Daniel Woods shows his great form continues by opening the RMNP season with a bang by opening 'Paint it black', 8C.

Recently he won the ABS bouldering nationals ahead of Ethan Pringle and Michael Bautista and now he is back on rock in the Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.

His latest contribution to the long list of cutting edge problems in the area is, according to Jamie Emerson of B3 bouldering:

...a gorgeous and singular line out a massive roof that sits hidden just off the Bear Lake Road on exceptional swirling granite.
The problem begins with difficult tension climbing that culminates in a very hard crux move.

Here's what the man himself says about it: "Today i just established the coolest, steepest, hard line I have put up. The boulder is a giant 65 degree overhanging ships prow, which jolts out of the hillside. There is just enough room for a landing to work the crux moves. If you pitch from the top, you will take a 20 foot fall downhill into the river. There are 5 movements covering 15 feet of near horizontal climbing.
The crux revolves around 2 high tension foot moves to a hard right foot kick over to the right side of the boulder. The first two holds are very slopey with no opposition and the upper holds are two quarter pad incut crimps. It is a good full body power test, along with extreme crimping.

The feeling was amazing and i was so psyched to complete such a beautiful roof. I named the climb 'Paint it Black' and am proposing lower end 8C."

Having watched Daniel in action, I would say no one beats him when it comes to body tension and he isn't exactly bad at crimping either. This means his new problem should shut his style rather well. It will certainly be interesting to hear what potential repeaters say about the difficulty of this climb.

For example, Jimmy Webb is now back in the RMNP after a couple of quick 8B+ repeats in the Front range and I'm sure it won't be long before he starts working it.

Daniel Woods is sponsored by: The North Face, La Sportiva, Petzl, Organic, Sanuk, Native, Nicros and Life Sport