Who are you? Tylor Streett

How long have you been bouldering? 17+ years

Fast stats? 5’11”, 180-190lbs, +3″ ape index

Preferred Style? Traverses, compression, and roofs with good landings.

What draws you to a boulder? It’s got to have some kind of flow or, barring that, at least a move that can make you feel like a hero. Since most of my career was spent doing sport and trad alongside bouldering, I like to feel like I earned it, whether through a pump factor or a war of attrition over several seasons.

Tylor’s 10 Under V10

He says: there is no particular order so I put them from North to South to give you a grand tour of the Beast Coast. Sadly, I rarely have a camera or even a spotter present for most of these so you will have to Google them for a good look. And if we’re going with a “pics or it didn’t happen” mentality, then I haven’t done shi*t my whole career.

• Umbrella Traverse, V2 – Rumney, NH
  • John Sherman calls it “the area’s most famous sandbag” in his book Stone Crusade. Climbing Magazine ranked it as one of the top 100 problems in North America. There are many reasons why it is so popular, most notably because it stays dry in nearly all conditions, but it also serves as a great warm-up and traverses through the starts of several harder problems that work out the large umbrella roof. Want to add more spice? Keep going around the corner and up the face for the dirty V4 version. At 18+ moves with no rest until the end, it definitely holds up to its reputation.
• Truck Driver, V5/6 – Rocks State Park, MD
  • The first major boulder on the trail as you approach from the road, this one holds a special place in my heart because I finally sent it in depths of summer on my 23rd birthday. Dripping with sweat from the Mid-Atlantic humidity I had no intention to send, just rehearse some moves and start getting it clean for the fall. I even told my partner not to come out because it was so miserable and that I would see them for dinner and cake in a couple hours. Fate decided to intervene via a stiff cool breeze as a storm approached and kept me from punting as I found myself getting closer and closer. Victory was short lived as thunder rumbled and I skedaddled back to the car, but what a fantastic birthday present to myself.
• Roof of Death, V3 – Coopers Rock, WV
  • Do you like highballs with tiered landings that top out in a sticker bush? Then boy are you in luck! There are no tricks to this one other than some seriously hard pulling through the roof and keeping your head screwed on straight over each level of the back breaking landing zone. Multiple spotters and pads are recommended as it is not casual in any sense of the word. Though I had only one of each, perhaps that’s why it’s on my list, because it was one of the handful of times that I can remember entering that Zen state of flow on my first pull of the day after so many other failed and sketched out attempts in years prior. I did it for me with a rando spotter shuffling a single pad rather than a crowd of friends urging me on.
• Bitch Slap Arete, V5 – Coopers Rock, WV
  • I like rocks and I like to give them hugs. It’s a vertical compression line up something that resembles a concrete pillar holding up the highway interchange. It is also the farthest walk, equidistant from either the Roadside or Tilted Tree parking lots so each adventure out to this lonely boulder feels loaded with pressure to send and not waste the time and effort. Every move is high tension. The feet on the face are nearly non-existent save two divots. You have to want her and boy does she make you work for it, you know, like a [expletive deleted]. Despite the name (now listed as [Redacted] on Mountain Project), slapping is not the answer, and a gentler, more subtle touch will see you to the top.

• The Heretic, V3 – Hound Ears, NC
  • I feel like we’ve been here before. Have we been here before? You see, you’re not dealing with the average V3 anymore. It has risen above and become a legend. All references to DBZA aside, this is, hands down, the best V3 ever. End of argument. It even earns a coveted 4 stars in the notoriously stingy competition guidebook. Plenty of iconic names may pop up, like Bumboy at Horse Pens 40 or Slashface at Joshua Tree, but none can truly hold a candle to this one. Perhaps it is because of the extremely limited access to the Hound Ears Boulders that it gets lost in the shuffle compared to more accessible lines, but trust me when I say that registering for the first stop of the Triple Crown series is worth the drive and price of admission to seek this problem out. A beautiful, tall, slightly overhanging, knife edge of rock erupts from the hillside with some of the biggest and best moves on semi-jugs you will ever find and it is a crowd pleaser to even the folks that I know pull in the V-double digits on the regular.
• Art of the Vogi, V4 – Stone Fort, TN
  • If you are in search of a moderate that has it all, then this is your jam. Big moves on jug ledges through the roof section with all the fancy foot work of heel hooks, toe hooks, and twist lock tricks, depending on your height, that leads to a thoughtful lip mantle onto the upper slab all over a nice and close landing that follows you up. From here, it all breadloaf slopers and shallow pockets up the high friction slab and a proud top out that overlooks the front area. It is great for anyone looking to break into the grade since you can reach all of the crux moves from the ground to work out your sequence. Bonus points if you do it in the sleet and snow.
• Pocket Rocket, V4 – Rocktown, GA
  • On my first trip to Rocktown, armed with only a printed Dr. Topo guide, I had no pictures or idea what was in store for me. Located at the first area with your back to the notorious Orb boulder, the most striking thing about this line are the colors. How many shades of orange and brown are there? I’m not sure, but they all swirl together on the roof as you pull through iron crimps, pockets, a hero jug, and a classic southern sloper top out. It’s a perfect entry to the grade and should be on everyone’s benchmark list as you get ready to explore deeper into boulder field and into the moderate grades, but be careful not let it go to your head.
• Vertical Cartography, V5 – Hospital Boulders, AL
  • Nestled in the heart of Alabama, 60 minutes north of Birmingham and 90 minutes south of Chattanooga, the Hospital Boulders are often overlooked for the larger gems like Stone Fort, Horse Pens 40, Rocktown, and Zhand. But don’t let that fool you, there is plenty to do here and no area is more tightly packed with multi-star lines than the Arc Minute corridor with Vertical Cartography as the shining jewel. Power, technique, a scary but totally safe heel-toe cam, and enough height to get your heart rate up all combine for one heck of an experience. The best part, access to this area was once thought closed forever but re-opened in 2016 thanks to efforts from the Access Fund and SCC with no day use fee, just please be out by sunset and stay off the adjacent private property.

