The release of Marc Bourdon’s new guidebook has invigorated climbers everywhere, myself included. This is partly due to his list of Top 100 Boulder Problems. I’ve made it a goal to tick as many of those problems off as I can. I’m getting close! I’m 77% of the way through and there are still plenty left that I’m sure I’m capable of doing. I’ve sure picked the list over though. I’m left with problems in areas that I’ve never been to like the Powerline Boulders, problems that are are too hard for me, and a problem that I don’t think should be problem, but still a project (I won’t get into that here, however). This list has been the topic of discussion many times when I’m out in the forest. I often hear people complain about how some of the problems just aren’t that good, or about how some problems that are total gems aren’t on the list. I usually defend Marc by saying that the list is meant to highlight some of the best problems in each of the bouldering areas. And I think it’s great because it’s motivated me to get out to different areas like Paradise Valley, Furry Creek, and the Smoke Bluffs so that I can boulder something new and hopefully good.

The guidebook also has a list of the best highballs that I want to do as well, but aren’t included in the Top 100. On Sunday I tried Black Slabbath, first ascended by Jeremy Blummel, that I couldn’t do. I got about 3/4 of the way up, but then it got really hard! Let me know if you any of you want to try this with me again. Especially if you have foot beta!

I snapped some pics over the weekend. These are all problems from the Top 100 list. Here they are:

Ryan Olson on Ramen Raw, V7

Vikki Weldon on Sunshine and Lollipops, V5

Mike Weldon on Sunshine and Lollipops, V5

Mike Weldon on Enchanted, V4

Vikki Weldon on The Fridge, V7

Mike Weldon on The Fridge, V7

Sorry, not newly scrubbed problems waiting for second ascents. I’m talking about new problems for me! This weekend I climbed 7 problems that I’ve never done before. This might not seem like a big deal, but for me it’s exciting. Lately I’ve been struggling with motivation to boulder in Squamish. I’m sick of doing the same old circuits and trying my same old projects. Show me something new! So here’s the list of problems I did this weekend.

• Mr. Bigglesworth Low, V9/10
• Immunity Challenge, V7
• Stalling Tim, V10
• Phantom Power, V8
• Missing in Action, V7
• Missing Reaction, V7
• Prime Time Sit, V5

I’m also a proud owner of the new Squamish Bouldering Guidebook, written by Marc Bourdon. In it are tons of new problems that I’m super psyched to try. Even though I consider myself a Squamish local, there’s no way I can keep up with the latest and greatest. I can’t count the times I’ve had people tell me about newly sent test pieces only to forget their names and where they are 20 minutes later. Thanks Marc, for a fantastic guide!

Picture time!

Ryan Olson on Mr. Bigglesworth Low, V10

Yeah, What?

Vikki Weldon, Monkey Brushing

Vikki Weldon, Killing Me Softly, V6

Back to the boulders. It’s been a few weeks. I decided to just circuit today. To stay motivated I set an unrealistic goal of doing 250 points in one session. I quickly realized that this was out of my ability so I lowered the goal to 150 points. For those of you that don’t know what I mean just add up the grades of all the boulder problems you do in a single session. Repeats are not allowed. So if you climb a V5, V9 and V3, you get 17 points. I also told my self that V3 was the easiest problem I was allowed to do. Here’s the list of boulder problems I did in order.

1. Titanic, 3 pts
2. Titanic Low, 5 pts
3. It’s About Time, 5 pts
4. Air Tight Garage, 6 pts
5. Tim’s Sloper Problem, 5 pts
6. Sesame Street, 8 pts
7. Viper, 5 pts
8. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 7 pts
9. Sloppy Poppy, 4 pts
10. Sloppy Poppy Traverse, 4 pts
11. Hoop Wrangler, 5 pts
12. Autobody (aka Fixin’ the Car), 8 pts
13. Mantel Madness, 4 pts
14. Worm World Cave, 8 pts
15. Atlas, 4 pts
16. Trad Killer, 4 pts
17. Heartbreak Hotel, 3 pts
18. Stinger Left, 6 pts
19. No Troublems, 9 pts
20. Jack’s Baby, 5 pts
21. Mindbender, 7 pts
22. Master Plan, 7 pts
23. Golden Boy, 7 pts
24. SDS to Holm Boy, 6 pts
25. Swank Stretch, 5 pts
26. Easy Chair, 4 pts
27. Superfly, 4 pts
28. Wafer Thin, 5 pts
29. Crack Head, 3 pts

If I add everything up correctly that’s 156 points! I didn’t need to do one of the last problems, but I had lost count and I wanted to make sure I got past 150. I’m pretty psyched on this list. Most of the problems are well known classics. I didn’t even get down to the Gibb’s cave area. I think next time I could easily hit 200 points. Especially if I planned a little better. 30 problems in one session, especially on a hot day, is very draining. My skin is trashed and my toes really hurt (I’m also breaking in new Miura VS’). Having a few more hard problems in there would help for sure.

