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Fall is my favorite time of year. Colors everywhere and crisp air. All these things set a perfect arena for great bouldering.The Ground Control area has been getting a lot of local attention these past few weeks. Other problems are being found up the hill that are turning out to be pretty damn cool. The lower problems are settling in with consensus grades and getting a lot cleaner from all the traffic. Still no repeats on Ground Control yet. A few of us are close but it's kind of a mofo. Everyone gets only so many tries on the crux deadpoint before the crimp slices your finger. Up the hill from Ground Control we put up three new lines with a bunch more in the area. This awesome orange patina face overhangs a downhill gully of kitty litter and provides good shade and killer holds. This problem is super good! The three new lines are Gullible v2 *** Fa Dan Draeger, Choose Your Adventure v2 ** FA Adam Young, and Short Stack v4* FA Dan Draeger. Pretty bad ass. I managed to do the low sit start to Gullible which has two really hard moves. Getting off the ground and deadpointing a small crimp from a finicky heel hook seems to be the crux. Next is either a throw or a hand/foot match lock off to a good hold that puts you into the v2. For grade probably somewhere around v10/v11. We have come up with a name for this new spot with Ground Control. We are calling the area Outer Space, due to the fact that it is just outside the Space Invaders crag. So far this place has about 13 established lines with lots more to come.
Another new area being developed is the Beavers. A few years ago I put up a problem called the Beatdown v12 and developed some problems near it with Jason Hogan and Brenna Fischer. The other lines were a good v4/5, a v0 arete and a crimpy dumb v3. We attempted to search the area for more boulders ,but as it was spring , we were shut down by a raging creek filled with downed trees and debris. Our walking ended there. After the Beatdown I wrote the area off as probably done. One year later Frank Lucido wondered on the other side of the creek and found everything I missed which was only 40 more yards. You never know what could be waiting around the next set of trees. This area is very pleasant. Lots of shade in a dense forest with a creek near by giving this place a kind of swiss feel. Very nice bouldering being developed here with a few classics already established to make the first trip worth it. A few of the problems are One eye Willie v7,Spice of Life v6, Race Against Time v6, Avoid the Wart v9, and Wild Pack of Family Dogs v6. All of these are really cool. When this area is fully established it will have one of the raddest circuits in town. Get psyched. Props to Frank Lucido and Jarrad Wycoff for finding and doing all these awesome lines.
Lastly, at the Ronin boulder new problems have taken place. I did the sit project to Jarrad Wycoff's classic v6 My Shit's Custom. I called the low start My Sit's Custom and think it's about v9 but really fun steep climbing.I also added a new problem next to Secret Weapon. It starts on a flat undercling left and decent pinch edge for right and does a hard move to a sloper with a pocket in it and heads leftward towards jugs. I called this one Year of the Rat v7ish. Noah Kaufman also added a couple of problems with cool big moves. Hidden Dragon v7 and Last Samurai v7 are great new additions to this awesome boulder.
It's more fun to put these climbs into perspective with visual aids so I've made a new video to go with some of these new problems. The video features Gullible(from a v8ish start skipping one move on the harder sit start), Dude Where's My Pipe v5 which is a classic at the Freaks; Beaver classics, One Eye Willie and Race Against Time and ends at the Ronin.
I have been doing a lot of bouldering and training. I'm getting ready for my next trip to South Korea where I'm going to visit Brenna and check out the climbing in her new town. I'm very excited as I leave on November 16 and it will be my first trip to Asia. New experiences are rad.

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