The Best Stone in America

Here we are.  Sharing words and photos across the internet of things that can't actually be adequately conveyed through words and pictures.  Occasionally an author, an article, or a photograph will encapsulate a place that you've been to before and you'll think "They nailed it! That's just what it's like there."  But when I read about places in advance, I'm always surprised when I actually arrive at how much wasn't or maybe can't be conveyed.  We've been traveling a lot recently, and after more than twenty years of bouldering and searching, I was surprised to climb on two types of stone that surpassed anything I've ever encountered before.   And I think one of them might actually be the best type of stone to boulder on in America.

Joe's Valley, UT

After seeing "Vertical Ice" V6 on Instagram we decided to check it out.  I'd always thought of Joe's Valley as desert bouldering, but just a few miles up the road the cacti and juniper switch to aspen, Douglas Fir, and bright green grasses.  I climbed "Vertical Ice" and we spent most of the day on the Lactation Station where Ashley and I climbed "Baldwin Bash" V7.   

We ended our day climbing various moderates on the Cow Patty boulder.

It was such an engaging day, that I forgot to take photos until we were leaving.  But even if I took twenty great shots that day, you wouldn't know what it's really like up there until you check it out for yourself.  The area has great stone, it's really fun to climb on, but it's not the best stone in the country.

Unaweep Canyon, CO

Unaweep Canyon continues to impress me with its quality problems.  We visited the Rock Garden for Mother's Day.

"Knife Wrench!" is one of the best V3s I've ever climbed!

Ashley climbing another fun problem called "Burnt Orange" V2.

We spent a lot of the session on a steep and surprisingly difficult project.  We'd almost unlocked it.  I was pulling really hard when the crucial hold snapped and bloodied my knuckles.  Unaweep doesn't have the best rock.

It was an all-around good day at Unaweep except for the ridiculous amount of trash that we found on the east side of the American Graffiti boulder.  It's difficult to even imagine what was going on here.  Broken electronics, rotting food, journals and clothes strewn everywhere gave clues but no coherent answer.  Unfortunately, we run into this type of thing quite regularly in Unaweep.

Mill Creek, UT
Sierra and I spent a day at Mill Creek, a surprisingly verdant canyon not too far from Moab.  I'd seen photos of Mill Creek for years, but it was different than I expected.  We got rained out early, but Sierra and I were both happy to redpoint "Going the Distance" 5.11c just before heavy rains came in.

Great stone, but it felt like the smallest crimps on the walls could snap occasionally.  It isn't perfect.

New River Gorge, WV
I'd heard that the southeast had really good sandstone.  I'd seen photos of the bouldering.  But nothing could have prepared me for forests full of blossoming mountain laurel and pink rhododendron.

Boulders right next to an old dam releasing a raging river's worth of water.

Or sandstone that could be so solid and sticky.  The grains aren't too big or too small and they never seem to break out of their matrix.  Crimps, pockets, and slopers all feel like they are grabbing you back. It's amazing!

The most difficult line we climbed on during our first day was "Mortal Combat" V6.  It felt like quite an accomplishment on a high humidity day with temps in the 80s.  We had to try hard.

A small rainstorm passed and we sat under a boulder.  On the hike out we needed to navigate around a large tree that fell during the storm.  I'm glad we weren't hiking out when this came down.

The next day we went to Meadow Top.  Rain in the forecast convinced us to skip our rest day.

"Circle of Life" is an exciting V4.

"Uncle Dave's Porno Bin" was Ashley's favorite V5.  A fun roof leads to a perfect sloper top out.

"Crimpin' Ain't Easy" from the crimps was my favorite V5.  Over and over again lines that I expected to be scary or difficult turned out to feel really secure because the rock is so solid and the texture is so grippy.  We even climbed a V7 called "Bro-ner" as some clouds began to sprinkle on us.  The rock still has good texture even in a little rain.  And unlike desert sandstone, it's still solid when wet.

"Crimpin' Ain't Easy"

The stone at New River Gorge is solid, and the texture is always good.  The blocks at Meadow Top were well featured with varied hold types.  Based on experiences all over the country, I think it's the best stone I've ever climbed on.  New River Gorge could realistically offer the best bouldering in the country during the right time of year.  We're doing our best to figure out how we can visit in the fall one day.

We spent a couple days with relatives in Richmond, Virginia and took walk on Belle Isle one day.  I was shocked to see artificial holds leading up multiple routes on the granite cliffs there.  A day camp had brought a load of campers to climb there. I'd heard about artificial holds bolted to cliffs in Europe, but didn't think this practice existed in America. Belle Isle was once a granite quarry a long time ago, and people's ethics seem to slip when an areas' rock has already been modified, but I'm still not in favor of artificial holds bolted to outdoor cliffs.  It sends the wrong message to the kids.  This isn't rock climbing.

When we got back to Colorado, Fruita's highs were in the high nineties and the mountains were calling.  We got started with a weekend trip to the San Juan mountains above Telluride.

