Jul 27, 2020
The ocean destroyed the world class Strong Boy Project for eternity, but has given us back Aquaman V5 by removing the boulder blocking it. Tyler Durden's monologue comes to mind: "You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he HATES you." The first time I made the long approach to Crystal Crescent for the "3-star classic" Aquaman V5, I nearly quit bouldering. If this is the pinnacle of climbing in Nova Scotia - I'm out. Fortunately, Zig didn't make that topo, and the first ascentionist was REALLY psyched on it, so Zig just went along with it. Everyone loves their own brand.
Don't bother getting out the Bristol Stool Chart out for this one, Aquaman V5 is the every kind of turd: Arbitrary, Lowball, Lip Traverse, Eliminate, Awkward, Scrunchy, Multiple rules. The 90s were a dark time for bouldering in Nova Scotia. This was one of the best test pieces of the era. If you are interested in climbing this turd for historical purposes, here are the rules: Start on the seam and traverse left, until you encounter the vertical crack. You can climb up the crack, but not too high, and arbitrarily avoid topping out the natural seam. Instead, traverse the lip, but not too high on the lip cause it gets easier the higher up you go, and that's cheating, so stay as low as you can until you hit the jug. Keep traversing the lip, and avoid topping out again, and instead down climb to the middle seam. The upper lip at this point is out, even though both options are V0 lip traverses. Do the lower and more awkward V0 traverse 3 feet off the ground with no foot holds. You could have exited at any point, but you can now legally topout at the far corner.