First, My Partners: Jules, Andrea, Bryan & Lisa, Sheri, Jason & Katie, and Scott. Onsight level: straight 10 at Indian Creek, or 10a (b/c if you believe sport climbers). Lead airtime this season: 19ish'. Total airtime this season: 19ish'. One ground fall. One pulled piece.
8 Apr Turkey Perch w/ Bryan & Lisa, Lisa's first lead: 2 free solos (6, 7 bushes), led Left Handed Jew (8, **), TRd Honky Ass Jam Crack (7)
8 May GoG w/ Sheri: led Silver Spoon (5)
10 May GoG w/ Sheri: led Cowboy Boot Crack (6), Sheri TRd Trigger Finger 75% (9)
11 May Cheyenne Canyon w/ Terry: led second pitch Crack Parallel (7, 2 pitch)
12 May GoG w/ Terry: led White Spire S Face (6), TRd White Spire W face (8), N Arete (7), TRd Trigger Finger Face (10b). Tourist asked "How does the rope get up there?"
13 May 11 Mile w/ Sheri: led Schooldaze (5, 5 pitch). Sheri's first multipitch, and she learned the infamous 'face schmear' (smearing your face on the rock in lieu of a good foot or hand placement).
15 May GoG w/ Sheri, Bryan, Lisa, Jason, & Katie: TRd Big Sky (8), Big Sky Face (10a). Tourist asked "What holds the rope on top?"
18 May Parachute Rock, SPlatte w/ Bryan, Lisa, Jason, Katie, & Joe: led unnamed crack/offwidth (6, night), TRd Texas D.J. (10a, night, headlamp). It rained.
19 May Parachute Rock, SPlatte w/ Bryan, Lisa, Jason, Katie, & Joe: led The Caped One (9+, **, thin fingers), TRd Caped One Left (9), then pulled ropes as it started to rain. Jason couldn't retrieve anchors without ropes, so after 3 hours of soaking rain traversed and downclimbed face and offwidths (6-7) barefoot to retrieve anchor pieces. Ouch. 9+ best onsight to date.
20 May 11 Mile w/ Bryan & Lisa: led second pitch Jet Setter (7R, 2 pitch), led Moby Grape (7), TRd Original Sin (9+, **, slab/minicrimpers).
22 May 11 Mile w/ Sheri: led Staircase (5, 2 pitch). Sheri's first trad lead on first pitch after anchor practice. Sheri downclimbed first pitch for downclimb practice on TR. Good job, Sheri!!!
23 May GoG w/ Bryan & Lisa: followed Montezuma's Tower (7, airy arete) w/ Lisa on dual-belay in windstorm. Lisa's first big airy, and she did great. Hmm, what's up for the long weekend? Probably lots of blood and pain.
25 May Jackson Creek Dome, SPlatte w/ Bryan & Lisa: led One Track Pony (8), twice freed and once free downclimbed All Right o/w Approach (6), led All Right (6) to retrieve anchors from impending rainstorm, led second pitch (8) of Consenting Adults (10a, 2 pitch). Scary moment as 2 fingertip nubbins held when my feet both peeled on an overleaf on One Track Pony. Bryan's first onsight 10a. Way to go, Bryan! Other party on the Dome thought I was a guide or something, kept asking for beta on the anchors.
27 May Parachute Rock, SPlatte w/ Bryan & Lisa: onsighted Rip Cord (10a). Hardest and scariest lead I've ever attempted. Lots of profanity used for backup pro. Drove and hiked to Scorpio Dome - way over my head, at least for now. :-) Same other party as yesterday asked for more beta on The Caped One, impressed we led the 9 and 9+. 10a best onsight to date.
28 May Sheeps Nose, SPlatte w/ Bryan & Lisa and Jason: led pitches 1 (8) and 3 (4) of Lost in Space (III, 9, 4-pitch). Lead fall 100' up first pitch (first trad lead fall) gave me 4 feet airtime as I bailed while my pro's 'biner was opening against the rock (nice save, Kelly). Jason had lead fall in 5.9 stem crux 250' up the face, and he proceeded to aid (A0) the stem crux. The saving #4 stopper is now fixed gear and well worth the investment. I trust my gear now. Unbelievable climb, super-sustained 8 for 400'. Jason's first multipitch. All of the capillaries in all my fingers are broken and typing's tough. Taking a day off now...
2 June Zuma Rocks & Basin Rock (Montezuma & A-Basin, CO) w/ Scotty & Brent McDaniel: TRd Secret Significance (8+, *), TRd Corners 101 Left Start variation (9, *), TRd RNU right arete (8), played on Perpetual Motion (10d), led Trustifarian variation B (7, *), TRd Jeanette's Jam (7, **). Basin Rock needs anchors for Tree Top. Great mellow fun day.
3 June Mount Royal West Buttress (Frisco, CO) w/ Scotty & Brent McDaniel: Led pitches 2, 3 of new route (FA) Chaucer (III, 8+ R, *, nonexistant to poor pro, way loose and chossy, 5 pitches) combining first 2 pitches of Central Chimney (III, 7, R) with Left Face (III, 7, R) left sections. Retrieved a #4 stopper (booty) making up for my Sheeps Nose fixed booty of last week. Awful descent down east face slide path. Awesome exposure and very committing. Didn't realize until 11:20pm that my shirt had been on inside out all day.
6 June Eldorado Canyon w/ Scotty, Sheri, & Cheryl: Led pitch 2 of Wind Ridge (6, *, 3 pitches), then flailed about the starts of Flakes (9-) and XXX for a while. Drove to Estes Park and climbed Campground (7) on The Book on Lumpy Ridge (followed Scotty's best crack/offwidth lead), getting off at 9:30 pm.