Luckily the campsites were still empty.  That's our truck and tent by the pond.

We needed an extra large pad for the Darkside boulder.  It's a great block near Ophir that Christian showed us last summer.  So I asked Autumn to carry a large pad instead of her standard one.  She didn't realize that it would affect her balance across the water pipe approach, and she got really scared on the high parts.  Autumn wasn't happy, but she faced her fears and made it.

I'm so glad that she didn't slip off!  Sometimes climbing and parenting mix in strange ways.

We had a great session, trying really hard in good conditions on the very solid crimps of the Darkside Boulder.  We tried a lot of lines, and both ended up sending "Sheryl's Void Stand" V8 by the end of the session. 

It's great stone too, but it's not as good as the best.

Father's Day was coming up and a little cool front was coming through.  So despite the fact that the guidebook says "Nosos is not a summer area." I decided that I wanted to see what Nosos, NM was like in the summer time for myself.  It was quite a bit cooler than Fruita, and it's just too hard for me to take big trips in the fall, or to wait that long when I see an opportunity.

Cholla flowers seen at Nosos.

The stone there is amazing.  Bullet solid, with amazing stripes.  It usually has a really nice texture, but it can be slippery in spots.  Amazing to look at, I'd find myself almost mesmerized by it. But it comes in second place behind New River Gorge as the best type of climbing stone in the country.  I completely agree with Owen that it's the best climbing stone found in New Mexico, but West Virginia is even better.

An example of the stripes.

The stone on "Too Good to Be American" V3.

Here's a too sunny shot of the problem "Too Good to Be American" V3.  Luckily it had just come into the sun, and the rock wasn't too warm to climb.

We decided to head up to the ridge top where we could find some shade, nice views, and a breeze.

But we didn't have difficult problems to work on up there that were in the shade.  So Ashley figured out and climbed a V5 traverse from "Montana" into "Butt Hurt."

Later "Dirty Quandry" V3 came into the shade, so I climbed that too.

On our next climbing day, we spent a morning session on the Lonesome George boulder.

Sierra climbing "Super Hands" V1.

During our rest day, we explored a bit of Ortega West.

It's another place that I'd like to spend more time.

Since then I've been getting up early to look at unclimbed boulders close to home.

And I got up to the mountains for a day of projecting and exploring with Jamie in the Holy Cross Wilderness.

The area has solid gneiss with cool stripes.  It's a great stone to climb on, and a lot of qualities from the surrounding scenery, to the company you're with, go into creating the best bouldering days.  But if I limit myself to just the stone, and ask "What stone feels the best to climb on?  What stone gives me the most confidence, allowing me to try really, really hard without fear of hurting it, or hurting myself?"  

Then the best stone I've ever climbed on so far is the solid Nuttall sandstone found in the New River Gorge.

But don't take my words or photos as the answer.  The truth is out there, and there's no substitute.  To really know the truth, you'll have to experience it for yourself.

From The Mountains to the Desert with Open Eyes

     We've been busy.  Starting at new schools, learning new routines, meeting new people.  On top of that I've been exploring.  Searching in an almost frantic manner, during every spare moment, needing to know this new landscape and it's possibilities.  To fill in the gaps in my interior map, and not feel ignorant of what surrounds me.  It's the only way that I can feel centered and grounded.  To begin growing new roots in this place. 

     And finally it's Thanksgiving break.  A chance to take a moment. To reflect on the past three months, and all the places we've been.

     Summer temperatures seemed to last forever, and I drove long distances to get out the heat of the valley.  Google Earth showed a canyon full of boulders, with a gravel road leading right to them on Wildcat Mountain.  I hoped to find a new area like Devil's Kitchen to develop.  As I passed Ruedi Reservoir I was surprised to find it covered with sail boats. 

Wildcat Mountain has boulders, but not many that are good for bouldering.  I enjoyed a nice afternoon of scrambling around, and searching, but never found what I was looking for.

One weekend we went to Crested Butte, and camped outside of town.  We had to drive many more miles than expected because every campsite was occupied.  The mountains felt crowded.

The beautiful aspen forests on the hike in were just as I remembered.

But near the Skyland boulders, all the green undergrowth was gone.  A small village of teepees and lean-tos was built out of sticks and abandoned camping gear.  

Glitter and glue was spilled on the rocks, and many boulders were covered in graffiti written with burnt sticks.

It appeared that the construction, crafts, and graffiti had been left by a large group of supervised children.  I'm glad that they are getting outside, having fun in nature.  But the impact they had on one of Colorado's premier mountain boulder gardens made me feel sick.  Autumn and I spent much of the afternoon attempting to restore the area to a more natural state, and I hauled out a heavy wet destroyed tent that the kids had added to one of their shelters.

A couple weeks later, we had a great trip to Telluride with the help of Christian.  We got a tour of a couple impressive areas.  Christian is putting the finishing touches on a guidebook to the area.  He was taking photos of friends on area classics for the guide that weekend, and invited us along.  

