RRC Archives

I'll let you know Wes!

Cool.

Life is still nice down here on the border. Weather is still kicking. only missed one morning session due to rain/wind/cold.

Hope all is well back that way.

Wes

It's beautiful! All the snow everywhere, and it's not too cold here anymore. Probably not prime climbing weather, but it's cool to feel and hear snow crunch beneath your feet as you walk.

Up here in Illinois we didnt get a whole lot of snow, a little bit more would have made it better, now its just slushy and cold

man maybe i don't know much about bouldering then. you can take mushroom, I will take some non-tendony, mamoth polished, over-hyped boulder any day.

i am actually right above you in new mexico right now wes. if i wasn't on a tight schedule i would come down and visit.

glad you are having a good time.

While quality is subjective and every one knows what they like and dislike and I respect others opinions, I'll attempt to relate why I think mushroom is good.
When I was going there a lot (early 90's to mid 90's)
no one really was raving about any one boulder in particular as being the best/worst. Rather, there were certain must do problems from VO to Vnicole which generally included but were not limited to -- fluid-enjoyable movement, good landing, bomber rock, aesthetic/inspiring looking lines, and approach. No less than 5 of these lines were found on the mushroom, from V0 to V10. this alone adds to the quality of the boulder as most any boulderer can enjoy. Now I've never held that majority opinion is the end all deciding factor of anything but the chalk usually don't lie, and a bit unfortunately, the more chalk a problem has on it the higher quality it will likely be! There are hordes of other boulders and problems near mushroom that you've never heard of and probably never will have no chalk on them and rarely get touched. 90% of the time the reason is that they are missing some/all of the qualities I mentioned above. Overhype seems like a reaction to what other people say rather than a formulation your own opinion, kind of like a good song that gets played too much on the radio. I can empathize with this though as climbers spray more than most and often make it sound like you will be entering nirvana if you just go get on a certain problem (not the problems fault). Too tendony? we are talking about bouldering arent' we-- nuff said. To me the mammoth rub , which I'm not sure is even factual, adds to the story of the boulder and makes it more interesting. The top out view is great. Hueco is a powerful place to boulder, most people who don't like it, dislike it for this reason, few places are better though to increase your power. my $0.02
-- If you head through Socorro, check out Box Canyon if you get a chance-- some good bouldering there.

Right on Lateralus. Merrick you are so picky in your bouldering that you don't like problems with "tendony" holds or slippery footwork. It must be really difficult for you to find or enjoy bouldering in the US. I would love to hear about your favorite bouldering area.

man I have been hearing great things about box canyon. i am going to head there for late february.

i agree taste is definately subjective. we just have a difference of opinion. but you have to admit, that boulder is now hyped. i think it gets a lot more attention that it would otherwise if it hadn't repeatedly been called the greatest boulder in america. i think that explains at least some of the chalk on it.

jr, yea i guess i am picky. i feel that i have sampled enough varied bouldering areas to know what i like. i have done pretty hard boulder problems that are not what i would call tendony. and i do like friction.

my absolute favorite bouldering area is fontainebleau. it is not tendony and the friction is the best i have ever experienced. after that I would lump the bouldering areas i have been to into three groups.

fan-f**king-tastic
Happy Boulders, CA
Sad Boulders, CA
Druid Stones, CA
Joe's Valley, UT
Moe's Valley, UT
Hueco Tanks, TX
Squamish, BC, Canada
Rocktown, GA
Grandmother, NC
Lost Cove, NC
Rumbling Bald, NC
Little Rock City, TN
Horse Pens 40, AL

i would go back
Ross Park, ID
Buttermilks, CA
Red Rocks, NV
Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT
Big Bend Boulders, UT
Rock City, KS
Lumpy Ridge, CO
Flagstaff Mountain, CO
Turtle Lake, CO
Central Park Boulders, NY
Red River Gorge, KY
Niagra Glen, Canada
New River Gorge, WV
The Gunks, NY


only if i was there for some other reason
Blodgett Canyon, MT
Boulder City, WY
Jenny Lake Boulders, WY
Joshua Tree, CA
Oak Flats, AZ
Bird Sanctuary, AZ
Garden of the Gods, CO
Meat Packing Plant, SD
Cook County Boulder, IL
Harbor Wall, IL
Acadia, ME
North Haven Boulders, ME

dude, box canyon sucks donkey dick. that place is the biggest fucking pile i've ever been to on a road trip. i guess it's good for out west or new mexico.

Week three was super cool as well. There are now a bunch of RRG people here with more on the way. Got to watch the 2nd assent of a V14 yesterday - super cool.

Super nice weather the last few days - 60's and sunny.

The mushroom is pretty cool, but there is also a ton of other cool problems as well, and that is just on North.

Wes