On the Front Range and Bouldering

We've been hanging out here in good ol' Colorado for about 2 weeks bouldering. We've hit spots from Newlin, near Canyon City, to RMNP. Man!!! I love RMNP! I guess this is another power training phase, cause all I want to do is boulder. Even though that's the case, I'm psyched to climb in Rifle this week. We'll climb Thursday-Saturday the 25th and Monday and Tuesday of next week in Rifle Mountain Park.

We built a raft... Well we built a crash pad holding structure out of dead/down trees in Boulder Canyon to keep our crash pads dry on Cage Free... Unfortunately no sends that day.

Here are a few recent climbing pictures from RMNP. Hopefully we'll get our hands on some of the great pictures Mickey O'Hara took while we were in Newlin:/

Me on Merkin, V9

Liesel on Grieta Blanca, V4

The Portal, V8... Sending!

Adam Davidson

TJ, lookin good on the Portal... But more importantly look at that sweet Black/Yellow Organic waiting to catch him!

I'm now the proud owner of 2 new Organic bouldering pads!

In other news... My mom has organized a great quilt collection hung all over the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver. The show consists of 270+ quilts from around the state. This is her third time doing it and it's A LOT of work, I'm really proud of her. She is addressing a standing room only crowd at the opening reception in the picture below.

We had a good time hanging with my family this weekend. Bowling with Galen and Ashley was Super Fun! Dinner with the family on Father's Day was great too. Liesel will be off to Alabama next Thursday, the 30th. I'll have more even sweeter bouldering pics in the near future. How's everyone like the new title? It was my first crack at Photoshop.

Jailhouse and "The Marathon Drive..."

Aaahhhhh, Colorado at last!

(view from the Jailhouse)

After our visit to Yosemite we made a pilgrimage to the Jailhouse for a week, for those who have not heard of it just imagine a giant basalt cave, on the Tulloch Reservoir in the San Joaquin valley. The climbing is hard, but the local community is wonderful; after a week of climbing at the Jailhouse we were starting to feel right at home. Kevin made good work on Soap on a Rope a 12d/13a, while I spent my time projecting the "warm up" an 11d. It seems we are saving our sends for the fall time.

After a week of hard sport climbing and great weather we wandered over to Santa Cruz for a moment, the first time I've seen the west coast, and then to a family wedding in Saratoga (Kevin's second cousin). The weather was rainy and quite cold for June in California, but meeting the family and attending the wedding was wonderful!

We left Jailhouse at 1PM PST on June 7th and were in Monument, CO 3PM MST on the 8th, 23 hours of driving in 25 hours... We stopped for a short rest at a rest stop outside Winemucca, NV... Marathon! If you ever get the chance to drive from Sonora over to Reno, take CA Hwy 4? over Ebbets Pass, it's beautiful!

It was great to see Mike this weekend up in Boulder and then in Newlin. Thanks Mickey for taking pictures all weekend... Check out Tom and Mitch's Vantasy in the near future for some cool pics, http://tomandmitchsvantasy.blogspot.com/.

Goodbye Siebe:( Keep up the CRUSHING... It has really been a pleasure. Anyone who has not already checked his blog out should. Siebe's a great guy and a fantastic climber. There is a link to his blog off ours on the right.

Dave, we'll see you in the fall. Good luck in Sweden and have fun.

I don't think we're making it to Ten Sleep...

Well, tata for now... More pictures are coming soon.

One Week in Yosemite Valley!

We've been in the valley for a week now. The weather is fantastic and the landscape is unbeatable. We have been very busy this week adjusting to the climbing here... This place is hard! or I'm just a wuss. So far Liesel and I have climbed Super Slide, Serenity Crack and Commitment into Selaginella as well as a few nice boulders. We also ran/hiked up to Nevada falls via the Mist trail one "rest" day and back down a portion of the John Muir trail.

Looking down Pitch 3 on Super Slide

Commitment and Selaginella are on the center of the buttress

Yosemite Falls

Here are some neat photos, mostly of Half Dome.

El Cap towering over Liesel.

Yesterday was the highlight of my trip so far in Yosemite. Siebe and I got up on the Captain and climbed the Nose up to Dolt Tower. Siebe was psyched to suss the moves out in hopes of one day freeing the route and I was happy to have a long day on jugs and aiders. I learned some new techniques and free climbed maybe a total of 200 feet all day, the approach shoes never came off:) Thanks to Siebe for being psyched to endure a long, COLD day.

Dolt Tower is just down and left of the much larger, more obvious El Cap Tower.

