Yesterday, I headed out to Service Boulder for a quick session after work and found myself thinking about the first time I discovered the boulder back in 1997. Climbers had been climbing out at service since at least the early 80’s, maybe earlier and someone had created a one page topo of it with directions. The copy I got had been printed and reprinted to the point where the text was pretty much illegible, but you could make out the directions to the boulder and a little bit about the grades.
My old friend and climbing partner Chris Terry and I (not knowing the trails up there at all) proceeded to spend the better part of an afternoon trying to find the boulder. When we finally did find it, we were like giddy school kids. We didn’t care about the grafitti (although there was much less then), we didn’t care about the gnarly sharp rock, we didn’t care about the bears, moose, broken bottles, or foot deep layer of moss over most of the boulder. It was a real boulder, and right in Anchorage. We went out pretty regularly for a couple of weeks cleaning all of the moss off the boulder and discovering holds, finding problems and doing almost every eliminate we could think of. I learned alot about how to climb on granite during that time, and it certainly sparked my desire to search out and find new boulders and new climbs.
Since then I’ve made at least one trip out to Service Boulder every year. Over the years, the area has changed and yesterday’s trip it seemed pretty dramatic. As you leave the ski trails to get to the boulder you walk along a trail that winds through some alders and willow trees. In 1997, this was two foot tall grass with no alders or trees. The boulder itself had a few small places with grafitti, but now most of the boulder is covered in spray paint. Even so Service is still a special place to me and a nice fast break from suburban Anchorage.
Enjoy a short video from yesterday.
Now this all makes sense. We were starting “I am U” off of the lowest holds possible(underclings on the dihedral) moving left and then trying to set-up into the crimp you started on…bloody hell, local beta would have been tip-top. Cheers Brother!
I’ve done the sit start from those underclings, but it doesn’t really make any difference to the difficulty if you go up with your right hand first. Going up with your left hand first would make it a touch more challenging since there’s no reall hold for your left hand…
Hey Todd,
Just came across this while searching for bouldering near Anchorage. I am the guy who found and developed the Service Boulder starting in May 1979. When a friend and i discovered it, it was completely covered by a thick moss carpet which we rolled off of the easy side. For several years, it was visible on that side before finally dissolving into the landscape. There was sign of an old fire on top but that was it. The only reason we saw it was there were big forest fires nearby in 1977 and a lot of the forest was burnt to the ground. In those days, there were fewer ski trails and no students from Service so it was extremely peaceful and quiet while we wire brushed the entire rock and did all of the obvious routes. By 1986, we had done every route there was to do. I was last there a couple of years ago but the graffiti was a burn turnoff and I haven’t been back, preferring to remember the “good old days”.
I enjoyed your video tour: I always wanted to do the same but that was back in the days of VHS and Beta (before it became climbing lingo!) and I never got around to it. Let me know if you want to know more.
See you at the gym!
Alan
Alan,
Thanks for the reply and the history. I knew we weren’t the first. Not by a long shot, but the turnover in Anchorage is so great I’m never sure who did what and where. I’d love to sit down with you over coffee or a beer and talk to you about some of the bouldering you guys did. I’ve been working on putting together a guidbook for southcentral and would really love to see what you think.