First bouldering session of year today
On my way home from skiing yesterday I stopped to see if my boulders are dry and low and behold the bulk of the snow is gone. So today the boys and I made the 3 mile drive for the first session of the year. While they spent their time wandering, clambering, whining, crying, and getting covered in moss I was able to climb 6 problems and finish a lap of the traverse.
I am kind of surprised at how strong I feel and was able to pull off moves far easier than last year. I hope this is a good portent for this year ahead as we have some plans for about 12 new routes.
Also while at the boulders I brought my new roto hammer to test the speed of drilling a 3/8"x3 1/2" hole. This is the standard size hole for installing a bolt and hanger. WELL... this thing is a damned beast!!!
LESS THAN 60 SECONDS!
That means that I can rappel down a route and drill each hole and be down in under half an hour. One hand drilled bolt hole takes half an hr or more, EACH.
HELLO route development!
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Curious to hear how you've gotten into route development and how to spot a good line.
We'll be incorporating some features in EXHAUST soon to build a database of climbing crags and routes around the world! We'll reach out and let you know when it's ready -- it would be great to see you log some of your boulders and routes!
Really it comes down to choosing the path of least resistance, then working out from there via aesthetics mostly. With routes it mainly starts out with cracks that are easily protected. If it is an area that doesn't have cracks then you have to make an anchor on the top and rap off to do scouting, cleaning, and climbing.
With boulders it can be a lot easier since it tends to be in the 1 to 10 move range and is generally in full view. Boulder problems are a bit easier since you can put up a problem and then have a number of variations to it. One of my problems has 4 variations of varying difficulty.
First ascents are really the adventurous side of climbing since there is nothing really known about the route before you get on it and start to push forward.