New Projects

So as most of you know I got lucky and snagged a classic FA at Devil's Lake a couple days ago. I'm definitely pretty psyched about it and later that night I could hardly sit still I was so excited about it. I think Katie was a touch annoyed at times.

I think I'm most happy that I've been lucky enough to contribute to the massive route list at Devil's Lake, an area that many people have called "climbed out" for years. On top of that I'm really happy that Moj is such a classic problem and is actually fun to climb on. It's very atypical for the lake as there aren't any painful holds and the movement is fun and interesting. It's physical and tough and I hope others enjoy it too.

I will say that the 5-6 iron crosses I fell into destroyed my chest and shoulders. It feels really good to be this sore.

Now, moving on!! I wanted to put up a list of all the projects that I know of at the lake. I was talking to sweaty yesterday and we both agreed that it's really nice to have a new ethic about sharing information. For so many years projects were so hush hush and everything was very secretive. No one knew about a project or an area until it was climbed out. Even getting directions to the Reserve was hard to come by. At least it was for me but that might have been cause I wasn't popular enough!!

It seems that in the last year since Sweaty started posting everything he found at Dodge on Mountain Project we've finally developed a bouldering community. That's something I never expected to see again and I'm glad it's here. This season that energy transferred over to the lake with new stuff being found almost weekly. I keep getting blown away by the projects we're finding. It's amazing!!

In the spirit of the words "Open Project" here is my list of known projects at the lake right now.

1 - Half Dome Project - V9+ - Having tried this a couple days I can pretty confidently say this will be one of the harder lines at the lake when it goes.

2 - Power Plant Project - V9+ - I haven't tried this one yet but am looking forward to putting a couple days in on it very soon. Cool looking climbing out a horizontal roof on big features. Should be classic.

3 - Tilted Boulder Project - V? - I have only seen this one, not tried, but it could be pretty cool. Not a ton of features on it!

4 - Roof Traverse Project - V? - I still need to clean this one off but there is a line on it, for sure. May not be as hard as I thought though. Maybe a 7? Some boulders need to be moved before trying it.

5 - Prow Project - V7+ - This one is just above the Roof Traverse maybe 25 yards. There's a big boulder and there looked to be a line on the right side climbing up to one possibly hard move off an undercling to a bad crimp at the lip. Cool and worth checking out if you're up there.

6 - Corner Project - V7+ - There looks to be a short but hard line just left of Moj. Looking forward to putting time in on this wall.

7 - Bidness Project - V9+ - This one looks brutally hard and I'm curious if it will go. There is a crescent shaped sidepull in the middle of the wall and the rest is pretty blank. There are one or two other holds on the face and then a bad sloper up top. I hope it goes!

8 - Seam Project - 7/8 - Starting on the left side of the seam there are some sidepulls and an edge right before a jug at the lip. Looks like it'll go though. All three of these look really cool and somewhat possible.

9 - HemorRhoads Project - Short. Painful. Pointless. It's a perfect name. In reality it could actually be a cool little problem. Only one move but it may be fun.

10 - Half Dome Right - V6-7? - Almost forgot about this one! There looks to be a line going up and right with a really bad landing and slopey holds. Not high on my list but might be for someone else!

11 - Dyno Project - V6+ - At the monolith boulders it's just one huge huck. May have been done by Tim Halbakken but I'm not sure.

12 - Burma Chamber Project - V7ish - Kelsen and I did all the moves on this one a couple years ago but didn't link it. One really big move leads to good crimps up an overhanging wall. Cool line.

13 - Right of Jenga Project - V? - I have no idea how hard this might be. It may be easy in fact. I did the first move a couple years ago but couldn't muster the will to huck for the jug even with a bevy of spotters and pads below me. Terrifying.

I think that's all I can think of right now. I'll add more if I think of them and let me know if you know of any too! So much to do this fall!!!