Five Short Stories of Climbing in Boulder

The last several weeks I’ve been doing tons of climbing. Although I love getting out with friends and cragging, this year I’ve tried to prioritize the climbing and adventure itself. There are still many Boulder Canyon and Dream Canyon routes to visit and revisit, but at the end of last year I thought back on climbing after three years in Boulder and realized that I had only explored a sliver of Eldo and a speck of the endless Flatirons. Through this Spring and Summer I’ve been having a blast getting to know my sandstone neighbors.

The more involved climbing in these places necessitates a single partner for a day. Climbs are often long and a bit scary and the hikes and descents can be strenuous. Being smart with time and gear might make or break a day. Climbing in groups of two is the only way to be efficient and safe.

Unfortunately, taking decent pictures and documenting such days are difficult endeavors. Often, I don’t want to bring a camera on a tough or long climb because of it’s weight, bulk and clunk factor. Taking photos while belaying can be dangerous and sometimes in trying to capture the moment one can lose it entirely. Even if I did bring a camera, I’d be taking a bunch of spectacular butt shots or killer top rope pictures. Thus I haven’t had many posts here of late. But the climbing and adventures have been even more exciting and worthy of reflection.

Below you’ll find some photos of a day Lizz and I enjoyed climbing Hillbilly Rock, an obscure Flatiron slab. Between the photos, I’ve discussed five highlights of my last several weeks of climbing, including a few vaguely remarkable events and  interesting tidbits about some of the routes we’ve done. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a thousand words is worth…

#1. Sunday I went to Eldo with Ian, a new friend and very strong and experienced climber. We were out the door before the Nebraska crowed crashing at our place and arrived in Eldo before 8 am to ensure we could get a head start on the sun and heat. After a quick but fun warmup pitch, we climbed Downpressor Man, a single pitch 5.12 sport route (a few such gems exist in Eldo!). Neither of us got it clean, but we’re close and its location right below the lower ramp will make it a perfect little after-work project. Bravo to Eli for sending Downpressor first go a few days prior!

Ian and I continued with C’est What?, a 5.11 up the back of the Whale’s Tail that has a very spicy 40 foot 5.8 start protected by an RP and a 000 C3 before a stance to clip the first bolt. A few climbers stopped to watch me through the 5.8 section and wandered off when I actually started climbing the better protected 5.11 face. We finished the day with a three pitch 5.10, March of Dimes, up the far east side of the Bastille. The climb had three distinct finger cracks (one on every pitch) with the crux being 20 feet of airy, strenuous locks on pitch three. Unfortunately, pitch two left a lot to be desired and belongs in the classic Eldo choss fests. I pulled off a chalked-up, baseball sized rock, held it for a few seconds trying to figure out what to do with it and then set it in a pile of rocks on a ledge to the left so I didn’t kill an unsuspecting picnicker below.

#2. Saturday Chels visited from Moab and we got out to Cadillac Crag. We only did four pitches, but those encompassed more than 600 feet of climbing. The highlight was the 180-foot Land of Ra, a delicate 5.11 mixed line with a thin curx and continuous and spicy 5.10 climbing for the last 100 feet. As I neared the top of the climb, It felt like I had a good deal of rope drag and I kept trying to see if the rope was caught on anything. But the extra weight was only due to the fact that I was literally carrying the whole rope along with me at that point.  I used nearly an entire rack of singles and clipped five bolts, but still had 20+ foot runouts on 5.9/5.10 terrain.  More on Cadillac Crag here.

#3. On Memorial Day Eldo was surprisingly empty – probably because of the ever-popular Boulder Boulder which hosted about 50,000 participants this year. Tyler and I got a locals 10 am start, walked right up to the ultra-classic Blind Faith and hopped on. I led the first pitch and just tried to imagine Jim Ericson’s 1972 first ascent, solo. The moves are never difficult, but are strenuous at the top of the crux hand crack with no guarantee that smooth sailing lies over the sloping edge.

After a quick trip up the super-fun Sunset Boulevard (5.11a), the sun started to hit the West face of the Bastille and we moved over to C’est la Vie. The second pitch of C’est la Vie is an amazing ride that typically has fixed pro in the characteristic thin seam of the crux dihedral. Eli and I had done the route last year and I got spanked, but was saved repeatedly by a fixed nut. This time I had no such luck as the crack lay bare. I strained to fish in a nut high. After a few minutes of effort, I finally got a #2 seeded. To make ultra-sure it wasn’t going to pull, causing me to crash into the ledge below (and maybe Tyler at the belay), I gave the remaining wires on the carabiner several good tugs to sink it further. When I heard a POP and my hand flew into the rock and down past my waist, my first thought was that the nut had pulled. To my surprise when I looked up, it was still there, snug in the seam. I then looked at the rest of the pieces in my hand to see the wire gate had snapped around the spine, leaving the biner wide open. I must have cross loaded it, but I’m still surprised that the gate broke under such minimal force.

