Daniel Woods is an American professional climber who specializes in bouldering. He has also established many bouldering problems in areas such as Magic Wood in Switzerland, Rocklands in South Africa, and in Rocky Mountain National Park in the United States. Woods has climbed more than twenty bouldering problems graded, making him the most prolific climber of that grade. He also won many competitions such as the U.S. National Bouldering Championship, the Teva Mountain Games, and some international competitions.
Biography
Woods began climbing at the age of 5 in Dallas, Texas and immediately became fascinated by the sport. In 1997, when he was 8 years old, his family moved to Longmont, Colorado. Woods then began competing and was part of a junior climbing team coached by Justin Sjong and Jimmie Redo. In 2003, he climbed his first bouldering problem rated, Fuck You Finger. Then in 2004 he made the first ascent of Echale, grading it when he was 15. He won the American Bouldering Seriesnational championship in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 and the Teva Mountain Games in the bouldering category in 2006, 2007 and, 2010. On 19 June 2007, when he was traveling in the Rocky MountainNational Park in the area of Chaos Canyon, he made the first ascent of Jade, formerly named Green Project 45, a project he worked for several years with Dave Graham. He graded it, making it his hardest problem until then. However, it was later reassessed, and its grade lowered to. In early 2008 at the age of 18, Woods moved to Innsbruck, Austria and spent part of his time training with Kilian Fischhuber and David Lama. In May 2008, he made the first ascent of In Search of Time Lost at Magic Wood in Switzerland and evaluated it. In November 2011, Woods began filming a climbing movie called Welcome to the Hood with Paul Robinson, Guntram Jörg, and Anthony Gullsten. The filming would last five months, during which they climbed at some of the most famous and difficult bouldering sites in the world. The first part of the film was the Magic Wood in Switzerland, where Woods climbed Somewhere in Between. Woods is the nephew of famous actor Kevin Bacon.
Competition
Despite primarily focusing on hard outdoor bouldering, Daniel Woods is the most accomplished American male competition climber. He has won the ABS National Championship 9 times, the SCS National Championship, and has competed in many IFSC World Cup events earning a Gold Medal in the Vail World Cup in 2010. Woods also has the most open wins at the including another first place in 2017.
