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Socorro Bouldering Guide - Box Canyon - Harmonica Convention

South Down the road from the main Box parking lot, through two washes, up over the hill, park just before the cattle guard.

This is the view from the road, looking East. The trail to Harmonica Convention leads down the gully just right of Tres Hermanas.

The large boulder in the middle of the Valley is Unbeatable Boulder. Beyond this boulder to the East are three large boulders on the North side of the notch. These boulders comprise the Tres Hermanas area. The trail goes by the South side of Unbeatable, goes East a hundred yards or so, then splits at a "Y". The left trail angles up toward Tres Hermanas, while the right heads down into the gully to Harmonica Convention.

Often people will mix together parts of Tres Hermanas with Harmonica Convention and just call the whole mess "Behind Edges" or "Below Edges".

Harmonica Convention Boulders, looking South from Tres Hermanas

Peck's Mystery Boulder is just to the left of the trail, below the picture. The Three Star V2 and the Potato Boulders are in the gully to the right.

Entrance Boulder

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This boulder sits right on the North side of the Harmonica Convention trail. It is the first large boulder after Unbeatable on your way down to the Harmonica Convention.

? - V0
The low-angle problem on the left.
? - V0
Pockets and edges.
? - V2 bad landing
On the right side, either start around the right corner on a shelf or sit start the bottom of the arete. Go up the arete and then left to top out on the right side of the face.

The Three-Star V2 Area

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These boulders are around the gully that leads to Harmonica Convention, to the West of the trail.

The Three Star V2, South face. The Potato is right behind you.

The Three-Star V2 - V2
Sit start back in the little cave and go up the huecoed face.
Three stars mega-classic.
? - V3
Sit start same place as the Three-Star go up and then traverse right to a huge jug and then top out.

Potato Boulder

From the three-Star V2, you can see a boulder just to the Southeast with a spiffy sit start problem.

The Potato, North face. The Three Star Boulder is right behind you.

Miss Potato Head - V0+ (V0-V1)
The sit start problem on the North face.

On the backside to the left (Southeast):

Mashed Potatos - V1
On the South side of the boulder, sit start under the roof and go up and right to top out the East face.

Other misc boulder problems in the area:

Spudscoop - V2 loose
Just down and across the wash from the Potato is a cool scoop problem, sit start and crank over the lip.
Need a nice pic of these miscellany.
Gecko Simulator - V2 bad landing Andy
About 15-20' left of the 5.6 next to Slot Machine, up the hill to the South. Pocketed North facing wall with a step-off wall behind you.

On the clump of boulders between Gecko Simulator and the Three-Star:

Li Chen - V0 Bob
Sit start on the Northeast overhang on slopers to a jug haul.
Bruce Leroy - V0 bad landing Bob
Just to the right of Li Chen. Short jug haul.
Ho Lee - V3 loose Bob 3/31/2008
On the Southwest, overhung face, opposite from Li Chen and Bruce Leroy. Start on a left hand jug and right hand crimp with poor feet, go to the two-finger pocket and top out.
finally came back to this problem with the right amount of beer.

Peck's Mystery Boulder

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On the East side of the Harmonica Convention trail there is an obvious face. It seems that the chalk washes off because people keep "discovering" it.

Peck's Mystery Boulder, West face

Peck's Mystery - V5 Opie
Sit start on the right side of the face on a big flake. Traverse left several feet until reaching the jug on the left side, then straight up on good holds to top out.
Harder than it looks. No one can remember what they named this. Going straight up from the starting jug is V1.
1. var Nathaniel's Variation - V5 Nathaniel
Same start as above, but go straight up on crimps from the rail.

Dog Will Hunt - V1
On the South face, sit start and go up the dihedral, close to where the small boulder meets the main boulder.
Perro Blanco - V2
Just right of Dog Will Hunt, sit start and go up through the white bottomed hold.
Perro Negro - V2
?
I looked for this but there may be a bush grown over it now.

Just to the Northwest of this boulder, there are two smaller rocks:

? - V3 bad landing Scott
On the South face, sit start on a big sloper. Go up and left.
? - V3 bad landing Scott
Same sit start as above, but go up and left.
? - V1 bad landing
Sit start, go up the arete.
Broken Wand - V3 Scott 3/5/2003
Sit start on small holds, go up and right using a sloper to gain the jug at the lip.
Harry Potter impotence metaphor. This problem used to be called Flexo until a hold broke (around Feb 2003) and changed the character of the problem. It's much more fun now, but the grade didn't change.
Pokey - V3 Peck
On the Northeast boulder. Sit start in small pockets, and go up the obvious line.
Much harder than it looks. Peck had another name for it, but it is forgotten.

Warlus Boulder AKA The Walrus

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The first boulder on the trail into the Harmonica Convention proper. See the overview picture, above.

Walrus Boulder, North and East faces

? - V1 tall, bad landing, scary
Left end of East face of the Walrus, sit start the slightly overhung wall with a big rock for a landing.
? - V1 tall, bad landing, scary
Next line to the right. Straight up.
? - V1 tall, bad landing, scary
You know the drill.
Eskimo Walrus Love Song - b3 tall, bad landing, scary Scott 5/4/2003
Sit start as per Rubber Walrus Protector, but go left around the arete and up the slopey face.
Loose, slick holds up high! Exciting.
Rubber Walrus Protector - V6 tall, bad landing Peck
Sit start at the base of the crack on the North side of the boulder. Go left up the big rounded prow on really bad-looking holds, then top out with the huecos.
Classic, beautiful line!
Direct Walrus - B2 contrived, tall, bad landing Scott
From the sit start of Rubber Walrus Protector, go straight up. Holds to the left of the prow are off.

