Bouldery Starts

[Dru]

starts

[Cobra_Commander]

I'd love to watch you send it without a rope.

 

Hah, no thanks, but I bet if it had a topout it would not be considered near the sketchist of high-balls...

 

but yeah I certainly will not be doing that

[Distel32]

the start to heresy is not the crux, and yeah, it's a steep short sport route that feels like a boulder problem

[EWolfe]

Index: Thin Fingers, Slow Children, Zoom

 

Wedding Day at Smith

[Blake]

so how about the 2nd pitch of godzilla, that seems like a bouldery start, meaning the first moves are significantly harder than the rest of the climb. however, this route is still rated by the difficulty of these moves, right? Could this maybe be because its a second pitch of something?

[EWolfe]

Slow Children Crossing!

[eric8]

i and many of my peers will use the word bouldery for any route which has crux sigificant harder then the rest of the route it doesn't have to be at the start. ie, full sag, thin fingers, angel, etc.

[sexual_chocolate]

Speaking of Index, can anyone say Numbah Ten?

[kix]

as opposed to me and my peers who use the word weaksuace for taller problems with stand up starts or routey static moves significantly weaker than the rest of the problem.

[catbirdseat]

Whoever removed the pointy stump at the bottom to the start of Celestial Groove significantly reduced the committment factor of those first moves. Granted, you can get a decent cam in so no worries.

[eric8]

as opposed to me and my peers who use the word weaksuace for taller problems with stand up starts or routey static moves significantly weaker than the rest of the problem.

 

[Gary_Yngve]

I think the interesting comparison is Thin Fingers vs Sloe Children.

 

For Thin Fingers, the move is way harder than the rest of the climb, and because it's just a few feet above a flat ledge, the likelihood of injury is low.

 

For Sloe Children, the move is not hard -- just balancy -- and is definitely easier than the several possible cruxes above. Seems to me like the risk of injury could be a little greater, as you're off to the side and your belayer is in the way too.

 

But in either case, the starts are uncharacteristic of the rest of the routes.

[matt_warfield]

How about Angel at Castle Rock? A 5.7 route with a 5.10- bouldery start that gets slicker with each passing year.

[catbirdseat]

[DirtyHarry]

How 'bout J-Tree, where the climbs tend to be rated by the majority of the climbing, not individual moves. EB GB's has, what felt like to me, a 5.12 start at least, but is only rated 5.11b or sumthin.

[Geek_the_Greek]

I think it's .10d

[catbirdseat]

How 'bout J-Tree, where the climb were rated by the majority of the climbing, not individual moves. EB GB's has, what felt like to me, a 5.12 start at least, but is only rated 5.11b or sumthin.

I've not heard it expressed like that, just that they are rated hard.

[DirtyHarry]

Some of them are like that, others are just rated hard.

[TrogdortheBurninator]

BK start is some stout 5.9. Probably more like 10+ IMO. But considering the whole route is like 10B, it isn't that much stiffer than the route grade, just the pitch grade.

[Geek_the_Greek]

Jabberwocky at Squish - 5.10 start to a 5.9 crack

Halcyon days (I think) at Squish - only "10d" I've ever on-sight soloed (only thing over 5.6 I've every on-sight soloed, actually). The start looked like a fun boulder problem, and once above it, it looked easier to climb the 5.8 crack above than to jump off...

[chucK]

When I think "bouldery" or "boulder problem" I think steep, tweaky and tricky moves. And also, a sequence that is way easier once you get the trick figured out. And can you really call a crack bouldery?

 

As far as hard starts go, how about "Beak Beak Beak". Now there's a classic! Everyone I take up there loves that damn thing.

 

As far as "Thin Fingers ... the likelihood of injury is low", the way I heard it, that's where Paul Boving died (pitched off that move and hit his head).

 

And agreed, that Slow Children start is freaky, what with being right above the belay slings and what not (catch your heel and flip over, or seriously wrack your nuts on the chains, or smash your belayer, or ALL OF THE ABOVE!).

 

And the Zoom start, how the hell do you do that!? (without yarding on those convenient bolts )

[Gary_Yngve]

Chuck, I had heard that Boving died on Thin Fingers but never heard the details.

 

For me, the bouldery move is maybe three feet off the ground, highstepping and then standing on it. I can't do it, so I do the weenie right-side variation.

 

I suppose that without a hardhat, an unlucky fall, and maybe some weird stuff with the rope, a head could get fatally levered into the rock. Creepy.

[Blake]

Anyone out there climb 'Zero Tolerance' at the Cirque on Mt. Erie? .10b sport climb that feels like the essence of bouldery to me.. sequency, steep, tricky big moves. Billygoat and I turned it into a project last May.

[Cobra_Commander]

the ultimate is that xenophobe climb over on the mudpile at smith. It's called 10c but it's basically a bolted V1 into a 5.6 slab. Awesome.

 

[sexual_chocolate]

I always imagined you with thinner ankles.

 

Huh, funny.