Category Archives: Rock Climbing

The Big Thompson canyon has rock formations all along the way to Estes Park. Many are difficult to get to, unexplored and unpublished. After having fun tradding like mad the last few weekends, but getting tired of the crowds down south, we decided to check out a local favorite in the BTC: Combat Rock. There are a few more pics from the day in the gallery.

The southern exposure, short hike, and fine granite of the rock make it a great destination for a quick afternoon out in NoCo. But Mark and I found some great looking, very long and exposed, multi-pitch trad routes that are definitely worth going back for. On our Saturday at the rock, we were the second pair of climbers to arrive, and only saw four other people all day. Just the kind of quiet, quality tradding we were looking for.

Rambo Santa (5.7) – We had to start with the easiest but one of the longest single pitches on the rock. It got tricky in some places, interesting in others, and was lots of fun for the whole 140ft. At the anchors, Mark was cold, and I started taking pictures like mad. The scariest part, for me, was the long rap down using our new 8mm tag line. That little purple rope is thin and it wasn’t taking knots very well to begin with. We got it tied in and got down without any problems. I guess it’s just something else for my over-active imagination to obsess about.

Wonderin’ Where the Lions Are (5.9+) – We moved to the climb up and left of where we were for the next one. Mark was nervous on the very thin, but relatively well protected slab moves. I loved every minute of the climb. The thin ledges, crimps and scallops felt great, especially while climbing in near-freezing temps (ok, so, my fingers went really numb). Mark loved the first climb, I loved this second one.

Tree Ledge (5.8) – Mark ran up the easy bottom section of this climb and then checked out the big 5ft wide roof for a while. He sewed it up with gear, placing four pieces besides clipping the manky bolt under the roof. He triumphantly pulled the roof, strapped some gear to the chains around the tree and then came down. When I got up to the roof, I think I was too high on the wall. I actually couldn’t reach the edge! I fiddled around for a while in the muck seeping out of the roof before coming down. Mark climbed it again on TR and cleaned it. The climb seemed fun, but the slime flowing from bottom of the tree ledge made it really gross on Saturday.

It was a fun day out, and I’m looking forward to heading out that direction again. Just as soon as it stops snowing.

It was the weekend, so what else would Mark and I do? We headed south to Eldorado Canyon to try out some climbs we’ve been eye-ing for several weeks now. Unfortunately, it seemed like every climber in the northern Front Range had similar ideas. Also unfortunately, there are only a few faces in the canyon that are warm enough to climb on this time of year, so we all descended upon Wind Tower like fanboys at a Valve demo.

There are a few photos from the day in the gallery.

The tower was crawling with climbers when we got there, but we were late enough in the morning that a few groups were leaving. We were able to climb a couple classics despite the crowds and mass confusion.

The Bomb (5.4) – This climb starts on a ledge that we traversed out on to, and left us racking up in an already exposed position. We climbed to the new chain anchors, which ended up being almost exactly half of a rope length. The climb was not hard, but the pro was tricky and the exposure was very nice. With all of the people climbing around us, and the raging creek in the valley below, communication became difficult about 10ft after Mark left the ground. Another problem with climbing in Eldo on a busy day — the constant yells, screams and calls between climbers and belayers are confusing, and often the cause of accidents.

Recon (5.6) – While belaying Mark up the second climb of the day, I actually had a party throw their rope down on me. They tried to avoid rappelling on my head, but as they pulled their rope though the anchor it flew down and smacked me on the helmet. Then another group came down from the anchor, and again I got hit on the helmet by their rope as they pulled it through the anchor. By the time I was climbing, there were snowflakes floating down, people screaming on all sides, and I was not happy.

This climb was just as easy as the first climb, proving that grading in Eldo is nearly meaningless. Mark wanted to continue on to the top of the rock, but I convinced him to head down by pointing out the dark clouds that were beginning to blot out the sun, and the group of more than six climbers that were vying for position to use the next set of anchors to rap down. In order to traverse over to the rap anchors for our pitch, I had to cross over some poor guy’s lead line, and then jump infront of another pair that had just rapped down to our ledge. As we set up the rappel and came down, the other couple trying to get down traversed the ledge under, over and around three other pairs of climbers to get to another set of rap anchors.

