No Sending Day

We went to Hobo Cave today, and worked on a couple projects, but we didn't finish anything. It was a nice spring day at the cave. The color is returning to the Frontrange. Wildflowers are coming out, and the plum blossoms smell sweet.

Since I don't have much new information to share this week, I'm going to share some information on area sport climbing. This will surprise many, but Vedauwoo has some great sport climbing. It should be coming into season very soon if it hasn't already. My favorite sport crag at Vedauwoo is The Cove at Brown's Landing. Information can be found in both guidebooks, but only Zach Orenczak's guide has all the routes. It's a small crag with one 5.10, about 5 good 5.11s, and a 5.12. The rock is nothing like other Vedauwoo areas. It's smooth blocky granite that climbs like a bolted version of the Shawangunks. The rock is really amazing. If you climb 5.11, you'll love the place. If you need something harder, "7 Delusions" and "The Rusty Trombone" are really cool 5.12s right next to each other on a beautiful patina covered cliff at the Roof Ranch Area. Many sport routes at Vedauwoo are scary, painful, crystal pinching slabs, but if you check out the outlying crags and bouldering areas, there is great rock to be found.

Colin Mills climbing at the Cove.

Poudre Canyon

Our original plans in Poudre Canyon were changed due to lingering snow. The 420's were clear, and it was a beautiful day to hang out in the woods. We decided to give "Rasta Font Trainer" a try. It is one of the more obscure problems in the area and feels about V7/8. It doesn't look very inspirational, but the slopey holds are unique, and the movement is fun. I got shut down by the high sloper, and hope to get back on in better conditions soon. Ashley was climbing strong, but couldn't reach the high sloper no matter what she did. Then she tried the mantle from the intermediate two finger crack hold, and just popped right up. She didn't even need the sloper. With this new move the problem went from impossible to relatively easy for her. She climbed it three times for video, but her new beta didn't work at all for me. I'm starting to get used to this chain of events. Here is the video.

Wedge Overlook, Triassic, and the LCC

We've had a busy couple days. Yesterday was cold and windy so we drove to the Wedge Overlook while waiting for the rocks to warm up.

I'd wanted to check out Triassic for a while, and it looked like our best bet for warm temps.

The wind was howling, but in between the boulders it was tolerable. Triassic has some great features. It's sheltered, the problems are concentrated, and it's a neat place to hang out. It has some not so great features too. The tops of the boulders are weathered and the sandstone turns "sugary" up high at the top outs. Quite sketchy. The harder problems use very thin, fragile, sharp flakes, or tweaky two finger pockets. For difficult bouldering it will never rank up there with Little Cottonwood, Joe's, or Ibex. Some of the V1-V5 problems are great though. Golden is one of the best V1s I've done and "Some People Get Two Fingers" V5 was fun as well. Ashley also liked "Bacardi Silver" a V4 traverse.

Golden

Some People Get Two Fingers


Bacardi Silver


This afternoon we went back to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Ashley worked on some projects, and we both climbed "Lance's Dihedral" V6. At first it felt ridiculous, but with the right beta it isn't so bad. It was a great problem to end the trip with.
Lance's Dihedral

Joe's Valley

The weather online looked really questionable yesterday, but we decided to check out Joe's anyway. It turned out to be some of the best weather I've ever climbed in. Sunny and cool. We began at the Man Size Area, and warmed up on the Triangle Boulder. Shown below is a sharp, but good V3.

Facing this on another boulder is the "Brawny Dyno", one of the funnest problems I've ever done. We got video, but no photos. We spent some time falling off the V10s there, and then moved on to Area 51. We climbed too many moderates to list, and Ashley made a very quick ascent of Big Boy. I was so busy climbing, I forgot to take photos. Late in the day I tried Pocket Rocket. If I were three inches taller it would be such a fun problem. It felt like the length of my right arm was holding me back at the top of the jump.

Sessions don't get much better. New boulders tomorrow.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Yesterday we began our Utah trip with a stop at Little Cottonwood Canyon. The Secret Garden looked like a good place to start. The granite really impressed me. Solid and featured, each boulder has a lot of problems. White and gray wave patterns cover the rocks. We started on "Shingles" doing the stand start first, and then working on the sit-start. Ashley made a lot of progress on it after getting some beta from friendly locals. We'll find a way to get back to the Secret Garden soon.

Shingles Sit-Start

Working a shouldery arete.

Ashley loves traverses.

Hobo Cave Sessions 2 and 3

We will be leaving soon for Joe's Valley, Utah, and Ashley wanted to climb the "Hobo Cave Traverse" before we left. She decided that we would go back out to Hobo Cave Wednesday after school, and Saturday if necessary. Wednesday was a standard session. I sent "Around the Corner" which eluded me on day one. Ashley worked on the traverse, and we both climbed "Hobo Center Right." It has a long cross over move that looks improbable at first, but is so much fun. We got home late.

