Erratica and Barbed Wire

After Bishop and for a lot of the summer, Mike, Keenan, Sal and I would go to Tahoe just about every weekend. The next place we went after the Firestones was Erratica.

Erratica was and still is a very new bouldering area with lots of potential and amazing scenery. Since this is a new bouldering area and not in any guide, as is much of new Tahoe, we met a few people from the Bay to show us around. The names I can remember are Walker and Moses but I know there were a few other people.

The first boulder we went to was the Shady Grove boulder where I worked on Balls to the Wall, which was first done by Jesse not to long before. I got fairly close, had to stop due to tearing a tip on the first move to the crimp sidepull.

The next trip there, we first went to Barbed Wire to try Future Present (V10 stand) and Welcome to the Future (V11 sit). Boz and Mike sent Future Present pretty quickly and Mike sent Welcome to the Future the folowing morning.

The next morning, we went back to Erratica and I sent the Yeti, which is an awesome V9 with a cool cross move. Mike sent almost every hard problem in Erratica that day including the Mofo and Hellamental.

On the last trip to Erratica we also went to Barbed Wire late the night before due to not finding Hate Handles. Keenan Pseudo flashed Future Present and I sent third go that night. When I did it, every hold felt ten times better than they had ever felt and my heel stuck easily, which it refused to do every time I had tried it last trip.

Since I got the stand, I decided to try the sit. I sent after four or five goes at midnight. Climbing and topping out this problem at midnight with coyotes howling in the distance was surely one of the best few moments in my climbing life. This is surely one of the best problems in Tahoe.

The next day, we went to Erratica and Sal sent the Mofo Stand and Wick sent Party Animal Stand but other than that there wasn't as much sending as the past two trips due to Tahoe heating up.

Overall I really like Erratica and Barbed Wire is definitely home to one of the best climbs in Tahoe.