I know Eldo is busy on the weekends, but this felt creepy and unsafe. I hope that it is because there are so few places for climbers in the warm weather, and that climbs will free up as the snow melts. Otherwise, these two pitches might be the last climbs we do in Eldo for the season.

Happy March Everybody!! It was a warm day before a cold front blasted through, and Mark and I decided to get back out on the rock. I think our recent climbing adventures are evidence that spring is not too far around the corner, and the wild weather this weekend agreed. We decided to use my apartment in Colorado Springs as a base camp for the weekend, so on Saturday we headed out Highway 24 to explore the southern part of the South Platte. Photos from the day are up in my gallery!

Mark and I chose Turkey Rocks as our target for the day, because of their perfect southern exposure and nice moderate cracks. As expected, the forest service road out to the rocks was slushy snow with some deep tire tracks, but the yellow car made it through to the trailhead just fine, and we had a fun time buzzing through the woods in 4wd. The hike up the hill behind the rocks, in a foot of snow, with no boots or gaiters, was less fun. But once we popped over the top of the ridge, we were on the south side of the hill and the sun had baked the snow and moisture off of everything. It felt like a perfect spring day.

I have to admit, I found the names of some of these climbs offensive. I’m not going to add them to my site, but if you’re really curious, you can check them out on MP.com by clicking on the link.

L H J (5.7/8) – We started the morning out on what our book (the big Rock Climbing Colorado guide) called a 5.7. Mark put up a good lead on this long, beautiful hand crack in a left facing corner. Though, he used a lot of gear, and it took him a while to figure out the crux move through the little roof at the top. I followed, and the crack felt really good. I actually hung out on the slab at the top for a while and took pictures of climbers around me until Mark yelled down that he was cold and I should get a move on. I did fall while trying to get over the roof, but I figured out the sequence quickly after that and the rest of the climb was a breeze.

Once I topped out though, the view before me was stunning. Mark had left all long slings, all cordelettes and all big cams on the ground or in the crack below him. He had built an anchor out of wrapping the rope around a few big boulders and then tied himself into this giant web of climbing rope. He had probably used 20 meters of the rope just for his anchor! Creative, yes. Funny to look at, definitely. Watching Mark swear at himself while I walked off and he had to clean up his mess, priceless.

H J A C (5.7) – I had wanted to lead this one, but as we got down from our first climb, the wind was picking up and it felt like clouds were moving in. Mark wanted to move quickly, so he buzzed up this climb and I followed suit. It was much easier than the first, and I know that I am more than capable of leading a climb like that one. I hope I get a chance to lead a bit sometime soon.

R M (5.8) – Ok, so it’s not an offensive name, but I’ve got a precedent now. We walked down from our second climb in a warm breeze and a late afternoon sun. We decided the weather was turning out fine, and we should push ourselves on what we thought was the first 5.8 of the day. (Looks like our first climb may have actually fit that description better). RM was wide at the bottom, and Mark and I both had a little bit of trouble in the dark, wet, slippery crack about 20 ft off the ground. Mark climbed through it, and I blew out a perfect heal-toe (it was wet!) and lost all of the skin on this inside of my left ankle. Again. It must be climbing season! I’ve got band-aides on my ankles!

The climb gets thin, and then arches to the left in a long, beautiful, nearly vertical hand crack. Then you scramble over a steep and featureless slab section to a roof. From there, the climb hooks left, and I found Mark sitting at the top having tied himself to a tree. And the quick and dirty (but quite effective) anchors continue! We both worked hard on that last climb, and both limped away happy with the day. I had worked so hard my shoulders, back and arms were already sore, and my legs were very unhappy after the 20 minute hike back to the car. But the sun stayed out for us all day, and we got to loose some skin to some great cracks. What more could you ask for?

The weekends are a welcome relief for me right now. I’ve been putting in 14 hour days here at the College, and it’s nice to be able to just go home and relax. But I didn’t want to spend the whole weekend napping! (Ok, I did, but I knew I’d regret it later) So, Sunday, Mark and I got a slow start and headed out to Golden, CO, in the hope of getting a little sport climbing done on the basalt crags of North Table Mountain. There are pictures from the day in the gallery.

