So after many horror stories and being told it's a local hangout for gangs, Akio and I decided to checkout Northwest Branch for some bouldering. It's super close and with rain in the forecast we decided to go.

Well, it turns out it's totally not a scary place and if you can get over all the trash and graffiti all over the rocks, there is actually some good climbs here. The majority of them are quite short, 5-6 moves at most. There is a lot of easier stuff, and surprisingly, some harder stuff too. From what I saw there is about 3 or 3 quality hard lines (V7+).

After exploring the entire area we finally got around to some climbing. Started easy but got my hands cut up in no time....good quality sharpness, reminded me of home! Did a fun little V6 Dyno called River Dyno. Worked on a really cool roof problem called Chaos Roof (V9). Doable, but will take a few more times out, and some more spotters.

Anyway, great day. The area has enough to go back to a few times, especially since it's so close. All the pictures can be found here.

After a long "winter" climbing in the gym I finally managed to gather up some troops to head outdoors for some bouldering. It's not like home where we go in sub-freezing temps. People here are scared of the cold. It's also a pain because it's 2.5 hours to anything worth while.

That being said the weather was in the mid 20s and Akio, Tom and myself set off early for the 2.5 hour drive to Second Mountain. None of us had been there before, but directions seemed pretty easy. Nope. Not quite that easy. Second Mountain road didn't exist! It shows up on google maps, but it's just someone's trailer, no road. Now what?! Good thing for the iphone! We quickly searched for alternate approaches. After farting around for another hour we finally found another way in... although it went from parking right next to the boulders to a hour hike... up a friggin mountain!

I nearly didn't make it. It was a hard push, and like usual, I had too much gear with me. After a long break and the fact the boulders we nice and cool and out of the sun, I was feeling much better.

The first boulder was called the satellite boulder, and defiantly had the best lines. After being in the gym for so long it was so nice to touch real rock. Although it's still pretty soft compared to the NS granite! Also being use to indoor grades wasn't good either... indoor "7s" were like the 4s we got on. But it was great! Sent a few 4s and 5s that were really nice. Worked a super cool 8 that involved crazy lock-offs, slopers and micro crimps. Worked out everything in two parts, but just didn't have the gas in the end to link it all.

All in all it was an awesome day. A long day, but awesome. Hoping to get out somewhere this weekend too!

All the photos can be found here.