7 June RMNP w/ Scotty: After 4 hours of sleep (poached), we hiked in 8 miles (the long way) to Petit Grepon (III, 8, 8 pitches, **). Led pitches 1 and 3 dehydrated, malnourished, baked, and tired. The time was against us so we bailed about 1/2 way up. Many lessons learned about how to be successful in an alpine climbing environment. 6 mile hike out until 5 pm. I'm going back to finish up this stellar route. Way cool. Saw one large cornice-fall avie across the valley and then a hanging cornice break off and fall 1000'+ to a lower ledge in a second avie.
8 June MacGregor Slab, Estes Park w/ Scotty: led pitches 2, 4, and 6 of Direct (7, *** and I mean it, 6 pitches). This is such a cool slab w/ great features and dihedrals. Retrieved a #5 stopper (booty). The east-side descent trail is way messed up - wear long pants and it's still a mess of deadfall. Best day of the long climbing week off. Off-colour comment of the day: 'Scotty (wearing shorts), you're legs are all bruised. I find that so sexy. That's why I beat my women.' Disclaimer - it was a freakin' joke, okay?
9 June GoG w/ Scotty: followed Montezuma's Tower (7), then it threatened to start raining. A fine end to a good week of climbing.
17 June The Dome, Ten Mile Canyon w/ Andrea: led Chim Chimney (6), Andrea's first (ever) climbing experience. Her new approach shoes worked wonderfully and she climbed it quite nicely. Very dirty (licheny) and some loose rock problems here.
21 June GoG w/ Andrea: led CowBoy Boot Crack (6), Andrea's second climb. Unwisely forgot to teach her rappelling on the ground prior. Still, although she didn't necessarily appreciate me throwing ropes the (long) way down, she was a fantastically good sport about it and did very well. She really needs some real shoes. Climbed in my fabulously resoled old trad shoes - they felt almost floppy after last week.
23 June Left-overs @ Turkey Rock w/ Bryan & Lisa, Katie & Jason, and Joe: Led first pitch of Captain Fist (8) through enormous rope drag due to poor route decisions on my part early on - it's bigger than fists! TRd 1st pitch Chicken Legs (9 slab), then led Hangin' Ten (7, awesome fingertips undercling under a cool arch roof). Great day in the sun. I love my new shoes so much!
27 June GoG w/ Andrea: led first pitch New Era (6) for Andrea to TR, her third climb. Remembered this time to show her what 'lowering' was before either of us got on the rope.
28 June GoG w/ Sheri: led Montezuma's Tower for Sheri's last CO climb for a while - she's unfortunately moving to New York City in a couple of days. At least I'll have someone to climb with if I make a Gunks trip! We'll miss you, Sheri! :)
30 June Sangre de Cristos w/ Scott Hawley: climbed Ellingwood Peak (14042') for Scott's 51st 14er tick. 5000' vertical RT in 11 hours.
1 July Elks w/ Scott Hawley: climbed Castle Peak (NW ridge) and subpeak Conundrum (14022) for Scott's 52nd tick. The upper snowfield glissade was so good I re-climbed it and did it again, for 1500' of the fastest ride I've ever been on. 4000' vertical RT in 7 hours. Castle's NW ridge (get on the ridge directly from the parking lot) is the only route on the mountain that's not chossed out - highly recommended.
8 July Sunshine Buttress, 10 Mile Canyon w/ Bryan & Lisa: Well, it rained about 3" the night previous in an unbelievable rain and hail storm, so we slept in and got on the rocks around 1130. Bryan led Right Roof (8 R), really cool route with an interesting stem to gain the upper ledge, and Lisa and I followed. We intended to TR from our (way high) anchor and try Cerebellum (7) or Center Roof (8), but another storm quickly threatened; such is life in the alpine environment. I sprinted Right Roof on TR again and set a lowering anchor I don't think I'd have put anyone else on, cleaned, and got off. Yep, as soon as we got down another 1-2" of rain and hail. Good day, but too short for the drive.
14 July Eldo w/ Andrea and Julie: Andrea and I drove up to Eldo to meet a new potential partner, Julie, from Crag X. Not sure what to start playing on, we looked on North Redgarden and saw Whittle Wall (7 R 2 pitches), and I started up it. Pro was slim and I went too far left offroute, because that wasn't 5.7. Maybe .9. I downclimbed and bailed on booty pro after hanging out for an hour or so 20' above my last piece and trying to figure it out. It just seemed too marginal at the time. We went with a standby, Wind Ridge (6) via Tigger (4, first pitch), for an excellent fun moderate route up to the 2nd pitch walkoff. It's such a great climb, I sometimes wonder why I'd want to climb harder stuff. Afterwards we reconned Cob Rock in Boulder Canyon and made mental notes to be prepared to set up our own river crossing, as some USFS rangers were talking about taking out the existing zipline because 'it might be dangerous.' As if wading across a raging mountain stream in high water rapids is safe.
15 July Summit County w/ Andrea, Julie, Bryan & Lisa, and Jason & Katie: We went back to Basin Rock to expose the crew to alpine climbing, and that's what we got. Bryan led the 7 crack variation of Trustafarian and Julie led Jeanette's Jam It's Your Birthday (6) variation, as it started to rain in 35deg temps. Lisa followed Bryan and I followed Julie, and we all bailed as it was 'slicker than snot' and really cold and wet. Add a grade for very wet rock. After a lunch break at the ski house, we headed back out in 75deg sunny skies to Sunshine Buttress and the Dome in 10mile Canyon, where I put up Cerebellum (7 slab, very licheny) and Bryan put up an unnamed 7- chickenheads to lichen slabs route and Jason wandered up Bye Bye (9-). Andrea and Julie followed me, then we went down to TR the previously unnamed Elvis Loves Twinkies 7- slab. Great alpine day all around.
