After another visit to the surrounding boulder fields that are passed on the way to the 16Z climbing area expectations changed. But not for the worse, on Saturday (4/29/06) a rather large posy of climbers met in the epicenter of what we have come to realize is not a scattering of a few good boulders amongst a mass rubble heap, but a “mother-load” of superb, very high quality, boulders.In the first four hours of cleaning off holds, buffing out landings and jumping on problems I realized that this place has some of the best bouldering I have ever done. Over two days I climbed on five boulders with problems ranging into V4 to V7. With the number of boulders out there we are expecting to find some seriously difficult problems. Here are a few photos of what we climbed and worked on.
Location: .5 miles west of the junction of 16Z rd & U29 rd (right and left sides of the valley).
Recommendations: Bring a lot of pads as many of the boulders are high and the landings are in the process of being modified. A nylon brush (in a few sizes) seems to work well on this sandstone. Bring lots of water!
Restrictions: The boulders are on BLM. There is established camping at the main parking are for 16Z (a few miles down the road to the west). Please do not create new camping in or near the boulders—we want to stay on the good side of the land managers.
