5.05.2010

Walker Creek Boulders

I went for a hike with my friend Alex in the National Forest outside of Barnardsville a couple of weeks ago. I was totally psyched to find some boulders along the Walker Creek trail, including one pretty large boulder in particular. I've been back 3 or 4 times now to do some cleaning (there's lots of moss and a few loose flakes) and put up some lines. I've been calling the big boulder 'the sanctuary'; it's near a creek, is shady in the afternoon, and is a short hike in. So far, I've put up about 8 lines from V0 to V4/V5. There is a great warm up wall with a few Vo problems and a 25 foot (or so) v1-ish traverse. On the overhanging wall, the best lines so far are Chakra Khan (V3) and Not a Prayer (v4/V5). It's been a long time since I've been climbing well and these climbs were really dirty for the FA; both of those factors are possibly affecting my ratings, so I look forward to getting consensus. I've also begun work on a really hard line that'll probably be V8 or so. I'm having trouble just making the first moves!

Aside form the Sanctuary boulder, there are some more rocks up the trail at about 10 minutes in. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and clean these up yet. My feeling is there are probably more boulders out here if I found all of these right next to the trails.



A few videos (and I've already caught hell from numerous people for wearing the tank top, but feel free to add to the abuse) :

The Path (V2-ish), Sanctuary, Walker's Creek from Frixtion on Vimeo.

A fun problem that would be way harder if it weren't for the HUGE footholds. I almost fall off the top when I grab a bunch of dirt instead of rock.



Chakra Khan (V3), the Sanctuary boulder, Walker's Creek from Frixtion on Vimeo.

This is the first ascent of a new line on the Sanctaury at Walker's Creek boulders, Barnardville, NC. Sorry for the hands getting cut off. This more about showing the new boulder.

2 comments:

  1. Just got on this boulder yesterday, it had some fun lines. I climbed Chakra Khan, but started at the lowest jug and made a big (but relatively easy) move up to the hold that you started on in the video, felt about V3 that way. You mentioned a line to the right that is in the 4-5 range. I started on the lower chalked up jug on the right, made a move out right to a decent crimp jug, then made a big move up to the good jug rail in the middle of the face. Matched on the big chalked up jug to the right and then fired straight to the top. There is a hold on the lip that is about 10 inches wide or so directly above the rightmost chalked jug. The dyno was way fun! Is this the line you were talking about or did I blend a couple? This line was pretty direct and didn't skip any holds, and felt natural. Has this been sent before? If not I would keep with your theme and call it "Enlightenment" and suggest a V4 rating.

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  2. Hey, I went and tried these problems today. Very fun Boulder, but I was confused a bit on where the separate lines were. I tried watching the videos posted but it keeps saying that the plug ins are not supported... Any chance you could upload onto YouTube? Thanks

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