18 July Mt. Princeton w/ Jarrett and wedding party guys: Took a midweek trip to Princeton (14197') as the groom-to-be had expressed interest in 'one more' before she wouldn't let him anymore. 8 of us, 4 in my car and 4 in an Explorer (shudder), and the road is passable by low-slung heavily-loaded car to the microwave towers, and further less fully loaded. We ran up the cattle route east face/ridge, 3267' in 2:20. Actually, I did, had to wait a bit on top for everyone, but that's part of the beauty - being able to just sit alone on top of a mountain and enjoy. The Pancho's afterwards and heat and drive home wiped me out from a planned afternoon at Creekside. Tomorrow.
19 July Creekside, Cheyenne Canyon w/ Bryan: We won't go into detail here. Not a stellar day. I think we either were both so far off it's not funny, or everything's sandbagged a couple or three grades. So, my best onsight at this location is a 5.3. 5.3 when pigs fly! We'll try heading back when we're having better days and report then. At least we got out and got workouts. :)
22 July 11 Mile w/ Julie, Bryan, & Jason: We finally got back to something we'd been dreaming of for a while - Bryan, Jason, and I all led Original Sin (9+ slab), and Jason went a step further and actually pulled the blank overhang at the top rather than going for the easier crack finish. Jules TRd the route too, and as I went first to figure out the lead difficulties all three of them smoked me up it. Julie led and I followed Moby Grape (7), and after Bryan and Jason left Jules and I went up one of my old SPlatte test favs, Overleaf (8, 2 pitch), me on first pitch lead and Julie on second lead. Great day in the sun.
28 July Grays & Torrey's Peaks w/ Phany: Took Phany on a fine hike for his first 14ers today - 16.5 miles on a circumambulation of Peru Creek road (from the pavement, 10,004') up Horseshoe Basin, over Grays (14,270') and Torrey's (14,267'), down Torrey's west ridge, and descending Chihuahua Gulch back to Peru Creek. It was a long 8-1/4 hours of hiking, but considering the dozens of people at each summit and the antline up from Stevens Gulch on the Denver side of the mountains, a terrific choice - almost no people on our side of the Divide.
4 August Ironclads & Prospect Mtn w/ Jules: Explored the Ironclads off of Highway 7. Jules started off with Shaking the Pope's Hand (7, ***) on Mount Boner; I followed, trying to get confidence back in my shoes. We TRd variations of lower Power House Ministry (8 slab, **) to just below the 10d roof to finish the warmup. Moving N on Boner, I led Shake Hands With the Unemployed (7) and Jules led Dirty No-Gooders (6, *); we pulled the rope and I pinkpointed the same 'cause it was so much fun. Moving back to Poacher Rock I led Rip Off Ranger (9- pumpy jugs **) and then re-led it for the redpoint; we moved to Thieving Bitch (8) and Jules led it nicely, although I couldn't muster the crimps to get over the bulge to the top without cheating. Time to move on. We reconned Jurassic Park at Lily Lake, but after picking up chow at the market decided Prospect Mtn in Estes was the best option for a quick climb before dinner. I led Uphill Cracks (7 *) on the Thumb, starting as 5.0-.3 bulges and corners and turning into a heinous but fun 5.7 OW up top. More exploration here is needed!
5 August Boulder Canyon w/ Jules: It's an All Eighties Weekend! Jules understands, and no one else needs to. Beat, dehydrated, and way hungry, we proceeded to give ourselves low-grade sunstroke on my lead, East Slab (5.6) on the Dome, just for fun (and to say we'd climbed something Sunday). Fun but way too hot, sunny, and humid to enjoy fully. A nice dip in the river to beat back heat exhaustion finished up the day.
11 August Turkey Rocks w/ Jules: Late start... oh well, we were about the only people at the crag (amazing)! Jules led Honky Ass Jam Crack (7, *) and I led Left Handed Jew (7+, **) and then TRd it to pull the commitment move (8 painful fist jam). Unbelievably we had no competition for the routes we wanted at Turkey Perch. Mooooo.
12 August 11 Mile w/ Jules: Led first pitch, seconded second of Obscura Direct (7, **, 2 pitches) on Arch Rock, then moved over to and led Honey Flake (7, *). Finally, led Captain Fist (8) - a stiff eight, to be sure. The crux 15' off the deck, protected by a 3.5 Camalot, is just a sketchy crouch-smear-counterpressure-go for it thing. And not at all secure. I liken it to a good Star Trek TNG episode - 'Divert more power to forward shields! Draw some power from Life Support!' (Indicating increasing desperation on lead, and stopping breathing for more focus on the moves) - 'We are Borg. Resistance is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated.' (I am the hardest 5.8 you'll ever get on. Fall, now.) - And, of course, the Enterprise comes through, slightly damaged but in one piece and successful.
18 August GoG w/ Andrea: Doubt it not, with the erosion factor, the Garden is fairly sandbagged. It's a different kind of climbing. Led Cowboy Boot Crack (6, *) and Andrea flew up it, then tried the first climb I ever fell on (2 years ago, haven't been back till now), Finger Ramp (7). Led it well, but it's pretty R rated now and probably warrants an 8 rating. Andrea learned about pendulums and falling, an important part of climbing. Good day, though.
19 August Flatirons w/ Jules: Went up to play in Boulder. We decided on the harder variation on the Third, Extra Point Right (7R, *); I took the first, third, and fifth (short) pitches. The whole thing is just over 4 stretcher pitches, but the third just right of the painted U has a 100' section of runout 7 slab, absolutely unprotectable. Lots of fun. Didn't care for the off-kilter raps off the back, but it was nice to get back to the Flats.