Saturday was a standout session. When we arrived, the cave was already occupied. A familiar man and his daughter were sitting on pads in the cave. He knew the cave well, climbing loops and showing us beta by doing the problems we asked about. He told us about hidden foot cams, drop knees, and undercling sidepull sweetspots. Though we knew the man by name and had climbed with him at Morrison, we never realized his history before. The man was once the "Castlewood Ronin Ninja" who left his chalk on problems in Castlewood while never being seen or identified. Lately he has spent about 15 sessions learning all the variations in Hobo Cave. It took me a little while to warm up, but once I did the Ronin Ninja's refined beta allowed me to start sending problems. Thanks Ronin Ninja! Ashley completed her project first try of the day, and we got on a roll of sending problems quickly, often first try, for the rest of the session. It helps that many problems in the cave use the same sit start, moves from the traverse, or the same ending holds. Once you get one problem worked out it helps you do others, like words in a crossword puzzle. Despite this, the three sit starts, "Hobo Far Left Direct," "Center Left Direct," and "Center Right Direct" are classic, and have very different crux moves. We found them all to be of similar difficulty, in the V7 range. I've never climbed so many new problems at the upper end of my range in a single day before. It was really fun. The next post will be from Utah. Hopefully without snow.

Hobo Cave

Hobo Arete


It was a teacher work day in my district. I went into school yesterday, and graded for five hours straight so I could go climbing today in nicer weather. To get out of the wind, we decided to check out the Hobo Cave. I learned about it from Chip's guide blog to Flagstaff. Thanks Chip. I've put up a link to it. We enjoyed the area, and plan to go back. Ashley wants to do all 14 problems.

Ashley working Hobo Cave Traverse

Carter Lake

Jesse doing the jump on "Kahuna Roof."

We hadn't been to Carter for a while. I was excited to try the "Doughboy Arete" which is a relatively new problem on a relatively new boulder. It fell out of the hillside just a couple years ago. "Dough Boy" is about 20 feet tall, with harder moves than I expected. The moves aren't obvious, and I wouldn't have made much progress if I hadn't seen a climber named Colin send it yesterday. It begins on the East face with iron cross side pull throws, and insecure feet. The top half appears easier than the bottom, but requires committing to foot smears off a good sidepull high off the deck. I never managed to get to the second half where I'd have to make the decision of whether to commit or not. I'll make that decision another day.
Jesse, Will, Aaron, Shaun and a few other climbers were climbing on the nearby Kahuna Boulder. We left the girls playing in the sand by "Dough Boy" and jumped in with them. "Kahuna Roof" is a definite classic, which just gets more fun each time I climb it. Ashley climbed it years ago, but hadn't repeated it since a crimp broke at the lip. She sent it again yesterday by adding three moves to her original sequence.




On the way out Sierra and Autumn got attacked by a twelve week old puppy, and Sierra used Autumn as a human shield.

They grow up so fast.

Bouldering at Arthur's Rock

We went to Arthur's on Saturday.

A new sign suggests that bouldering is recognized by park staff as legitimate recreation.

We warmed up, then jumped on Beast House.

It's short, sharp, and stupidly difficult. Three moves long, only if you include matching as a move, over maybe five feet of rock. Ashley tried it on our first climbing trip to Arthur's approximately 8 years ago. Ashley's tried it a few times over the years since then, but never sent it until yesterday. It's hard to rate a problem like this. I'd estimate V8/9. I can do the first and last move, but haven't unlocked the match yet. Here is the video.

We moved on up the trail to Shot Put. I had never been on this problem before, and I was very impressed. It's a beautiful problem that has some very fun moves. I haven't worked out the top yet, and will definitely be heading back. The last problem we worked on was Snake and Skewer. I've been told this is V6, but the same source once told me Vice is V6. We worked out most of it, but didn't top out. It's a sharp, uncomfortable problem, but I've put enough time into it now that I want to finish it off.

Worked by the Clockworks

Since the forecast for Sat. looked beautiful, we decided to try Red Feather again, specifically the Clockworks area, which we had not been to yet.

We warmed up on some fun short problems, with the start of the second one (pictured) being a bit of a project for me!


Then we hiked up to an arete problem (pictured), which was sharp and powerful, but had really good movement.

We both got to a slopey pinch high on the arete, but could not unlock how to get to the top, which was just 1 or 2 moves away. David thinks it will go with a big jump, but I am thinking I will need to use a slopey sidepull and then a pop to the top. There is also a big move line on the left side of the arete, but the top of that was seeping. I didn't try it at all (see "big move" description) and David gave the beginning a couple of tries. Maybe next trip.
Ashley