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Updated 11/23/03

Bouldering News

If you have some news or some other spray send it on to Steve Rosenfield, our news editor, at wantstrength@newenglandbouldering.com.

But the ascent that generated the most local excitement was Alyssa Bennett’s flash of Competitive Urge from the sit-start. Alyssa thought that her flash should lead to obvious discussions of its grade and these discussions may be warranted. However, first ascentionist Joe Kinder originally estimated the grade at V10, and Joel Brady concurred as he thought it was the hardest problem he climbed in his visit. Although locals have tried, these are the only other known repeats, so it would seem that the grade is solid. Perhaps even stiff for V9.

Joel Brady on the second ascent (first from the sds) of Swisher Sweets, V10. Photograph by Pete Ward.

Chris Fowler on Rotissiere Chicken, V8. Photograph by Pete Ward.

Joel Brady working on Brother's Keeper, V11. Photograph by Pete Ward.

Philippe Naulot sending his new problem, The Hardest Button to Button, V10, at Borderland, MA.
Photograph by Mike Galoob.

5/28/03  Rhode Island and New York
     Jolie Matkowski fresh off her winter win at the PCA comp in Boulder CO is outside again. Jolie who recently visited Lincoln Woods and her home crag of the Gunks has some new ticks on her list. First off was her first V9 tick of the right sit start to Straight Again. Then  she quickly dispatched Warhawk, V8, Lily Pad ,V7, Rump to Jump, V7, Loadies Zen, V7, Straight Again, V7, Instant Karma, V7 and many many more. At the Gunks she sent Boxcar Arete, V8, and The Buddha, V7. Stay tuned cause I am sure upcoming ticks will be even more exciting.

5/28/03  New Hampshire
     A week later is all it took for Tim Kemple's The War Between Love and Hate, .13d to see its second accent. Justin Hayes took 2 days of effort to send this amazing line. Justin's spring has been going well for him climbing 7 other routes at Sundown and the Cathedral Cave ranging between .13a to .13c and a 14a, Dodge, the Lemons, at Rumney.

5/28/03  Governor Stables, PA
     On March 30, 2002, The Pennsylvania Alliance of Climbers held the second annual Governor Stables climbing competition. Check out he PAC webpage, www.paclimbers.org, for the results from the comp and some information about the PAC and their efforts to address and meet the needs of climbers, climbing access, and related issues within the region.

5/5/03  Sundown, NH
     Tim Kemple is at it again! It seems that about once year, usually in the spring, Tim gets his psyche on for hard trad route. Last year it was Great Head in Maine, the year before that Crow Hill, this year Sundown was the scene of the crime.  On Friday April 18, Tim put up a new route at Sundown called The War Between Love and Hate which he gave a 5.13d rating. I believe this rating makes it the hardest, or one of the hardest non-sport routes in the Northeast. Tim said the crux is the start: a powerful, technical V11 boulder problem past a bolt and a .5 camalot placement. He also said you can add another small cam if you want. (umm yeah I do!) up to a stance. From the stance you clip a pin and then its fun (5.10) climbing up the steep/overhanging arete just to the left of Ruff Boys. You place a couple more pieces of gear (small wires) and then share anchors with Ruff Boys. He says it climbs fantastic rock and is truly amazing to figure out and piece together... Well keep the sends coming as I need the news to report.WS

Tim Kemple on his new route, The War Between Love and Hate, 5.13d, at Sundown, NH.
Photograph by Brian Post. For more of Brian's work check out www.wildrays.com. 

4/30/03  Rumney and Pawtuckaway, NH
     Some of you know 15 year old Vasya Vorotnokov from the most recent Boulder Morty's Skirmish were he placed 1st in the Elite Division with some of the strongmen of NE. For those of you who don't, well now we can pretty much assume he will be in that strongman group, as well. Vasya just sent his first 5.14a Dr. No at Rumney NH. He also stepped outside for the his first outdoor bouldering experience at Pawtuckaway and sent Stegasaurus, V9, and Boulder X Sit Start, V9. Stay tuned for more on Vasya. Its bound to be interesting.

Luke Demeusy stepped it up this weekend as well. He sent Back at you with Realness, V11, on his second go. He also squeezed up Chunk O' Blitz, V11/12, in less than an hour. This year looks like its going to have a lot of hard sends. Stay tuned.WS

4/24/03  Lincoln Woods
     You want hard sends at Lincoln Woods ... You got em. Zeb (Baby Face) Engberg is still on his sending spree with ticks of High School Egg Progect, V10 and Shattered, V9. Whats next Shoot to Kill? Jed Piotte burned through Diesel, V8/9. Nick Aleandro conquered Midnight Lichen, V8 as well as the humping action of Bad Karma, V8. Lynn Robinson and Lisa Pierce tore up Straight Razor, V7/8. Ben Gerhardstein topped out Whitey's Hard One, V9, while Marc Troob flashed Left Sit to Straight Again, V9. Andrew Wilder sent the beautiful, reachy, sloperery traverse known as Barbed Wire, V10. Thats all from the LW homestead. Until our next session..WS

