The Future of New England Bouldering
Lately i've been thinking a lot about what direction bouldering in New England will take, and how far along the timeline we are in terms of potential. Predominately I feel that people think we are towards the end of the line, maybe 75% towards being effectively 'climbed out,' at least within the main areas. It's easy to go to a place like Lincoln Woods, and see all the link-ups in the guidebook, and figure that there can't be too much added without loosing substantial quality.
As a new climber I feel that it's easy to assume you are somehow less qualified than the original developers, and 'if they haven't found it yet, then it doesn't exist.' I remember walking around Farley when I was young, wondering if there was more to be done, but thinking 'if Ward and Pete and those guys who found speed of life, are now putting up some of these other, poorer lines, then theres no way more mid-high quality problems could exist.' Of course theres some truth to it, but i've come to realize it is far from universally true. Why? Because climbing is changing all the time, and the type of moves you are used to doing can really change your perspective of whats possible.
A great example of this is hard dyno problems. After coming home from the south and trying(failing) on several of Jimmy Webb's pure hard dyno problems, I was baffled that rock-type alone could delineate whether or not they existed, (since we have about zero here.) Every time I went out I had it in the back of my brain to sniff out where they were hiding, and after a few false starts I found one that became "Whitefeather" (v11). Its literally sitting on the trail, and is one pure, simple, straight up jump from a good crimp to a flat slot, and now every time I walk past it i'm dumbfounded that it wasn't immediately obvious to me, or the dozens of people that had walked past it before me.
Since doing that one i've realized that its not that New England only has like 5 hard dynos, its that we still have 95% of them to come, which is a motivating feeling. Similarly, you come to know who the developers are in your area, and now I can go out around here and and know things as simple as, if its harder than v10 and I haven't heard about it, then it likely hasn't been done. Instead of being sad there aren't more established things to try, I feel like the golden age of hard climbing is still yet to come in New England. It's incredibly stupid how easy it is to find hard boulders right now. We take it for granted, but its not everywhere in the world that a 13 year old v5 climbing Kai can go on a walk with his dad and find what became Fathoms and Fathoms (v10) and the Big 45 project (v13??) only a couple minutes away from each other, 20 minutes from his house.
On the other hand, it frustrates me that people are still chipping holds and digging out boulders in order to scrape out some remaining moderates at Farley. It frustrates me that people choose to chip and glue holds to make a climb doable for them, while in its original state is was doable for others. It makes me feel like I have to somehow claim my projects, in fear of having them manufactured to become easier. I don't know how to raise these issues because some of the same people who chip holds are the same people who have brought us some of these crags. Then again, its stupid because i've put up well over 100 problems in the last 2 years with nothing but a scrubber brush. One option is to leave my opinions at the places i've found where I have more authority.
Anyways, on another note, people should get out more. Its stupid that out of all the v13 climbers in New England approximately ZERO of them have even LOOKED at the frost giants project, and it wasn't until this last fall that anyone besides pete even tried the arete project aprox 24 inches left of Speed of Life. People can keep on saying New England is tapped out, but when somebody comes and snakes those projects and realizes how cool they are, we're all going to feel pretty dumb.
Oh also theres all of north west Connecticut.. Lets not look like idiots in 20 years!
As a new climber I feel that it's easy to assume you are somehow less qualified than the original developers, and 'if they haven't found it yet, then it doesn't exist.' I remember walking around Farley when I was young, wondering if there was more to be done, but thinking 'if Ward and Pete and those guys who found speed of life, are now putting up some of these other, poorer lines, then theres no way more mid-high quality problems could exist.' Of course theres some truth to it, but i've come to realize it is far from universally true. Why? Because climbing is changing all the time, and the type of moves you are used to doing can really change your perspective of whats possible.
A great example of this is hard dyno problems. After coming home from the south and trying(failing) on several of Jimmy Webb's pure hard dyno problems, I was baffled that rock-type alone could delineate whether or not they existed, (since we have about zero here.) Every time I went out I had it in the back of my brain to sniff out where they were hiding, and after a few false starts I found one that became "Whitefeather" (v11). Its literally sitting on the trail, and is one pure, simple, straight up jump from a good crimp to a flat slot, and now every time I walk past it i'm dumbfounded that it wasn't immediately obvious to me, or the dozens of people that had walked past it before me.
Since doing that one i've realized that its not that New England only has like 5 hard dynos, its that we still have 95% of them to come, which is a motivating feeling. Similarly, you come to know who the developers are in your area, and now I can go out around here and and know things as simple as, if its harder than v10 and I haven't heard about it, then it likely hasn't been done. Instead of being sad there aren't more established things to try, I feel like the golden age of hard climbing is still yet to come in New England. It's incredibly stupid how easy it is to find hard boulders right now. We take it for granted, but its not everywhere in the world that a 13 year old v5 climbing Kai can go on a walk with his dad and find what became Fathoms and Fathoms (v10) and the Big 45 project (v13??) only a couple minutes away from each other, 20 minutes from his house.
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| Big 45 |
On the other hand, it frustrates me that people are still chipping holds and digging out boulders in order to scrape out some remaining moderates at Farley. It frustrates me that people choose to chip and glue holds to make a climb doable for them, while in its original state is was doable for others. It makes me feel like I have to somehow claim my projects, in fear of having them manufactured to become easier. I don't know how to raise these issues because some of the same people who chip holds are the same people who have brought us some of these crags. Then again, its stupid because i've put up well over 100 problems in the last 2 years with nothing but a scrubber brush. One option is to leave my opinions at the places i've found where I have more authority.
Anyways, on another note, people should get out more. Its stupid that out of all the v13 climbers in New England approximately ZERO of them have even LOOKED at the frost giants project, and it wasn't until this last fall that anyone besides pete even tried the arete project aprox 24 inches left of Speed of Life. People can keep on saying New England is tapped out, but when somebody comes and snakes those projects and realizes how cool they are, we're all going to feel pretty dumb.
Oh also theres all of north west Connecticut.. Lets not look like idiots in 20 years!
 |
| Frost Giants |
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