Joe Goudreau Memorial Boulder Problem

Formerly named The Ball Buster, now renamed in honor of Joe Goudreau, one of the original owners of the old Rhode Island Rock Gym and a long-time woods regular. Joe passed tragically in 2013. Joe always revelled in the more obscure and trickier Lincoln Woods boulder problems, and I can't think of a better problem to bear his name. Climbing it recently, I could almost hear Joe's devious laugh as I climbed up and down trying to find the right footwork to topout. The rating is even a nod towards Joe, who was well known for sandbagging his gym routes and then laughing vigorously as someone struggled to climb it.

Climb the obvious, tricky groove. For full value, stay the course at the top and topout straight up. For less than full value, reach out and step over to the easy slab on the left. #2 in the photos.

Just right of the tree, obvious groove can't be missed.

pad, watch out for tree