Breakdown

Climber: Sebi Krzaczek 5’10/-2

Wall angle: 90° Overhang > Modified Flat

Holds: Rockwerx Volumes, Rock Candy Blockus

RIC: Risk 2, Intensity 2, Complexity 5

• The goal for this boulder was to create a 3D hanging space for the climber to navigate. This uncommon occurrence puts an emphasis on complexity and problem-solving. Pathing through the volumes can be confusing due to the multiple usable surfaces. Additionally, the focus is directed towards hip and leg mobility as the climber cannot “square up” to the wall for a majority of the boulder. Intensity is low but still present due to the wrestling nature of the movement. There can be multiple adjustments made before advancing, which causes fatigue. Risk comes in the form of smearing on the volumes for the final foot placements. Placing pressure inaccurately can result in slippage.

Influence/Aesthetic:

• The inspiration for this stemmed from the desire to create a true puzzle. I wanted the climber to be visually and physically overwhelmed when initially approaching the boulder, but for this feeling to dissipate during the process of the interaction. While the path to the top is not clear, it becomes more obvious through trial and error and feels intuitive once completed. There was a chaotic aesthetic applied to this boulder. The focal point appears to be one mass of holds and volumes across a large area and can be difficult to deconstruct to a palatable size. Alternating the colors of volumes and holds helps to create more dissonance as nothing is consistent for too long.

Hold Selection:

• All of the volumes chosen for this boulder were used because they are stackable. When combining the volumes like this they have to be identical or their angles will not match up and there won’t be a clean closure. The additional volumes’ angles work well to block some of the grabbable surfaces of the stacked volumes. The Rock Candy Blockus Pinches serve a similar purpose in terms of blocking and adding complexity by limiting usable surfaces.

Final Thoughts

If you have been following me for a while, my foray into volume stacking has been through a few stages. This is my favorite iteration in terms of function, but not aesthetics. The feeling of exploration when climbing this boulder is something I haven’t managed to capture in a while. Watching people’s interaction and decryption of the boulder was often a real-time example of the “aha!” moment, which I feel applies to many of the root values of climbing. Visually the boulder is a bit of an eyesore. Although striking, it seems a bit messy and incoherent because of all the jagged edges and mixed colors. A slightly more simplistic optic can tone down the flavor in the future.