The 80's and Iceland

It was a fun weekend. On Friday I put together the best "Flock of Seagulls" look that I could, in less than 15 minutes, and Ashley donned her Members Only jacket for the "Rockin' the 80's" climbing competition at the Miramont Wall.

Megan, Kelly, and Heidi were looking the part as well.

Ashley won the Female Open division, and I managed to climb some problems that were really hard for me. I got 3rd place in Men's Open, and Ian Dory came in first.

Our plan for today was to climb at Redfeather with Jacob. When we arrived at 11:00 it was snowing, and the wind was strong. Even Jacob didn't think it looked worth trying to climb. We started driving home quite disappointed with the weather. Ashley suggested driving to Poudre Canyon and checking out an area we recently heard about called Iceland. We didn't think conditions would be good, but we'd at least get a look at it. We turned around and within 20 minutes we were there. The sun was out, the wind was moderate, and the river was still frozen.

Iceland is a unique area with a very short season. The large boulder overhangs the Poudre River for it's entire length so you can only climb there when the river is frozen. As the warm day progressed a large puddle of water formed under the center of the wall. Holes in the ice upstream became noticeably larger. By next weekend the ice may be gone. The rock is solid, well-featured, river polished gneiss that sometimes feels as smooth as glass. The angle and height of the rock is perfect, and we did a variety of problems at about every grade from V1 to V6. Two classic hard problems are there as well, but it will probably be next year, before we can get on them again. After two weekends indoors it was great to be out again.

A Day Off

My school district held parent teacher conferences the last two nights, and I got today off as a comp day. We didn't get out climbing, but I finally had time to edit video from our Hueco trip. Here is video of Ashley making "Daily Dick Dose" look way too easy. Footage of my climbing didn't make the cut. The faces I make involuntarily while trying hard are too disturbing.


Ashley and I also attended the Northern Colorado Climbers Coalition (NCCC) meeting tonight. It was a relaxed and productive meeting. Board members and officers were chosen. Meeting times were set for the last Friday of every month, and the mission statement is "To Promote and Preserve Climbing in Northern Colorado."

To Blog or Not to Blog

Our weekend plans for Arthur's Rock didn't work out. The snow didn't melt fast enough on Saturday, and the dreaded Frontrange cloud formed Sunday morning. We drove down to Boulder and checked out Eldorado Canyon. Conditions were fine, but there was still a lot of snow around which doesn't work well for our daughters. Luckily, I had passes to the Spot that I won at the Horsetooth Hang. We got a good work out, and got gripped on a few of the high topouts.

Sometimes life isn't that exciting, and neither is my blog.

What a Day.

Today is my 32nd birthday, and I wanted to climb. There were clouds around and the temps were in the 30s, but we decided to try. The sun was out when we arrived at Morrison, but it didn't last very long. The rock stayed cold and crisp. Our hands went numb at times, yet we had a really good day. Ashley and I both climbed our projects. "Wisdom Simulator" was pumpy, but not as pumpy as I feared. Ashley's project was an endurance problem Annette showed her called "The Great Round Trip."

One of the highlights of the day was seeing "Extra Otis" get climbed. We also witnessed Morrison sport climbing. I had noticed the bolts, but had never seen climbers try the route before.


Now that we've gotten our projects at Morrison, we are ready for Spring. Punxsutawney Phil isn't the only groundhog. Eight out of ten famous groundhogs didn't see their shadows today, and Spring should be here soon. Here is a photo I took early last Summer of Le Do climbing at the Ceremonies. It helps remind me of how good the days are going to get.