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• Turtle Head Left, V0+ – Horse Pens 40, AL
  • So, you think you can boulder? This one is a treasure and perhaps the best example of a southern sandstone sloper top out. I’ve seen dozens of V-strong gym kids take repeated diggers off this 7-foot tall bump of a boulder and I’ve seen old men in sneakers float to the top to eat their lunch. Remember, grades down here are based on intimate knowledge and ideal conditions. Once you unlock the sequence and the style, it drops from V-hard to V0 in a hurry, but if it’s your first time in the South, be ready to wrassle this pebble.
• Man With a Slow Hand, V4 – Horse Pens 40, AL
  • We tried this one for several years and could never figure it out until finally, in 30-degree weather, conditions and time saw us worthy. Now, it is staple of any visit to Horse Pens 40 and seems infinitely repeatable with no loss of value. The start feels almost desperate controlling the barndoor while having to avoid dabbing the left wall as you stand on a barely there right foot, but once you start riding the rail and work your way out of the hole to the campus ledge, you can’t help but feel like climbing royalty emerging from the corridor of rock.

Honorable Mentions

• Porcelain, V3 – Mt Gretna, PA
  • I hate slab. I always have and I always will, especially since a wet slab is the reason for three fractures that resulted in two surgeries in 2018/2019. That being said, I was convinced to get on this one season and it almost made me a believer in the slab lifestyle. Almost, and that’s why it’s down here. If you have good footwork, you will float it. If your feet need some work, this 5-star line is a great place to put in the practice, and maybe even be converted.
• The Golden Path, V5 – Coopers Rock, WV
  • This problem was about as perfect as you can get and stuck out in my mind as THE V5 in the park. My send at the end 2014 was a culmination of way too much work and plenty of other V5’s in the area to pad my ego. Little did I know how close I would come to never being able to get it at all. Sadly, in early 2015, the mission critical flexing jug flake on the roof finally broke off and left a massive, unusable scar that, to my knowledge, has left this line unrepeated in its current state. If it was still intact, this problem would be in my Top 10 above. 🙁
• Makin’ Waves, V0 or V2 – Rocktown, GA
  • The O.G. Dr. Topo calls it V0 but the Brayack guide calls it V2. Either way, it’s probably the most fun you will have on a highball. The landing is perfectly flat, the holds are enormous, and the movement flows like it was set by the all-time best route setter. So basically God. Also, there is a fun surprise at the top! But with a mile+ long approach and necessitating excessive gear for the more safety minded amoung us, it is a juice that requires more squeeze than initially thought, so bring a crew.

• Half Baked, V2 – Boat Rock, GA
  • I complain about Boat Rock a lot and it makes me glad that I don’t live in Atlanta and have to call this my home crag, so I only go on comp day (gotta support the SCC). It’s granite that tries to get you to climb it like southern sandstone, but slapping slopers covered in shards of glass or cheese grating down moss covered slabs isn’t usually my idea of a good time. This one, however, all the way in the back of the boulder field, has perfect crimps up a vertical face exactly where you need them leading to a beautiful top out over a flat landing. It is what I always imagined pure granite climbing to be and gives me hope for a trip out West.
• Tree Dab, V1 – Horse Pens 40, AL
  • A similar style of riding an arete as Great White and Man With a Slow Hand in the same park, but much more easily accessible both in terms of the actual approach and for the grade. Don’t let the V1 grade fool you, though, this is still the sandbagged HP40 we’re talking about. But it has gotten easier since the namesake and formerly dab-able pine tree died and had to be removed leaving an awkward stump to pad around in the landing zone. Still, the quality of the line itself abides.

I could keep going on, but sometimes the beauty of a line is in the eye of the beholder and not the number of stars in a guidebook, the popularity, or even how clean it may be. Some of my best memories are from seeking out no-star, few to no repeat lines and giving them a look with fresh eyes, so stay tuned for that list!