We're Boulderers

Bouldering "Double Clutch," a classic on the Back Pocket boulder.

On Sunday we went climbing in Killer Cave.

It's the most famous cliff in Sinks Canyon, and our goal was to project the route called "Killer." Eighty feet of solid steep climbing. Seemed like a good goal, and a great way to get a workout for a few weekends.

A climber on "Killer"


I set it up mostly bolt to bolt, linking the easier sections. Ashley had a try on toprope, and then I tried it on toprope too. Ashley went up forty feet, and came down because she doesn't like heights. I went up forty feet and fell off an easy section because I don't have endurance. Then a climber we had just met asked "Aren't you boulderers?"

My immediate answer was "Yeah, we are." And as I said it, I knew it to be true.

Other climbers from across western Wyoming and northern Colorado were all having a great time.


But the boulders at the base off the hill now looked more appealing. We hiked down from the cliff, and made our way to the Back Pocket Boulder. We did difficult moves on the classic problems, and confirmed that we do like bouldering better.

I got pumped a couple times, but never so pumped a problem wasn't worth trying again.

We'll be spending our time on the boulders, and the shortest routes in Sinks this winter. Because we're boulderers.

A Quick Trip to Cody

After a couple twelve hour days of teaching and conferences with parents, we had a day off on Friday. We decided to spend a day and a half of our long weekend in Cody, Wyoming. I've had Mike Snyder's Cody Bouldering Guide on my shelf for over two years, and finally got a chance to check the place out. We started with the Antelope boulder, and ended up spending the whole session on it. Its west face is perfect. A sweeping overhang of beautiful sandstone featured with incut rails and crimps. One of the most fun individual boulders I've ever climbed on.

"Meathook" was harder for me than I expected, but I knew it could be done. Ashley shot these pictures of my fourth attempt.




Somewhere between attempt fifteen and twenty I dyno/deadpointed accurately enough to latch the crimp, and topped the problem out. By then we had given up on getting photos.

Ashley made a quick ascent of the steep and crimpy problem "Pocahontas."


There are many good lines explained in the guide, but eventually we just started making up problems that looked fun. Features are plentiful enough to create many ways of climbing the wall, but not so plentiful that you have to off route holds to make things difficult. Ashley found many ways to extend problems by traversing into and out of them using the horizontal features.

The rock has a good texture. It reminds me of Joes Valley, blended with some Horsetooth Reservoir.

When the weather is good, and we have a break from school, we've got our sights set on Cody.

Happy Halloween

We got out for a perfect climbing day on Halloween. The weather couldn't have been better, and we climbed three classic 5.11s. Might not sound like much climbing, but the routes at Sinks are long. Three Sinks climbs is equal to at least five at Wild Iris, and my arms are still pumped a day later.

We hiked up through snow.

But the cliffs were dry.

It was a crowded day by Wyoming standards. There were other climbers to take photos of!

I gave the camera to Sierra, and she got these shots of us on "Whipperly Wamberly Walk."


On the hike out, the hill was snow free.

On Friday we watched the documentary Man on Wire.

I'd recommend the film to anyone, and I highly recommend it for climbers. It isn't climbing, but any climber will understand Petit's motivation and appreciate the commitment needed to achieve his goal of wire walking between the World Trade Center towers. As inspirational as any climbing movie I've seen.

The Great Escape

We got out for an evening session on Friday at the Rubber Blanket Boulder. Perfect conditions for our project, and nice lighting for photos. We learned today that the problem is called "Jeremy's Traverse."

Ash between attempts.


On my fourth attempt of the session, it all came together.




Today we had some very strange weather on the cliffs in Sinks Canyon. Sun and snow simultaneously.

We warmed up on "Winds of War." I was warm, climbing in the sun, with snow swirling around me.

Then the clouds and snow came in to stay on our next climb, "Face Dancer."

We finished the day at the climbing gym.

Our session was cut short, but it was great to get out. Climbing is a great escape from the ordinary and unpleasant. As I examine my motivation, I think that, for me, this is climbing's greatest draw. Books, movies, hobbies and games offer escape as well, but really can't compare.

Changes of Plans

Saturday, we drove out to Sweetwater Rocks to check out a couple areas off of the Ore Road that are described in the Lander Bouldering guide. The first area (the 45's) was fenced off, and near some "No Trespassing" signs, so we kept driving. We found "the Egg" which had some cool looking sport climbs on it, but it was in the wind. I drove just a bit further, and saw some nice looking boulders up on the hillside that were sheltered from the wind by a cliff. I ran up to them and saw that a few lines had already been cleaned, and I found a chalked hold. A fisherman was in the river just below the hill. The girls sat in a sheltered gully while I ran around looking for the best problems. Then my searching was interrupted by sirens. I saw a Fremont County sheriff parked beside our van. We hiked out to see what the problem was, and it turns out the area we were exploring was once state land, but it was bought by a uranium mining company. There isn't public access anymore, except for fishermen. They are allowed to follow the river into the property. Both of the Ore Road areas described in the guidebook are now closed to climbing. It's quite a bummer. There are some good boulders there.

We tried to salvage the session by going to the El Paso boulder, but it was in the wind and had some snow around it. We drove to some other boulders that I wanted to check out, but a large hunting party was camping right next to them. Maybe we should have kept driving out to the Hampi boulders, but we were no longer in the mood. The wind was picking up, hunter traffic kept passing us on the road, and we didn't have orange clothing. We decided to go home, get some work done, and try to get out for a session on Sunday.

Today we couldn't have a long session, so we returned to the Rubber Blanket boulder.

