Cedar Project - V10 (guest video)

Here is a short video Jess Firestone shared with me of his ascent of Cedar Project - V10 on the, you guessed it, the Cedar Boulder.  Nice send Jesse!



I'm always interested in promoting the Carver bouldering community, so if anyone has photos or videos they want to share of their victories or defeats in the Carver woods, let me know in the comments or send me an email at carverbouldering gmail com.

Looks like the weather for next week is really starting to shape up so make sure your chalk bag is full and your brushes are in your bag.

Season 2012: Dry & Green

Mark O. pressing the top out on a fun, awkward, steep & short V2 called Low and Inside.

I know it has been since last season since I've posted here and that is for a couple of reasons:

1. It is wet in Portland in the Winter and makes it hard to climb outside. Granted this winter was fairly mild and February had some good, crisp weather.
2. This one is more personal and even almost derailed the publishing of the guidebook - my wife was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, on May, 11 of last year. She is 35 and a non-smoker and you can read more about her situation on her blog, Aquarius Vs. Cancer.

So after a very long year, I got back out to Carver, brushed some holds (OK a lot of holds) and had a fun afternoon in the woods. We cleaned a swath of boulders between the Cedar and Yosemite boulders.  

Climbing in this area also made me realize that I've left at least one problem out of the guidebook (I'm sure there are at least two more). Problem #3 on page 26 is an unnamed V0 near the Yosemite Boulder. There is also a V1 sit start on small crimps to the right of Problem #3. I guess we'll call it Problem #3a. I also cleaned off a problem that isn't in the guide that is probably V1. It is short sit start that climbs up though a slabby notch. If you look at the map on Page 27 of the guidebook, then this problem would be on the end of the Toe Boulder facing the parking lot.

I want to send a shout out to Andy T. who sent me an email several weeks ago. It seems Andy has taken some of his climbing time to clean off the Water Tower Boulder out near the Pioneer Church. I hope to walk out there tomorrow and check it out.

Here is another view of Mark O. on Low and Inside, but looking out towards the parking lot. Alison is standing in front of Problem #3a.

Thank you to everyone who has already bought a copy of the Carver Bouldering Guide. If you still need a guide, you can pick one up at:

• The Stone Cliff Inn (Make sure to go in a have a beer every once in a while)
• The Circuit Bouldering Gym (NE & SW locations)

Busy Day on the Cedar Boulder

Had a good time with some friends on the Cedar Boulder. It would suck if we're counting down the days until Mr. Rosenbaum cuts off access. A rant follows the photo - you have been warned.


Finally got out to Carver yesterday. It had been almost three weeks since the last time I was out. But I've heard some stories from the land owner, Mr. Rosenbaum, via other friends who've been going out regularly.

He isn't very psyched with climbers right now. It feels like an unfair amount of the criticism is being leveled on the boulderers, some of it rightly so, but some of it is being shoveled our way because of some ingrained local politics.

Here are three events that Mr. Rosenbaum brought up to me yesterday or to some friends last weekend:

1. Group of boulderers hanging in the parking lot drink beers and passing the marijuana around after a session. (He is running a family restaurant and plenty of the Twilighters are kids as well. The group is lucky he didn't call the sheriff. The OLCC could also come down hard on his business.)

2. Couple of rope climbers pull up last Sunday while he is roaming the parking lot asking if people are members of the Carver Climbing and checking IDs. They tell him they are not members. He explains that this is private property and they won't be able to climb. They then cop an attitude and tell him they've been climbing out there for years and have never been members. (That kind of entitled attitude from climbers is one of the main reasons he is unhappy. We have to police this area ourselves. Ask people if they are members; if they are not they have to leave. Mr. Rosenbaum is not enjoying spending his weekends finding out if someone is a member.)

3. Climbers should to be out of the parking lot by 9:00pm. There have now been at least 2 instances where the restaurant staff are trying to leave, which includes locking the gate down at the road, only to have climbers' cars left in the parking lot. On one occasion the night manager had to call some employees back to help her check the woods for climbers. (That is money out of Mr. Rosenbaum's pocket to pay his employees to come look for your sorry ass.) I think that time involved some rope climbers up at the cliff. The staff told the climbers to leave so the gate could be locked (it was after 10pm already) and the climbers told the staff they weren't done yet. Quit being jackasses people. You'd hate it if someone came to your job and was just hanging around refusing to leave once you were ready to go home.

So I heard a rumor that the Carver Climbing Club met last week and changed the dog rule to be, "Don't bring dogs out to Carver anymore." Also, "No Drugs. No Alcohol."

If you want a beer, go have one in the restaurant (it is cheaper than losing a climbing area).

Hopefully the Carver Climbing Club will use its new website to:

* Advertise when the club meetings are so their members could actually attend and find out what the club is doing to keep climbing open at Carver.

* List a complete set of rules, especially ones that have changed recently.

* Organize some clean-up/trail maintenance days

- and maybe correct the spelling of the Stone Cliff Inn on the "Attention Climbers" signs that have been recently posted at a couple of the trail heads on the property.

You can email the Carver Climbing Club to let them know you boulder, you're a member and you want to know what's going on to preserve access. Be nice.

Spencer out

Carver Bouldering Has a Guidebook...Almost

So the proof copy was on my doorstep Thursday after work. I made a couple of tweaks and switched out two photos and sent it back to the printer. So it looks like two weeks before the Carver Bouldering Guide is available around Portland.

In the interim, if you are looking for a nice place to climb and still beat the heat, try the problems in the corridor behind the Cedar Boulder. There are a handful of problems back there along with a spot that stays around 65 degrees.

I bouldered there with my buddy Mark on Wednesday after work when it was 105. I was almost chilly in pants and a t-shirt.

So good luck and safe climbing.

Spencer out