Pad in Good Hands.

I received word from Todd that he has the pad. Another climber had posted a note on it to leave it be, and no one took it. A happy ending. Thanks Todd!

Last night, Cameron returned a shirt I had left at the Horsetooth Hang. Thanks Cameron!

I've lost three things while climbing, and now two have been returned. The third was a digital camera, probably found by a hiker, that I left at Young's Gulch two years ago.

My conclusion from this unintentional experiment in human nature is: Climbers are usually good people, and they help each other out.

Morrison Season Begins.

With snow on the ground at most Front Range areas, it was time to head to Morrison. The sun was shining, the temps were pleasant, and the snow has already melted off the hillside. We saw Annette standing in the Lobby as we pulled in. I was excited to see her, as Annette knows the area better than anyone. She is always happy to point out problems, and she knows beta for all body sizes. She has saved me days of work on many occasions. It had been a while since I had worked on one of her problems called "Pointless" V6/7. I wasn't quite sure of how it topped out anymore. Annette showed me the problem, gave me beta for the start, and I managed to send my first Morrison project of the season pretty quickly. Thanks Annette!

Annette on her warm down.

With my goal for the day accomplished, I moved on to the "Full Tendonitis Traverse" V7. I couldn't put it all together today, but I hope to send it soon. We also met Morrison locals Joel and Mo. Annette had mentioned Joel a few times, saying he might have beta on problems that would work for Ashley. He showed Ashley how he gets through the crux of Otis, and I took some pictures of him working a dynamic problem I hadn't seen before.



Now for the downside of the day. Getting the daughters to use their potty in the car, and getting them into their seats took a lot of concentration. I got distracted and ended up driving away without our bouldering pad. I didn't notice until we were home, and it was too late to drive back. It's very used, but still pretty good. I posted a message on the FRB message board. An unintentional experiment in human nature has begun. Will we get the pad back? We'll find out.

Red Feather West

Jacob gave us a tour of some unclimbed problems today at Red Feather. Four new problems got climbed.

Beta Particle V4


Jacob doing the difficult first move of Hindu Death Cabbage V6.



Ashley climbing Sunny Daze V6. She also did a sit start traverse into the problem called Long Sunny Daze V7/8.


The weather was good, the problems were fun, and there is so much more to see.

Another Day on the Emily Boulder.

Yesterday, we headed back to the Emily boulder to try the three projects we didn't get last time. One got sent. One broke, but we think it could still be climbed. The other we decided was way beyond us. Then we thought up a new line which has become our new project. Ashley sent the first project, a sit down start on a rail. We thought it would go with a big move from the rail to a crack system, but the left leaning angle made this difficult. I could slap the higher crack, but I would fall off to the left every time. Ashley eventually unlocked it by using two tiny crimps in between. I came very close, but couldn't quite get my weight over the high step. It could be anywhere from V5 to V7, maybe V4 if you're tall enough to reach the right part of the crack. Ashley is on a "My Little Pony" kick at the moment, and named the problem "Rainbow Dash."


She insists that the next problem she gets a first ascent of will be called "Pinky Pie." This has me left me doubly motivated to get strong enough to send problems before she does. I don't want to let her ruin areas with silly names. If you're going to name boulder problems after cartoon characters at least pick cool ones like the Thundercats. Even the Smurfs are way cooler than My Little Pony.

We also climbed a problem that Jacob named "Emily's Meditation." It's quite fun, and is probably V4 or 5 depending on height.


After hiking around and checking out some other problems Jacob gave us directions to, we drove home to prepare for the Inner Strength Potluck and Slideshow night. We had a great time catching up with everybody. The food was great, and all the slideshows were a lot of fun this year. Thanks to Mike and Tracy for organizing and holding this event each year. It has become one of our favorite traditions.

Redfeather

Today, we went bouldering with our new friend Jacob. He offered to give us a tour of an area west of the Ceremonies that he has been developing. I've had great days at Redfeather, but I've also spent days hiking without finding much of anything. I really had no idea what the day would be like. I was quite impressed by the first boulder Jacob showed us. It's called the Golden Buddha boulder. It's only a five minute hike from the road, but it's hidden up a small gully. It has a well featured roof on it's North face featuring a warm up traverse, and some exciting dynamic up problems that go at about V3 or 4. From the top of the boulder we could see the golden Buddha at the top of the Great Stupa. The wind was a bit strong. Jacob recommended the Emily boulder, and thought it would be out of the wind. The picture in the guide he's put together looked cool, so we headed there. We hiked through a beautiful meadow surrounded by granite formations to a nice sized boulder with a crack going up it's East face. Jacob said he hadn't done it yet. We took turns figuring out the beta. Ashley unlocked it first.




With a few more trys we all sent it. Ashley decided to name it "Tao of Emily." It's aesthetic, and feels like solid, tricky V5 to us. In the meadow, the weather was good, and we spent a long afternoon working on three other projects on the Emily boulder. The sun was beginning to go down as we left, and the angled light made the formations surrounding the meadow look quite dramatic. It was a great session. Thanks Jacob, we're looking forward to heading out again.