Previous Throwbacks:

First Ascent of Barbed Wire at Lincoln Woods

First Ascent of Big at Farley

The Machine

Back in the winter of 2004, there was much discussion on the newenglandbouldering.com message board about a few problems in Pennsylvania that had been discussed as having big grades. The guys who did the FAs were not known around the area and there was lots of doubt about the difficulty of the problems. Specifically at question was a problem done by Chris Zwieg called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease that he claimed was V13. Pete Ward and Brett Myers headed down to PA to check these problems out. Here's their report:

A Short Trip to Pennsylvania

For many climbers, first ascents have a special meaning, somewhat like being an artist and creating a beautiful painting. The reality is that being the first to climb some chunk of rock in the middle of the woods really doesn't mean that much, except to the person who did climb it first. Over the last few months, on our message board, a couple of Pennsylvania boulderers have felt the need to defend several of their first ascents of some boulder problems at Big Rocks and Hunter's. They have endured endless trolls and attacks by mostly anonymous individuals. Through it all, and to their credit, they stuck to their guns and responded, sometimes at length, to all their critics. With some prodding and support from newenglandbouldering.com, Pete Ward and Brett Meyers took a short trip down to Pennsylvania to check out the problems and provide an objective report for us. Here is what many of us have been waiting the entire long, cold winter for:

Tornado G-Spot: V10 Actually quite a nice problem even with the spray paint. Apparently some guy killed himself by driving his car into the boulder awhile back. Lends a certain Je ne sais qoui. Photos show Brett Meyers working the problem and Randy Burks, the local tour guide. All taken by Pete Ward.