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Updated 9/4/00

Bouldering News-August 2000

8/27/00 Western Massachusetts submitted by Pete Ward
    For the most part Jason Danforth is a pretty normal guy. He's a student, likes eating, likes women, and loves bouldering. Other than the fact that he is probably stronger than you, probably nicer than your mother, and modest to a fault, he doesn't stand out very much (except for the fact that he has a really cool tattoo). Lately Jason has migrated to the Gniess bouldering of Western Mass achusetts from his normal stomping grounds at the Gunks where his numerous sends include Orgasm, V10, Vortex Yoga, V9 (he casually mentions that he has done almost every V9 in the Gunks), and a flash of Eroca Never Dies, V8 at the Peterskill.

Fortunately for us in Western Massachusetts, Jason doesn't reserve his most impressive displays for New York. On one visit Ward Smith's newest area (The Hideaway) he dispatched the Millennium boulder in fine style, sending Tips Away, V8/9, The Pocket Problem, V8, and finishing with a flash of Steve Johnson's All The Way, V8, all in about one and a half hours. He then came within one move of adding a twenty foot V6 traverse into Tips Away. Earlier this spring he sent Wet Banana, V9, at Farley in under an hour, and was quickly done with Jon LaValleys The Tempest, V8, at the brand new Happy Valley area (stay tuned for more info on this new area). Right: Jason bouldering at Lincoln Woods.

    Recently he made the drive out from Albany and beat a crew strong boulderers to the FA of the scary highball Amorphisity, V5, whose grade should increase one number for every pad removed from the stack. True there were a lot of pads on the ground, but there was also the knowledge that Micah Jessup had recently broken his ankle in a fall while attempting the same problem.
   In many ways, Jason is the quintessential New England boulderer; hideously strong, but more interested in the people he's climbing with than the rock he's climbing on. His ability and demeanor are refreshing and motivating, and if you have the good fortune to watch him send like a madman and then spray mercilessly about how good someone else is, enjoy the spectacle. However, heed this word of caution: Do NOT make fun of his tattoo.

8/27/00 Lincoln Woods, RI
    Walter Szeliga has had an excellent few weeks of bouldering at Lincoln Woods with ascents of Midnight Lichen, V8, The Left Sitstart to Try Again, V8, and Die Harder, V8, as well as several V6s and V7s.

8/27/00 Petra Cliffs, Burlington, VT submitted by Dave Furman
    The king and queen of vermont bouldering (for what it's worth) are Pete Kamitses and Ali Tabin. Joel Weston had the top score for jr men. Ali proved once again that she's a pretty damn consistent climber and Pete proved that if you show up for more comps than anyone else, you can blow the doors off the competition. 22 climbers competed over the course of four comps. Scores were cumulative. Prizes were awarded by raffle, and were donated by Climb High, PrAna, Bison Chalk balls, The outdoor gear exchange www.gearx.com, and La Sportiva. They all helped out a lot, they're all cool folks, and we couldn't have pulled it off without them, so PLEASE BUY THEIR STUFF!! As the event organizer I had a blast watching people send my routes, get spanked by other routes, but best of all was handing out all the booty--I felt like Santa!!

8/22/00 Kyrgyzstan
    In the former region of Kyrgyzstan, a North Face climbing team of Tommy Caldwell, Jason Smith, Beth Radley, and John Dickey were taken hostage by a group of rebels. After being held captive for six days, the group managed to escape by reportedly pushing one of their captors off a cliff to his death. For more on this story, click here.

8/17/00 Utah
    Rumor has it that Dave Graham flashed a 5.14a at the Fortress near Rifle, Colorado. This crag is home to Tommy Caldwell's Kryptonite the U.S.' first 5.14d. Dave reportedly onsighted Nick Sagar's Super Powers, after which Luke Parady and Joe Kinder also redpointed the route. Additionally, Dave  recently finished second at the "Bring the Ruckus" bouldering comp at the Wasatch Front Climbing gym, behind Chris Sharma (check out www.smackmag.com for more details on this comp). We will have more details soon.

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