Red Feather West Revisited

Jacob and I had to get back to the unnamed problem we didn't quite do last weekend. This time Ashley, Aaron, Shaun, Scott, and Jared came along. We went back to the warm-up area. "Huggy Bear" was climbed again. Ashley climbed a little despite doctor's orders not to, but mostly she hung out on her new government rebate sponsored Organic pad we picked up at the Mountain Shop. We're doing what we can to help the economy pickup steam again.

After warming up, we went to the "Fat Man in a Little Coat" boulder AKA "H.I.P.S." Aaron flashed our unnamed project, but the rest of us got shut down. We moved on to the problem "Fat Man in a Little Coat", but no one had much luck. It feels like I might be able to physically do the problem, but it is so committing. The crux is at the top, and everything is slopey and insecure except the high left foot. It feels like it would be easy to fall backwards, and have the left foot stay in place leading to an out of control back first landing. One day I'll commit fully, and maybe it will go. Here are some photos of the attempts on "Fat Man in a Little Coat." It's an inspiring line.
Scott

Jacob

Aaron

Ashley's Surgery and Red Feather

Ashley went into surgery on Thursday morning. She had a fibroid tumor that grew a lot while she was pregnant with Autumn. It kept growing for the last three years, and had gotten to be the sized of a softball. It weighed about two and a half pounds. Now it's been removed, but the surgery was difficult. Ashley lost a liter of blood, and got sick from the anesthesia. She's feeling much better now, but she's not supposed to climb for four weeks. I missed her at the crags today.

While Ashley was home today, I took the daughters and the dogs to climb with Jacob at Red Feather. Jacob gave us a tour of what he calls the Warm-up area, and the H.I.P.S. (Hidden In Plain Sight) boulder. It was a great day.

The Warm-up area has some very fun slightly highball warm-ups, and a great dyno to another dyno problem.

Jacob climbing a perfect warm-up.

The Dyno to another Dyno problem.



From there we headed just up the hill and Jacob did the F.A. of a problem he had cleaned on a previous day. It follows two cracks to an insecure feature squeezing mantle. He named it "Huggy Bear" Using his beta I got the second ascent. It's a great problem, but I didn't get photos.

Soon afterward we hiked a bit further to the H.I.P.S. Boulder. At normal hiking speed you could get to this boulder in about 10 minutes from the road, yet it was only developed recently. It has at least five high quality problems on it from easy, to how the heck did Ben climb that? We both got close to sending the problem pictured. It's a really good problem. My projects are multiplying.

A Beautiful Mother's Day

Days don't get much better than bouldering on a cool sunny day in Poudre Canyon. We didn't send much, but we enjoyed the atmosphere and climbed until our fingers couldn't take it anymore. At the end of the session. Aaron, Alex, and Ashley got on the new "Tsunami" and then "Surfing the Tsunami" which traverses into "Tsunami" from the left. I call it the new "Tsunami" because it used to be a V7 with a big move to and from a sidepull pinch. The pinch has broken, and left an incut crimp. This shortened the move, and the problem is now V5 with a heal-hook. Aaron and Ashley both did "Tsunami" and came very close to doing "Surfing the Tsunami." With fresh skin it will go.

Aaron on "Surfing the Tsunami"



Oh by the way, my Mother's Day gift to Ashley was an Organic Chalkbag.

Another Good Thing About Bouldering

We got rear-ended on I-25 tonight. Our bouldering pad, which we keep in the back of the van, might have saved our daughters. Luckily no one was hurt in the whole accident. A few cars were totaled though. The pad is still stuck in our van. The other car got hit by the same guy after we got hit.

Pad


No pad

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.