HWY 20 - Roadside Boulder

Since our last epic adventure we've actually managed to finish a couple boulder problems! Driving down HWY 20 we raced past a huge bloc that demanded we stop, turn around, and give it a once over. Sitting a mere 50 feet off the road it doesn't have the most ambient setting, though we were impressed by the quality and the height. The boulder also featured a small bulge that looked like it could yield some promising low starts. There was a small amount of chalk on the boulder, and therefore first ascents were out of the question, but I am still curious to know if some of the lower starts have been done and if any of these problems have names.

Yesterday evening we made the drive out to climb the boulder, where I was happy to scope out a nice logical line starting from the bottom left side of the boulder and trending right and up the steepest part of the face. The beta I used made for a really enjoyable compression line with big moves to flat sidepull edges. Grading is becoming more and more of a mystery to me, though it felt somewhere in the 9 range...
Setting up for the big throw out right.
Stretched out, setting up for the tough come in move to an edge.

I also looked at a line that went straight up the belly, starting low on a bad sloper and a sidepull, and though I messed around with a few options I wasn't able to unlock the full line. From a standing position I was able to start off slightly better opposing sidepull edges with off balanced feet and chuck to a flat edge over the bulge. My feet cut and it was all I could do to hold on to the top. Again, I was happy to find the stand harder than I thought (around 8 points probably) so the sit will no doubt be TOUGH! More photos of this line to come...

But by far the best part of this roadside boulder is that it has nice warm ups and moderate variations from V0-V3.

A nice moderate line up the middle of the face.

-BLOCHEAD