When Mark and I finally got to the climbing area at around 10a, the lower parking lot was completely full, and the upper lot was rapidly filling as well. The sun was coming and going between high clouds, but that hadn’t stopped the huge crowd of people who had already shown up. We hiked up the hill, and saw the crowds filling the base of the crags. Rather than go left, Mark and I headed right to see what climbs might be off in less developed territory. We ended up on the upper tier of the Child-free zone.

Skin Deep? (5.9+) – I have no idea exactly which climbs we were on. The first one climbed up a sharp arrete to the left of a line of bolts. Once we got to an upper ledge, the climb forced us out on to the face, where we climbed a thin crack to the anchors. It felt like a regular NTM 5.9+. But we both worked hard on the climb. Mark came down with sore hands, and I had a pump so strong it was difficult to keep my hands closed over some of the upper holds.

Unknown (5.10-) – Mark led this one beautifully. He climbed to the high first bolt, then swung across a big fun flake like a trapeze artist, and climbed a thin overhanging crack to the ledge above. The face at the top of the climb was awesome, full of cool crimps and delicate edging that I love. But by the time I got there, my hands were so exhausted I could not keep them closed on the holds. I slowly worked my way up the face, doing one move and then resting and shaking out my hands until I reached the anchors.

By the time I had cleaned this climb, the sun had begun to wink in and out behind a deep, dark cloud bank over the mountains to our west. My hands were soo sore, and Mark was feeling embarrassingly pumped as well. It was 3p in the afternoon, and there was still a conga line of climbers hiking up to the crag. The parking lots were both jammed full, with people parking along the roads up and in the middle of the lot. We decided to pack up for the day and head out. We spent the afternoon with my little brother in Denver, and had a great BBQ dinner before Mark headed home to the Fort and I headed back south to the Springs.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Northern Colorado. Temperatures topped out at nearly 55F (~13C) in the Fort, and the sun felt great. On Sunday morning, my parents left Colorado, and Kevin headed back to Denver. Mark and I got up early, packed our bags and then drove down to Eldorado Canyon for a day of trad climbing – just the two of us. There are a few pictures from the day in the gallery.

We realized at some point in the last few days that Mark and I had not climbed together, as a pair of partners, with nobody else around, for several months. We thought that it would be nice to get back out on the rock for a quiet day of adventure. When we left Fort Collins on Sunday morning the Front Range was covered in a thick lenticular cloud, but we could see sun over the mountains. As we pulled in to Eldorado Canyon, it seemed the cloud had been pushed higher over the mountain. The canyon was dark, cold and covered in snow. Mark declared that he had not driven an hour and half and paid $6 to not climb, so we bundled up and headed to the Whale’s Tail.

We roped up for the creepy traverse across to the ledge at the bottom of the formation, but I’m not sure that the route we took across in the morning really warranted it. As Mark was racking up for the first climb, the clouds receded, the sun began creeping down the canyon towards us. By the time he was off the ground the rock was warm and sun-lit, and the weather was officially beautiful. It was quiet in the canyon, too. We could see and hear only one other distant pair of climbers for most of our day there, which is wonderful in a place which is normally so busy that rap lines land on leaders and rocks fall on crowds below almost every weekend.

(1) West Crack (5.2 or 5.4) – The first climb of the morning was a great one. This crack was long, exposed, took great pro and was an all around aesthetic climb. Mark and I both had huge smiles on our faces when we came down from this one. It felt simply like the reason trad climbing had been invented. Note, though, the route took most of our 60m rope. If you have less than a 58m rope, I don’t think you’ll reach the ground from the rap anchor.

(2) West Dihedral (5.2 or 5.4) – Mark and I spent some time discussing how best to climb this route and then set a TR on the middle slab and then clean that TR anchor and come off the rock from the rap anchor above. Once Mark had led the dihedral, he ended up building an anchor up and left of the overhanging crux, and worked out great for the slab. He ran up the dihedral, placing only 4 pieces of pro before the anchor, and I had no problem with it either.

