The Line of the Week
Sugar Pine, Lake Tahoe
Make Your Own Bouldering Problems
Are you getting bored of bouldering at Old County and DL Bliss? Are you looking for some new bouldering problems? Not a problem. Get out in the woods, grab a few toothbrushes, some wire brushes, your muscles, and an open mind and make your own bouldering area. Seriously, there are rocks all over the place.
Dave Hatchett, a legend in our community took me out for a sneak peak into a new bouldering area he and some friends have been developing over the last few years. Not only are they putting up first ascents but they are out there almost daily working the area, making footpaths, clearing dead fall, getting rid of those sketchy loose rocks and making the place awesome for years of bouldering to come.
Lake Tahoe bouldering has been on fire the last few years. Locals continue to find untapped boulder fields at an almost unbelievable pace and hard new lines and entire zones are going up almost daily it seems. Located on the West Shore Sugar Pine is no exception, with boulders stretching for 5 miles along General Creek and over 1000 problems to date it is one of the biggest and best areas in the basin. If you are willing to get off the beatin’ path and explore a little further the rewards are great. Sugar Pine will be featured in a series of bouldering guides highlighting all the new areas. The guides will be broken down into 4 books, 1 for each shore, north, south, east and west. The west shore addition is almost done and is due out for spring of 2012. Look for it at your local climbing store, and in the meantime stop going to Old County and Split Rock and go find some untouched stone!! – Dave Hatchett
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The Line of the Week is a weekly photo piece by Ryan Salm featuring some of Tahoe’s finest athletes doing whatever we deem rad. We will be using the term “Line” loosely to describe anything resembling chutes, big airs, pointers or any general madness. All images are the property and copyright of Ryan Salm Photography. All images are only to be used in conjunction with the Line of the Week. Any other usage must be cleared in writing by Ryan Salm.