     Tim Kemple off a recent V12 send and strong showing at the NJ Gravity Brawl on Saturday, headed to the Gunks on Sunday. Tim wanted to hit up his recent project Venus in Scorpio, V11. He last attempted Venus when himself and Joe Kinder put a slapping on the Crouching Dragon, V10/11, about a month or two ago. The only thing that stopped Tim from summiting Venus then was complete darkness and blizzard conditions. Sunday was the perfect conditions for Tim to serve it up. Looks like the weather is coming around. I am sure I will have a lot more to report so stick around. See ya when I return from Bishop. WS

3/12/03  Northampton, MA
     If you asked me a year ago I would have no clue what the hell a Cave Rave was. After last years Cave Rave passed and soon after the video came out, It gave me an idea as to what this thing was. It wasnt until I attended this years that gave me full detail as to what the buzz is all about. As you all know my rep on the NEB board is quit contraversial. My presence at the comp could be very welcome or the total opposite. As I walked into the NAC I noticed a small area at which climbers could occupie. They always did say it isnt the size that matters.

The first thing I did was sign up and donate some cash to the WMCC. I then introduced myself to the boys of the NAC (Ken Majka, John Lavalle etc). Did I get a few smiles after telling them who I am. of course! I am not sure if they were happy to finally meet Want Strength as I was to meet all of them, needless to say I got a very warm welcome. OK! Now for the comp.. As I stood there watching everyone getting ready for the comp and warming up etc. I asked a couple of friends who is who in the comp. Other then Tim Kemple,Kozo Nozawa,Bustin and a few others all others were unknown in my book. "Thats Tyson Holub".."Thats Josh Larson" "Oh! Thats Luke and his brother Andrew Demuesy" "And her over there, Thats Tory Michak" "and that is Katie Holt". It was cool seeing these frequent NEB names and finally put a face to the writings.

As the comp began it was a mad house. The music was pumping out phat tunes and the atmosphere was intense. The boulder problems were burly and and core-rific (I know its not a word). During the whole night the beats never stopped, neither did the yelling and screaming of fellow pullers. The support that was in the room was incredible. The spray of beta and the spotting of strangers is definatly one of the reasons I like this sport so much. Walking around trying to video tape at the NAC is not an easy task. The cave gets no light and very little moving room. I hope I can capture at least a smidgen of the intensity at the comp. There were many great problems and hard sends. One send that is news worthy is Tim Kemple's send of the arete. The arete comes in at about V10. The only other climber to send this to date is Matt Wilder.

Next was the Dyno comp. There where many dynos and many falls. In the end the victors were Ben Fuller and Tory Michak. I give credit to all the competitors especially those who made the finals. The 3 hr pre's were crazy burly and the finals werent going to let up. The problems were hard and everyone looked tired. They dug deep and climbed sick strong. I guess thats what you need to get into the finals. Long term, never ending burlyness power. The music was great. The problems were great. The cimbers were great. The NAC staff was great. I would say all in all the comp was uuummm great! Next year I strongly urge everyone to attend and see how dope the comp really is. Plus you get to meet me Want Strength!!!

3/6/03  Lincoln Woods, RI
     With temps in the low 40's this past Saturday outside at Lincoln Woods was a must. Well lets give Mike Robin some mad props for finishing up his long over due project. He was able to escape the ball and chain this weekend and it was well worth it. He put 2 1/2 months of blood, sweat, and tears into Static Heart V3. Within two burns of the day he sent.

 Mike Robin sending Static Heart at Lincoln Woods, RI. Photograph courtesy of Mike.

3/5/03  Florida
     Well, when you don't have real rock to climb on, why not make the best of it and climb on plastic. One of New England's own moved down to Florida and decided to show them how we do it up here in New England. I am talking about 5 ft 21/2inch (she will kill you if you dont include the 1/2) Trish Hart. Trish has only been climbing for about 8 months. She drove 3 hours from her new home in Ft. Lauderdale to her first comp in Tampa on 2/22/2003. The classes were beginners V0-V2, Intermediate V3-V6, Advanced V7-?. Trish who has only climbed outside a half dozen times and has yet to send anything higher then V2 figured she would enter the beginner class. Trish was suprised. Not only did she place first in beginners but she had a higher score than the intermediate winner. Congrats to Trish and keep up the good work down there in FL. Just remember when you're big and famous, you learned it all here in New England. Yet another from WS

Trish Hart bouldering in New York. Photograph by Steve Rosenfield.