(3) West Face (5.6 X) – This slab climb was long and fun. It had a few thin parts, but Mark climbed it in his old rental shoes with no problem. I think it’s worth doing on TR if you’re in the area, not worth risking your life over as a lead or free-solo. But that’s just MHO. After Mark climbed it, he climbed above our anchor back to the rappel anchor on top of the rock, and then set up the rappel. He cleaned the anchor for the slab on rappel, on his way down, which involved a bit of aerial ballet but nothing too crazy.

As we pulled the rope from this last climb, another couple climbed over to our ledge, and the sun began to touch the edge of the canyon on the far side. We packed up our gear, and Mark lead back across the ledge to our stuff in the gulley next to us. This time, he took “the low road” which ended up having a very exposed technical downclimb move that Mark protected well. It was an exciting way to finish the day, and made me feel like we had just gotten in another whole pitch of climbing. By this time, the canyon was starting to feel crowded again, and we met a guided group of about 6 climbers looking to get on our climbs as we packed up in the last of the sunshine. We chatted with the other climbers and then hiked out in the new shade of the sunset, which ended up being around 3p. The days are short in a steep canyon like Eldo, but I think we managed to squeeze a perfect climbing day out of this one. Mark and I got to be alone together in the sun, in a dramatic and beautiful place, doing what we loved.

We woke up on Monday morning exhausted, beat up and covered in sand. The wind had blown all night long, and the tents had never really stopped flapping like huge manic birds. I actually woke up 2 or 3 times in the night because the side of the tent had been blown so low over the ground that it hit me in the face. Mark found one of our stakes was in the ground backwards and that side of the tent had pulled off the ground in the night.

Other than the tent hitting me in the face, the wind works well for me as white noise and I slept pretty well. Mark used our one set of earplugs and slept pretty well himself. Bruce, however, didn’t get much sleep at all. His new tent was a really nice, new REI Half-dome that had worked perfectly for him all weekend. However, after the wind and blowing sand over the whole night Sunday night, Bruce awoke to everything in his tent covered in about half an inch of yellow dust. The screen mesh that covers the top half of his tent had acted as sieve, allowing only the finest dust to enter and settle around his tent. He stumbled out of his tent in the morning and exclaimed “I have gravel in my hair!”

After seeing Bruce’s tent and yellow face, Mark and I were thankful our tent was in four-season mode and we had totally solid walls. We learned that night that the solid walls are not just good for keeping out bitter cold winds and snow, but also very good at keeping out the huge clouds of sand and dust that had no doubt been buffeting us all night.

Mark and I had a flight out of LAX at 4:30p that afternoon, so we didn’t really have much time for climbing in the morning. Besides, the wind was still gusting and bitter cold. We packed everything up and then headed to town looking for showers (we thought the other people on the plane would appreciate us being a little cleaner). What we found was a really pleasant surprise.

We had been directed from the guys at the climbing shop in Joshua Tree to showers at Coyote Corner. What a great little shop! She had some climbing gear, a lot of T-shirts, organic locally made soap, various new age crystals and juices, scarves, purses and all kinds of local art. And the showers were $3 per token, which buys you a 7 minute shower out back. Mark and I took the bigger shower room and were happy to see the place very clean and full of amenities. Mirrors, a nice big sink, potty and a big hot shower. We didn’t pack towels or shower shoes, but the hot water felt great, and the shower was actually clean. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend the showers at Coyote Corner.

After getting cleaned up, and then buying another guidebook with a better description of route descents, we headed back to LA. The wind was howling the whole way and weather was moving in. Our flight was delayed about 45 minutes because the flight the pilots were on was delayed as well. But we eventually made it home. Happy, scraped, bruised, and I’m still finding sand in our house. Where does it all come from? :)

I suppose after two great days of climbing in the desert, it was time for an epic. Thanks to Bruce, there are more photos from the weekend up in the gallery, but I actually didn’t end up taking many pictures on this day. After a lot of wandering around the park in the morning, we ended up back at the Hidden Valley Campground, where we spied a pair of climbers working their way up what looked like a ridiculously easy and really fun multi-pitch climb on the west face of the Blob.

