Decent December

December in the Lith can be joyous or downright miserable.  Weather is usually the limiting factor and December is certainly one of the wettest, if not the wettest months of the year.  Alas we venture out in search of dry stone and sending temps.

Part#1 Dryads

Early December we were able to get a sizable crew out to the Dryads.  It was a perfect day with excellent temps and fun was had by all.  After warming up we headed straight toward the newly found Barely Illegal Boulder.

Guy giving Sweet Tart a go

Emily scaling the excellent mod Barely Illegal Arete

Sarah on the beautiful and techy scoop of Sweet Tart 

Going for it on a proj

Part#2 Benchlands

Weather during the middle of the month was wet.  But we managed to get out at the very end of the month mostly on a scoping mission in the Benchlands.  Last year we spotted a boulder at the very top and very far back of the area it looked good and its high position on the ridge likely meant bomber rock.  Even though it was around 20 degrees F with intermittent snow.  We were not disappointed with our finds and even got to put up some stellar new problems.  

Smooth sailing and it's a 12" pow day at Bridger - what are we doing this for again?

The Galactic Facet (named after our favorite local website http://www.galacticfacets.com/) a wild boulder with crystal cobbles, pockets and bullet hard patinas at the very top of the Benchlands

Galactic Facet Traverse 

Galactic Facet Traverse - kind of looks like an alien skull, coincidence I think not

An ancient crystalline circuit board clear evidence of forgotten technology

Below the Galactic Facet is a boulder with super hard stone with crystal filled monos on it!  The wind was picking up so we moved on.  There could be some uber hard problems on this boulder - any takers?

Tweaky monos everywhere

Close up of one of the crystal filled monos

Since the weather was quickly deteriorating we then moved on in a direction we never went before and we found a couple nice fins with potential.

 

With the snow picking up we thought we were done.  Then Tom spotted something through the trees.  We debated on if we should even go check it out -  we are certainly glad we did.  What we stumbled into is definitely within the top 5 boulders either of us have found in the batholith.  Steep, great stone, featured and awesome- gaze at its glory.

!!!

!!!

!!!

Even though it was nuking snow I had to at least give the holds a test

We thought that it was all over.  Then we stumbled into a boulder problem that Tom and Pat K. found years ago and could not find again an offwidth squeeze called The Breather..  This is one of the problems with the Benchlands, it is a 3D maze of insanity I feel lost every time I am there.  So loosing one's way or finding something again is not uncommon.  This time Tom got a GPS point on the problem so we will be able to find it again.  We both gave it a go but conditions and common sense told us not to push on through.

Tom in The Breather

Exhaling in The Breather

Then we headed out and enjoyed some awesome driving conditions on the way home.

It was a great year!  Hope next year is just as good!

Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

L8er,

podenbeck

New Finds for the Fall

Project on the incredible Barely Illegal Boulder - Lower Dryads

Despite the lack of posts we have been busy this Fall developing an area we have dubbed the Cooridor and Lower Dryads.  The Coordior is an are that we have avoided  in the past.  Thinking that there was little to nothing in there boy were we wrong.  The basically the Corridor connects the Namazu and Lower Isos areas to the Dryads.  With this connection you can successfully tour all the way from the Desert to the Dryads with less than a 5 minute walk between each major area.  First up some new finds in the Lower Dryads.

Seeing Spots in the Lower Dryads

Tom sending Child's Play - Lower Dryads

Broken Blade Boulder - beautiful stone much like the Superb Boulder in Superbia but a terrible landing

Margin of Air - Broken Blade Boulder - Lower Dryads

A really big scary looking block

Double Decker Dolmen - Lower Dryads

Barely Illegal Arete - Lower Dryads

Tom on Barely Illegal Arete

Tom giving the super awesome and techy Sweet Tart a go

Sweet Tart - Barely Illegal Boulder - Lower Dryads

More on Sweet Tart

Here are some things I found on the first scoping mission into the Corridor.  I made a couple FAs but was solo so no climbing shots.  When we went out this weekend it started raining right when we got to the goods but everyone seemed pretty impressed.

We were calling this the One in a Million Boulder because of the incredible patinas it has and that being a rarity in the Batholith

Celtic Hand a very nice bear hug tech combo

Really sweet crack problem - this one is for Tom

Another shot of the One in a Million Boulder

Burly looking overhang

A couple nice tall blocks

Nice eyebrows on the Hardly Illegal Boulder

Inversion in the Lith 

L8er,
podenbeck

5th Annual Butte Bouldering Bash Wrap-up

Year 5 was a great success!

We had an awesome turn out, a great competition, lots of folks out exploring new problems in the Druthers & Trailers, and the weather cooperated until the evening (and wowza, then it RAINED!)

*Huge* thanks to all the people who came out to participate, spectate, as well as all the volunteers and especially the sponsors. A tremendous time was had, while raising funds for a great cause.

Huge! thanks to:

Organic Climbing
Mystery Ranch
Friction Labs
Voke Tab
Hippy Tree
Dolomite Climbing Bags
Smith Optics
Climb On
Montana Mountain Man
Scarpa
Spire Climbing Center
American Alpine Club
Chaco
Mago Mountain Works
Enso Structural Massage + Bodywork

Guy, Ari & Registration

High Steppin in the Druthers

Lunch BBQ...most folks were brief, ready to jump back into it.

Ladd on Pin Garden

Following photos provided by Ty Morrison-Heath

African Patina Session:

 Following photos provided by Jeremy Champion

Unsung hero's of the BBQ

Ramos returns from the marathon mission

1st Place Winners: Sander & David(tie), Inge, & Ramos

1st Place Winners: Jordon, Jackson, & Sophie

Full Results:

Youth 13 and Under
Name Last	Name First	Points
Olliff	Jackson	34600
Hutchison	Ladd	25500
Pannell	Gabby	10500
Rhoderick	Abbey	8900
Pannell	Genavieve	1800
Odenbeck	Brielle	1700
Youth Girls 14-17
Name Last	Name First	Points
Roberts	Sophie	14100
Omohundro	Charis	14000
Youth Boys 14-17
Name Last	Name First	Points
Mills	Jordan	51800
Janssen	Cole	38500
Manship	Nick	34500
Adult Men's 18+
Name Last	Name First	Points
Pick	Sander	72000
Sjoquist	David	72000
Anderson	Ryan	56500
Kaufman	Ari	41300
Dobson	Phillip	40000
Hatley	Daniel	36400
Christensen	Erik	33500
Hule	Gabe	21800
Thompson	Samuel	19900
Puettmann	Paul	15400
Bldv?	Andrew	12500
Ellison	Gillian	5000
Adult Women's 18+
Name Last	Name First	Points
Perkins	Inge	52900
Fischer	Sara	45600
Miller	Shiloh	25400
Sjoquist	Christine	22700
?	Vicki	14800
Ritter	Jamie	11000
Smoot	Annie	11000
Marathon
Name Last	Name First	# of Problems
Ramos	Peter	93
Christopher	Jesse	70
Chang	Tony	64
Burke	Dillion	20
Bloemeke	Jasmine Storm	13
Bolton	Nathan	13
Oja	Ethan	12

Thanks again, and hope to see ya next year!

Cheers!

P.S. The photo scavenger hunt photos are to be posted in a later post. It's not too late to submit! Email your shots to butteboulderingbash@gmail.com