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Finally got up to the boulders that Jeff Smith has been raving about for years now. Only a short drive from Boise, a 5.3 mile hike and you’re there. Jeff and I went up for Saturday and I shot some photos of almost everything we tried. I sent the Prow, a MM problem that is one of the best I have been on since the Flame in Hueco. Jeff did a new line on a small boulder in the main area, no name or grade yet, I sent a problem near the Prow that is really good, in the 5-7 range, big moves and fairly good holds.

The first is Jeff on Camouflage, the second is Jeff on an unnamed ridiculously hard compression problem that neither of us could really even hold body positions. The last two are me on the compression line in the act of trying to do the first move, and Jeff on a new line he almost did on the boulder just uphill from there. Headed back next weekend to try some established stuff and find some new and amazing lines to try. We think the talus goes all the way up and over the ridge, and if it does….

Just a heads up. Matt Futlz made it to the UBC Pro Tour finals at the OR trade show in SLC. Be sure to tune into boulderingcomps.com tonight at 7:30 to watch him compete against Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma, Ian Dory, Carlo Traversi, and Steven Jeffery. Should be an amazing show and it’s very cool that we can all watch it live streaming on the Internet.

Beau Stuart and I recently ventured north to Salmon, Idaho to check out some boulders that Nate Moody has been raving about. The temps were in the mid to high 90s all week so bouldering during the day was not an option. The approach to the boulders isn’t that long of a hike (if you have 4-wheel-drive), the rock quality is primo, and the boulders seem to go on for miles. Basically what I’m saying is that YOU should go check these awesome granite boulders out… You might want to wait until the fall though.

Beau, Nate and I decided to go to Redfish for the day, rather than wait out the heat in Salmon. Here’s a few shots of Beau climbing on the boulders by the Point Campground.

Now that Mike and Kaiya have moved back to Idaho, I am going to start featuring their blog again. Here is their first post from a few weeks back:

Been a while since the last post, the past couple of months have been pretty hectic and didn’t involve a lot of climbing. Mostly moving from SLC to Boise, Idaho to prepare for the fall semester and hopefully do some new alpine exploration in my home state!

Moving from Salt Lake because I wanted to go to Font in the spring, do a lot of climbing in the fall and winter would have pushed my graduation back at U of Utah another 2 years, in Boise I can finish in 3 semesters and then take off and go climbing with an actual sense of freedom.

On the climbing front, Kaiya, me and the McClures made it up to the McCall scree after a near death experience with a whitetail deer for a couple of days of cleaning boulders and climbing. Many problems were sent, some amazing, some not so great but still good, with the best and hardest not even attempted since we were all wasted and way too low on skin to try anything else. Photos and soon to be video at climbidaho.com, the excellent website of Mr. McClure.

Kaiya has been sidelined with a stress fracture in her left middle knuckle, so she has been taking time off and doing Crossfit workouts, a killer workout program that has a different workout every day, and periodical rest days as well. She came up to check out some boulders on Highway 55 with myself, Adam Healy and Morty on the 4th of July. Couldn’t think of a better way to be independent!

We found some amazing stuff, one boulder in a creek that will be host to 3 great problems, two of them being pretty damn tall and scary. Adam found a beautiful line of slopers one would expect to seen in Font or the southeast, and we worked on it for quite some time. I managed to stick all but the first and last move, the first being due to some needed removal of more dirt from the landing, the last because of…uuuhhhhh. Not strong enough on it. Anyways, here are some photos from the day, I am psyched to head back up there and try the thing again in cooler temps and with stronger muscles

Just got an email from Geoff Williams, sounds like a cool project. Please comment your favorite climb in each area:

Mike,

I have been thinking about a photo/possibly video project for awhile. I want to do a project on the best climbs around Boise. I was hoping we could start a forum on climbidaho.com where people could comment on their favorite problems/climbs in the area. I would like to focus on The Cliffs, Table Rock, Mores, Reynolds and Swan. People should focus not necessarily on the hardest climbs of the area, though that could be one of them, but also the funnest, the most aesthetic, something that has a good story behind it, anything that makes that problem or route special to them. Not only will this help me decide what to do for this project (if I actually get around to it), but it will hopefully give new climbers to the area a good idea of what problems/routes to try.

Geoff

Words and photos to come:

Here is the long awaited vid (sorry Fultz) of the Sawtooths along with a few photos Geoff Williams sent me from his trip up there. The vid has four problems:
#1 is a great looking, unnamed problem that Jeff Smith put up on what I am calling the Swamp Boulder.
#2 is on the Milk Roof which has a really nice V5ish (Harvey Milk Roof) roof crack/jug system to an awkward topout, a hard line which is shown in the vid, that begins on the V5 and breaks left through some bad holds (Milk Roof Left), and a still to be cleaned warmup on the left side of the roof.
#3 is on the Swamp Boulder again. Swamp Thang is a cool little low start with a big shoulder move right away.
#4 is THE LINE of the area. The Prow is very reminiscent of The Practitioner up in leavenworth but slightly easier, about twice the size in every aspect and no dabbage potential…This is one of the best boulder problems I have ever done:

Jeff Smith working a hard looking project

Geoff Williams a little higher up on the project

Geoff working on The Prow

Geoff working on The Prow

Jeff on The Prow

Jeff Smith and I made a day trip yesterday to a new area in the Sawtooths he has been developing over the past couple weeks. The area is very remote by bouldering standards yet one of the most accessible in the Sawtooths. After a two hour hike and about 2,000 feet of elevation gain, we had made it to the boulders and they had exceeded my expectations. I first explored the large talus field above the main bouldering area. This area was very reminiscent of the Upper Chaos area in RMNP. Huge boulders, many 60+ feet tall. Although I didn’t find much in the way of classics there, I think this area needs to be explored a bit more before it is written off. Next I found my way down to the main area where Jeff had already established a few great problems.

Although the quality of rock is not perfect up there, the size of the boulders and the fact that the rock is featured enough to climb on (ahem…McCall…) makes this area more than worth the hike in. Oh yeah, and there are roofs to climb on so you know I’m all in. I’ll upload the video in the next couple days, til then here are a few photos:

Jeff working a crazy looking project on a HUGE boulder in the main area.

Jeff on a cool new problem that involves some very hard compression roof climbing

Jeff on the FA of a nice new problem

Jeff re-sending one of his new classic problems

Jeff on the same problem, different view

The hike out, only 2 hours to go

Here is the vid of the McCall Scree Fields:

Last week we made it up to the McCall Scree Field. The road in was very rough and the drive back took forever. But in the end it was well worth it. We climbed a few lines that have undoubtedly been climbed before and we did a few lines that I am fairly sure are FAs. Here are a few photos of some problems. I’ll get the vid up early next week.