Not So Hidden Anymore

Sunday, I got to the Roadside Boulders at Munson Lake before the others.  As I drove past Graffiti Block, I noticed the little pond nearby had dried up so stopped the car to have a look.  This is a really cool looking boulder, but it has a deep dark pool of water (that's fed by the pond) around half of it's base –and it's the the half that's worth climbing.  Last fall, I tried tossing a few big granite blocks into the murk hoping to build up a platform to keep the pads dry. They disappeared into the depths.  I rolled the largest blocks I could find to the edge and pushed them over.  They also disappeared well below the surface.  It seemed bottomless.  Many times since, I've made a splash by lobbing rocks from the road to the base of the boulder.

Last month, it was finally dry enough for me to grab the first climb on the Graffiti Block (Sugar Ditch V1), which is to the right of the water hole.  At that time, it was possible to see some of the rocks just below the surface.  Yesterday most were well-above the water.  With some rearranging and additions, I managed to complete a dry and flat-ish landing zone.  I got to work scrubbing just as Shawn and Denise pulled up.

Since these problems looked a little too tough to warm-up on, we continued a bit farther to the Hidden Wall.

Shawn cut limbs and trunks, while Denise and I scrubbed rock and hauled brush.  Then we all scrubbed.  Then they cut a trail and I scrubbed.  Then Shawn built up a landing and everybody scrubbed some more.  Though you still can't see them from the road, these boulders are no longer lost in a jumble of spruce branches and dead birches.  You can actually identify where one boulder ends and the next one begins.  The landings are much improved.  Beer bottles were removed.

The view of Hidden Wall from the new trail.  This face has a long traverse that's been done both ways.

Shawn lacing up for Cow Birther V1 in the foreground, with the middle boulder nicely exposed in behind.

All told, we exposed 8 lines on the southernmost and big middle boulders where we thought there might be 4.  We climbed 4 of them.

On the way out, they asked for a tour of the Slab Area.  Unable to just look, we dragged the pads along as Shawn and Denise quickly dispatched another 4 or 5 problems each before calling it a (9 1/2 hour) day.

***

Monday, I awoke to the sun and songbirds after a restful night in the tent.  After breakfast and a warm-up, I wanted to work a great project at the Cornerstones.  By 10:30, despite feeling that I'd worked out the beta for the one move that was still giving me trouble, and had become more consistent on the rest, I couldn't get it.  It was too hot for the rubber and too slick for my skin.

Back to Roadside I went, but this time to Piled Up.  It was hotter, more humid and with less wind at than on Sunday.  So hot that your hands blister even with gloves on.  Despite this, I managed to scrub 5 new problems and send 2 of them before hunger brought me back to the car for lunch 3 hours later.  Dirty, sweaty, thin skinned, and still hungry I came home.

These boulders are only about 7' high, but have a tricky, rounded topout.  The off-width in is Wrestling Match V1, and the right arete is Baldilocks V3.

As I type this, I can think of a dozen problems on the West side of the Lake that are (nearly, at lest) clean and ready to go.  I am clean now, I've eaten, and it's much cooler in the City, but my skin hasn't grown back yet and I'm hungry again; those twelve FA's will have to wait for another time.