1/6/12 – Shortly after Dave Graham opened a V14 near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Daniel Woods followed up with his own V14 first ascent.

His boulder problem, called Mirror Reality, is located near the Bear Lake parking lot in RMNP. It was previously his "bridge project"; he’d spent about five days total, this year and last, on the boulder.

"You begin as a sit-start with a right-hand flat crimp and left hand fat pinch," Woods said in an email about Mirror Reality. "You make a long, low-percentage move to an open-handed edge with your right hand and place a left foot (finicky) heel hook, suck in to a half-pad crystal edge, and swing out your right hand to a flat pad and a half-edge. From here, the climbing changes, and you have to match in right next to your hand, dyno over a bulge to a poor sloper, and top out up and right with a couple of delicate yet powerful moves."

Woods says the problem is a combination of Anam Cara (V15) and a harder version of the Dreamtime dyno (V15). "It felt mid to hard 8B+ (V14)," he said. He gives credit to Graham, who "found this amazing bloc, brushed it, and presented it to me."

He hopes to continue cranking in the area during the winter season. "There are still many lines in this area and around Estes, which will make for a jam-packed winter season. I just hope the snow will hold off a bit longer," he said.

Date of ascent: January 4, 2012

Source: Daniel Woods

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