Friday, March 30, 2012

Bouldering Guides to Giscome, Hedley, and Godman Creek

In an effort to make them accessible to as many people as possible, I have decided to make the three bouldering guides I have produced in the past available on this blog. They are 'copies' of the original guides, as I am making them available via Google Docs. This virtually guarantees that most people will be able to print copies of the guides if they wish (although the quality may be somewhat less than the original PDFs). I'll also provide links to active URLs where the original PDFs are hosted. Happy Bouldering!

The Giscome Boulders, near Prince George (BC). A fun little bouldering area on reasonably decent granodiorite. Only 50 problems, but several are of exceptional quality, including Fear of Flight (V2), Solar Power (V4/5), and Amon Ra (V10). This was the first guide I wrote (back in the late 90's, I think), and the grades are 'Northern Rockies Stiff', i.e. notably stiffer than those of Squamish. The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

The Old Hedley Road Boulders, between Princeton and Hedley (BC). This is a fun area in the arid south of the province, and could ultimately hold a few hundred problems. A few friends and I spent a several days there, cleaning stuff up, and had lots of fun. The rock is a generally solid granodiorite (some boulders have smooth water-worn features), and the landings are often very flat and sandy. There is an AMAZING swimming hole nearby, with some very fun deep-water soloing over a deep, clear, warm pool in the Similkameen River. Standout problems include Scot's Cave (V7/8), Inner Vision (V5), and Nose Job (V1). The boulders are essentially scattered at the base of a talus slope adjacent to a Provincial Campground; only a short walk from your campsite to the boulders! The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

The Godman Creek Boulders are located in West Vancouver, just off the Sea-to-Sky Highway that links Vancouver and Squamish. I was pretty heavily involved in the development of this area, after discovering it on one of my many 'boulder-hunting' forays (some people hunt mushrooms, other hunt for bargains, I hunt for boulders). The problems at Godman Creek are generally on short bluffs of granite similar to Squamish. The problems here are generally slabby, although there are a few steep lines as well (including Jenga V4). There are several decent lines here, althought the REAL classic of the area is the highball Moby Dick (V1), cleaned valiantly by Ronald Gagne. Other great problems include Trent's Baby (V4) and Trouser Trumpet (V2). The Google Doc version of the PDF can be found HERE, and the original PDF (requires Adobe Reader) can be found HERE.

Enjoy!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Gym Projects

In the wake of last month's competition, the walls of the GPRC climbing gym were a little thin, so Julian and I spent four hours last night setting routes and boulder problems. I had thought we were only going to set for a couple of hours (from 9 until 11), but Julian is a machine, and we ended up setting until almost 2am. We had a productive time, though. Julian set two routes, and I set a route and five boulder problems. We were mostly setting moderate routes, and three of the five problems I set were fairly moderate. I did manage to set a couple of harder problems as well; these new lines, combined with all the new problems that Julian, Steven, and Noah set, will mean that the gym is well-stocked with projects for the next month or so. Spring training will be fun!

Spring is almost here! I am planning on heading out to Hasler in the next few weeks, to start climbing and cleaning new projects. More to come!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Training!

Many people (myself included) primarily just climb (mostly in a gym) to train for climbing. There are those, however, that REALLY train to climb - and reap the benefits when they become monstrously strong. Markus Bendler is one of these people. Check out this video (first in a series).(Go to http://vimeo.com/36429174 if the link doesn't work for you).

Eisprinz - Chapter one (with Markus Bendler) Indoor Training from Berni Kogler on Vimeo.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Hasler Cracks

Spring is slowly, but surely, coming to the Peace River country. With spring, of course, will come climbing. New projects, new boulders, routes to be bolted, cliffs to be climbed. I'm excited to try and climb the four hard cracks at Hasler Bluffs this year. I know at least 2 (maybe 3) of them have been done, but the fourth may remain unclimbed. Regardless, they all look great - thin cracks up faces that are either steep slabs or vertical faces. Here's a photo of Pressure Cooker (5.6 A1, with the A1 section being the thin crack that constitutes the bottom 3/4 of the route). Would be nice to climb this thing...