After a year of mostly sport climbing in Europe, my syke now lies more in the new, revisited realm of bouldering. I have been very motivated for the past few weeks to try and climb harder and harder boulder problems here in the front range of Colorado. After a few gym sessions, I took a one day trip to Eldorado canyon a few days ago to discover a new area and try some classic blocs. I had a good day by flashing both The Infinite (V10) and Pigdog Direct (V9), and finding a bunch of crazy hard projects further up in the canyon for future trips. 
- The Infinite -
With this newfound motivation, I headed up to Boulder Canyon last week with my friend Philip to try Free Range (V13), a difficult sit start to a V11 I climbed earlier this year called Cage Free. This problem links four powerful moves into the crux dyno of Cage Free, with a really tricky sequence on bad pinches, poor edges and numerous heel/toe hooks. After working the problem for about an hour, I figured out the moves but each feels pretty hard, even in isolation. Climbing it will take a lot of effort, but I am very syked to try to finish it up in the next few weeks.
Yesterday I headed up to Clear Creek Canyon to try another boulder I have heard a lot about, Dark Waters (V13). This boulder starts under a low roof and follows a line of right facing edges and pinches up to a slopey rail, then traverses a bit left into a V8 finish. The boulder is really unique, starting with compression moves on bad holds and then finishing with more dynamic moves on better holds. I arrived pretty late at the boulder and didn't have a lot of time to try it (maybe an hour or two), but I did figure out all the moves and think it should go within the next few sessions. My friend Jimmy Webb from Chatanooga had a really good day by climbing Dark Waters in a few tries, his first day on the problem. Very impressive Jimbo!
So other then those three outdoor climbing days, I have been training a lot in the gym and trying to get all my school work here at the University done on time. Climbing can be very distracting, but the most important thing right now is to make use of my education and actually learn a thing or two! Also, Next week I will fore-run for the ABS Nationals which will be held here in Boulder. Perhaps my experience in World Cups will help the routesetters make interesting problems. Also, tomorrow I will start my real "training", meaning the program I made earlier this season to train for the world cups in the summer. So the time has come now.. time to step it up and take the bouldering game to new levels!