Walrus Boulder, West face

The Anti-Walrus - B1 tall Scott
Sit start the rounded arete just right of Rubber Walrus Protector. Ascend the slopey arete.
Super fun.
? - V0+ tall, bad landing
One of many nice slab lines up the West face, up the left line of holds.
Scott has a great V3 contrivance here, but I forget how it goes...
? - V0 tall, bad landing
One of many nice slab lines up the West face, with bigger holds.
? - V0 tall, bad landing
Right side of the face.

There is a cool-looking boulder across the wash to the West.

Looking West across the wash from the Walrus

Otherside - V1
Looking West from the Walrus, you can see an overhang with a jug. Go over there and sit-start it.

Up the hill from Fight Club to the West are some corny, sharp problems on loose rock.

? - V0
Sit start in the North-facing juggy scoop, go straight up
? - V0
Sit start on the right side of the juggy scoop, go straight up
? - V3
Sit start on the right side of the juggy scoop, go right and up
? - V1
One the next boulder up the hill to the West, sit start the Southeast corner and go leftish.

Colon Blow Boulder

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The large, imposing boulder down and to the Southwest of The Walrus, with areas of green lichen over red rock on the North face.

Colon Blow Boulder, Southeast face

Sofa King - V5 Scott
On the Southeast face. Sit start on the same shelf as Dark Fighter, traverse left and then go up and top out.
Sofa king cool!
Dark Fighter - V6 semi-contrived Yayir
Sit start in huecos, then go up and slightly left, but don't grab the big jug off to the right near the grass, instead use the slot in the face to go straight up over the rounded arete on crimps and dishes.
First ascended using the glow of wristwatch backlights.
Fart Lighter - V3 Paul
Sit start just right of Dark fighter on a big shelf. Go straight up to the big scoop and over the top.

Colon Blow Boulder, North face

? - V0 tall
Left side of the huecoed wall on the North face.
Survival of the Weak - V3 tall, bad landing
Sit start just right of the corner with a boulder at your back. Crimps lead to jugs at about seven feet, then top out straight up.
? - V3 tall, bad landing
Same sit start as above, but go right up the scoop for a harder and more dangerous top-out than the previous.

Colon Blow Boulder, West face

Colon Blow - V0 tall, scary, bad landing Peck
Up the left line of jugs on the West face. Big rock at base.
May cause incontinence.
Super Colon Blow - V0 tall, scary, bad landing Peck
Up the right line of jugs.
"You'd have to eat five million bowls of ordinary bran cereal to get the fiber equivalent of one bowl of Super Colon Blow." - Saturday Night Live

Fight Club Boulder

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Down the gully a few yards from Colon Blow.

Fight Club Boulder, Southeast face

Tyler Durden vs. Tyler Durden - B2 Scott
On the Southeast face, sit start, go right, and then up.

Fight Club Boulder, East face

Space Monkey - V5 (V3-V6) bad landing Peck
Far left of Eastern face. Sit start and go straight up on finger pockets and side pulls. For extra credit, start at Tyler Durden vs. Tyler Durden.
"like a monkey ready to be shot into space" - Tyler Durden

Fight Club Boulder, East face: Space Monkey and Fight Club

Fight Club - V10 bad landing Jason Plaas
Grab two widely-spaced bad holds, then slap out left to a sharp dish, make your bloody sacrifice, then go up.
"The first rule of fight club is: you do not talk about fight club!" - Tyler Durden
That worked about as well in the movie as it did at Box. This problem enjoyed a brief period of notoriety. For a while it seemed that every boulderer who came to Box would ask "Where is Fight Club?". This is also the only problem in the world that Peck will admit is a mandatory finger tape-up. It slices.
Project Mayhem - V7 tall, bad landing Peck
Sit start in the slick Hueco, go up to crimps and go for the jug. Top out in good style.
"Worker bees can leave
Even drones can fly away
The queen is their slave." -Narrator

Fight Club Boulder, East face: Poject Mayhem

Fight Club Boulder, East face: Project Mayhem

Bitch Tits - V1 tall, very bad landing Peck
Sit start with a baseball hueco and crimp, then follow the jugs up the left side of the arete.
"Bob. Bob had bitch tits" -Narrator
Where is My Mind - V0 tall
The North wall is covered with good, solid, jugs.
I once found a half-full bottle of Jaegermeister in a snowbank here.
Air Hunger - V9 Nathaniel
Start at the South end of the cave on the Northwest corner, and climb left and out the cave entrance. Be careful for the bat who sometimes likes to winter in a slopey heuco here, don't disturb him.

Below Fight Club: Boulder just below Fight Club Boulder in the wash.

? - V4
Sit start up the East dihedral.

Super Easy Boulder: Just Southeast of Colon Blow and East of Fight Club, small boulder riddled with good holds. Many V0s!

updated April 1^st, 2008
Bob Broilo