Showing posts with label Exploring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploring. Show all posts

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Searching for Boulders

 Over the last year or so, David and I have spent a lot of time exploring the mountain ranges of Montana, looking for new boulders. With the help of Google Earth and friends, we have honed in on several large boulder fields. However, the perfect area is yet to be found. Often, the drive to a particular location is two or more hours, with as many as 30 miles on rough dirt road. Or the hike (without pads) is in excess of one or two hours. Or the boulders are plentiful, but too slabby, too chossy, or too small. 

Friday, June 27, 2014

Searching for Boulders


Looks more like ski season...









Last Saturday my friend, Sander, and I decided to head into the southern Tobacco Route Mountains to look for new boulders. I had used Google Earth to look at the mountains there, and found a couple of really big boulder fields with really big-looking boulders.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Boulders in Sport Climbing Land?


I am probably not the first one driving through Ten Sleep Canyon looking at all the boulders generously spread throughout. I am also probably not the first one running around and looking at them. Yet, unfortunately I leave the boulders with the same conclusion way too often: big, amazing looking boulders from a distance - but up-close, you'll understand why there's not more people around hauling crash pads.
You would think that people coming here to sport climb just don't care about bouldering - and that would be the reason why there's no established bouldering. I am sure that's true to some extent, but I'm slowly starting to accept that there is no, or at least very few, boulders even worth looking at. It's either no holds at all, completely blank. Or millions of small, sharp pockets that would cut you up immediately.

I have NOT given up yet though. I'm sure that I, on one of my regular "looking-for-stuff-walks," will find something worth whatever it takes to climb it. I am not even looking to find a new area to develop, just something that would be worth the process that leads from finding to climbing, and being ready to start looking for the next thing. That's the good thing. It never stops!


I have and will always have a love for slabs, especially for tall ones like the one above. 27 feet (8 m) of good old slab climbing. This is the most recent one, well, I guess the only one I have bean psyched enough on to brush. Can't wait to try it! And when that's done I just have to move a couple of steps to the left for a taller and sketchier one.



Look at this! THIS is when you wished that there was more holds. The picture makes it even look like there's more holds than there are. This is what makes me keep my hopes up though.
Have a good one!!