Winter Returns

I'd planned to take a bouldering trip this weekend, but I guess two good weekends in a row was too much to ask for this time of year.  Cold and snow returned, but the sun was out today so we decided to try climbing in Killer Cave.  No one else had hiked up to the cliff yet, and sometimes it was difficult to remember exactly where the switchbacks were.  

 Sinks got a lot more snow than Lander did.  Knee deep in spots.

I warmed up by onsighting "Elmo's Fish."  It's such a popular route that I've never been able to get on it until today.  It's a good route.  For our next route we wanted to get out of the snow.  Only the central part of Killer Cave was snow free, but the sun wasn't hitting "Bush Doctor" yet.  So we jumped on the first corner pitch of "Zero Degrees" which was just coming into the sun.  The rock was still too cold though, and we ended up suffering our way up it with very cold fingers.

On the bright side, it set up a perfect rope swing for the girls.

 Devlin and Ana made it up to the crag today too, but that was it.  I'm guessing that a lot of climbers are tired of fighting the snow by now, and know that if they just wait a little bit, it will all be gone soon.  The cliff was busy on some colder days mid-winter.

Devlin warming up.

 Ana finished "Bush Doctor" recently.  And today she began working on "Ring of Fire."

I looked around for another climb to do, but there was a cold wind outside of the cave.  We decided that it was best to just hike back to the truck.  We didn't end up getting much climbing done today, but I'm still happy that we went up to the cliff.  Sometimes just getting outside for an afternoon, and getting a little time on the rock, is all that is necessary.

Guide Update: The books should be here in less than two weeks!