2010 Goals

While home over the holidays I talked with Chris Rolling about our projects for the coming year.  Anytime I’m with a friend and climbing partner, discussion of our aspirations for routes, areas and life is uplifting and motivating.  I will never climb the vast majority of the routes brought up in these conversations, but a select few I will.

Our growing climbing community consists of a bunch of great people, all with different ability and experience. Just like everything else in life, climbing is compromise.  Days of spontaneous sport climbing at the local crags are always fun, facilitate large groups and provide a variety of routes for everyone.  There will always be plenty of those days.

By the same token, our group takes climbing seriously.  I’ve seen everyone pushing themselves, both physically and mentally, in the gym over the winter.  The results are very evident and I’m proud of the grit, enthusiasm and determination everyone has shown.  This will translate to the outdoors and I can’t wait to see the looks on many of my friends’ faces when expectations rooted in last year get smoked.  Almost everyone in our circle is now at the point of being a talented enough climber with the technical abilities to lead sport climbing excursions.  Last year at this time only a few of us were at that level.  Others have started learning the skills needed for multipitch and trad climbing.  For me all of this means more opportunities to really tackle some of these goals we all love to talk about.

At the time I spoke with Chris, my thoughts were scattered, but listing some goals for this season, especially publicly, will hopefully help me get organized and keep me on track.  I’m going to try to be realistic.  In that spirit I’ll stick to Colorado.

So without further ado, here are many of my goals for the coming year:

Eldorado Canyon:  It’s time to really get to know my neighbor down the road.  I’m feeling more comfortable with the cryptic and at times scary climbing of Eldo.  I’m also in the best climbing shape of my life and am more confident with difficult trad climbing than at this point last year.  I could list many areas and more than 100 routes I want to do in Eldo, but I’ll just name some:

The West Ridge: This is a very accessible area with hundreds of routes.  Most routes are one or two pitches.  Here I’d like to climb Pony Express (5.11c), Iron Pony (5.11d), Iron Horse (5.11c), Wishbone (5.11b), Wild Turkey (5.12a) and Wingshot (5.11b).

Redgarden Wall: It wouldn’t be hard to find something new to climb here every day for the entire year.  A few routes I’d like to do are Naked Edge (5.11b), Rewritten (5.7), Yellow Spur (5.9), The Contest (5.11d), Wild Kingdom (5.11c) and Predator (5.11d).  These last two routes are 150’+  lines that split off from the first and second bolts of the amazing Rosy Crucifixion traverse.

Rincon Wall:  I spent a ton of time at the Rincon Wall last year and absolutely loved it.  I’d like to give a redpoint attempt of Aerial Book (5.11a R) and lead Aerospace/Aerohead (5.11b R).  Kris onsighted the latter last year and I followed it clean on TR.

The Flatirons: A new guidebook by Jason Hass from Sharp End Publishing just came out for this expansive area, notoriously difficult to navigate.  This will make the area much more accessible for me.  The Flatirons are Boulder’s backyard and there are tons and tons of great looking sport, mixed and trad lines there, ranging from massive 10 pitch adventures to single pitch routes.  My goal for this area isn’t really to climb specific routes, it’s to explore and enjoy some quiet days in a beautiful place away from the crowds.  Since most areas require 45-75 minute hikes, many people stay away.  I imagine a perfect day in the Flatirons as climbing an easier multipitch line, grabbing lunch and finishing on one or two difficult single pitch routes.  I’d love to find a hard sport line in this area to really work over the course of the summer.

Clear Creek:  Though there are still lines I’d like to work in Boulder Canyon and Dream Canyon, I’d like to shift my sport climbing focus somewhat to the marbled granite of Clear Creek.  If there’s anything I’d call my project at the moment, it’s Ten Digit Dialing (5.12c), a popular route with cool 5.11 climbing that leads to a lengthy V5 boulder problem at the top.  It’s a very beta intensive route that is well protected and fun to work.  The same Wall of the 90s area hosts Wet Dream (5.12a), another line I’m close to sending, as well as two cracks I’d like to do, Thirty-Aught Six (5.12a) and Roadrunner (5.10d).  I’d also like to check out the Anarchy Wall and the Primo Wall, both areas of harder sport climbing as well as return to the Wall of Justice, one of the few local areas with numerous high quality severely overhung lines.

Lumpy Ridge: Ryan and I got out to Lumpy last year and had a fantastic, memorable day.  Though I haven’t spent the time to figure out particular routes I’d like to do, Lumpy is another area in which one could climb something classic everyday for a year without trouble.  One route I will mention is the beautiful splitter J-Crack (5.9).

Penitente Canyon: Everyone I’ve asked about Penitente Canyon has raved about it.  The area is filled with ultra classic sport routes of a variety of grades.

The South Platte region: My second outdoor climbing trip was to Turkey Rocks.  There I got absolutely schooled and bloody on 5.8 cracks.  Now, 4 years later, I’d love to return and see how I fare.

In general I’d like to do more bouldering.  Working problems with a small group of friends is the most social form of climbing I’ve found.  There is tons of good bouldering around here including in Mount Evans, Eldo and Green Mountain.

When the October snow starts to fall, I’ll take stock and see just how much of this I got to.

Of course, I’m going to need your help.

Who’s in?