Every now and then a day arrives that sticks in your memory with intense clarity. The little details may fade with time, but the experiences are so unique and profound that the feel is all that matters. This weekend brought such an occasion. Led by Chris Thompson, we labored our way to Glacier Gorge in Rocky Mountain National Park. There, in the shadow of Long’s peak, we resided in a bowl of granite so expansive that the echos of my “on belay’s” are only now reverberating to their source.
Spearhead as seen from our bivy site. The red line is the unknown route we took on Saturday. The Blue route is Spear Me The Details, our Sunday line.
In the middle of the bowl sits Spearhead, a 1000-foot wall surrounded by alpine meadow like a castle encircled by moat. Eli and I climbed it twice. Both times searching for Spear Me The Details (5.11d), finally finding it on Sunday.
Continue reading »
The temperature in Boulder reached 101 on Saturday. There were three options for climbers:
1. Go to higher altitude
2. Hit the gym
3. Read Barbra Bush’s memoir
We chose options 1 and 3. Chels was in the neighborhood and looking to get her hands on some rock. In a moment of audacity, we agreed to leave Boulder at 6 am for the towering granite of Lumpy Ridge. Fearing the popular Book area would be overrun, I suggested we get serious about hiking and visit Lumpy’s tallest, most remote formation, the epic Sundance Buttress.
Chels climbing the pitch 5 fingercrack of Sidetrack
The day at Lumpy was a blast. We climbed the 700-foot Sidetrack (5.9), a continuous and varied route with plenty of finger cracks, smearing, offwidths and even an intimidating roof. We also enjoyed reading tidbits by Barbra Bush.
Continue reading »
Remember in January when you would have sat through a Glenn Beck tantrum for a chance to get your hands on a choss pile? Those days are gone, replaced by the height of summer and its oppressive, lethargy-inducing heat that bakes stone and seems to coat climbing rubber in Chef Boyardee. This is the point in the year when a drop-off in motivation can be expected. With sunset at 9:00 pm, every day is a potential climbing opportunity. If you’re like me, spoiled living in Boulder without kids you know of, you’ve been saturated by climbing to the point that you’ll head out with your buddies, crack a beer and sit around the crag for an hour, climb two routes, watch the spectacle for another hour, then call it a day.
Yep.
So in general, how can a climber maintain a continuous, high level of motivation? Here are three things that work for me:
Continue reading »
My second Petzl Corax finally bit the dust. Overall it was a great harness except: The back elastic parts were poorly designed- always slipping, wore out fast, loop that they attached to broke. The quick adjustable leg loop buckles always slip and wear out quicker than normal buckles. Legs loops don’t need to be quickly [continue reading]
Do you remember your first climb? I do. I was a 24 year old senior at UNL. Jason Bakewell took me to the climbing wall at the campus rec, tied me in and told me to climb to the top. I started off with vigor, but at 30 feet I was ready to come down. [continue reading]
![Briefly- Go [buy] Outside](http://climbinghouse.com/wp-content/themes/suffusion/timthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fclimbinghouse.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F07%2Fcover-128x128.jpg&w=&h=&zc=1&quality=75&type=m)
I hope you’re having a great fourth of July. I’m down in Charlotte enjoying family time. I don’t often read Outside magazine, but I received the June issue as a gift (Jack Johnson is on the cover). Matt Samet (former editor of Climbing magazine) wrote a deeply personal and interesting article about his addiction to [continue reading]
Talk