The mid-morning weather was perfect. The north side of the boulder was free of snow, so we had a few new problems to climb.

Ashley climbing the thuggy moderate "King of Birds."

Our main goal was to complete our traverse project from the session last week. It might be "Milton's Traverse," but it feels much harder than other V4s on the boulder. I think that "Milton's" probably uses higher crimps, and that our project is harder by a few grades.


The crimp match crux.

We made a little progress, but we'll need another session.

The short session was good enough to make me reassess some of my exploration goals. I love the potential of Sweetwater Rocks, the epic vastness of the scenery, and the feeling that there's probably a "Mushroom Boulder" hiding somewhere amongst the rock formations. But the drive, the wind, the strange access situations, and the popularity of the place with gun toting ATV drivers has dampened my enthusiasm to some extent. We're now planning to spend more time exploring the boulders close to Lander, and maybe make a trip up to Cody soon. I'm hoping that this weekend is the beginning of a beautiful Indian summer.

A Columbus Day Miracle

It was quite cold and dreary until one o'clock this afternoon. Then the sun came out, but it was still below 30 degrees outside. I thought the Rubber Blanket Boulder (the one I swept off a couple days ago) might be climbable, so we drove up Sinks Canyon to check it out. The possibility of perfect conditions never crossed my mind, but that's what we found. T-shirt weather on fun moderate up problems, and difficult crimpy traverses.

Still lots of snow where I hadn't swept or shoveled.

We did a couple great traverse problems, and we still have a couple more to return for.




Saturday's prep session paid off nicely, and I'm feeling much more secure about winter climbing in Sinks. Thank Christopher!

Stuck in the Snow

The snow and cold have lingered into this weekend. We spent a session on the Elemental Training Center's wall, and I took a drive up Sinks Canyon.

The snow was deep, but I still have hope for climbing on Columbus day. I spent an hour with a snow shovel and broom getting snow off a boulder, shoveling a trail, and digging out an area for the girls to hang out in. Maybe winter isn't here to stay, and my efforts will pay off.

Or maybe it will keep snowing tonight.

To help myself get through the weekend, I bought the new guidebook to Ten Sleep Canyon, Wyoming Heavenly Thunderstorm Opens Up New Universe by Aaron Huey. It's a very entertaining and strange guidebook. I checked out the website address in the back of the book, and was impressed by Aaron's photography. Check it out at Aaron Huey is a Photographer.

Snow Hits Lander!

Yesterday, we had a good afternoon of sport climbing on the Hardware Wall in Sinks Canyon. The mountains kept getting obscured by clouds, then the skies would open a bit. This kept repeating, and each time the mountains got more and more covered in snow. The snow didn't come down canyon though, until this morning. It has snowed heavily for at least 13 hours now, and it's supposed to continue through tonight. Here are a few photos I took this afternoon.


Throughout today, as I cleaned and did laundry etc., I was planning to write a well developed post about how climbing alters consciousness, perception, and also alters my mood. Basically about how all three are enhanced by concentration and fear while climbing, and for an hour or two after a session. But also about how I'm often in a bad mood the day after intense climbing. A type of climbing high hangover. I'm wondering about whether this is common for other climbers? Now it's late, and I'm no longer in the mood to write a long post.

The Hampi Boulders' Access Situation

I've gotten some information about the access situation at the Hampi Boulders, and feel the best way to protect the area is to let those who read this blog know about it. Many of the Hampi Boulders are on private property, and vehicle access to climbs on many of the domes at Sweetwater rocks crosses private property. The landowner allows access, but this access could be revoked at any time at the landowner's discretion. An employee at the BLM told me that the landowner will allow climbers in low numbers, but has expressed the opinion that they don't want their land to become a "destination climbing area." To maintain access, it is very important to limit group size, and the number of vehicles parked near the rocks. Anyone visiting Sweetwater areas on private lands, or requiring roads that cross private lands, should maintain a low profile by visiting in small groups with few vehicles, leave all fence gates as found, cross bridges slowly, never build fires or spook animals, and obey posted signs.

Or just spend time exploring the rocks on public lands by getting a BLM Surface Management Status map. Now that I've got one, I know of some good looking boulders that I'm allowed to check out.

The Hampi Boulders

Ashley on an incredibly good warm-up traverse.

Once again, I was a bit nervous driving into the Hampi Boulders with the mini van. I packed an air pump, jumper cables, extra water, a lighter, and a Swiss army knife. I read up on driving techniques for soft sand. I told people where we were going to be. But this afternoon the road didn't seem that bad.

We drove up to the barbed wire gate near the boulders, and were surprised to see someone parked in front of it. I was doubly surprised to see that the man sitting at the driver's seat was John Gill. Mostly out of surprise, but also out of an annoying tendency to be awkward around famous climbers, I pulled off the road, jumped out of the van, and said "Hi John" just a bit too loud, and startled him. He was very nice about it, and we had a pleasant conversation. He'd been hiking with his wife, showing her the area where he used to spend days soloing the domes. One stop on a longer road trip. He asked what we were up to, and we explained that we had moved to Lander, and were bouldering at the Hampi Boulders around the other side of the formation. We talked a little more about the bouldering. We wished them a good trip, and they left for their next destination. A good bouldering omen.

The Hampi Boulder was still in the sun, but there were a lot of other boulders to play on while we waited for it to go into shade. I'm not aware of what any of the problems are named or graded, but everything we jumped on was a lot of fun.

A really nice sloper problem.




A fantastic steep problem.





The start of the Hampi Boulder traverse.



We worked out all the moves, but slick slopers with poor feet to campus moves left us worked by the end of the session. We'll be heading back to finish this one.