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Whileaway Boulder

Virginia > Central & South… > Richmond Vicinity > Buttermilks

Description

A great addition to the RVA circuit ! Whileaway sits right off of the trail and is partially visible if you look hard enough . Once you get down into the basin this boulder will really get you psyched with a really awesome face that has some techy spicy climbs ! The real test piece is "La Femme Fatale" but the other climbs are well worth the visit. Expect on some of the side boulders to have to negotiate an engaging steep hill which creates pad management chaos muahahaha !! Its actually pretty awesome, because when you are topping out "CHOMP CHOMP" you really feel like you are on quite the highball (but completely safe) ! Anyway come and enjoy !

P.S. Its hard for me to believe that no one has been on this boulder just because of how good it is ... so if any intel comes in , I am happy to change whatever to make it correct.

Getting There

The great thing about this boulder is the short approach ! All you have to do is park at 21st street right across from the footbridge which crosses the track to access Belle Isle (don't cross the footbridge). To reach the boulder cross the street and walk the trail headed east towards the route 1 bridge. There is a portion of the trail which is quite close to Riverside Drive, once the trail heads into the woods again start looking to your left and you will notice that there is quite the drop off. Quite quickly you will see an outcropping (aka the top of the boulder) and go on down and investigate ! It is quite a steep hill to get down to it so don't be dissuaded and think you've gotten off track , the bushwhacking is what makes RVA bouldering so great !

Routes from Left to Right

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Whileaway
[Hide Photo] Whileaway
Final crux of "La Femme Fatale"
[Hide Photo] Final crux of "La Femme Fatale"
On the saving grace jug pinch
[Hide Photo] On the saving grace jug pinch
Side of boulder , red circle indicates starting holds. Possible to link purple start into pink !
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Purple - And I awoke and found me here on the cold hill's side
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Pink - CHOMP CHOMP
[Hide Photo] Side of boulder , red circle indicates starting holds. Possible to link purple start into pink ! Purple - And I awoke and found me here on the cold hill's side Pink - CHOMP CHOMP
Main face of the boulder , red circles indicate starting holds. Blue and Yellow share starting holds. 
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Blue - Trainspotting 
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Yellow - La Femme Fatale
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Green - V5 Arete
[Hide Photo] Main face of the boulder , red circles indicate starting holds. Blue and Yellow share starting holds. Blue - Trainspotting Yellow - La Femme Fatale Green - V5 Arete

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

[Hide Comment] Whileaway is the all female planet of the classic sci-fi short story “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ. Read it here: future-lives.com/wp-content… Jan 20, 2021
[Hide Comment] Shout out to whomever built up the landing and generally made the place more accessible. Such a good job. I owe you an ice cream cone or something. Apr 7, 2023
[Hide Comment] Can we get an edit on access issues… heard from a friend that the park system is bummed on folks making a clear path down to the boulder because it’s leading to way more random people cutting through it and walking out onto the train tracks. This is obviously still in the park system and public.. but we all just need to be active about keeping it chill and maybe not making the access trail quite as accessible unfortunately. May 22, 2023
Jeff Smada
Richmond, VA
[Hide Comment] Random people walking through and going onto the train tracks does not sound like a climber issue to me and isn't a great argument for keeping the trail more dangerous. People find their way onto the train tracks from the gravel trail off the reedy creek parking lot way more frequently and is ultimately a CSX not maintaining fences issue. You also can't see the descending access trail and landing area improvements from the main trail, so what clues random people into the fact that there's a trail there at all is the eroded path for the first 5 ft off the main trail created by people walking to the boulder, which can really only be prevented by people not going to the boulder at all. Not going to happen with how good the boulder is. Jun 7, 2023