Covering a Lot of Ground

During the first week of Summer Vacation, I've traveled over 1000 miles over three climbing trips. A significant snowfall was predicted for Lander last Sunday, so we drove down to Ft. Collins before it hit. Yeah, Lander had a snowstorm during Summer Vacation! Ft. Collins was getting spring rains.

We hoped to visit Inner Strength to catch up with everyone, but they weren't open. The wall at Miramont was, so we climbed on the Wave wall which didn't exist the last time we visited.

A very nicely designed bouldering wall. You can choose your angle, and the problems gradually steepen as you climb.
I'd written Jacob to tell him we'd be in town. He hadn't checked his e-mail, but he just happened to arrive when we did.
It was tons of fun to climb with Jacob again. We caught up on the climbing news in Ft. Collins, and were given a tour of the best problems on the Wave wall. Jacob hasn't been climbing outside quite as much lately, but he's climbing really strong in the gym.

Now is the season for applying winter trained indoor strength to outdoor projects. Go get 'em Jacob!Ashley got a great workout which was one of her main goals for the weekend. We did a bit of shopping too. I bought three climbing books, Royal Robbin's memoirs and Climbing Philosophy for Everyone. I'll share my thoughts on them once I've finished reading.

On Tuesday I drove to many areas at Sweetwater, and hiked for a few hours. Just scouting for boulders and checking out recommended areas.
I saw some great looking patina covered blocks, but it was just a scouting day. I'll share more when there are some finished problems to talk about.
Yesterday, Alan gave me a tour of four bouldering areas near Flaming Gorge.
Are you still reading? Yeah, we disregarded the sign too.

We started at the T-Rex area near Rock Springs. The dangers consisted of one rattlesnake, and a few fragile flakes.
Alan was psyched on a line with great movement coming out of a roof. The name sounded like "Kevorkick" but I could be way off.

We both sent the line using bicycle move beta. It's a fun problem with rare movement.

Our next stop was the Magnum Cave.
It was a good, well shaded, place to be in the warm weather.

Alan sending "Mac Daddy."

We did a few problems, and then drove to the Cart Bridge boulders.
Tim, Brian, and Jesse did most of the first ascents here in 2004. They developed a spectacular bouldering area in the process. I'm not sure what the geological explanation is, but the sandstone improved as we visited areas closer to the reservoir. At the Cart Bridge boulders it gets so solid, it switches over into quartzite.

"Batman" is a perfect line of least resistance on perfect stone.

"Nip Tuck" is a perfect problem too. And there are over 80 problems to choose from.
We walked one more area near the dam overlook, and saw many more great lines up quartzite blocks.
We'll be visiting again very soon.

Thanks go to Alan for the tour, and to Jesse for sharing his topos. I'm so psyched right now, and Summer is just getting started.