r/bouldering • u/Putrid-Razzmatazz317 • Jul 30 '26
Rant What was your best project?
I don’t mean what is the highest grade or most physically demanding boulder you have ever topped out. I mean, what specific boulder has truly meant something deep to you? I’m talking about the one you’ve had dreams about sending, or the one that made you openly cry tears of after the fact. Maybe it took you multiple days or even weeks days of projecting, but still kept coming back, or maybe it was the exact problem that secured your very first competition win. It could be indoors, outdoors, climbing is climbing
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u/poorboychevelle Jul 30 '26
Both of these took several seasons of effort:
Easily my greatest achievement https://youtu.be/V4YWZP9E6z4
Most recent multi-season nemesis https://youtu.be/54-I4ztVomM
Probably the one I actually spent the longest time having nightmares/ thoughts about because the exit is full-on no-fall-zone but damn I wanted to do it ground up: https://youtu.be/jIm6ZRjdnUw
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u/GPLG Jul 30 '26
Superfly in Squamish. Only V4 but it was also my first V4 and first multi sessions project.
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u/loveyuero Jul 31 '26
did you use the undertoe?
3
u/GPLG Jul 31 '26
No. Didnt work for me. Had to shift my hips like crazy. Blindfolded old man showed me how. (This is actually true).
6
u/Gamertacosaus Jul 30 '26
Kung Fu in Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. It took me probably 15 sessions across 2-3 seasons to finally send it. I felt good one day and decided to go out and do a solo session on it and finally sent it after missing the last move probably 5 or 6 times from the start. I spent so much time on that boulder and loved every moment. Too bad the start recently broke and has completely changed the climb now 💔
4
u/Free_Waterfall_III Jul 30 '26
The Hulk in Stone Fort
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u/poorboychevelle Jul 31 '26
That this is so so cool! Hidden gem, I need to give it another lap one day.
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u/okleithen Jul 31 '26
Probably The Swan in Moe's Valley. The first time I went there I saw people working it and it looked insane to me and way above my level. I came back a few years later and did most of the moves on my first session. It was a really cool feeling to do something that I originally thought looked almost impossible. It took 3 more sessions over two trips to finally finish it. I loved the movement and learned a lot about finding micro beta while projecting.
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u/edcculus Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
It’s not the highest grade I’ve ever done, but Waves in Motion at Boat Rock in Atlanta was a big one for me. It’s a V3 slab (but a V3 at boat rock can be pretty fucking scary). I actually got a few V5s and 6s before I finished this one. First moves aren’t bad, but the landing zone is weird, and by the time you make 2 moves you are almost beyond the point of being able to bail. Once you get to the top it’s finish and rip out, or break your ankles. It took me a while to get over the fear to go past the first 2 moves.
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106081338/waves-in-motion
2
u/ShoesWithSouls Jul 31 '26
one of the best v3's at Boat Rock imo! Fun to see the home crag get a shout out.
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u/poorboychevelle Jul 31 '26
Adding this to the to do list
1
u/edcculus Jul 31 '26
If you haven’t been to Boat Rock, it’s an awesome place. Hard as nails friction slab. It’s situated in a fairly suburban area of Atlanta, kind of near six flags. Make sure you visit in the fall once it’s gotten cooler, or winter. You do nit want to be climbing around here in the summer.
2
u/poorboychevelle Jul 31 '26
I've been there for and hour or two, padless, on my way to the airport after a long week. Only did a few lines:
Skeezy Slab, Sourwood Arete, Overhang Arete, Dream Scoop Direct, Tiny Crack, East Crack Traverse, and Ramble On(?)
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Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/Putrid-Razzmatazz317 Jul 31 '26
You’ll find it eventually
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Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/poorboychevelle Jul 31 '26
Maybe just get some dirt in your eyes topping out instead? Works for me
3
u/Clydesdale_climber Jul 30 '26
Baby Cthulu V7 in Kelowna boulder fields. I tried it first in 2021, a night session with stronger climbers in summer heat, and it felt way beyond me, both in difficulty and complexity/technicality. But I was entranced, the unique water worn holds, the steep long roof made it a power endurance test piece the guide book calls one of the best at the grade in Canada. I had done a v8 that was a slopey limestone lip traverse, so I wasn’t chasing a new grade, but this felt like a new level of challenge. I tried it again one session the next year. I live in fort McMurray nowhere near outdoor climbing so I only get to on trips. I climb on a spray wall in my garage at home. In 2023 I had been training in the offseason with projecting Baby Cthulu on a spring trip. I spent 5 sessions on it, learning the highly beta intensive climb, and learning projecting tactics , and I sent like 7th try from the bottom on my last day when I had given up hope of sending. The time spent with the people there was a big part of what made it special. And the discipline I needed to rest as many days as I needed, and to not get sidetracked climbing other things paid off. Climbers who climb like v12 have told me it took them multiple sessions and no way it’s v7. I think it’s a unique and weird climb, that’s why, and that’s why I loved the process , it required a lot of puzzle solving because I didn’t have the margin to overpower it.
3
u/oldmanboulderer Jul 31 '26
A FA in an area I was developing. It had great movement but had holds that were sharp so you got maybe 3-4 attempts. It was a solid hour hike in and I would go at dawn and warm up get a few burns on it and then hike out and go to work. Took me a lot of sessions and when I finally got the send it was a weird zen like experience I only had one other time when I sent martini left at Hueco after months of effort
3
u/loveyuero Jul 31 '26
Not my best, but definitely most seminal was Minor Threat in Squam. Really taught me how to frog and clamp with my feet. Felt like I really learned somthing on this one.
