Three words: Don’t doubt DaWoods. The world’s second V17 climber just punched out a boulder problem in Switzerland that looks as wicked as it does beautiful.
Opinions about Daniel Woods rage in the climbing world about as hard as he does on rock. He’s got a massive neck tattoo of a human eye. He pronounces the word dude “dyewd,” and he says it so often you’d think it was a survival requirement. He’s skinny; he’s brooding; he’s weird.
But there are two things about Woods that exist beyond the realm of opinion: (1) He’s summarily committed to climbing, and (2) he’s very good at it.
He’s won nine American Bouldering Series national championships. He authored one of the two V17 boulder problems in existence after a massive and, at times, existential effort. And his tick list of sends at the V15 threshold and harder is 40-plus lines long.
Tack on another one. The 33-year-old reported he put down Dave Graham’s “Foundations Edge” (V15/8C) in Fionnay, Switzerland, on Sept. 27. The rig does not look like a cheapie. Thin, superficial limestone plates lead out a steep roof so deep there would be three bolts on it if it were a sport climb.
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‘Surreal’ Holds, Real Sends
Woods described the send on Instagram with his typical skater-kid lexicon and his typical grateful attitude.
“Stoked to be in the [V]alais for a couple more weeks. The climbing here is all time. ‘Fuck the system’ bloc, which hosts ‘Foundations Edge’ and ‘Scarred for Life’ (V14), is one of the more impressive roof blocs I’ve climbed on. Rock is insane, and the hold selection is surreal,” Woods wrote.
I’ve sat in front of many rocks and stared at many holds, and I can’t quite wrap my head around what makes an array of holds “surreal.” But that’s part of the fun of this thing. At a certain point, adventure necessitates mystery.
For Woods, it’s another day at work. He told 8a.nu which ridiculously hard boulder problems we can find him on top of next.
“Next, I’ll try ‘Fuck the System’ (V16), and I also want to try the low start project into ‘Permanent Midnight’ (V12) or ‘Solitary Daze’ (V15),” he said.
Go for it, strange pebble warrior; we’re here for it.
