UKC

Daniel Woods climbs The Creature from the black lagoon, ~8C+

© Woods coll.

Daniel Woods has fiinally climbed through his mental barrier and made the first ascent of The Creature from the black lagoon, ~8C+, at the Upper Chaos Canyon at Chaos Canyon, Colorado.

Daniel Woods on The Creature from the black laggon,~8C+, Upper Chaos, Chaos Canyon, CO  © Woods coll.
Daniel Woods on The Creature from the black laggon,~8C+, Upper Chaos, Chaos Canyon, CO
© Woods coll.

The Monster from the black lagoon is the low start to Leviathan style, ~8A, and Daniel says "...it felt like v15 to get into the stand of leviathan, no rest, then soft 11 to the top."

He also says that he could do all the moves and link a few of them already on day one, but that it, as so often is the case, turned into a mental battle.

I finally got to the point where I was sure it was in the bag. More days passed and I continued to fail. I would link multiple times from just 3 moves in to the top, but could never add in the first 3 relatively easy moves. This tripped me out considering that the Boulder had essentially been climbed haha. I became worried that I had already mind fucked myself and would have to wait for a new season to start fresh and see the bloc through with another set of eyes. Motivation to climb something is funny in that way. I go through this same struggle with everything challenging that I try. I beat myself up because I know it's there and overcoming mental disbelief is the most satisfying feeling for me in climbing. I had false confidence in the beginning with this thing, and that is what led me into a war of attrition. Luckily, can just look back at all those failed attempts over the course of 15 days and smile.

About the difficulty, he says: I believe this line is harder than most 15s I've done so why not call it 16... and that the same level in bouldering has maintained from Fred Nicole, Bernd Zangerl, and Klem loskot a decade ago until now. We can either acknowledge what is a level up from the standard of 15 (based off of consensus over the years) or continue climbing v15 for another decade.

This was Daniel Woods' third ~8C+ after Hypnotized minds, which he put up back in 2010, and The Process at the Buttermilks., which put up in January last year. The former didn't see a repeat until this year, when Rustam Gelmanov made a relatively quick repeat, the latter lost parts of a crucial hold shortly after the first ascent. Whether it's still roughly of the same difficulty remains to be seen.

Let's hope it doesn't take too long for Daniel's new creation to get repeated.


This post has been read 11,275 times

Return to Latest News


Daniel Woods has been at the very top of the sport for over ten years. One of his first major ascents was the Green 45 project, which he named Jade. The grade has since settled at Font 8B+.

Since then, Woods has...

Daniel's Athlete Page 15 posts 10 videos



29 Sep, 2016
So is it the Creature or the Monster...?
29 Sep, 2016
Dunno whether it's a creature or a monster, but seems like Bjorn has forgotten about The Process too. More terrible reporting.......... FFS
29 Sep, 2016
"dawoods89finally climbed the black 90 last night aka "creature from the black lagoon." " From his instagram account - and also an explanation of why he's calling it V16. " As for how hard this thing is? that is a question that will obviously be thrown around, accepted or bashed. For me to compare it to other 15s I've done, analyze the breakdown (to me it felt like v15 to get into the stand of leviathan, no rest, then soft 11 to the top) then come up with a number to represent the climb is difficult. I believe this line is harder than most 15s I've done so why not call it 16... If train is ran on it and consensus calls it 15, then that is all good. @dave_graham_ and I have talked a lot about the progression of grades and try to understand what would make something 16. We are left dumbfounded to realize that the same level in bouldering has maintained from Fred Nicole, Bernd Zangerl, and Klem loskot a decade ago until now. We can either acknowledge what is a level up from the standard of 15 (based off of consensus over the years) or continue climbing v15 for another decade."
29 Sep, 2016
More importantly how crunchy was his outfit?
29 Sep, 2016
And how many onlooking cuties were required for success?
More Comments
Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email