Ladies take on the Sad Boulders

It's finally getting cool enough to boulder on the Tableland again, and the crowds are beginning to flock to the Happies and the Sads. And with such a large amount of cool steep climbing, who can blame them? Two fine ladies recently had a go at such Sad classics as Anti-Hero and French Press, and I snapped the pics.

Angie on Maximum Relaxum v3

Angie on Maximum Relaxum v3

Angie topping out Maximum Relaxum v3

Lauren on Maximum Relaxum v3

Lauren on Maximum Relaxum v3

Angie on Anti-Hero v5

Beehive near French Press

Angie on French Press v6

Lauren on French Press v6

Lauren on French Press v6

Lauren on French Press v6

Last Light at the Sad Boulders

The Prozac Nation Bluffs at the Sad Boulders face pretty much due west. As such, they catch the last rays of winter sun on any given day. This fact, as well as the collection of twenty or so moderately graded (v1-v5) and moderately tall (10-18 feet) boulder problems, makes the Prozac Nation Bluffs the ideal spot for a quick after-work burn on a winter evening. It was just such a session the other day when I happened to snap this shot of Patrick running a lap on the namesake boulder problem Prozac Nation (v2). Check it out:

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

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.