25 August Summit County w/ Jules: Went explorin' on Morning Glory Wall for the online guide. The mentioned 'small log bridge' no longer exists, and we forded the Snake river and climbed up to the small wall (about 50'). Neither of us could cleanly lead Shitkicker (10b friction), so I A0'd it and Julie followed; we then tried out (Jules' lead) Gone Fishing (8), and both TRd Heckman's Hand Jive (8), as we were rained on 4 seperate times and it once again snowed upvalley on the Divide. The wall's too small for too much fun, but was still a worthwhile destination for the day.
26 August Summit County w/ Jules: Starting off easy, I led the first pitch of the only (easy) route I wasn't sure of the grade or route on at the Dome (TenMile Canyon), C'est Le Pied (right variation, spooky 6, 2 pitches) and Jules finished it off. Noticing anchors above Arete Direct (8), we traversed over and lowered for TR ascents to see what we thought. I was right, I'm a crack climber, don't much care for aretes at all. We bounced over to White Cliff a half mile up-canyon, and I led what looked to be an easy large dihedral, Big Dihedral (8-, interesting with either jams or a lieback through the crux), and then decided to rap and TR some stuff on the left, Water Groove (6s slab). We finished out the day reconning three areas still further along the canyon, Brick Wall, Alcove Area, and Teeter Top Rock without any climbing. Good day in the sun, must remember to apply sunblock more religiously.
31 August Arches (Moab) w/ Jules: Arrived after a longish drive in canyon country, and decided to get in a quick climb for the day at Arches. After not having the opportunity the previous year, I was determined to start with a desert tower and picked the Owl (8) for my warmup. We pulled in with 100deg temps and scattered clouds, geared up, moved to the base of the climb, and as we touched the rock it started pouring rain. Hmm. Not an auspicious beginning. It stopped in 5 minutes and was dry in 5 more, so I led out on the Owl. It's rated 8, but it's quite popular and sandstone, and (with the agreement of Bryan from Pagan) it's probably 9 now from erosion. Lots of gawking tourists.
1 September Wall Street (Moab) w/ Jules: We slept in a bit, and arrived in blazing sun at Wall Street around 1100 - not the best time to climb on varnished sandstone in the desert sun. Nevertheless, Jules put up Seibernetics (8) and I put up (although not cleanly) 30 Seconds Over Potash (8). Kept trying to jam what turned out to be a sustained lieback, and pumped out at 50'. Hung on a cam and rested, then finished it off, with a promise to come back the next day and get it from the ground up. And hopefully not in the sun. We decided after a siesta to head to Kane Springs and hit the Ice Cream Parlor. BASE jumpers were launching off the Tombstones, delaying us for a few minutes on the way, but we arrived and I put Jules on Crack 1 (8). She wasn't happy when it got to a smooth face with one hand and no feet, and backed down, so I put the rest of it up. It was unfortunately dark at that point, so we pulled the route without Jules getting to climb on it. Next time.
2 September Indian Creek and Wall Street (Moab) w/ Jules: Intent on doing some harder cracks, we drove down to Indian Creek with the intention of climbing on Supercrack Buttress. Needless to say, Green's guide sucks, and we spent an hour trying to figure out why we couldn't identify routes from the pictures and descriptions, before realizing that his milage is WAY off in describing approaching the crag. Well, I thought a nice warmup and intro might be Triple Jeopardy (7), described as the easiest climb on the crag, but after roping and trying to figure it out it looked like an arete for 20 feet, unprotectable, starting on a 30' ledge. No thank you. Cratering was not in the game plan. I moved on to Twin Cracks (9) and sent it cleanly and quickly. The sun was peeking around the corner now, at 1230, and we figured we should come back really early in the morning to get some 10s for me. We drove back up to Wall Street and I sent 30 Seconds (8) cleanly, in the shade, but found it was just as pumpy, sustained, and hot in the shade as it had been in the sun - but I got it nice and cleanly anyway, not using jams as much. And to finish off, we headed back to Arches for an aid tower route, Tonka Tower (8 A0). A mile hike across the desert from Windows, I set up to get on what was described as 'a fun 2 pitch route.' Big freakin' mudpile is what it is. Flaky, dirty, wrong kind of 'rock' to even think of protecting. My first piece 30' up was okay, and then a cam (now fixed) for aid up a bulge, and then a #1 wire before the unprotectable chimney. I got about 50' of chimney runout air. Safely on top of the first pillar, I brought up Julie for the short first pinned aid section to the 'ledge with anchors,' and she put up the next 20 feet. But no anchors. She body belayed me up to the second (middle) ledge as the sun dipped below the horizon. I set up two raps off of a (backup) quicklink on aid pin and (primary) me and we hit the ground at 2200 for the long walk back to the parking lot in the dark. So much for beta, and for getting up at 0500 for Indian Creek the next morning.
3 September Unaweep Canyon, Grand Junction w/ Jules: Slept in, trying to reclaim some of the energy we'd burned out at Arches on the bail, and packed it up. We decided to try to get some stuff in at Unaweep on the drive home, as a consolation for not getting back to I.C. this trip. Again, the milage to the crags was off (only by about 2 miles) (I don't like Green at all), but we arrived in early afternoon and put Jules on Don Juan (6) as a crack warmup for the day. 5.6 is harder to me than 5.7 because the moves aren't obvious - there's too much to use, so you're not ever sure of the 'right' path. I led the 7+ crack/OW around the corner, Three's Company, and we decided we'd had enough and needed to get home before midnight. Good long roadtrip. We'll be back out to Indian Creek in a few weeks for my 10s.
