Day 1 at Neverland Ranch, GB

Call us obsessed if you'd like. Three out of the last four days we have made the trip out to Great Barrington. With all the rain we've had lately, our plan for Friday was to clean and develop a new climbing area that we had discovered the weekend before. As we expected, walking in in the morning was very wet. The rocks were dripping and there was a small shower on its way.

Kyle, JP and I headed right for what we would call "Neverland Ranch" with all the necessary tools for cleaning. My first mission was chopping a fallen tree off the top of one of the gem routes. Even though the outside of the trunk was rotten and spongy, it took a little longer then I had expected. As I chopped, I watched Kyle and JP "carpet roll" the top of the main boulder, clearing a 3'x12' section in a few minutes work. After finishing off the tree, I followed their example and "carpeted" off the top out of another route that I had my eye on, revealing a huge jug and a fun finishing move to the problem.

With 6-7 potential problems cleared, now came the task of cleaning off the dirt, mud and moisture enough to get the send.

The first to go was "Break of Dawn", the right leaning crack running up the middle of the main boulder. JP got the First Ascent (FA) and we dubbed it a V1. Next was a traverse that Kyle scoped, beginning at "Break of Dawn" and going all the way to the right end of the boulder. We dubbed it a V2 and called it "Moonwalk". The third line was an easy straight up in the middle of the boulder, "Billie Jean" V0. Next we went up to the routes I had cleaned. A 45 degree wall and a taller arete. The 45 degree wall was dubbed a V3 and we call it "Bad" due to the flakey nature of the wall. There is a huge jug on the lip, but rolling up the top out requires a very high foot and a powerful mantle move. The last route of the day was "Smooth Criminal" an arete climb that begins on a beautiful Jug, moves through two small crimp sidepulls and then up jug ledges to the top.

As the skies opened up with the typical summer afternoon rain, we scampered out of the woods and called it a fun day. Definitely making the most of a wet day out. (Pictures taken Monday night)