Bad Dreams, and An Idea Boulders List

I'm not normally up this late, but I went to bed at eleven, and woke up what felt like ages later from horrific dreams. I'm totally disturbed, and drinking lots of tea to try to recover. Details are hard for me to deal with as a med student. For anyone else, they would be much more uncool. It will have to suffice to say that a medical school education should never be used by your subconscious to develop horrific dreams. They are way too painful, scary, and realistic.
I studied for an hour, and I thought I'd write a short post.

Dream boulders:

Rocktown, GA: Golden Harvest, v10

Stuff at Joe's: Wind Below, probably a bunch of other awesome stuff there. Eh. I've heard that it sucks to hang out there. We'll see if I care to make the trip. It's not at the top, even if it does have some of the coolest looking rock anywhere.

Hell Belly, hard v11. Beautiful problem! This is totally my style, and if I'm ever climbing this hard, you will find me set up beneath this problem come January.

Stuff at Stone Fort, Tennessee (Little Rock City) - I've got a guidebook coming that should be here any day now. I'll have to mentally update the list when it shows up.

Midnight Lightning, v8/v9 and Thriller v10, Yosemite - I've never made a concerted effort to boulder in Yosemite. When I've run around with pads, I've found it extremely sandbagged and slick. But I heard that it's only this way in Camp 4. Didn't Wilder write a book about this? I'll have to check that out.

RMNP. God. I have no idea what I want to do there. I have no idea what I can do there. When I've been to Colorado for climbing (flatirons and eldorado canyon), I've found it good, but never amazing. And for the record, I thought Eldo was ugly stupid choss. Although I did randomly climb a really cool 10d R there, which I think I would have onsighted if this guy hadn't walked up beforehand and told me all about the ways to die climbing it. It really wasn't that bad. A shaky pin that you could back up with a good piece five feet below. And the crux was like 11a.
So I have the Emerson guidebook now, and am thinking of maybe heading back to CO for RMNP bouldering at some point. I like climbing southern sandstone in the winter, so I think that'll be my big thing this year again. At some point, I'll go for summer alpine bouldering in RMNP.
I'd want to check out Whispers of Wisdom v10, Autobot v5?, and The Kind v5?. Second on the list would be Full Chaos v10, and Veritas v11. The other stuff on the veritas boulder looks cool, too.
There's just way too much there to know beyond that. I'd probably show up and be completely sucked into a single area and not want to leave until I do all the best and hardest problems there. The whole area has this mystique about it that's totally intimidating. Honestly, it is going to take some serious guts (for me) to even put myself in a position of trying some of those classic, impossible looking lines. It's an intimidating proposition, and, I feel that, to keep growing as a climber, I'll need to face this area at some point.
I feel like I'm kind of done with Ozarks bouldering at this point (until I can climb v9, v10, v11 in a couple of tries, there isn't much left). Maybe RMNP will be my next two year obsession?

Leavenworth: On reflection, doing The Coffee Cup was like completing a lifetime dream project for me. I didn't leave feeling like I had to climb anything else there to be satisfied. I think, however, it would be totally possible to go back and find another beautiful, impossible project like The Coffee Cup, and be completely overwhelmed with the joy of working on it. Some ideas for now: WAS, v8 (almost did it last time!); The Sail, v9; Equinox, v10 at Gold Bar; Span Man, v10.


Non-bouldering projects:

Badman, 14a. Although I worked it for five or six months, I never did this 14a at Smith. In the December before I would come to medical school, and back to midwest, I started working the route, not able to do any of the cruxes. I got so that I could do all the moves on command, and could link any two sections. But there are like eight cruxes or something, and the best I ever managed on this was five falls.
I think working this project was hugely important for my development. I learned that power endurance is a big deal for me. Power, I am best at, endurance, eh a little, but power endurance is where I am just weak. I also learned that climbing outdoors is just not a great way for me to train. I don't get enough mileage when I have to coordinate with others, tie in, rap off, etc. I don't get enough variety of movement, and Smith didn't have enough steep stuff to keep strong on. My abs went to crap while I lived there.
I've been much more successful since I started spending more time climbing in the gym for training at night, and climbing outside when I can get out.
I know this route was hard like 20 years ago or something for pro climbers, but it is truly hard for me. Again, going back to Smith would be like stepping back into a much more challenging, almost darker, time in my life (no offense to those of you that were there - it's not you). Working Badman would be, in effect, facing where I was at that point in my life, as well as working what is, for me, an extremely challenging climb. I don't think I'm ready to do that, yet. Maybe someday.

Mango Tango, 14a. This has been a dream climb for me since I saw the Climb X Media video in, jeez, maybe 2002? Can't remember. As I get closer to the point where I have a shot on it, I realize more and more that it totally fits my style and aesthetics for climbing. It's powerful and short. It's got huge moves off marginal holds. Perfect rock. Relaxed environment. I don't give a damn if I do anything else in the New River Gorge for now - maybe I'll change my mind when I get there. Right now, I know I want to climb Mango Tango. And I'd like to do it, soon.

The Rostrum, 11c. What to say? Classic hard Yosemite trad with an offwidth, and other goodies. Because of falcon closures until the fall, and the fact that all school schedules always book you in the F*G fall (the best time to climb in the US), I have never been able to get out there. I have no idea when I will try to do this. As I get further along, however, it's feeling more and more possible.


Finally, because I never listed what I wished I had done while I was there, and would like to do if I ever go back:

An Ozarks list of dream projects undone:
Cloud of Stars, v9
Moondye, v9
Daily Planet, v9 !!!!
Fred's Roof v10/v11 !!!
Typhoon v10/v11
The Full Package v-Impossible for Sean


I'll have some more tea, and study more, and then please wish me luck for not dreaming about nerve pathway specific vivisection.