So right after posting about not getting outside, I get a free day and head to Archangel with Chris B., Josh H., Dusty, and Anna. Josh and Dusty hadn’t been bouldering in Archangel before, so I took them on the Diamond/Fairangel tour ending up at Girlfriend Boulder. We warmed up there for a bit and while everything was a bit damp, it was climbable. Josh spied a nice variation to Psycho Ex, starting on Tank Girl and traversing the right leaning arete into the crux of Psycho Ex. It adds about 5 moves, but is about the same difficulty as the straight up version.
After that we headed over to try Drew’s new problem Candide. This problem is in a group of boulders at the bottom left of tunnel vision gully, just past the pond. We also cleaned/climbed two new problems in the same boulder group. It had started raining while we figured out Candide, so the top-outs were a bit wet, adding that little bit extra spice. The lower right problem Singing in the Rain – v6 has a bit of a dirt-burglar start, but once in position to pull off the fin feature, it climbs really well. The second line to the left (unnamed -v5) starts matched on the fin and goes straight up. There are probably about 10-15 more moderate problems to be done here.
Josh on Singing in the Rain - v6 Photo by Chris Barnett
Next, we headed up to Clan of the Cave Trolls, a new v10 Brian Capps put up last month while visiting from Colorado. The beta is pretty straight forward, mostly revolving around a high heel toe cam and a punchy move from a poor crimp on the roof. After falling off the top-out second go (wet and dirty holds make for a very hard topout), I had three brainfart’s mid climb, then sent it 6th go. Josh worked this for a bit, but had a hard time locking his heel in for the crux move.
While I was working this, Dusty, Josh, and Chris cleaned a new problem that starts off the same low jug as Clan of the Cave Trolls and goes leftward to the lip and tops out via a neat move.
Chris Barnett on new v3 Photo by Josh Hoeschen
Lastly we headed down and both Josh and Chris B fired off The Insider.
4 new problems and a couple of hard repeats made for a great day in the rain.
Nice ascent Todd. Man, I can’t wait to get up there…11 more days. Awesome find by Brian!
Thanks! Definitely props to Brian for the find and send. So much to do, so little time and weather …..
What does the weather window for gate closure look like? I get back on the 18th and definitely want to get every day I can up there. I will have the 20th and 21st(Tues and Wed)off too. Cheers!