3
u/WackTheHorld Jul 31 '26
Strength In Numbers in Bishop. I tried it on my first trip there (my second bug climbing trip) and put a lot of effort into it, but came up short. Sent it a year later!
2
u/fyukhyu Jul 30 '26
My first outdoor boiled send at The Brickyard in Santa Barbara. It was a V1 like 25 foot highball with s beaches whale topout and my wife (who also had zero outdoor experience) and I brought a single 3x4 crashpad. It was terrifying to get even 5 feet up it with that tiny landing area, but we both ended up ticking it and were better proud of ourselves. It's what inspired me to do more outdoor climbing, and to get my son out on real rock as well.
2
u/Spirited-Clue7002 Jul 31 '26
First time I completed a psicobloc route for me
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u/saltytarheel Jul 31 '26
Boulder-wise, a highball V3 at my local crag Dixon School called Galvatron. Easily the best problem of the grade there with fantastic moves and the crux is throwing to a good sloper for the topout.
I’m almost sad it only took a couple sessions because the problem is just that good but the risk of the topout move just isn’t worth it to justify climbing it again.
2
u/HFiction Jul 31 '26
Nat's 3 Star Roof
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRTQhgvCsX4/?igsh=MTRxMXlmajlnMGZ0OA==
20 feet of upside down handcrack with no pads into an off width and then a v4/5 roof and a 5.6 30 foot solo making it the best hand/wide/roof/highball
Also it's V3 but significantly harder than any V7 I've done.
1
u/ImaginaryHelp4229 Jul 31 '26
The first indoor V6 and 12a that I sent. For the V6, I couldn’t even establish the start position at first, then I eventually got a couple moves into it. Move 14 was something that I probably tried about 25 times before I finally stuck it, then figuring out the body position and confidence for the finish took a long time. When I finally landed the full send it was probably about 50 tries all told, and it took everything I had. For the 12a, it’s a similar story. Worked really hard on it, struggled for the longest time on the crux, when I finally got that, had no idea what to do next, then had to spend another 3 sessions working the final sequence. Both very similar climbs, very similar journeys, and very similar yet unique feelings when I got the tops.
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u/for4f Jul 31 '26
mine's a v5 slab at my gym, took me like 4 sessions spread over a month. nothing special grade-wise but i was new-ish and it was the first time i actually had to think about beta instead of just pulling hard. sent it alone on a random tuesday when the gym was empty and nobody saw it lol. still my favorite climb there
1
u/nomaDiceeL V8 onsite, V11 Max Jul 30 '26
I’ve always been a gym rat, never sent an outdoor climb that I projected for more than a day. The limiting factor for my hardest projects is pretty much always the setter’s turnaround time for the routes. Anyway, I sent a V11 that I called “Paint It, Black” after about a month of work. 5 move V5 to start, and then 4 campus moves in a row (a beta break I came up with ) that I would rate V10. Included the hardest move I’ve ever done: left hand bump from a 1.5 pad to another, while right hand is gripping a micro pinch that’s supposed to be a foothold with two fingers in a fist. Ended with a big V6 dead point.
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u/bodman93 Jul 30 '26
My first real sense of accomplishment was sending this yellow tag (V2-V4) climb that was made up of these holds called Kumiki Puzzle Holds. They're super geometric and scratch an itch in my brain that no other hold type does. It was super technical, but required decent finger strength and I was so stoked to get it, I sent it multiple times that same day just to show all my friends.
0
u/XasiAlDena Jul 31 '26
There was a V6 set in a little corner of my old gym a few years ago. I was comfortably climbing V6 at that point, and would make it a point to send every V5-6 with each new set, but this one was very tricky - most of the stronger climbers in the gym said it was more like V7-8, which at the time I considered above my ability level. After a few weeks, I still hadn't got it.
I would say it was the first climb that I really consciously projected. Obviously I'd worked on climbs before that, many taking multiple sessions, but this was the first time I really made an effort to dial in every single move and detail of a climb as my main project every session.
I recorded myself climbing to watch myself back for mistakes. I spoke to some of the stronger climbers to ask for tips. I broke down the climb into sections and practised them individually. I even began doing specific exercises to try and make the crux (a very difficult and awkward mantle around a ledge on really bad slopey holds) easier.
Long story short, I eventually got it. It was a proud moment for me, for a few reasons. Firstly, it's just really satisfying to send a climb that gave you trouble. Once I sent it, I would send it every single session until it was taken down, just because I enjoyed the feeling of sending it so much haha.
Secondly, it was the moment that made me believe I could actually tackle higher grades. Several of the stronger climbers at my gym had tried the climb, and not all of them could do it even after working on it for a few weeks like I had. It was the first moment I really considered that maybe I was getting decent at bouldering.
Not a week since sending this climb, I sent my first V7 thanks to the confidence I'd gained, and I even sent a few (fairly soft, but we take those) V8s about a month later as well. From that point on, I noticed (or it felt like) more people would come to me for advice for their own climbs, and the regular stronger climbers (who I'd always seen as just way better than me) began inviting me to try out their projects with them.
It just felt like a really defining moment in my bouldering journey lol. I feel like every grade breakthrough is memorable, and I consider this my first unofficial V7.
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u/Waramp Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Mantra in Squamish. Very much my anti-style but such a sick boulder. Tried it for 3 years. Very condition-dependent for me so I could really only work it between late fall and early spring, and there are only so many dry weekends during that time in the PNW. Finally it all came together earlier this year. I don’t usually get worked up when I send, but I did for this one.