Trip Report
Bourbon Boulders (photo TR)

by TKingsbury
Monday May 12, 2008 4:04pm
On Saturday I ended up giving a tour of the Bourbon Boulders, one of the newer established bouldering areas here around Butte. Some crushers were along, so I brought them to some stuff that had yet to see a send...

Warming up...




A project goes down...lack of photos due to spotting...

An AWhit problem...


A new one...






Pet the Rabbits




Dyno Project(no more...)





The next day I linked up again with Fruh, and he, Ron and I headed out to the Aspens(another zone)...near there is the problem 'Montana Beef' one of the hardest established problems in the batholith...
we decided that we could wait on trying this one...it felt obscene...

The nice warmup caught some freeze thaw action, and the top had to go, before it went on top of someone...I kind of felt it move when I gave it a lap, but Ron really felt it shift...



glad it didn't pull out on him...


a project just to the left


A wall of rain came a bit later and cut our day short...good thing too, or you'd be looking at a bunch more photos...heheh


All for now, it's beer:thirty

Cheers!

Tom

  Trip Report Views: 742
TKingsbury 		About the Author
TKingsbury is a trad climber from MT.

Comments
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Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  May 12, 2008 - 04:10pm PT
I don't understand. The people in your pictures are all men. And the they're climbing. With clothes on.

Are you sure you posted to the right forum?
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  May 12, 2008 - 04:16pm PT
Nice, as usual, thanks for posting 'em up.
Sanjan

Social climber
  May 12, 2008 - 04:23pm PT
Sick .
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
  May 12, 2008 - 04:32pm PT
noyce



not bourbon, but good nonetheless to keep the thread alive
mojede

Trad climber
Butte, America
  May 12, 2008 - 07:26pm PT
AWhit traversing with Ladd (2.5yrs) on crash-pad adjustment detail.



Dang, I miss that Batman hat.


Bourbon boulder fun from last year.
Raydog

Trad climber
Boulder Colorado
  May 12, 2008 - 07:28pm PT
very nice. thanks for posting.
TKingsbury

Trad climber
MT
Author's Reply  May 13, 2008 - 04:00pm PT
looks like a fun problem Munge...



A yet to be identified problem near Montana Beef...





an older shot from the Bourbons:




Cheers
Ezra

Social climber
WA, NC, Idaho Falls
  May 13, 2008 - 04:42pm PT
Nice Pics as usual Tom!
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  May 13, 2008 - 04:52pm PT
Mojede, that pic of the kid adjusted the crashpad is Kick Ass!!!!

It's got a lot to it. Even though the guy's crankin on a sweet traverse, your eyes are drawn to a munchkin on pad duty. Cool, that'll be my boy in 2.5 years...maybe 2.
mojede

Trad climber
Butte, America
  May 13, 2008 - 05:16pm PT
Bluering, thanks, but as you will find out with little kids, the picture doesn't tell the whole story. Right after I snapped this shot, which Ladd happened to be in, Andrew's and my focus shifted to the kid, for he was knott in a good LZ--fortunately, I'm quick and shuffled the boy off to the side before Awhit went up and OFF.

Good day b'ding with the kids, though.
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  May 13, 2008 - 06:52pm PT
He was just trying to help, probably been watching a while. "Hey Dad, we need to move this pad, he's traversing, I got her, I'm on it"....I love it.
mojede

Trad climber
Butte, America
  May 13, 2008 - 07:21pm PT
Yeah, kids have that "fragile/indestructable" quality to them, quite precious.
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  May 13, 2008 - 07:27pm PT
What's the story behind the name "Bourbon Boulders"?
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  May 13, 2008 - 07:31pm PT
Tar, need you ask? It's obvious they took some Kentucky Bourbon on the scouting trip...Tom, clarify?
mojede

Trad climber
Butte, America
  May 13, 2008 - 08:05pm PT
I'll try and step in here. There is a more established (in a guide) area in the Batholith called Whiskey Creek/Gulch. It was pretty much the first "bouldering specific" area to be published for the entire area. AWhit was being his usual smart-alecky self when he half-joking said that the new area that he was working on should be named something with "bourbon" in it, in keeping with the hard liquor theme. Eventually the name settled on the Bourbons/Bourbon Boulders.

Not very exciting, but there it is. Maybe Tom could put more pizazz into the story.
TKingsbury

Trad climber
MT
Author's Reply  May 14, 2008 - 06:53am PT
So originally the Bourbons were a stopover for Andrew when making the drive between Missoula and Bozeman...He climbed there by his lonesome and with limited individuals for about 2-3 years. Not because it's a secret, but just because the bouldering scene is pretty small.

I had started to hear through mutual friends about their tours out there, and eventually Awhit took me out to check it. He didn't have a name for the area, and everyone(except Awhit) was calling it 'Andrews'. That didn't seem to sit too well with him...

Well as it turns out, the Bourbon Boulders are closer to Whiskey Gulch(the actual geographic area) than the Whiskey bouldering itself.. .which is nearest Pole Canyon IIRC...it's also true that Whiskey Gulch admittedly has a couple chipped and glued problems...so I made the assholish joke that the area was a 'more refined Whiskey...like Bourbon', and it kinda stuck.

In a way it's also a shout out to Whiskey Gulch, since it was catalyst that spurred much of the inspiration and development.


Usually the scoping operations are powered by Olys or Schmidts...bourbon is for the evening celebration.


Cheers
Tarbuster

climber
right here, right now
  May 14, 2008 - 07:53am PT
A more refined whiskey.
Thanks for that little story!
mojede

Trad climber
Butte, America
  Sep 30, 2008 - 11:14pm PT
Bump--for a climbing thread, and a few photos from a quick evening session that realmojede was jonesing for after a tough day at work.


Molly floatin' a warm-up.


Sir Ladd cutting his teeth on a q-monzonite crack problem.


The spotters were taking a break and sharing the juice, while realMoj enters the world of the wide.


Poor light conditions (pre-sunset) on the pics, but the jist is there.
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