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I first heard about Dayton Pocket (aka Laurel Falls, aka Laurel-Snow, aka The Roof) a couple years ago when Jaime Emerson of B3bouldering.com went on a trip there. It was January and I was spending a great deal of time surfing the web for any sort of climbing media that wouldn’t remind me of the gloomy, fog-laden Boise Valley. The main feature that always stuck out in my head was The Roof. The rock looked amazing and the holds looked very similar to those on the Taco Roof in Castle Rocks.

After a couple days climbing at HP40 and Rocktown we decided to take a rest day. After spending the morning in Chattanooga we became bored and decided to make the 45 minute drive to Dayton to check the place out. I secretly planned on climbing the moment we decided to drive up there. The first boulder we went to was a problem that was at the top of my list of must dos, Riverdance. I had watched many vids of the problem and thought that it may be possible for me to flash so I quickly warmed up and gave it my best. Fortunately the problem fit me fairly well and I was able to walk away with what I came for. Here is the vid:

And a photo:

Ander Rockstad on Riverdance

We then walked up to The Roof. Not only was I psyched to get on some steep roof climbing, I was amazed by the sculpted sandstone holds that made the problems.  I found the holds to be similar to the Taco Roof but bigger, Priest’s Draw but not tweaky and Hueco but not painful…and PERFECTLY textured.

Crux hold of Sandblaster

Crux hold of Vapor Lock

The cave is about the size of the Taco Cave and Martini Roof with a higher concentration of problems. Imagine the Martini Roof raised 5 feet higher to eliminate dab potential, minus juggy huecos, add the cool holds of the Taco Cave everywhere and you have the Dayton Roof. There are probably about 10 independent lines with eliminates and linkup potential galore and the problems in the cave ranged from V5 to V12.

Brent Perkins on Sandblaster

The center line of the cave is called Vaporlock and I directed most of my energy to that problem. It is a longish problem (12 or so moves) that begins on a giant undercling and climbs through the middle of the roof to finish on a crimpy little headwall that could be a heartbreaker. Unfortunately I did not get any vid of the send, guess I was too psyched to remember the video camera. Here is a photo of the crux move:

We also met up with Ander Rockstad and Brent Perkins at The Roof. Ander made great progress on The Honeycomb, a line that breaks off of Vaporlock and finishes just to the left.

Ander Rockstad on Honeycomb

Brent had a great day sending two of his hardest problems to date: Riverdance and Dune Blaster: