The hole-boring scheme in fast ignition is studied via largee-scale, two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in two steps. First, laser channeling in millimeter-scale underdense plasmas is simulated. The results show a highly nonlinear and dynamic process involving longitudinal plasma buildup, laser hosing, channel bifurcation and self-correction, and electron heating to relativistic temperatures. The channeling speed is much less than the linear group velocity of the laser. Low-intensity channeling pulses are preferred to minimize the required laser energy. The channel is also shown to significantly increase the transmission of an ignition pulse. In the second step, the interactions of the ignition pulse and a hundred-critical-density plasma are simulated to study hot electron generation and transport. The results show that at ultra-high intensities, I > 5 × 1019W/cm2, most of the electrons transporting energy through 50μm of 100 times critical density plasma are in a relatively low energy range. The fraction of laser power that transits the dense plasma and is deposited into a dense core increases with laser intensity. Overall these results show the promise of using ultra-high-intensity ignition pulses in the hole-boring scheme.