Gary and I had been trying to arrange a climbing “date” for the last two weeks. A snowboarding incident (injured ribs) and the weather had complicated the scheduling but other than being windy, Wednesday finally looked good. I was surprised to run into Jenn and Jeremy at the parking lot, where we got the skinny [...]
Archive for April, 2010
Verschneidung Dihedral
Posted in climbing, tagged Eldorado Canyon, rock climbing, Verschneidung Dihedral, West Ridge on April 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Browns Canyon WSA
Posted in climbing, hiking, tagged 8620, 9082, Browns Canyon on April 26, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I wish I could relate a story about how I never left the trailhead on Saturday, an epic involving car trouble, tow trucks, a dog and a wedding party. Unfortunately a friend of mine would be far too embarrassed if I put the story in print, so I’ll just have to move on to Sunday’s [...]
Rim to Rim to Rim
Posted in hiking, Lord of Pain, tagged Grand Canyon, North Kaibab Trail, Rim to Rim to Rim, South Kaibab Trail on April 19, 2010 | 10 Comments »
2 am – Beep, Beep goes the alarm clock and I roll over to start the stove for a cup of coffee. Worming out of the sleeping bag while putting on clothes carefully set aside last night and then the shoes get strategically laced up. 2:15 am – Hoot (Dave) and I hop into his [...]
Sinking Ship
Posted in climbing, hiking, tagged Grand Canyon, Sinking Ship on April 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A long evening drive punctuated by a stop in Glenwood Springs to visit a brewery I’d never eaten at before ends with a stop on a plot of National Forest land outside of Monticello, UT. Pete and I throw out tarps and our sleeping bags onto the ground, attempting to dodge the cow patties and [...]
Wind Ridge
Posted in climbing, tagged Eldorado Canyon, rock climbing, Wind Ridge, Wind Tower on April 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Alternate title for this post: “How Pete Got His Grove Back” After backing off our climb of The Maiden on Saturday, Pete needed to get his head on straight for exposure and rock climbing. I thought the perfect climb would be the Wind Ridge on Eldo’s Wind Tower. With an early departure from work we [...]
Lost on the First Flatiron
Posted in climbing, tagged Bakers Way, Chase the Sun, Direct East Face, Fandango, First Flatiron, Flatirons, rock climbing, Steppin' Out, Sunset Flatironette on April 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
When Erick suggested we spend Sunday at the Flatirons I almost had to laugh. That would make there days in a row on these iconic Boulder landmarks. We settled on trying to even the score with Fandango – the route on the First Flatiron I’d failed to locate properly two days before. This time we [...]
The Maiden
Posted in climbing, tagged Flatirons, rock climbing, The Maiden on April 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Ryan, Pete and I left the South Mesa trailhead with the southern Flatirons skyline in view. Prominent among those peaks in our view was The Maiden. After following the well manicured trails we split off on a climber’s path to work our way through the woods. We followed the south side of The Maiden and [...]
Zig Zag
Posted in climbing, tagged First Flatiron, rock climbing, Zig Zag on April 9, 2010 | 2 Comments »
With a beautiful Friday off work, Pete and I decided to visit the Flatirons in Boulder. Our plan was to climb the First Flatiron via the route Fandango (5.5). We hiked up to the base of the First Flatiron, saw a group on the Direct East Face route and kept going. Unfortunately, I went to [...]
Shirttail Peak
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Eldorado State Park, Mountaineer's Route, rock climbing, Shirttail Peak on April 4, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Original plan was to try Rewritten, a classic 5.7 5-pitch route on in Eldorado State Park. Unfortunately, the park was blanketed in clouds as we drove north from Golden and it was snowing lightly while we hiked in. We briefly considered turning tail and heading to the South Platte or elsewhere, but Pete had never [...]
Castlewood Canyon
Posted in climbing, tagged Banana Split Chimney, Caramel Corner, Castlewood Canyon, Grocery Store Wall, Licorice Stick, Peaches and Scream, rock climbing, Zucchini on April 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
For Lent, Pete, Ryan and I decided to give up long approaches, alpine starts, frozen fingers and ranked summits. Instead, we chose a visit to Castlewood Canyon, a place none of us had ever visited, because the weather forecast looked good there and I read the cliffs were out of the wind. A short detour [...]
