential of this place has only just started to be realized in the past few weeks. Andrew Stevens, Jeff Honeywell, Wills Young, and a handful of others have ventured out with me and the current problem total stands around 47 with some very nice lines still unfinished.

If you still think Iron Man is the best V4 on the East Side, you're wrong. You were wrong even before this beauty went up, but now you're very wrong. Jeff H. nabbed the 4th ascent (pictured below) about ten minutes after Wills cleaned it ground up on the FA.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Eight feet to the left is another 20ft perfect patina face that goes somewhere in the V7-V9 range depending where you start. Here Wills cruises the easier ground above the hard moves on the FA.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Andrew on the 2nd ascent of nice V2 wave/arete problem that will probably end up with a dumb name like The Wave, La Arete, La Angle, or La Balance.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Nathan Stevens working a project that he found and cleaned.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Wills trying to find some holds on the FA of another hard, balancy line. I finally completed the line just to the left of this in the perfect orange patina yesterday. I used a pretty ridiculous sequence that is probably V10/11 and then Wills flashed it with the good beta that might be a grade or two easier. More pictures of that line in the previous Boneyard post.

photo - Jeff Honeywell

One of the few named problems... Twin Dongs (somewhere in the V3-V7 range). Jeff H. works out the moves into the dongs...

photo - Jeff Sillcox

...and Wills flashes it for the FA.

photo - Jeff Sillcox

Lots more to come... Wills and I were getting pretty close on another nice project yesterday and I failed miserably last weekend in the heat on another line that has good holds, but all face the wrong way.

The Boneyard

...and Eric

The weatherman still sucks. There's some kind of conspiracy involving Friday storms. Long story short... Saturday morning came with 40mph winds and a dusting of snow at Way Lake so we ended up at the stupid Buttermilks again (only stupid right now... it will be the best bouldering in the world again in a month).

Eric topping out Essential Peabody (V1)
When you can't climb hard, you climb high... don't do drugs.
photo - Jeff Sillcox


Eric doing intergalactic battle with a sun missile on top of the Grandma Peabody boulder.
photo - Jeff Sillcox

Then we ate a sandwich...yes, the same sandwich.

Team Fat Camp at it's finest

And then we were so fat, we got a flat tire on our way to the Boneyard...

We didn't actually have to yardsale all our gear on the highway...there's some kind of crazy tire chandelier lowering dealie that took several readings of the user manual to figure out. Tire changing tip #1: Read the captions under the pictures... don't just look at the pictures.

Look for this photo on the cover of your next 4WD Toyota Owner Magazine.


We finally made it to the Boneyard after navigating through a field of sheep...mmmm.... rack of lamb.

Eric negotiating the tricky creek crossing
photo - Jeff Sillcox

Some of the rock was a little less than solid... some would describe it as kitty litter. But we found some solid patina and finished our skin off so we won't be able to climb tomorrow.


Jeff crimping the "mouth" on Viking frame 35A72 (NASA)... still a project so feel free to name it something else related to the Red Planet if you do it first.
photos - Eric Lang