After another night of camping near Turkey Rocks we decided to head somewhere new for the both of us, Parachute Rock off the Rampart Range Road. The wind at camp discouraged another pancake breakfast in the woods, so we drove into Woodland Park for a big meal then caught Rampart Range Road and eventually found the parking area for Parachute Rock. A short hike brought us to the base of the cliff.
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We decided to start with something easy, so Jeremy led up a combination of the routes Being There and Pete ‘n’ Ben’s (both about 5.6) to a set of anchors.
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After rappelling down I racked up for the climb Burgers (5.8) and enjoyed the initial thin crack section and remembered that I suck at slabs on the bolted face above. I lowered and cleaned and Jeremy showed me up by climbing Miss Bliss (also 5.8) with much more style.
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We then traversed back to the first section of the rock we’d wandered up to and I jumped on Flake Route/Illegal Smile (5.8+) and completely enjoyed the jams despite a near slip at the vegetated finger jam crux.
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Jeremy followed and cleaned while we watched another group start up the beautiful crack of Rip Cord (5.10a).
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The wind had really picked up and we debated what to do and Jeremy nearly started up 5.9 Route (5.9) before deciding the wind had sucked out his motivation and made the start a tad too spooky.
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It was my turn to fail at a route, so I chose the now free Rip Cord. Falling and hanging on gear at the crux start, I decided I probably could piece together the moves eventually, but that I didn’t have a lot of endurance this early in the climbing season to make the ascent more than a protracted epic. So I backed off the climb and we decided to take a scenic route home while making plans for the last day of our holiday weekend.
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