The Carnival Boulders

Lisa on Giant Man(V4)
A Rubber Boa? on the way to the Beach-Forrest. Cool.

Sunday was a family day trip to the sunny slopes of Leavenworth. After a late start, I drove the three hours to Leavenworth! I wanted to check out the Carnival Boulders, an area in Icicle Canyon that I had yet to visit. I really enjoyed there(Except for taking a suicidal trail up, I was too far up canyon) After finding the correct trail, Lisa and I started ticking off the classic warm ups. She managed a flash of Giant Man(V4), and recomended a down grade. I though it was a little soft but still hard for guys with less grace... After a struggle with the Rib(V4), Lisa and I ditched the sunny slopes of Icicle to hit the shaded side of Tumwater Canyon. (Lisa had an interesting endeavor of a V1 mantel, chalkless and shoeless, the granite also happened to be in full sunlight and it took her some effort to not fall off) On the way out we ran into a tired Derrik and Kyle so we decided to go to the Beach-Forrest for some nicer temps. They rested in the cool water as Lisa and I got to work on Goiceachea, V9. At first, I thought I couldn't do the start. I pulled/nothing on the start. Lisa, meanwhile cruised to the big lunge and got decently close. After stealing her foot beta for the start, I managed the route with only one dab. 20 minutes later, I repeated sans dab and was glad to have sent this cool line(The top out was ugly though) The first move is a lunge to an incut crimp on an overhung, move the feet up, then cross just above to another incut crimp, move the left to a slopey crimp, right foot up to start rail and huck with everything to a big crimp on the lip. Lisa could do everything perfect except hit the crimp on the huck, she touched it but couldn't snag it! It was a short trip but fun, Lisa and I both sent the Terrible(V7), which is a kinda cool problem. I'm pretty happy now with my bouldering and I feel ready to push my limits on some of the harder test pieces... -jimmy