Back in the Dryads

Headed out last weekend and meet up with a psyched crew in the Dryads for a great session...with the holidays near, my time to write is limited, but all in all a great time!  Hopefully more sessions like this in the near future.  All pics by Jeremy Champion

Warn temps, psyched crew

Taylor on a new one

New Invert OW:  Phalanges & Femurs

New one...yet to catch the name...

This Kneebar Tastes Like Chicken

Emma on the repeat

Noah on the Direct

Star Kid Tech

Joe & Norma

We rounded the day out on the Scoop Project...really good, but still a project

Cheers!

TK

The druthers of the Druthers

This past weekend Ari and I were able to check out an area that had been scoped out in the previously that is just North of the Druthers.  This was one of those places that I took some photos of and really never inspected the rock.  Well lets say that some of the blocks that I thought were good were certainly not.  However there were a couple good problems that went up.  Two blocks in particular are certainly worth it.  One other thing that adds to the ambiance of the sub-area are some old mining camp junk, caverns and holes more typical of what you would see on the top of Homestake Pass- you gotta love Butte.

Topping out "Out of the Frying Pan" - Artifact Boulder - Northern Druthers

Ari on "Into the Fire" - Artifact Boulder - Northern Druthers

Ari attempting a super hard slab proj on the Forgotten Clay Boulder

L8er,
podenbeck

The Darkside of gniredluoB - Ticks and Stashed Pads Oh My....

 I have been climbing for 19 years now.  I have seen some pretty nasty and careless things especially in other locations where I have lived and climbed in the past where some things really got out of hand.  Usually it was people just not thinking about the consequences.  Or just getting too psyched and forgetting that the environment is more important than a project.  Unfortunately I have seen some of these things creep into Montana a little bit and I just have to say that I am a little disappointed to see some of these things here.  I think we are smarter than this.

Two things in particular are so easy to deal with.  We should really aim for a leave no trace ethic if we can when we are out there having fun.

#1

Not brushing off tick marks after your session is over.  Yes if things are ticked they are easier to see.  But we don't need to leave them that way.  Remember we share the Boulder Batholith as a resource with other user groups, tick marking maybe considered graffiti to some of them.  Check out the Heart of Darkness boulder from this Saturday.  This is after it was cleaned up after the comp then it got at least another serious session the following week. Please: if you must tick, scrub it off after your session.

Heart of Darkness Boulder -  Needs some tick mark cleaning

#2

Stashing pads.  Yes we know you hiked like 5 miles one way and *ooof* it was hard.  You leave your pad there and you will get it in a week or so when you come back (a likely story...).  But then you find out that animals love all of the foam and nylon that your pad is made of...  They eat it and use it as insulation for nests, it is not biodegradable and it usually gets spread all over the place.  By the end it looks like some bum has been sleeping under the boulder for at least a year in the talus where the pad had been stashed.  Tom and I found this stashed pad this Summer.

Nasty stashed pad found this Summer (notice all of the chewed fabric and foam)

This is certainly not typical in our areas and finding these types of transgressions are pretty rare, we also know most folks are very conscious of these.  We just feel that being proactive and reminding folks to strive for the best is a good way to go about things.  If you encounter trash, ticks, or other potentially dubious activity, please do your part in keeping our area clean and enjoyable.

L8er,

podenbeck