West World

Hazard County

 DamNation AKA Gross Dam Boulders

Jay attempting Singular Objective V11

 DamNation is one of the latest hotspots
in the Boulder area.  It provides cool
morning and evening temperatures on
the unique pocketed granite of Gross
Reservoir.  There are many easy to
moderate problems and a good handful
of seemingly impossible projects. For
some reason there seems to a lack of
problems in the V-7 to V-9 range. Be
sure to go ahead and throw yourself
at Turn That Frown Upside-Down V12 and Singular Objective V11
because these lines are incredibly beautiful. There are many hard
problems that will go someday by somebody, so Do Not Chip!!

DamNation approach

To get To The FreightTrain Parking:
From Damnation go south .3 miles, turn
left at a 3-way intersection and go less
than a mile to Crescent Meadows trailhead on the left before the Railroad
tracks.

DamNation trailhead

Approach 2: Coal Creek Canyon -12 miles
From the intersection of Highways 93 and 72,
south of Boulder, go up Highway 72 (Coal Creek
Canyon) 8.2 miles. Turn right onto Gross Dam
Road (County Road 77). Go about 3 miles
until a 3-way intersection with a Gross Dam
sign. Turn right, go .3 miles. Cross over
South Boulder Creek and park on the right
across from the guardrail.

The Hike: 8-10 minutes on mostly flat
Hike behind the guardrail. Continue west up the dirt service road a few minutes.
50 paces past the second time you pass under the power line, go right up
the trail. The rocks start less than 100 feet from the service road.

The Climbing
You'll find a little bit
of everything in this
unique granite
bouldering area.
From pockets,
projects, slopers,
mantles and slabby
face. Although the
rock is not very
sharp, the problems are for
the most part thin,
powerful and
devious. 40+ lines
have been done to
date, with a
potential for many
more.
Please notify us with
any first ascent info.
       Thank You
           F.R.B.

Chip on #4, V-0

1. (V-1): ** Pop. From crack to lip, then mantle.
   
2. (V-1): Vertical Face.
   
3. One Foot to Go (V-4): *** Shallow corner.
   
4. (V-0): * Warm up. Corner.
   
5. Slab (V-?):
   
6. Clap (V-5): *** Start low in underclings
   and slap & clap up to lip, and over.
   
7. (V-2): Sit start on corner and balance up.
   
8. That's Some Gross Shit (V-7): f.a. by
   Bart Strege. Start on knob. Left hand
   sharp crimp, right hand bad pinch. Change
   kneebar to calfbar and right hand to top.
   Scramble off left.
9. (V-1): ** Warm up. From low.
10. Project (V-?): * Start up detached vertical
    face and pull up and right to tricky top out.

    Pat Wild on Sloper V-5

11. Warm Upish (V-2): ** Start low and move
    up and right over a bulge.
    
12. Tree Bola (V-4): ** Same start as # 11,
    but go left into cool pockets and top out.
    
13. (V-6): ** Jump to sloper and gain the tall  scary slabby top out.
14. Corner (V-2): Steep corner and pull
    around over the slab to reach to lip.
    Watch your head on rock behind you.
15. Tall Boy (V-2) : * High Arete.
    
16. Sloper (V-5): ** From sharp edge slap up
    slopers to the right and pull over.
    
17. Project (V-?): Start on rock and reach
    around the corner to sloper and top. Scary!
    
18. Poison Ivy Arete (V-3): ** Exciting!
    
19. Face.

    Chip on Poison Ivy Arete V-3

20. Feel The Bass AKA Go Ask Matt (V-?):
    Exit the left crack up high.
    
21. Turn That Frown Upside-Down (V-12/13): *** f.a. by Tommy Caldwell with jump start.
22. Singular Objective (V-11): *** A stellar
    problem first done by John Stack.
    Tommy Caldwell did the 2nd ascent.
    
23. Wide Warm Up (V-0): * Top out on big flakes.
    
24. Corner (V-3): * Pull to the left at about 10
    feet and top out flakes on #23.
    
25. Slab (V-2): ** Fun, watch for friable edges.
    
26. Slot (V-4): * Start low pull over little roof.

    Jay on #24, V-3

27. Burnt Traverse (V-?): Don't know if its
    been done. Not too good.
28. Hole (V-3): * Climb out through the hole
    between the boulders onto the slab
    via pockets.
29. Corner Project (V-?):
30. Loose Flake Project (V-?):
31. Tall Proud Corner Project (V-?):
    
32. Blue Bucket Arete (V-3):
    
33. Small Roof (V-?):
    
34. Great Slab #1 (V-4): ** Don't use big foot
    hold to start.
35. Great Slab #2 (V-3): *** From sloper pull
    straight up to small holds at the lip.
    Variation (V-4): ** From sloper go out to
    holds at right and up.

    Chip on Great Slab #2 V-3

36. Whatever Slab (V-3): *
    
37. Instant Classic (V-5): * Climb the egg-like
    bulge.
    
38. (V-?): Start low and traverse left.
    
39. Ticky Ticky Man (V-7): *** Start low and
    move to corner and up. The further to the
    left one tops out, the easier it is.
    
40. (V-4): * From low to Right. Then up.
    
41. Project (V-?): Traverse lip to the right and
    top out on token pocket.
    
42. Broken Tree Project (V-?): Start off of rock
    and reach to high, good edged face.
    

       3 Feet High And Rising (V-4): 5 feet right of #11. Reachy to sloper
       then mantle.
       Rising From The Grave (V-4): Start on the back of the block the
       The Great Slabs are on. Reach it by squeezing into the chasm
       between the Great Slab Block, and the Death Wish Block. Start
       sitting down at the northeast arete with the right hand on a good
       undercling/arete hold, and left in a sloping 2 pad undercling. Then
       slap and heel-hook your way up slopers and crimps to a roll-over
       top out. It's tainted by the presence of boulders to the sides and
       behind which are off route.

Gross Reservoir

Pros: Perfect stone, mostly good landings.
Short flat hike. Tranquil setting. Mtn. biking
nearby. The DamNation and FreightTrain
together make a good day of granite.

Cons: A bit of a drive getting there,
dirt roads and washboards. Not
enough problems yet.