Spring Break

Last week we had Spring Break, and we decided to follow the same path that we did last year. It's a good trip. We went to Red Rocks, stopping at Little Cottonwood Canyon on the way. We had perfect conditions at the Cabbage Patch. Boulders don't get any more convenient, but the Cabbage Patch might actually be too close to the road. Road noise and the smell of burning breaks hurt the ambiance. The problems are really fun though.

Ashley climbing a perfect arete problem called "Fat Albert Gang."


"Fungus"

"Salad"




We also enjoyed "A Bit Slopey" as described in Utah Bouldering published by Wolverine. But it's probably V6/7 rather than the 8 points it's given in the guide.
"Double Dyno," just up the hill, is a moderate classic that shouldn't be missed.

Then we continued our trip to Red Rocks.

On our first day we went to the Kraft Boulders, and I saw my first chuckwalla. It ran into a crack and inflated itself, just like the guidebook said it would.

Sundance enjoyed the sun.

And Ashley did too,

but she was sick with some sort of flu/pneumonia, and lying in the sun was all she could do. She worked so hard during the last few months, with the spring break as a mini finish line, and then got sick as soon as she was off. It's an unfortunate, but pretty common occurrence for teachers. It usually happens to me the during the first week of summer break. The body seems to have trouble when stress lets up abruptly.

She didn't feel well enough to hike up Gateway Canyon, and most of the Kraft Boulders were catching a lot of sun. The only shaded face was the north face of the Monkey Bars boulder. I'd given up on "Monkey Bar Direct" last year, but I didn't have many options, so I decided to try it again. Long story short, I made unexpected progress, and then came back to spend another day on it. I came close to sending, but didn't manage to do it on this trip. The line took most of my energy so I didn't do many new problems this year. It would have been nice to finish it, but I'm not too disappointed. I enjoyed working on it, and now I'm motivated to make a greater effort to get stronger, which for me means training as usual, but getting lighter.

Ashley was feeling well enough to climb a little on the final day. While I projected, she climbed anything she could in the vicinity including a very short climb with good moves called "Umpa Lumpa."


One windy afternoon, we got half a session of climbing at Red Springs before sunset. It's a good place to find shelter from westerly winds. "Cherry Garcia" is a nice problem and full value for V2/3.

That's all the climbing news and photos I've got to share from Spring Break this year. Some ideas are bouncing around in my head, but they'll need to wait until I have more time to write.