Zoey reaches for the top of Mantle Problem.
I headed up on Sunday with some folks in the Hoofers Mountaineering Club to go bouldering at Rib Mountain in Wausau, WI. Rib Mountain was closed to bouldering in 2003, but was just reopened a few weeks ago, so we were excited to check it out.
The boulders were right next to the lookout tower, so access was very simple. A multitude of cracks made for a fun day of bouldering, but it was also frustrating because the rocks are hard and smooth quartzite. I found it really difficult to grip most of the holds with my fingers frequently slipping off. The fact that nobody has climbed there in a decade also meant that there was a lot of detritus on the rocks. The good new was that Gokul still had an ice scraper with a brush in his car, so we were able to prep a lot of the holds for future boulderers.
Overall it's exciting to have more options for climbing in our state and I'll probably get back to Rib Mountain as a side attraction to Wausau's whitewater course.
More Rib Mountain Bouldering photos
