Half Life was first climbed by Felix Knaub a while back and it didn't get a repeat for a long time. After getting more into bouldering this spring I could do the second ascent of it a few months ago. Felix proposed 8C back then, and I think the way he climbed it was for sure hard 8C. After finding slightly different beta and by using a kneepad it for sure made it a bit easier. Might still be 8C though. Hard to say, as its a rather long boulder problem with about 25 moves.

Daniel Woods makes the FA of Defying Gravity at Thunder Ridge, CO. One of CO's finest power blocs.

With the heat making its way to Colorado, I am very happy to have snagged the 3rd ascent of, Griffin Whiteside's, "Traffic," V15/8C.

For BD Ambassador Kaddi Lehmann, climbing a V15 boulder problem all started with fixing the gears on her old mountain bike. But those accumulated miles she pedaled uphill to Kryptos—an aesthetic limestone seam in the Swiss Jura—pale in comparison to the internal journey she endured to reach the top of that boulder. On that intrepid internal voyage, Lehmann discovered that success didn’t hinge on physical power, but on motivation, belief, and happiness.

This is her story.