Circuiting is a great alternative to spending an entire day sessioning a project. You get a lot of mileage. Joining someone else’s circuit is good too because you usually climb new problems or at least one’s you don’t do often.

Do any of you guys have a Squamish circuit that you want to share here? It doesn’t have to be for points. It could be a warm up circuit, a V5 only circuit, a “Problems that start with S” circuit… you name it!

Despite the sketchy weather this weekend, I was still able to put a full day of climbing in. I got out with Edge Crew members Ryder Hoy and Laura Crowe-Hutchon, fellow coach Vikki Weldon, and good friend Rob Arthurs. We trekked to Chekamus Canyon for some sports action. My Impreza had no problem with the hill leading to the upper parking lot. And after a short flat hike, we arrived.

Dry on a rainy day

With overcast weather, an early afternoon start, and many cars parked in the lots, I anticipated a large crowd. Surprisingly, we were the first ones at the Circus Wall! I suppose popular areas like the Forgotten Wall have drawn people away from the more classic Chekamus locations, which is just fine with me.

Vikki Weldon warming up on the Heifer

We spent the first few hours trying routes on the Circus. Ryder and Laura both sent Face the Music, while I snapped some pics. By then more people arrived, but there were still no lineups for routes. At around 3pm it started to drizzle, but the timing was perfect because we were warmed up and ready to run laps on the Big Show Wall. Vikki has been working Division Bell, so she was psyched to put in more redpoint burns. I just wanted re-redpoint the Bell and Pulse. Laura and Ryder were keen to get on something steep and intimidating.

Ryder Hoy wondering what a Fleeing Heifer is.

Laura Crowe-Hutchon redpointing Face the Music

At the base of the routes there were some Petzl draws left behind. Probably traces of Joe Kinder’s recent visit. (By the way, I agree, Gom Jabbar is not a route!) Anyway, it continued to rain while we all got on the steep awesomeness. Vikki almost redpointed Division Bell! She got through the crux with her funky drop-knee beta, rested using a painful knee-bar, then pushed through the last powerful sequence. She was just a little too juiced and fell 5 moves from the top. I struggled my way up Pulse, then flailed miserably on Free Will.

Vikki Weldon nearly redpointing Division Bell

We ended our day at around 8pm with Sushi goodness for dinner and an Indy Car Race home. I had a good day with great friends. I’m tempted to spend the rest of my summer on a rope. I could use the endurance training for when I travel to France this August. Ceuse is a destination so I need to be able to climb 30 meter pitches!

Who knew that “Mañana Mañana” actually means “Tomorrow Morning”, not “Tomorrow Tomorrow” or “The day after tomorrow.” Well anyways, as I said last post, the morning after SuperKrank was looking promising for outdoor fun. Sunday turned out to be beautiful. The rock was 100% dry. Hard to believe it after all that rain! My first stop of the day was to the warm up area. Without much surprise, I see Will Stanhope working slab. Barefoot! His smears were a little sketchy and he cheese gratered off. I hear him mumble something to himself as he takes off his chalk bag. Acting like it was totally normal, he proceeds to chalk up his big toes. Of course! It’s a slab climb, chalk is essential for maximum stick. You gotta give the guy credit. He sent next go! This initial encounter was the start of a Stanhope themed day.

The sun was shining bright and we all wanted to be in it. So myself and the other usual suspects headed to the Apron Talus. I did a few laps on Cutting Edge and snapped a few shots while others climbed. As you can see, we’re all sleeveless, the sky is blue, and smiles prevail.

We headed up the hill to try This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven. There was already a crew of hot climber girls sessioning the problem, but that didn’t deter Big Willy from asserting his manliness. Where can I get me some of that irrresistable charm!? As usual the girls fought over who got to spot. In the end, they all did, after all, there’s enough of Will to share. Outstretched, as if in praise, the girls all hoped Will would fall into their arms. Alas, no such thing happened for Will rose above them all like a monkey bound for heaven.