Fine Winter Whiskey

Winter season is in full effect at the Whiskey Gulch.  With all the great weather (if you’re a boulderer) we been having there’s been a lot of recent action at Whiskey.  There’s been quite a bit of action on the old established classics along with a lot of attention being focused on an amazing arete project on the SE corner of the hill south of Whiskey proper.  If you know where you’re going it’s about 10-15 minutes from Caught in the Act.  But, like most everything on that hill, I can’t even try to explain how to get there, you pretty much need a guide or it will take you a lot longer (if you ever find it).

Anyway, THE arete is a gorgeous overhanging line of sidepulls and slopers on perfect rock (no cleaning required).  Over the course of the last few weeks many of Bozeman’s best have tried it with no luck.  Ho, Isaac and I hiked straight to it yesterday with Jon, Brandon and Jo arriving shortly after.  Ho and Jon had been getting close on it so we thought there was a good chance it was going down.

After doing a couple pull-ups on nearby crimps for a warm-up, Ho proceeded to cruise the arete first go, while all of us just stood and gawked.  Rediculous.  I don’t think anyone else even had their climbing shoes on by the time the project was no longer a project.  I’ve seen Ho do many crazy feats of climbing strength, but this may take the cake.  Becasuse of the nature of the climb (techy, yet burly arete = Ho problem) and the way it was climbed, we decided Ho didn’t have a choice in naming it.  We named it for him… “No Business Like Ho Business”  I think it’s right around V8 or V9.  Instant classic.

Next Isaac and Ho went to work on a new problem near “No Business…”  I was pretty content with sending my project on Saturday (see video below) so I just took photos of them trying it.  Ho ended up sending that as well, with Isaac getting really close before succumbing to the Whiskey crimps.  I think they may have gone with “In Spite of Erik” since I looked at the line a few times and deemed it not worth my time.  But, Isaac and Ho both swear it’s a classic as well.  Only time will tell.  Here’s some photos from yesterday.

Jo on "No Business Like Ho Business"

Jon trying hard on "No Business Like Ho Business"

Isaac on "No Business..."

Isaac cruxing "In Spite of Erik"

Isaac checking out the spicey, loose top-out "In Spite of Erik" while Ho's thinking about how cool it was that he climbed the arete project first go with no warm-up. Nice spot...

Lastly, here’s a video I put together of some of the other action of the past couple months.  It’s got myself on “Encephalitis” V6, Ho on “Lap Dances are So Much Better When the Stripper is Crying” V8, Kevin Volkening on “Wave Runner” V3, myself on “Slashface” V0 and Ho on “Seniled” V?  The last one, “Seniled” is the same as “Senile” (which is almost the same as “Encephalitis”) but eliminates the heel hook.  I don’t really know the grade, but I think Ho said he’s been trying it forever, so it’s probably a few grades harder than the V6 given in the guide.  Enjoy!

-EC