9 Sep Shelf Road w/ Jules: It was miserable (snowline 200' above the house) on Sat, so we worked around home and looked at tanks at Ft. Carson on Sat, hoping for better weather on Sunday. Good enough. We headed down to where we knew it hadn't snowed (not the SPlatte), Shelf Road. Yuck, sport climbing. My first sport lead (for real) was Nouveau Tradition (7) on Clifornia Ethics Pinnacle (Menses Prow) as we waited for the one we wanted to open up. Next I led the obvious open chim/crack I wanted (being a trad climber and all, Unknown (10b/c, actually a 9 if you use the crack)), and Jules led True to Tradition (7) as the climb almost opened up. We waited for the sport 'climbers' to get off Period Piece (8) which could go trad without the bolts (so could Unknown, but limestone's kinda tricky with gear - it rips easily), which Julie led finely. Not too bad. This will probably be a decent winter destination to get us ready for bigger limestone - read, Potrero.
15 Sep Bucksnort Slab, SPlatte w/ Jules: It's been difficult to focus on anything all week, kinda depressing, so we went to Bucksnort to get on some cracks. I know that a good hard crack will keep my mind from doing anything 'cept thinking about climbing and the next placement, so I pointed straight for an unknown one (no beta save the grade), Bushes of Baelzebub (8+ 2 pitches). I climbed the wide cracks and leaning vertical offwidths right past the only anchors (they looked like they were for the sport climb next to it) and finally had too much rope drag to continue up the OW. Built a quick anchor and brought Julie up to 20 feet below me at a stance, and then continued leading another nearly full pitch to the top, running low on gear. 2 pitches of OW eats so much gear. The route's about 250' straight from the rap tree down, so I had to do an inline tension rap of Julie off of me to get to another set of chains 50' off the deck. Interesting descent, and I'm sure the sport climbers next to us were wondering what we were doing. Julie got really beat up on this one (she hates right-facing cracks and her hands aren't quite big enough for the one we'd just climbed), but she followed me up Crack of Anticipation (7), supposedly a classic there. I thought it was too greasy and wasn't happy with the thin hands and little feet. Oh well. Didn't think about anything but climbing all day, so mission accomplished.
16 Sep: The weather looked dubious and it was too chilly to commit to anything in Summit County on Sunday, so we headed back to Denver for some shopping and museum-hopping. I picked up a new harness (the old alpine bod was getting a little painful with all the big cams and hanging belays) and hopped on the REI flagship store pinnacle's crack route. I was surprised, for an indoor crack, it was quite good. Goes at 9 if you use just the crack, which isn't too deep and mostly thin hands, 8 if you use the face stuff around it. I took one sidepull at a leaning section near the pumpy top, so I'll give it an 8+ and two thumbs up. Give it a try if you're at the store!
22 Sep: After a nice long visit to the Pueblo Chile festival we headed out towards Shelf Road with visions of climbing some 'easier' sport routes, or perhaps finding some trad stuff in the limestone to carefully protect. We both flailed at two bolts on what the new guide calls a 9, Apolloyon, and I didn't feel comfortable heading up the unknown probably 7+ limestone crack beside it. So, a day of flailing. We headed back for a second bushel of chiles and called it a day.
23 Sep, GoG w/ Jules: Waking up, Julie decided she wanted to climb at the Garden (her first time in 2 years). After I shook the amused look off of my face and promised her the hardest 5.5s, .6s, and .7s she'd ever seen, we headed over. It was her lead day (I've had too much lead time on cracks recently and don't want her to think I'm a TOTAL lead hog), and Zuma's was taken as we arrived; we headed around the back side of Gray Rock, into the morning sun, and I set her on the classic New Era (7, *, 2 pitches). Harder 7 than I remember. I hate face climbing. Just give me a good jammable crack, please. I finished off the quick second pitch and we downclimbed the south face 500' to the road. Montezuma's Tower (7, *) was open now, and I had to make her lead the park's best classic. Julie was an awesome leader today. Went home and roasted chiles and made enchiladas and rellenos. :)
30 Sep, Boulder Canyon w/ Jules, Bryan, & Lisa: I stabbed my foot pretty well with a nail this past week, and unsure of how well I could crack climb without using my left foot, started tentatively on North Face Center (7 (+ var), *, 2 pitches) on Cob Rock - that's after the river crossing minus the Tyrolean. Apparently some well-meaning person, looking out for my safety, chopped the farside anchor tree to the ground. Kept the crowds down, anyway. Not too badly, it turns out. Wonderful climb, and I followed the second pitch of Empor to keep it interesting. The rest of the day was spent extricating an over-cammed camalot and nut from our two routes, but the rock was tons of fun. Julie's knuckles look like hell after she finally got the new cam out (third person to attempt, after 45 minutes of 3 people working it hanging from the anchors). She's definitely a hard-core climber. No doubts in anyones' mind. :)
6 Oct, Sphinx Rock @ Buffalo Creek w. Jules: Julie's turn to choose, and we go slabbin'. I get first lead (my turn) on Lickety Split (7R, ***, 2 pitches) with a nice 60' runout to the first 1/4" pin. It's all good from there, except where the hangers are gone from the anchor. We work the nut-sling technique and move on. I stay away from the 11a lead up the back side of Sphinx crack, and instead we move to the lower slabs and I lead another 7R, taking the harder (8+?) way up Turner Route, slinging two more broken rusted pins with nuts for my pro. Fun, hunh?