Beginner’s Two (5.2 or 5.4R or 5.7R) –
This was Bruce’s first multi-pitch, so we explained the process to him, and decided to break up the climb into three short pitches, so we could all climb on the one rope we had with us. The first pitch was super easy, and Mark hiked up with only placing one or two pieces of pro. He set a nice little belay in an alcove which is complained about a bit on the MP.com page, evidently. Bruce came up, and I cleaned the pitch. Once I got up there, Mark and I had some discussion as to how proceed from there. The crack ahead of us looked really hard. The face to the left looked kind of easy, but it would be a long time without pro. The crack to our right looked like it had good pro and decent holds. Mark went that way.

It turned out to be a really hard, short section of climbing. Mark was rather freaking out as he had no pro until he was through the whole thing. He climbed the rest of the pitch without any problem, and called it the “foot cruncher” pitch because he ended up walking up a trough that was about 4in wide for about 50ft. Bruce did a great job seconding, he stemmed through the creepy thin crack and pulled himself up on the bad holds. He even stemmed through the foot cruncher section! I cleaned the pitch, and found that crux to be hard, and I was very impressed at how well both Mark and Bruce had climbed it.

The final pitch was straight-forward and great. It sounds infamous on the MP.com comments, but we all had a great time with it. Another wide crack, this one was not too hard, not too easy. Mark ended up walking our only 3.5 cam that we brought with us up with him as he climbed, eventually using it as his anchor on top of the rock. Bruce topped out after having a great time on the climb, and immediately started taking pictures and scrambling around the top of this 200ft tall rock. I passed Mark after cleaning the pitch, and then belayed him up from his exposed seat after he cleaned the anchor.

Beginner’s Two Descent
This was where the real excitement came in. We scrambled down to the right of the route on easy slabs. Bruce found a creepy looking anchor made of old slings and bolts, that looked like it was well more than half a rope off the ground. We kept scrambling down. Eventually we came to a big ledge and weren’t sure where to go from there. Suddenly a girl appeared over the edge with a few cams and a nice blue rope happy after finishing her lead. We all said “Hi!” and she set an anchor to bring up her second. I guess they were climbing Buissonier (5.7). She turned to us and asked “So, do you guys know how to get off the rock?” and that’s when we were suddenly worried.

Mark and I were like “So, we can’t keep going that way?” And she said it was a 5.7 route that we probably didn’t want to down climb. By this time we had a few people staring up at us from the campground about 100ft below. Mark and I were pretty sure we could toss a sling or rope around one of the big rocks and rap off, but we didn’t see any other slings or evidence of ropes in the area. Weird. As the other girl’s second finished their climb and they started coiling their rope, somebody yelled up from below “Hey, do you know how to get down??” We yelled down “Not really!” and they yelled up “We’ll send somebody up to show you!”

We all hung out a little longer. The sun was getting low at this point, and the wind was starting to pick up a little bit. Not more than 5 minutes after the first couple finished their 5.7 a guy came jogging up that climb. He got near the belay spot and and yelled down “Hey tom, give me a lot of slack! Or, just, OFF-BELAY”

He headed off to our right (back to the west side of the rock) and hurriedly showed the other pair the “walk-off” which turned out to be our choice of a deep, dark 25ft tall chimney or traversing and slowly down climbing a 5.5 slab that’s 50ft off the ground. As the second from the previous pair stood on the slab for almost 10 minutes, unable to commit to the next movement and beginning to shake, we decided to go for the chimney.

Mark set a quick and bomber anchor and got ready to belay me down. I would climb down first and give him the beta he would need to solo it last. I tied in and started down. The top of the crack was just about perfect butt-width, and I wiggled my way down to a set of huge holds and then the slabby bottom section without much problem. Bruce had a little more trouble and Mark ended up lowering him. Mark cleaned the anchor and tossed down the rope. He then wiggled his own way down the squeeze chimney with no problem. It just looked bad from on top. Once you’re in it, it was way easier than some of the down-climb chimney’s we’ve done in ‘Voo.

I also talked to the guy who came up for us as he prepared to take another lap and show the walk-off to another group who had just gotten to the “confusion ledge” as we reached the ground. He said his name was Mike. He asked where we were from, and when I said Northern Colorado and that we usually climbed in Vedauwoo, he gave me a shocked look and said “Wow. I hear that if you can climb in Vedauwoo, you can climb anywhere.” I said “Really?” and then he was off free-soloing the 5.7 to collect the next group of out-of-towners.