2/26/03  New Hampshire and California
     Ben Gerhardstein is at it again. Back from his recent trip to Bishop and recent sends of Moonraker V9, Soul Slinger V9, Knobs V7 (Flash), High Plains Drifter V7, Saigon V7 (w/match), and many more. Ben just came out the victor in the Dartmouth College Comp. Ben is currently working on Shattered V9 and High School Egg Project V10. I will keep you posted as to his progress. Your News Bully WS

Ben Gehardstein on Moonraker. Photo courtesy of Ben.

2/8/03 Easton, Massachusetts
    Deep in the heart of Easton, MA, there lies quality granite. I don't know about any of you but I do know that I dream about finding new rock and developing new problems in that area. Well, thats what Joe McLoughlin and Lee Soares decided to do at Borderland State Park. They have been putting up new problems there since 2001. There has been information about it on our State Beta Section for quite some time, the problem is, nobody climbs there. That was until last September when Philippe Naulot decided to tag along with Joe and Lee. Philippe made quick work of many of Joe and Lee's problems, including Thug, V7, Hardly Working, V7, You Mae, V6, Mae I, V6, Safety Patrol, V5 and many more. Joe and Lee gave Philippe the go ahead on a project on the West Side Boulder known as "Border Crossing" which is a full right to left traverse of the boulder that tops out at an arete. Philippe gave it some work but decided it would need to get done another day.

After getting the second ascent of Tim Kemple's Barbed Wire, V10, and Vulture, V9, at Lincoln Woods, he figured he would make a run for the border. Philippe sent Border Crossing on November 9, 2002 and gave it a rating of V9. He wasn't done! He returned on November 20, 2002 to get the left to right version which came in at V10. He says, "Another fun project would be to link the 2 versions (starting left and coming back, or the reverse)." Any takers? Philippe describes the two problems as "long and powerful moves on rather good handholds (I mean friendly) with poor footholds and kind of beta intense on high quality rock. I have a special feeling for the left to right version (all the holds face the wrong way, you have to free your mind and your ass follows)." Whats next on Philippe's list? I'm not sure but the way he has been climbing I would say it won't take long to go down. Thanks to Joe, Lee, and Philippe for putting up some new quality climbs in NE. Now, all we need is to get people to climb them. Well thats all from me..FOR NOW..L8TR - WS

2/4/03 Somewhere Indoors
    Seeing that the weather wasn't the greatest this past weekend for outdoor bouldering, there isn't much news to write about. Or is there? Here is the latest from our community:
As God is witness, Arien (Groover) Cartrette flew up recent taped up testpieces at his local wooded crag..the tick list is as follows in G's words, "I sent White-Blue V7, Orange-Yellow V6/7. Also, I set a V10, and almost sent this V8, I love climbing strong."
John K took some time off from his slabdynos to take care of some plastic problems. John says, "not only did i do the fa of the white taped climb, but i repeated the bright orange one and my friend got the second ascent of it. Also, we came to the consensus on the rating, it is about the same as the thick bright orange taped problem that is just a bit more technical rather than powerful. Also, we worked out the black taped project into 3 separate boulder problems. Now someone has to sack up and send it. It's totally a route."
Well, these guys are obviously sending like mad. Lets all give them a congrats post...good job guys. Whether you were climbing indoors or ice skating this past weekend, I hope you enjoyed it and had fun. Till next time. Yours Truly, Want Strength

1/27/03 Lincoln Woods, RI
    Not too long off his first V10 send, 16 year old Zeb Engberg sent his second V10, Conquest of the Irrational. Scott (Kippy) Carpenter sent Ab Master, V7, and flashed Instant Karma, V7. With a little help from above, Arien (Groover) Cartrette flew through New Dimension, V8 and also sent Instant Karma, V7. Last but certainly not least Marc Troob broke into the double digits this weekend in fine fashion. Marc sent Conquest of the Irrational and High School Egg Project, both V10.

1/14/03 Western, MA and Lincoln Woods, RI
    Tyson "T-bone" Hollub got his license this past fall and has been kickin' it nasty style at Farley. He sent Babies with Rabies, V10, in a handful of tries, got the third ascent of Scarab, V10, sent Stereogram, V10/11, in under a half hour, and has added sit starts to a couple of classics. Tweaky Bird got a new Sneaky Bird, V10, start which adds 3 excellent moves and bumps up the difficulty several notches. T-Bone also added a terribly difficult, terribly terrible, sit start to Terrordactyl which checks in at V11/12. He essentially starts the problem by crimping the bad footholds of the standup and makes two left-handed bump moves on crap holds that max out his 6'2" ape. All told, it took the 17 year old over a year of attempts to create a problem that vies for one of New England's hardest. Also in the young guns category, 16-year old Zeb Engberg snagged his first (and not likely his last) V10 this past weekend by sending Barbed Wire on the Tuolumne Boulder at Lincoln Woods.