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

The 80's and Iceland

It was a fun weekend. On Friday I put together the best "Flock of Seagulls" look that I could, in less than 15 minutes, and Ashley donned her Members Only jacket for the "Rockin' the 80's" climbing competition at the Miramont Wall.

Megan, Kelly, and Heidi were looking the part as well.

Ashley won the Female Open division, and I managed to climb some problems that were really hard for me. I got 3rd place in Men's Open, and Ian Dory came in first.

Our plan for today was to climb at Redfeather with Jacob. When we arrived at 11:00 it was snowing, and the wind was strong. Even Jacob didn't think it looked worth trying to climb. We started driving home quite disappointed with the weather. Ashley suggested driving to Poudre Canyon and checking out an area we recently heard about called Iceland. We didn't think conditions would be good, but we'd at least get a look at it. We turned around and within 20 minutes we were there. The sun was out, the wind was moderate, and the river was still frozen.

Iceland is a unique area with a very short season. The large boulder overhangs the Poudre River for it's entire length so you can only climb there when the river is frozen. As the warm day progressed a large puddle of water formed under the center of the wall. Holes in the ice upstream became noticeably larger. By next weekend the ice may be gone. The rock is solid, well-featured, river polished gneiss that sometimes feels as smooth as glass. The angle and height of the rock is perfect, and we did a variety of problems at about every grade from V1 to V6. Two classic hard problems are there as well, but it will probably be next year, before we can get on them again. After two weekends indoors it was great to be out again.

A Day Off

My school district held parent teacher conferences the last two nights, and I got today off as a comp day. We didn't get out climbing, but I finally had time to edit video from our Hueco trip. Here is video of Ashley making "Daily Dick Dose" look way too easy. Footage of my climbing didn't make the cut. The faces I make involuntarily while trying hard are too disturbing.


Ashley and I also attended the Northern Colorado Climbers Coalition (NCCC) meeting tonight. It was a relaxed and productive meeting. Board members and officers were chosen. Meeting times were set for the last Friday of every month, and the mission statement is "To Promote and Preserve Climbing in Northern Colorado."

To Blog or Not to Blog

Our weekend plans for Arthur's Rock didn't work out. The snow didn't melt fast enough on Saturday, and the dreaded Frontrange cloud formed Sunday morning. We drove down to Boulder and checked out Eldorado Canyon. Conditions were fine, but there was still a lot of snow around which doesn't work well for our daughters. Luckily, I had passes to the Spot that I won at the Horsetooth Hang. We got a good work out, and got gripped on a few of the high topouts.

Sometimes life isn't that exciting, and neither is my blog.

What a Day.

Today is my 32nd birthday, and I wanted to climb. There were clouds around and the temps were in the 30s, but we decided to try. The sun was out when we arrived at Morrison, but it didn't last very long. The rock stayed cold and crisp. Our hands went numb at times, yet we had a really good day. Ashley and I both climbed our projects. "Wisdom Simulator" was pumpy, but not as pumpy as I feared. Ashley's project was an endurance problem Annette showed her called "The Great Round Trip."

One of the highlights of the day was seeing "Extra Otis" get climbed. We also witnessed Morrison sport climbing. I had noticed the bolts, but had never seen climbers try the route before.


Now that we've gotten our projects at Morrison, we are ready for Spring. Punxsutawney Phil isn't the only groundhog. Eight out of ten famous groundhogs didn't see their shadows today, and Spring should be here soon. Here is a photo I took early last Summer of Le Do climbing at the Ceremonies. It helps remind me of how good the days are going to get.

Eldorado Canyon's East Draw

Colin working out "Pig Dog"


We felt like climbing somewhere new. The East Draw fit that criteria. The hike is steep. Not awful for the unencumbered, but a bit brutal with a two and four year old. I carried Autumn on my shoulders which took concentration on the slick dirt parts. It pushed my cardiovascular system for the first time since the park season ended a couple months ago. Colin came with us, and helped out a lot by carrying Sierra over the difficult parts. Thanks Colin! We spent most of our day at the Center Ring. Our favorite problem there is called "Pig Dog." It's a very overhanging V6 with big moves. The movement is fantastic even though the rock quality isn't. Most of the rock at the East Draw is sharp and pebbly conglomerate. Only a few V1-V3 slabs are solid, smooth Dakota sandstone. Pig Dog is worth making a trip for, and it is definitely a Winter area. It got a little too hot by the afternoon.