Freakshow V15 / 8c

Freakshow is a big, complex boulder problem in Pinecliffe, Colorado: roughly 40 feet of climbing from a low start under a roof to a 25-foot topout, with a landing that slopes away enough to leave a fall of around 45 feet. Drew Ruana established it in 2022 at V14, and it stands as one of the harder highball problems climbed in the state.

History

Daniel Woods made the second ascent, and during his climb broke a key handhold on the upper vertical wall, creating a new crux. He judged the altered problem harder than the original line and proposed V15. Woods described the climb in three sections: a steep V10/V11 start, a V13 middle section with two cruxes on small crimps and pinches, and a final V8 up the tall vertical face above the roof, calling the overall style both powerful and technical.

On film

The North Face presents: ADRENALINE - ft. Daniel Woods & Nina Williams, a 2024 Mellow film, follows Woods and Williams through a Colorado winter bouldering season. Freakshow appears in that context as one of the season's hard lines, alongside Woods's other project, Adrenaline, listed at V16/8c+, giving a sense of the range of difficulty he worked across that winter.