7 Oct, Lumpy Ridge w/ Jules: Excitedly, we hike for an hour and a half to get toKor's Flake on Guillotine Wall, Sunshine Buttress, but the "5.6" chimney first pitch kicks my butt with 5.8+ moves jamming into puddles. I aid the first three protection points and bail as I realize the first pitch goes at about 5.8 chim, not handleable with a pack on. Next time I'll approach the 5.9 bushes crack around the side and see how this reputed 5.7+ ** route goes. We hike back down to the Pear and hop onto some climb with a shiny name, Chrome something, but Julie isn't up to the lead as it starts raining on us. We apparently weren't meant to climb today, although the hike was good for us and we had a ball play ing anyway. Here's two for our short list. :)
13 Oct, Boulder Canyon w/ Jules: Climbed on 3rd Elephant Buttress, without a topo, and put up a variation (done before, I'm certain) of West Face (7 * 2 pitches, my var 5.8) with some interesting and fun stuff on the first pitch. I took the second pitch, thinking 'those cracks look steep but fun'. Turns out I led the 11a crack finish, but at my third piece of gear had to French aid everything to the summit. Good for my aid practice, I guess. Jules totally showed me up by freeing parts that I'd had to aid, and even after I went back down to extricate a micro camalot I couldn't repeat her free moves. I certainly hope to be good enough to lead those someday.
14 Oct, Boulder Canyon w/ Jules and Jason: We started with the free classic, Owl Route (Kor Direct variation, 5.7 * 2 pitches) on the Dome, and Jules led the hard arete-crossing face moves on the first pitch. I'm pretty sure I'd have backed off what she led there. The first part of the second pitch was a fun hand crack in the back of an OW, and I bled and loved it. Took the fun 5.7+ final out to the belay. Jason joined us for a second route on 4th Elephant Buttress that we'd seen the day prior, and I had the best lead of my short career. Northwest Face (5.8 **) is steep, sustained, mixed face and crack, and absolutely spectacular to climb. I can't wait to repeat this one with the 5.9 variation.
20 Oct, 11Mile w/ Jules: One guide book calls Pine Away a 5.7, the other a 5.8. The route (or whichever variation I found myself climbing) is decidedly harder. For different reasons Julie and I agreed it should be rated 5.9+, with sustained 8+ or 9 climbing and a couple of harder moves.
21 Oct, GoG w/ Jules: The Garden is SO sandbagged. Potholes (7) on Red Spire has eroded right away and is probably 8 or 8+ now; to save the route I think it should just be shut down. I'll not climb on that again. Yuck. Julie led it cleanly but it was much harder without the hand- and footholds it used to have. We played on White Spire too, and I bagged a brand new REI locking D as booty (someone bailing on the 5.6 (yeah, right) south ridge). I led south then topped the north arete (7 R), and Julie finished up with the arete and then the interesting west face (8+).
28 Oct, Clear Creek w/ Jules: As we came back from cleaning the old Breck ski house out, we swung down US6 to get some climbs in. We stopped at the old sporters hangout in Clear, Little Eiger, and I started to lead a 9 (we thought it was an 8) but I bailed after trying about 20 minutes of different approaches to the 9th bolt. I just wasn't going to do that face move on lead, even with a bolt at my knees. Aren't I a wuss. Jules showed me the way with an awesome clean stem up the face, and I TRd through the bulge and topped out. Easiest thing on the crag. The others (10a the next easiest, but busy) were full so we headed into Golden to look at some stuff she'd also done on Lookout Mtn. One guy had set up TRs on all but one route on the crag, occupying only 2 at a time, so I led a fine 5.6 face/dihedral, and irritated (along with everyone else there) we called it. Could have done another 8 sport there, but didn't want to be around anyone who left routes roped and unaccessible for everyone else (well, we have 8 people here...). Not my best day. My bad attitude got in the way. I need a vacation. Thankfully I at least have a cool girlfriend. :)
4 Nov, Turkey Rock w/ Jules: ABORT. Jules broke a bone in her left ankle on the approach, avulsion fracture, killing a wonderful Indian Summer weekend. She's a trooper, walked off on it. We'll wait until she's healed up to do some more, including a long weekend at T-day at Indian Creek. Please, express sympathy! :)
17 Nov, Eldo w/ Jules & Sean: After a week off to heal up Julie, we headed back towards Boulder for some climbin' and partyin'. Met up with Sean from Camp4 and let him guide us around his playground, Eldo. Hoping we weren't going to bore him too much, we asked to stay in the 7 to 9- range and let him have his way with us. It was just amazing weather for the middle of November, so we started on Reggae(8, 2 pitches, **) with my lead on the alternate 9- direct start. First time we'd climbed on doubles - new experience, and there's a learning curve. Plus, it's a workout belaying up two simultaneous climbers at different rates! Sean took the second lead and gosh darn we had a good time. I worked some off-route face stuff instead of the lower 2nd pitch crack stuff for a change. The next route was Allosaur (first pitch 7R face, **) at the west end of lower RedGarden, Jules' lead; it's pretty obvious where the R comes from at the down-angling piton that's a maybe, but the route was lots of fun except for that. :) Another party on an adjacent route noticed a slip on the route and reminded us of the potential for groundfall and severe injury if one blew at that point; we were just happy for them to have said something, although we knew it was R when we started. Good route, but too facey for me. The last for the day was first pitch of Work Supp (8+, ***) on Bastille, Sean's lead on the cold north face. Fantastic route with some good flakes and awesome finger cracks, but I'm really starting to appreciate that I'll need to be a better face climber if I'm to have much fun at Eldo, even on a 'crack' route. 'Twas a blast. Well, after I figured out the facey moves that held us all up, anyway. We invited Sean and his wife Anne to a party with us that night and enjoyed the awesome meteor storm until way too late.
