Day 2 was cold, humid and quite uneventful for me. Kyle Owen managed to send 6 Degrees V10 and flash Midnight Lightning V8. Garrett Gregor also managed sends of 6 Degrees and Midnight Lightning. Proud!

Today was Day 3 and turned out quite good. We warmed up in Camp 4 after a slow morning, then waltzed on over to Thriller V10 for a session. I managed to dig deep on my third effort of the day and latch the finish jug. Unfortunately I suffered a minor battle wound in the form of a split tip. Kyle managed to send a few tries later. Thriller is most definitely SOLID for the grade in my opinion and it is a must do for anyone visiting the valley.

We rested for a bit and then headed on over to Dogwood which I hadn’t tried yet. I was super psyched on this boulder after watching the footage in Dosage 5. I have also heard that it could be one of the best climbs in the valley. Dogwood consists of a few moves of amazing moderate climbing followed by a long move off a left hand sidepull to a “dog bone” that you grab with your right hand. The “dog bone” is not much of a hold, but rather a sidepull sloper with a good thumbcatch. So you grab it, then grab a sloper sidepull directly across from it, get your feet up, and dyno to a “V” slot at the lip. In 3 tries I was falling at the dyno and shortly following Kyle’s send, I managed to stick the lip. And the rumors are true, Dogwood just might be the best boulder problem I’ve ever climbed. In comment to the grade, it felt easier for me than Thriller. However it is my style and it is definitely more committing. Kyle and I settled on 8A rather than the 8A+ grade proposed by the first few ascentionists. After some more ascents hopefully we can reach a good consensus.

Here are some photos from the last few days:

Thrilla’