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Updated 10/30/00

Bouldering News

10/30/00 Pawtuckaway, NH
     Dave Graham recently sent what is probably New England's hardest boulder problem, The Ill Saint, at the Round Pond area at Pawtuckaway. Dave says this problem "has the worst holds I've ever grabbed. I spent maybe 4 days on it last winter and spring, but could never figure out some key foot beta. I went there the other day and figured out a weird foot switch" which turned out to be the key to the problem. Dave has given the problem a V12+ rating, and says, "It's not as hard physically as Nothin But Sunshine or Mandala, but it's different. Its a weird balance, crimp problem, that relies on body position and pain tolerance. So I guess it comes in around hard V12." Dave also added some hard new problems to a recently discovered area at Pawtuckaway: The Rat Fish, a V11+ dyno, Uncle Climax, V9, a "a rad campus start problem on bad edges," The Painfull Traverse, V9, "a brilliant sloper problem until an absurdly painfull finger lock move," and The Arete of Death, V9, a not so deadly, burly overhanging arete/face.

10/24/00 Rumney, NH
     Seventeen year old Adam Osterhoff sent his first 5.14 yesterday at Rumney. Rather than tackling a "soft" 14a for his first 14, Adam sent Supernova at the Starship crag, a route which seems to be consensus 5.14b. Adam spent 10 days on the route, and, we believe, he becomes the first Rhode Island resident to send 5.14! 

10/22/00 Lincoln Woods, RI
     A strong crew of over 30 boulderers showed up on Saturday for the first Lincoln Woods Cleanup day. The group gathered an impressive pile of trash, including a 55-gallon drum from the pond, some questionable reading material (which seemed to disappear from the pile) and an old car jack. Joe McLoughlin found the most unique piece of trash, an inflatable butt pillow, but put his prize, a copy of Rampage, up for raffle. Pete Profit won the video, Don "the UPS guy" Quenneville won a hangboard for rescuing a picnic table from obscurity, and Larry Norin won a Misty chalkpot in a raffle. Many others won bouldering brushes in the raffle. NewEnglandBouldering.com supplied the video, the trashbags, and refreshments; BoulderingGear.com supplied the hangboard, the chalkpot, and bouldering brushes; and Carabiner's climbing gym supplied the rubber gloves and free day passes to all participants. Thanks go to Pete MacDonald, Peter Profit, Jim Pasquino, Jay Conway, John Kohanski, Chris Trautz, Mike Dominguez, Lee Soares, Bob Ahearn, Dave Antaya, Don Quenneville, Russ Greenwald, Derek Hanrahan, Liz Fuller, Issa Beltran, Beth Adams, Scott Howard, Roger Klinger, Amy Cohen, Tony Veltri, and anyone else who's name we didn't get for donating their time and efforts to clean the park.

10/11/00 Rumney, NH
   Home sweet home. Finally home from his extended climbing trip out west (but only for a few weeks before heading to Europe), Dave Graham added the 12th 5.14 to Rumney's impressive list yesterday. Dave sent a three bolt route to the right of Technosurfer formerly known as The Sea Cucumber project. Dave says he worked on the route, now known as The Single Celled Animal, off and on over the course of five days. He has rated the short route 5.14b. Also, Joe Kinder did the second ascent of Luke Parady's Rythm X, 5.13b, and Dave flashed the route.

10/10/00 New England
   The website www.8a.nu has developed a unique rating system to rank the world's best climbers based on their outdoor climbing performances. Using a rolling average of each climber's 10 best sends (both for bouldering and routes) over the past year, they have ranked the world's best. Wouldn't you know it that New Englander Dave Graham ranks third in the routes category behind Yuji Hirayama and Francois Legrand. While visiting this site be sure to enter your ten best sends to see where you stack up against the big boys using their cool scorecard system. Let the 8a.nu guys know your opinion of their system by posting a message on the message board.

10/10/00 Northampton, MA
     Better late than never, but here are the results from the September 23, 2000 Cave Rave II bouldering competition at the Northampton Athletic Club. Check out www.northamptonac.com for a full write up on the comp.

Men's Expert 1. Tyson Holub 2. Matt Wilder 3. Mike Weinberg	Women's Expert 1. Kimberly Lommler 2. Alyssa Bennett
Men's Intermediate 1. Alex Spiegel 2. Martin Keck 3. Brad Landry	Women's Intermediate 1. Tory Michak 2. Caitlin Folchman-Wagner
Men's Beginner 1. Paul Warner 2. Jon Karon 3. Sam Hathaway	Women's Beginner 1. Loretta White 2. Noriko Tonomura 3. Jenn Zala

10/1/00 Bishop, CA
   Joe Kinder reports that Dave Graham has done the second ascent of Chris Sharma's landmark Buttermilk problem, The Mandala. Although Sharma did not officially rate the problem, rumors had circulated that it was around V13, maybe 14. Joe says that it took Dave four days to send this problem and that he sent it twice that day (the second time for photos). Jared Roth was also working on the problme with Dave and is reportedly close to sending it as well. For a great blow by blow account by Wills Young, check out www.rockandice.com.

Disclaimer

Bouldering is dangerous. You could be seriously injured or killed. Do not attempt any of the problems described in this web page unless you have the expertise to do so. NewEnglandBouldering.com does not assume any liability for your safety or well being.