Winter bouldering may be an oxymoron to most climbers, especially here in
New England, but to a dedicated few, there is no better time to be out there.
Being New England though, the weather is as predictable as the lottery. This
being the case, Mother Nature chose to dump over six inches of snow
this past week (ed. - not to worry, this was written last winter!) and topped
that with a dose of freezing rain on the boulders of Lincoln Woods. What
to do? Go to the gym? Hit the hangboard? No thanks.
Knowing a sunny spell was ahead, I decided to pick up a shovel and head to
the woods to clean up some rock. Removing the crusted snow was as challenging
as some of the problems I would later climb. Just getting on top of the boulders
was difficult, but without removing the snow on top, the melt water would
run down the face by day and re-freeze again at night making climbing impossible
until all but the best weather settled in. The Try Again boulder proved the
toughest challenge, sending me sliding back down four times before getting
purchase and completing the cleaning. The only left to do was give it a day
and let the sun do it's job.
Before heading out the next day, I hit the weights for a half hour and did
some deep stretching to warm up. There isn't much to warm up on in such
conditions, so this was a must to climb well. With the temperatures a solid
ten degrees and no wind, the day looked good. After gathering up all the
essentials, shovel, hot tea, extra socks, and tarp, I arrived to find
Try Again in perfect condition.
I managed to climb here, and at a few other south-facing areas, for a few
hours before the sun went down and temperatures really dropped off. Thanks
to a little extra work, there are boulders we can climb on year round. So,
get motivated, go out and shovel off your project, trust me, it's worth the
extra effort. I will be maintaining Try Again, the Warm-up area, The Heart,
and The Egg this winter. Let us know if your local area will see any traffic
this winter. Stay warm and keep cranking. |