The approach to the Darkside boulder is unique, hiking on a water pipe through the woods for quite a ways.

The boulder's really good too!

Rachel climbing "Sheryl Swoops" V6.

We also visited an alpine sandstone boulder field in the San Juans.  Yeah, that's right.  Sandstone talus field bouldering high in the mountains where you'd expect granite or gneiss.  Info will be shared in Christian's upcoming guidebook.

The area also has one of the best campsites I've ever stayed at.

My last trip to the mountains was connected to Sierra's comp at the Front in Salt Lake City.

     The Front the best looking gym I've seen.

And I enjoyed a session of climbing as many "Mr. Smiley" variations as I could in Little Cottonwood Canyon on the day before the comp.

When the weather cooled down, we could transition to climbing closer to home.

But before we did that, we took a long day trip to Joes Valley.  The bouldering is amazing there. Everyone knows that already. 

But on the drive in I was disturbed to see so much air pollution caused by a single coal fired power plant in Castle Dale.  An eerie line of photochemical smog crossing the sky at sunrise, in a very rural part of central Utah.

My first trips to Unaweep Canyon disturbed me as well.  The first couple places I visited were trashed.  Surrounded by abandoned homeless person encampments.  I packed out a full truck load of trash from a single bouldering sector, and tried to figure out what had been going on.  Based on what I found, a single person with a car had used the site for weeks or months, they had brought cushions, a pot for use as a toilet, and even a collapsible children's pool. No attempt had been made to keep the area clean.  It had been abandoned for a while.  More useful things were scattered near the boulder, and weeks worth of trash was thrown into the gulley nearby.  

A small portion of what I hauled out.

And then someone named Shauna decided to tag up the most popular boulders in Unaweep with hot pink spray paint.  Adam let me know about it, as soon as it happened.  After a bit of research, I bought some Elephant Snot Graffiti remover, and Adam, Nicole, and I cleaned it up on Public Lands Day.

Since the late summer clean up missions, things haven't gotten trashed again, and I've started spending most of my time in Unaweep further from the highway.  Away from the highway Unaweep is quiet and clean. Some areas out there have great patina covered stone and classic lines like "Coked Out Trophy Husband"  I was psyched to send the stand start in a session, and would like to spend at least one more session attempting the sit start.

The Zevon Boulder

Bruce warming up on the Coy Boulder.

Brian working on a Wonder Wall project.

     The Big Bend boulders are an easy day trip now, and so far it's still been nice there whenever the weather is cold or rainy in Grand Junction. We've made two trips to Big Bend since our move.
I finally sent "Circus Trick." It's the most difficult thing I've climbed that's often called V4.

And Ashley found impressive short beta and sent "Block Party" V5.  She knew it must be possible because she watched Sierra do it.

Closer to home we started getting out to the Dynamite Shacks for weekend and after school sessions. It's an area that was once covered in trash and graffiti, but climbers have cleaned up the place considerably.  Now it's looking good for an area just outside of Grand Junction that abuts an old landfill.

Ashley climbing "Typewriter," an endurance based V3 that I didn't manage to finish in a session.

I prefer standard length boulders like "Vodka Arete" V5.

And "Medusa's Knees" V8, which I did manage to send in a session.

Ashley warming up on "Spidey Grip" V3, making cloudy and 60 degrees look like a winter day.

"Joe 97 Right" V3 is one of the best V3's I've ever done.  Great angle, features, and movement, I'd recommend it to anyone.

As you can see, we have plenty of developed lines to keep us busy, but I've still been developing when I can.  

Dominguez Canyon is a beautiful spot that has a few new problems we put up this fall.

Mike and I spent a day hiking the canyon.

And Bruce came out with us to put up some lines.
Like "Joi" V4.

"Words" V3

And "Giant Toe" V2.

I spent another day exploring a small portion of eastern Utah with Roo.

He enjoyed the hiking.

And I found a bouldering area worth the drive on my way out there.

The next weekend I took my family to the spot and gave directions to Adam and Nicole.  We passed through Colorado National Monument on the way.

And came to a big, empty and quiet area with a mix of great stone and choss.  A desert version of Sweetwater.

The place was first climbed at by Dane and Chandler, but hadn't seen traffic for a while.  We thought everything we did was a first ascent.  Turns out some of the lines Adam, Nicole, and my family did were repeats.

But they are great lines! We had fun on all of them.

And that's the full climbing story of our last three months in Fruita.  Things aren't perfect.  Industry, homelessness, crowding, and ignorance have caused negative impacts to the land.  But climbers are making efforts to clean things up.  Having fun, and getting things done.  The bouldering community here is welcoming, willing to share information, and psyched on development.  I'm beginning to find areas that are vast and wild, like the ones I loved in Wyoming.  I've learned that Wingate sandstone can be really fun to boulder on, once you get used to it.  And the weather has been great for months now.  I'll admit that I miss Wyoming sometimes, but I'm lucky and happy to be here.