Buttermilking: September 2011

Way Lake

I finally have gotten a bit of a tour of Way Lake. Although I think I have only seen about 10% of what is there, I must say, I like it. First off we headed up to Way Lake proper to have a warm up at the Way Lake Boulder. This boulder is found in the talus on the southeast side of the lake and has four problems v1-v4. Next we rolled over to the Meadows Roof to try the namesake problem (v8) and have a go at Shortness of Breath (v5 left, v6 right). We finished on the excellent highball Morpheus (v5), about a five minute walk to the south.

Way Lake from the Way Lake Boulder

Eric on the Way Lake Boulder

Brian on Shortness of Breath (v5)

Bryant on Meadows Roof (v8)

George on Shortness of Breath (v5)

Brian on Shortness of Breath (v5)

Bryant on Morpheus (v5)

Hall of Mirrors

Another forgotten but not lost area of the Buttermilks is the Hall of Mirrors. This area lies in a narrow canyon in between Dale's Camp and the Bardini Boulders. This cool spot is home to several classic v6 problems, such as Approaching Silence, Silvia Plath, and the Bell Jar. We did the first two of these, but did not locate the last. Anyone have a clue as to where it might be?

Looking uphill from Approaching Silence

Looking downhill from Silvia Plath

Ken on Approaching Silence

Ken on Silvia Plath

Sherman Acres

Last week Ken and I spent a couple of evenings bouldering up at Sherman Acres. This is the highest elevation area at the Buttermilks, and temps were generally good after the sun went behind the mountains. It seems as though this stellar area has been forgotten about, as there was no chalk on anything. Though there are directions in the guidebook, they are misleading. The guide implies that you must walk ~1 hour to reach the boulders. This is not true. If you have 4x4 you can drive right up to the rocks. There is no topo, so we didn't know any of the names or grades of anything. That, and no chalk, gave the impression that we were discovering the area anew, even though I am sure most of the problems we did had been done before. Probably by the Vermin himself.

Freidlein Prairie

I get the feeling that I will be spending a fair bit of time in Flagstaff this fall. On my first trip I visited the famous Priest Draw, the West Elden area, and Freidlein Prairie up on the San Francisco Peaks. Somehow I didn't take any photos at the Draw or Elden, but I did manage to get a few @ Freidlein Prairie. The rock type is dacite, which apparently occurs when basaltic magma melts together with sandstone underground, then this mixture is extruded onto the surface. The boulders can be either featured or thin, round or blocky, steep or slabby, bullet or choss, but is almost always sharp and slick.

Lauren on a v1 at the Anvil area

Lauren on F.R.O.W, on the Tiger Wall

Tavis on F.R.O.W., at the Tiger Wall

Lauren on the Tower, v0, at the Tiger Wall

Lauren on Gas Works, v4

Pocketopia and Catacombs

In July we headed back to Pocketopia to try our hand on the classic steep line Everything and Nothing v5. Matt flashed it, no surprise, and it shut everyone else down that day. Lauren, however, worked out the beta for Shiva Rising v4, and sent it a day later for her first v4! After bouldering we headed over to the shroomy Catacombs for some exploring and to catch the sunset. Soon the stars and Milky Way came out, and I made my first ever attempts to capture the beauty of our galaxy on film. I was pretty pleased that the photo turned out at all!

Lauren on the Dink boulder

Tavis on Everything and Nothing

Lauren on Everything and Nothing

Matt flashing Shiva Rising

Lauren on Shiva Rising

The Catacombs

Lauren at the Catacombs

Roxanne, Jess, and Matt

Hartley Springs

Hartley Springs is a newly developed area near June Lake. The climbing is on featured volcanic tuff similar to the Bachar Boulders but steeper. Classics include Mad Max v6, Apocalypse Now v6, both on the way-stacked Mad Max boulder, and the crazy steep End of the Road v12.