18 Nov, Flagstaff Mtn w/ Jules and Sean: And somehow, we got up the next morning. Probably something to do with relatively lower intakes of alcohol than in our college days. Sean and Anne showed us around their awesome project house, and with the weather cooler, cloudy, and lightly threatening, Sean took us up to Flagstaff for my first-ever bouldering experience. I was a wuss (I hate falling, and that's apparently inconsistent somewhat with bouldering), but Sean and Julie both treated me very well and I ended up topping out three separate V0s. The first, the one I got frustrated on so much and scared to fall off of, I actually did every move, but it started snowing on us before I went back to link it. We played on a V1 traverse that kicked my butt as well, and Sean tried one of his pet V5 traverses that I just couldn't even see. I sure hope he's right about this being good for me! Met Sean online through his website at camp4.com - if you've never just hooked up with an r.c or r.c.u partner, you're missing out. He and his wife are about as cool people as I've ever met. The snow lured us off the rock and back to the warm indoors after a new and interesting day. :) IC next week!!!!
24 Nov, Indian Creek w/ Jules: The Femur is the Strongest Bone in the Human Body. It's snowing here. And everywhere in between here and home. And it's cold and wet. This is the first day of the weekend that's even remotely climbable (unless you don't mind climbing in 30degF temperatures). We met Mark (Eastern European climber from Aspen) and Al (patent attorney from who knows where) at the primitive sites in IC (location courtesy Tradgirl), and headed for the fun stuff on Supercrack Buttress. Mark talks me into leading an 'easy' 10, Keyhole Flake. I onsight it clean for my hardest lead yet. Hell, hardest climb yet. Mark puts up Supercrack (10c) and leaves the rope for Jules and me. Julie has some problems with the greasy lieback start crux, and her broken ankle doesn't lend itself to the vertical straight-on crack above. I go up, and with 2 rests and 2 figure-it-out stops at the overhang figure it out and TR it relatively cleanly. Meanwhile, Mark and Al, with a wanderer they've met (Bree) put up and climb Incredible Hand Crack (10c) with lots of our #2 sizes. They're done as we finish and clean Supercrack, so Julie gets on. She falls on the first pillar lieback and I keep her off the ground - it looks strenuous. Second go-round, she gets a dozen feet up the hand crack above the pillar and calls it, pumped from the day and with the broken ankle not liking it much. I pull the rope after some egging ('it's a beautiful lead') and start on my onsight attempt for 10c. I put in a piece at 8' and back down. I climb up, back down. Bree comes over to spot. I try to lieback as Julie did. I make it to within a foot of the top of the pillar and pump out. I fall, catch, fall. The piece pulls. I ground out. Bree keeps me from having a broken femur. I land on a spike of rock with my body weight from 15' on my thigh. I'm done for the day. It snows all night. Read the TR for more interesting details. Thank you, Bree. Broken legs suck.
2 Dec, GoG w/ Jules: Finally, a nice day after like 9 nasty ones - climbing without a jacket! It got to 55degF in the sun today so we headed over to the 'Scary Place.' I needed to make sure my lead head was still intact, and Jules graciously let me lead (she's maybe done leading until we find something a little less scary here...). I picked Tedrick's on the Finger Face to make sure I was in control still. Of course, the only two other climbers in the entire park were on this one route, that's never occupied. I thought of going for a lesser (easier) climb, but I've done them all and they wouldn't make sure my head was in shape. I waited. Tedrick's (sandbagged at 5.8) is a scary, thin, friable, runout, nasty sandstone face climb 80' up from the middle of Tourist Gully. I've followed it once (3 years ago) and took a slip, so I wanted to see what it was made of. Good clean lead. It took me something over an hour to figure out the moves and commit to the crux sections (thin, few crimpy fingers and even less feet, plus nice and sandy/dusty from the precip the last week), but I'm happy to say I'm still in the game.
8 Dec, Flagstaff Mountain w/ Jules, Bryan, Jason, & Dan: After returning all of our borrowed gear from the IC debacle, we decided to run over and do some afternoon bouldering in Boulder. Too cold to commit to roped climbing, and too late in the all-too-short days. And then we found that Jason had left his super-size pad in the Springs to bring his skiis back up to Firestone... Okay, after a quick stop at Neptune for a new pad, we headed back to the Beer Barrel and Tree Slab areas that Sean had introduced us to. Played around successfully on three V0s and got the youngest Carbol clan brother onto the rock, hopefully for a while. Nice day to get out.
17 Dec, Sawtooth Ridge (Guanella Pass) w/ Petey: My SF mountain buddy, former roommate, and old college buddy Pete from NC showed up in town for some alpine climbing. It appears there isn't much in the way of either mountains or snow out in NC. Ambitious plans were laid to knock off some harder ridge routes in the just-before-winter winter conditions, starting with a little circumnavigation of the Willows and Scott Gomer Creek - head up the Escarpment towards Evans, cross the fun-in-summer Sawtooth Ridge (4th class at best but with tons of cool exposure), summit Bierstadt (14060'), and return to the car and camp for another ridge the next day. We started in Aurora and had to fight through cross-town traffic, and didn't get started until 0930. The first half of the climbing went well, but altitude and dehydration started to show around 13000', with 40-50 knot sustained winds and blowing snow. Pete cramped a couple of muscles, and we had just ventured into the vertical arena when it started again; we looked at the time, the commitment, and our physical conditions, and bailed back down. I barely made it back to the car after an hour of crossing the Willows in the dark. Too ambitious for a welcome back to winter mountaineering. It's been a long time since a mountain kicked my butt this hard, even in winter.
