Dan had been over there a bit recently and always came back raving about another new boulder or highball. It has been years since I was last there so it was nice to go back and see how weak I was as a child.

After a session of bouldering (it stays dry in the rain, amazing!) and picking blackberrys (there are a lot) I returned with more pads and spotters to try Dan’s new highball 8a, Wildchild. This starts up Warchild, an old 7c boulder but rather than dropping off at the break it pushes on to the top via a massive pull on a trouser filling 4 finger pebble.

See here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beastmaker/6066348729/
 

I spent a while floundering on the bottom before finally getting through to the upper boulder problem. This was a bit of an adventure. After a few big falls (one missing the pads, ouch) I started to figure out a new sequence. Dan’s original did an awesome cross through from the pebble to a dish (as seen in the linked photo), which felt all weird and not something I dared commit to ground up. My sequence took a more direct approach, pulling down like a mad man on the dubious pebble. Possibly slightly easier, definitely quite harrowing. After a pause to catch my breath and quell the leg shakes i was up on top, fighting through the undergrowth. Its good to start getting back into the highball spirit after a summer of pulling on plastic.