After spending five minutes trying to get my knuckle to stop bleeding from having smacked the rock during the carabiner incedent, I threw in a #1 nut below the #2 for a backup and started the crux sequence. I figured I’d fall at least once trying to relearn the beta, but the adrenaline got me through. What a rush! In the middle of the crux, the climber is almost completely sideways, smearing up the right face with his feet while cranking off of good holds on the left and reaching desperately to gain a good finger lock. Latching a hold has never felt so good as when my fingers sank snugly into that lock at the end of the wild crux. If you’re confident in your small stopper placements, C’est la Vie is a must-do.

#4. Lumpy with Ian. The day before Hillbilly rock, Ian and I hiked to the Book at Lumpy Ridge. To “warm up” for El Camino Real we hopped on Perelandra, linked it with Cheap Date and topped out the formation with the last pitch of Outlander. This line was a mental battle. The wind was howling with 40+ mile per hour gusts. Perelandra was sheltered somewhat, but the last two pitches were fully exposed. I hopped on pitch 1 of Perelandra (5.10), a slabby finger crack with no good locks and lots of granite smearing for the feet. After getting a good .5 in 15 feet off the deck, my next 40-50 feet of delicate climbing were protected by a #3 nut, a #2 nut, a 00 C3 and a #4 nut (only because I didn’t have another #3). When the seam finally opened up a bit and I got a bomber .75, I let out a big exhale and managed to enjoy the rest of the pitch. Ian took the 5.11 pitch and was met with insta-crux. He felt out the moves several times, a committing sequence of crimps around a bulge with slippery crystals for feet, before backing down to the good seam that held his last pro. Then he fired through without a problem, reaching the next crack over and easier climbing. Whew. I took a spill when my foot blew heading for the good crimp that ended the crux sequence – Bah!

The next pitch was Cheap Date, a 5.10 finger crack rated a letter grade harder than the first pitch that had already frayed my nerves. The wind was blowing my freckles off and I had watched Darren Mabe, a much stronger climber than I, struggle on the line last year. I put on my serious face and started up the 45 meter pitch. No problem. Though a little more vertical than the first pitch, the locks were bomber and the gear was better. A few times I had to bear down on my finger locks, duck my head and ride out massive gusts before making the next moves. Ian leapfrogged me to finish out on the 5.10 hand crack, Outlander, and we were officially warmed up.

We hiked down, grabbed lunch, let the wind settle and then Ian got down to business on El Camino Real. The 5.12c has multiple hard sections, the most difficult being a half-pad lockoff lieback to a lock. I was close to making the move, but pulled through after multiple attempts on a comfortable top rope. Ian worked the route again and managed to get it down to a single fall on TR. Getting the redpoint on lead will be tougher still, but he’s close. Impressive.

In between our warmup session and El Camino Real, we were organizing our gear while another group was starting up the popular Fat City (5.10). I was leaning over to clip a cam to a sling when WHAM! The guy leading pitch 1 of Fat City decked from 10-15 feet. He was fiddling with gear when his foot popped. He landed right on his ass a few feet in front of me. It was definitely injury territory, but he was lucky to escape with nothing more than a sore butt. Getting him out of there would not have been fun.

#5 Flatirons with Lizz and Bakewell. What better way to spend a weekend than climbing obscure Flatiron slabs with good friends? Though the First and the Third Flatirons get 95% of the attention and 99% of the shit show, they are only a couple of the numerous Flatiron slabs that host good climbing. A couple weeks ago Lizz and I trudged up to the 350-foot Hillbilly Rock on a whim with a few goals in mind: enjoying some sun on the way to the top and then taking in the view. Done and done.

Hillbilly is accessed via a faint climbers trail that tackles a lovely choss scramble before settling in to a steep meadow. The advantage of winding our way through the tough hike was a beautiful setting without another person in sight. We loosely climbed Jethro, a broken flake system and then summited the direct East Face. The two pitches were pleasant and the view from the top spectacular. We were surrounded by the giant open spaces meadow and flatirons everywhere we looked.

The next day Jason Bakewell was in town and we returned to the Flatirons. He quickly realized that though the guidebook may not mention a safety rating for a climb, most 5.4 slabs in the area should probably be rated R or X. I think he got a nice chuckle when he tossed in his second piece at 100 feet, with his first piece camped out 75 feet below. It was another windy day along the Front Range and the gusts between calm stretches felt like getting smacked in the face. We topped out Dinosaur Rock and the Front Porch. For a little bolt clipping fun, I fired up Touch Monkey, a 5.11 on which I had given a poor effort during the onsight attempt a few weeks ago. Ever since then I’ve wanted to return. Having a chip on my shoulder helped me send this time around.

Thanks to everyone who’s joined me on these adventures and the ones in between! The summer is in full swing, so let’s keep it going.