19 Dec, Quandary Peak w/ Petey: With a day off to recover and repack, we headed back out to the mountains. Today, Quandary's west ridge was the target, with a traverse of the mountain afterwards. It was freakin' cold and windy out of the west, and we started up from the empty upper Blue reservoir and decided not to traverse into the further bowl leading to the west ridge, mostly to keep out of the howling winds. They weren't as hard as on the Scarp, but quite a bit colder and more ferocious-feeling. We ended up heading up the south ridge adjacent to the fabulous Monte Cristo couloir instead, with some really fun snow-covered 4th class stuff up high. A good decision became apparent around 13500' when we were faced with exposed (to wind) climbing for the last 750' - bloody cold. Summitted, took quick summit photos, and headed down the long east ridge wishing the wind would stop. An hour of walking on snowmobile tracks through the woods later, we came out right at the car and headed home for some drinkin' and eatin'. Good day. Glad we still have some of the old right stuff.
23 May GoG w/ Bryan & Lisa: followed Montezuma's Tower (7, airy arete) w/ Lisa on dual-belay in windstorm. Lisa's first big airy, and she did great. Hmm, what's up for the long weekend? Probably lots of blood and pain.
2 June Zuma Rocks & Basin Rock (Montezuma & A-Basin, CO) w/ Scotty & Brent McDaniel: TRd Secret Significance (8+, *), TRd Corners 101 Left Start variation (9, *), TRd RNU right arete (8), played on Perpetual Motion (10d), led Trustifarian variation B (7, *), TRd Jeanette's Jam (7, **). Basin Rock needs anchors for Tree Top. Great mellow fun day.
13 Oct, Boulder Canyon w/ Jules: Climbed on 3rd Elephant Buttress, without a topo, and put up a variation (done before, I'm certain) of West Face (7 * 2 pitches, my var 5.8) with some interesting and fun stuff on the first pitch. I took the second pitch, thinking 'those cracks look steep but fun'. Turns out I led the 11a crack finish, but at my third piece of gear had to French aid everything to the summit. Good for my aid practice, I guess. Jules totally showed me up by freeing parts that I'd had to aid, and even after I went back down to extricate a micro camalot I couldn't repeat her free moves. I certainly hope to be good enough to lead those someday.
24 Nov, Indian Creek w/ Jules: The Femur is the Strongest Bone in the Human Body. It's snowing here. And everywhere in between here and home. And it's cold and wet. This is the first day of the weekend that's even remotely climbable (unless you don't mind climbing in 30degF temperatures). We met Mark (Eastern European climber from Aspen) and Al (patent attorney from who knows where) at the primitive sites in IC (location courtesy Tradgirl), and headed for the fun stuff on Supercrack Buttress. Mark talks me into leading an 'easy' 10, Keyhole Flake. I onsight it clean for my hardest lead yet. Hell, hardest climb yet. Mark puts up Supercrack (10c) and leaves the rope for Jules and me. Julie has some problems with the greasy lieback start crux, and her broken ankle doesn't lend itself to the vertical straight-on crack above. I go up, and with 2 rests and 2 figure-it-out stops at the overhang figure it out and TR it relatively cleanly. Meanwhile, Mark and Al, with a wanderer they've met (Bree) put up and climb Incredible Hand Crack (10c) with lots of our #2 sizes. They're done as we finish and clean Supercrack, so Julie gets on. She falls on the first pillar lieback and I keep her off the ground - it looks strenuous. Second go-round, she gets a dozen feet up the hand crack above the pillar and calls it, pumped from the day and with the broken ankle not liking it much. I pull the rope after some egging ('it's a beautiful lead') and start on my onsight attempt for 10c. I put in a piece at 8' and back down. I climb up, back down. Bree comes over to spot. I try to lieback as Julie did. I make it to within a foot of the top of the pillar and pump out. I fall, catch, fall. The piece pulls. I ground out. Bree keeps me from having a broken femur. I land on a spike of rock with my body weight from 15' on my thigh. I'm done for the day. It snows all night. Read the TR for more interesting details. Thank you, Bree. Broken legs suck.
17 Dec, Sawtooth Ridge (Guanella Pass) w/ Petey: My SF mountain buddy, former roommate, and old college buddy Pete from NC showed up in town for some alpine climbing. It appears there isn't much in the way of either mountains or snow out in NC. Ambitious plans were laid to knock off some harder ridge routes in the just-before-winter winter conditions, starting with a little circumnavigation of the Willows and Scott Gomer Creek - head up the Escarpment towards Evans, cross the fun-in-summer Sawtooth Ridge (4th class at best but with tons of cool exposure), summit Bierstadt (14060'), and return to the car and camp for another ridge the next day. We started in Aurora and had to fight through cross-town traffic, and didn't get started until 0930. The first half of the climbing went well, but altitude and dehydration started to show around 13000', with 40-50 knot sustained winds and blowing snow. Pete cramped a couple of muscles, and we had just ventured into the vertical arena when it started again; we looked at the time, the commitment, and our physical conditions, and bailed back down. I barely made it back to the car after an hour of crossing the Willows in the dark. Too ambitious for a welcome back to winter mountaineering. It's been a long time since a mountain kicked my butt this hard, even in winter.
19 Dec, Quandary Peak w/ Petey: With a day off to recover and repack, we headed back out to the mountains. Today, Quandary's west ridge was the target, with a traverse of the mountain afterwards. It was freakin' cold and windy out of the west, and we started up from the empty upper Blue reservoir and decided not to traverse into the further bowl leading to the west ridge, mostly to keep out of the howling winds. They weren't as hard as on the Scarp, but quite a bit colder and more ferocious-feeling. We ended up heading up the south ridge adjacent to the fabulous Monte Cristo couloir instead, with some really fun snow-covered 4th class stuff up high. A good decision became apparent around 13500' when we were faced with exposed (to wind) climbing for the last 750' - bloody cold. Summitted, took quick summit photos, and headed down the long east ridge wishing the wind would stop. An hour of walking on snowmobile tracks through the woods later, we came out right at the car and headed home for some drinkin' and eatin'. Good day. Glad we still have some of the old right stuff.