Looking down pitch 6? 7?

Siebe saved a Pop Tart for the top.

Bad Mofos.

Before we arrived in the valley Liesel and I stopped in Joe's Valley for 2 days of climbing, but the weather shut us down the second day. We ended up climbing in Triassic that day with David and Christine, two friends living in SLC. Triassic is much less popular than Joe's but we found it to be a nice area, densely packed with good boulder problems. I really enjoyed Desparete V7 and David did good work on Lemmonhead which is featured on the cover of the old, black Utah Bouldering book.

Pine River Pile 5.9X

Yesterday, Sunday May 8th Liesel and I went up to the Pine River near Vallecito reservoir for some kickazz clamping. Nuggernaut 5.8 was the goal for the day, instead we put up a new route on the cliffs just south of Tradistan tower.

If choss is your flavor of choice, this route might be perfect for you... For everyone else, skip it... It's dangerous and stressful. Here is a little trip report.

The climb is accessed from the Los Pinos trailhead, which is about 4 miles east of Vallecito Reservoir. Hike up the trail about a mile and then head up the hill on the left. The climb can kinda start here, the approach is about 800-1000 feet of 4th and low 5th class scrambling. Aim for the immaculate looking slabs on the left side of the buttress.

P1 - 5.7R Mostly body dragging through plants and choss for 40 meters, belay on the right.

P2 - 5.9R/X This pitch actually had about 10 meters of really good, protectable climbing. Face climbing to the second roof encounter of the climb, skirt the roof on the left side on VERY fragile holds... I knocked down a truckload of choss coming out of the roof before the good jams. This brings you to a giant ledge... belay here.

P3 - 5.4X Traverse the massive ledge about 45 meters with little to no protection. I found 2 marginal placements to protect Liesel on the traverse, luckily this pitch does not have much in the way of real difficult climbing. If you are bolder than I am you can continue up to the top of the buttress from this belay or from the point 45 meters to the left... I tried 3 times to go straight up with no protection and a LOT of choss tossing.

We rappelled from here in one sketchy 70+ meter rappel, if you only have 2 60s you will have to do two rappels, one long and then a short one from some trees. The following picture is looking up from the end of the rappel, which we rigged with a slung block near the highest tree in the center.

All in all we were both really psyched to be off the thing alive. The line could surely go higher, but not by us on that day.

Pine River Pile 5.9X F.A. Kevin Hadfield and Liesel Goshen

The view was pretty nice though:)

Ta Ta for Now Indian Creek...

The exodus from Indian Creek has begun. Liesel, Siebe and myself all left the creek earlier this past week after a month or so long stay. Liesel and I are in Durango for some rest and a much needed break from the relentless cracks.

Our time in the creek was productive, Liesel sent infinity +3 times the cracks she had "sent" ever! She also got a lot of experience on the sharp end of trad climbing. I had hoped to send harder lines in the creek this trip, after a year and a half break from splitters. All the bouldering and sport climbing did pay off but not as much as I'd hoped, my trip highlights were the three towers in a day with Liesel mentioned in a previous post. I also flashed some 11's and had a great time until injuries started piling up near the end. We're psyched for a return trip this fall!

We had some friends visit while we were in the creek. It was wonderful to have a short visit from Mike/Tom... Congratulations on your first crack experience senders! Sean Moon and his laday Abby made a quick visit:) We got to check out some cool classic cars as they drove by our campsite in Castle Valley. It is always great to see Mooner, I don't know what I'll do when they move to ALASKA!!! in August:(

Siebe Vanhee... Legend. Dude sent AIR SWEDIN on his third go! Mad respect... I can't wait to hear about the down time between the creek and Yosemite. Here he is catching some air over small pieces of gear!

Thanks so much to Siebe Vanhee, Ken Anderson, Brent Clements and Hannah for being such great neighbors in Creek Pasture.

Siebe and Ken simul-sending... Ken on 4X4(5.11) and Siebe on Hydaulic Pump(5.12+)

Yes! we are on our way to Yosemite on the 15th/16th gotta make that money! Stop by Gardenswartz Extravaganza at the La Plata County Fairgrounds if you wanna say hi and pick up some sweet deals... the sale starts May 13th and runs through Sunday.

More Fun Pictures... Because We are Having More Fun Than You

More pictures... Enjoy:)

Rappelling the last route of the day at Sunset:) Bliss!
Siebe Vanhee... Legendary

The confluence of the Green River and the Colorado

Cryptobiotic Soil

Lots of gear in a wall