New Gallery & Trip to The Farm

First of all, the Gallery page has been updated. Finally got some pictures up!

Sean introduced me to a cool area over the holiday break - The Farm in Bartlesville, OK. There were some great problems that I would really like to revisit. In particular was this awesome arete that was about 14 feet tall. We had 3 pads stacked up over some embedded rocks at the base so the landing wasn't too bad but neither of us dare go for the top. The move to the top was completely a go-for-it move and if you missed there's no telling where you'd end up, maybe on a pad, maybe against the tree, maybe off to the side in the rocks. After checking out the top-out, I was glad I didn't make it that far; there was one decent hold a the lip up then it turned into one of those grovelling slopey affairs with no holds and a difficult mantle - those scare the crap out of me! I'd like to have another couple of pads before I try the final moves and the top-out.

Another cool problem (shown above) was on this glowing overhanging face. It had nothing as far as footholds but there was a line of sweet edges and pockets just below the lip for hands. The line started on the lower right in a sit-down start and climbed diagonally up and left for at least 25 feet of climbing. The moves were long and powerful and the footholds frustratingly small or nonexistent. We went from warming up on this line to nearly burning out. I'd like to go back and get this one too.

Overall, it was a good day of bouldering and it left me with plenty of new goals. The Farm is on private property so access is tricky, I went with someone who knew the family who owns the property so everything was cool. I don't think I'd just show up out there without permission. Hope the family remains on good terms with climbers, this is a cool area.