In the end
The sun set as we packed up our gear from the day. I was really glad we weren’t stuck on top of that rock after dark. Finding the chimney down climb would have been impossible without help or being able to see anything. By the time we got back to the campground, the wind was howling. We were lucky that there was a rock between us and the wind blasting straight out of the south, but it still howled around and threatened to blow our fire out of the ring and into the brush of the desert. We ate canned food quickly and were tucked into our flapping tents by 7:30p, again.

On Saturday morning we woke up early, and I bugged the guys until they got packed into the car with plenty of daylight left for climbing. The goal of the day was to drive south through the park until Mark saw a rock he wanted to climb, and then stop and climb it! Which was how we ended up at Intersection Rock for the day on Saturday morning. There are photos from the day (and the weekend) up in the gallery.

The classic climbs on this rock (the “ski tracks”) were all on the north face of the rock, and so in shadow all day and out of the question. We wandered around to the south side of the rock, where we found a nice long climb to start the day out with.

Mike’s Books (5.8 var) – Our “warm up” climb for the day was rated 5.6 in the guidebook, which pointed out that the rating was for a route which scrambled up easy slabs to the left, traversed across a tricky looking (and poorly protected) narrow sloped ledge which was only a foot below the roof above it, and then continued up the long fun-looking crack above. Mark and I both had immediate recall of our adventures on Baobob Tree, and opted for the 5.8 direct start variation to the climb.

This variation was, no doubt, hard. You had to jam in to the flaring hand crack and hang on your hands while lifting your feet into the crack at your waist and then somehow move up from there. Mark actually made the hard part look fairly easy, and then nearly took a huge whipper before getting in a second piece of pro! He caught himself as I was already 3 steps down the rock below the climb running backwards to take slack out of the system. He added a second piece and then moved up into the fun 5.6 dihedral above, and had a grand time climbing the rest of the route. Being the tradmaster he is, Mark even slung a large pointy flake for pro in the widening top section.

Mark set a belay on top of the route, to leave in the possibility of finishing the climb on a second pitch and topping out the rock. Bruce seconded the climb, and made it through the hard part with a little help from me below. He really enjoyed the nice face climbing in the dihedral above as well. I climbed and cleaned the route next, and had a hard time with the bottom, but found my way through it. I worked so hard on my way up the climb that Mark and I opted to scrub plans for a second pitch and simply rapped off the climb. Once down on the ground, we found that our ropes ran as a nice TR for the 10b to the right, so we relaxed in the sun, ate some lunch, did a little yoga and then got back to business.

Water Chute (5.10b R) – As the comments on the MP page point out, the crux for this climb is getting off the ground. Mark tried many, many different things before climbing up the thin face far to the right of the chute, and then delicately transferring his weight across a step that was probably wider than I am tall. Bruce used a little help from all of us, and then made it into the chute. He worked hard to get in, he worked hard on his way up, and he worked really hard in the second crux of the climb, a narrow section with no holds to help you wiggle into, and rock faces on either side of the chimney slick with old climbing shoe rubber. He worked hard for almost half an hour, but made no headway, and decided to come down when it looked like further scraping and bruising just wouldn’t help. Great work though, Bruce!

I hit climb with my own style, finding a double arm bar in the bottom of the chute and then slowly wiggling my way up into it (after falling many times, of course). The rest of the route was lots of fun, with chimney moves, crack jamming in a narrow crack at the back, and some really delicate and interesting stemming. I beat the middle crux with a combination of a painful (not taped any more) half of a left hand jam and seriously thin stemming moves. Mark was so excited by my new approach to the start, that he climbed the route again after I got down, doing the same double-arm bar and half humping/half wiggling his way into the bottom of the chute.

After this painfest, we all three decided we were done for the day. We packed up, and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening driving south through the park and seeing some other sites. We took a little hike through the Split Rock area, and eventually drove back to town. To celebrate the hard work of the day, we bought a pack of hotdogs, two packages of firewood, and enough cheep mexican beer and girly drinks to keep us all happy. We then spent a wonderful evening hanging out by a warm fire, eating burnt hotdogs and gazing at the huge numbers of stars in the clear desert sky above us.