Hard Boulder Problems in California

Inspired by a discussion on ClimbingNarc I decided to try to start a list of all problems in California V12 or harder. This list is not complete so if you have any info on more problems or about FA’s let me know. This is similar to a list of hard climbs in Colorado and an older list of problems in New England. BetaBase also keeps an online list of all the problems in Yosemite.

Grade	Name	First Ascent	Area
V15?	Rasta Man Vibration Sit	TBD	Buttermilks
V14	The Manadala SDS	Tony Lamiche	Buttermilks
V14	The Mandala Direct SDS	Paul Robinson	Buttermilks
V14	Goldfish Trombone	Sam Edwards	Happies
V13/14	The Swarm	Matt Birch	Beehive Boulders
V13/14	Iron Resolution	Chris Sharma	Joshua Tree
V13/14	Somewhere in Time	Matt Birch	Tramway
V13	The Beautiful and the Dammed	Kevin Jorgenson	Bardini Boulders
V13	Black Mamba	Dan Mills	Tramway
V13	Dominated	Chris Sharma	Yosemite
V13	Spectre	Dave Graham	Pollen Grains
V13	True North	Sean McColl	Buttermilks
V13	The Oracle	Sean McColl	Buttermilks
V13	Direction	Shawn Diamond	Buttermilks
V13	The Buttermilker SDS		Buttermilks
V12	Sharma’s Traverse	Chris Sharma	Happies
V12	Kill On Sight	Sean McColl	Happies
V12	Bubba Lobotomy	Dan Mills	Happies
V12	The Buttermilker	Chris Sharma	Buttermilks
V12	Xavier's Roof	Tony Lamiche	Buttermilks
V12	Rastaman Vibration	Jared Roth	Buttermilks
V12	Evilution	Jason Kehl	Buttermilks
V12?	Haroun and the Sea of Stories	Matt Wilder	Buttermilks
V12	A Maze of Death	Dave Graham	Buttermilks
V12	Baburre	Fred Nicole	Buttermilks
V12	The Mystery	Shawn Diamond	Buttermilks
V12	Form Destroyer	Dave Graham	Beehive Boulders
V12	A Scanner Darkly	Dave Graham	Get Carter
V12	Michael Caine SDS		Get Carter
V12	The Mandala	Chris Sharma	Buttermilks
V12	The Mandala Direct	Jeff Sillcox	Buttermilks
V12	Yabo Roof	Tommy Caldwell	Yosemite
V12	Dominator	Jerry Moffatt	Yosemite
V12	Chimera	Paul Barraza	Yosemite
V12	Scissors for Lefty	Randy Puro	Yosemite
V12	Stick It, Static	Randy Puro	Yosemite
V12	Park Life	Tim Clifford	Yosemite
V12	Shadow Warrior	Matt Wilder	Yosemite
V12	The Creeping Wingate		Mt Baldy
V12	Devil's Dance		Tramway
V12	Roasted and Raw		Joshua Tree
V12?	Rain Dance	Dan Beall	Mt. Woodson

Enjoy,

Luke

Grades, Grades, Grades…

As I have been attempting more “hard” routes recently I have been mulling over the concept of grades. Within a given number, whether 5.9 or 5.13, the variability of perceived difficulty can be quite vast. Rock type can vary between crags as can the grading ethics and the style of climbing. How can we relate a 5.9 on Yosemite granite to a 5.9 at the Red River Gorge?

At one point our grading system rated a climb based on its hardest move, but now we try to rate the overall effort required for a climb. Sustained 5.9 moves yield a rating of 5.10a at certain crags despite the lack of a 10a move. These ideas are not set in stone nor are the agreed upon throughout the world, yet people all over base so much on these simple numbers. Is this because we need an expectation for the route we are going to climb? Do we need compare climbs to each other and to our past climbs? What do we need from these grades?

I found this quote about Dave Graham’s feelings on grades quite interesting. It was originally posted here.

"Do we comprehend as a community a system of grading? As a community, are we confident in our current theories about the complex abstraction of high-end grades?

I think the media did a lot more consolidating of grades than we ever did as a community of climbers. For generations it has happened. Capitalism, money, "fame",...these factors of our world are real, and they have a serious influence.

Grades will never be the most inspiring abstraction donated by climbing. They rank low in overall importance. From an artistic point of view, the possible inspiration one can attain from a grade (it being an after-the-fact interpretation of something special) can never compete with the inspiration donated by the actual experience of climbing.

I changed a lot of my ideas about grades throughout my experiences climbing. I learned a lot about how to compare personal experiences and deduce their relativity. I think its amazing, as a community, how everyone involved, can appreciate the attempt to articulate (with a little number) how challenging something felt, or how one experience compared to another."
--- Dave Graham, 2004 ---

I completely agree that climbing is too complex to be expressed by “a little number”. As a community we should work together to push the limits of climbing and make sure not to be confined by grades.

This article really sheds some light on the John Gill B scale. It is cool to see that a younger climber, Klem Loskot, agrees and his explanation of how to grade problems that are so difficult. It is especially important how he says that grades should really just be a personal reflection of the difficulty of a climb. As well that sometimes the best way to look at the difficulty of a problem can be its relation to other climbs you have done.

Personally I use grades as a measure of performance and a way to gauge progress. I target grade ranges when I travel to crags so that I will push my self climbing. In the past I have been too concerned with sending given grades at the sacrifice of other parts of climbing. I would climb 11as instead 10ds since they are the next number grade up and thus more important even thought both grades be quite similar in difficulty.

While I do think the grades do characterize different types of movement I can still be surprised by the effort required to do 5.9 versus 5.12. Just because a climb is graded harder doesn’t always mean it is more difficult. Difficulty is so abstract, especially in climbing, because there is a varied mix of mental and physical effort. A climb can seem more difficult if the moves are harder to unlock compared to a climb with simple pulling.

Overall I think that the most important thing is to keep climbing and trying different styles of routes. A person’s body can learn so much from a variety of challenges. After man years of climbing cruxes will make more sense and perhaps grades will seem less important. The key is to challenge yourself and have fun doing it.
- Luke