Climbing Wisdom

I found this quote on Mountain Project this morning and loved the essence of it so much that I thought I'd post it for those of you who think that climbing high mountains and cliffs might be slightly wacko. I think it sums it up well.
'The story of mountaineering is a story of faith and affirmation-that the high road is the good road; that there are still among us those who are willing to struggle and suffer greatly for wholly ideal ends; that security is not the be-all and end-all of living; that there are conquests to be won in the world other than over our fellow man. The climbing of the earth's heights in itself means little. That men want and try to climb them means everything. For it is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that man is never so much a man as when he is striving for what is beyond his grasp, and that there is no battle worth the winning save that against his own ignorance and fear.'

- From "The Age of Mountaineering"
Cheers to that!

'Round Denver

You know, it's interesting, I just looked back at my last few posts and each one of them starts with "After a brutal week at work..." or something to that extent. Pattern much? It also seems in retrospect that each one of those has just gotten worse and worse, so this time I'm going to forego any talk of work and hope that that alone doesn't tempt the Gods O' Fate.
And another home crag TR (hey, home is where the heart is!):
So not too much to report, had a pretty mellow weekend consisting of some bouldering at Morrison yesterday and a solid day at Table Mountain today. Other than the fact that I feel like I'm climbing really really strong, nothing too special happened which was pretty rock solid. I managed to up my climbing standards and push myself, yesterday I managed to send a V4 and today I led a 5.10a! Not that I'm gungho I need to be the best climber ever, it's just really really nice to see that all the effort I've been putting in is paying off and I do feel like I'm improving a whole bunch. I really hope that this next two week period of not getting too much climbing in won't hurt it too much. (I'm off to Vancouver for a wedding next weekend, and then back home to NC for another wedding and Dad's 65th b-day).
Mel and I managed to make it up to Table mountain early today, which was great because by 12 it was roasting. I'm pretty sure that Table may have seen the last of me except for evenings and mornings until some cooler winds start to blow and that the time has come to start heading into the Canyons, which is great considering I think I'll be up for it after the way I climbed today. So we managed to get in 4 leads and 10 pitches before the heat started to push heat stroke into a potential unfortunate reality on my girlfriend, which was plenty! I can already feel my shoulders and legs starting to ache a bit. The highlight of the day was definetly me leading a 5.10a, which might not have been my prettiest climb this season was definetly the hardest lead I've done this season. Here's a picture of the line as stolen from Mountain Project.

Great climb with a great crack problem, roof problem, and then the potential to TR a trad climb after hanging the rope! Anyways, I'm going into this week with my head full of thoughts towards the future and a hopeful mindset, but I still think I'm looking forward to my Monday AM bouldering session more than anything.
Stereo-The Bravery-Bad Sun

Independence Pass Weekend

After an absolutely brutal week at the office and in life, I decided Friday morning that I desperately deserved a personal day that had nothing to do with answering voicemails and managed to catch up with Jason and Ken on their way out to Dream Canyon. They were headed out for some exploring as neither Jason nor Ken had ever been to this part of the boulder canyon. Would I like to join for some venturing into unknown pristine canyons in search of some excellent and non-chossy sport climbs as a warm up for my weekend camping and climbing off Indy Pass? HELL YES!

Ken TRing Wight of Time
Dream Canyon turned out to be just that, an absolute dream. A tributary of boulder canyon proper you wind down this steep but well constructed trail head to a roaring creek that gushes past huge granite rock walls and dives in and out between massive boulders. The rock in this canyon is well bolted, big (a little runouty and we did find a few pitons around), single pitch to multi pitch and solid granite. No chalk, no signs that anyone else had climbed it a million times, the isolation was wonderful, a true river crag with no highway noise, just the river roaring past and the vegetation and birds blowing in the wind. We finally got to climbing as Ken found a 5.9 (Wight of Time-1st pitch) that he wanted to lead, and J crawled up a super steep gully to drop a toprope as he was uncertain as to how sturdy the pitons look on a 10 that he was eyeing. Needless to say I fully plan on heading back to Dream Canyon this next weekend, to continue the exploration as we ended up spending a good 4 hours wandering around, which was simply scratching the surface. As the old climbers saying goes, "No tick list is ever finished, cause every time you go someplace new it triples" I honestly think mine quadrupled after seeing Dream Canyon.

J sending 1st pitch of Wight of Time

After making it back to Denver, I immediatly threw my gear in the car and hit the road for Independence Pass and the difficult campground. This has to be one of the most beautiful drives in Colorado, you wind past huge super resorts, windy decrepid mining towns, ruins and past eye soaring knife edges with snow capped tops all in two hours. There's at least 3 14ers on the drive, La Plata, Elbert and Massive, all beautiful and huge especially when seen from faraway.
After getting to camp, I picked Mel up at Ellen's (her Mom's best friends house) and we drove out to our site, which was serenaded all night long by a finger of the roaring fork, rushing at full tilt. We woke up the next morning with some overcast skies and headed straight out to go find the Powerline crag on Indy Pass. We were under a bit of a time crunch as Mel had to be back in Aspen for a luncehon around 1:30 pm so we got our hustle on for sure.

Mel tying in

The crag was awesome, once again no signs of chalk, no chossy rock, well placed bolts and fun moderate climbing. No sandbagged routes either. We got a 5.6 and a 5.8 in twice a piece before we had to book it back down to town. Great moderates with fun moves and just enough pitch to keep you moving your feet around. Untouched perfect granite. Unfortunatly not too many action shots as there were just two of us and it's hard to take good action photos while belaying (your climber tends to get cranky :)).

MJ kicking it near the gear at the crag
We headed back into town just as the skies decided to open up and pour rain on us for the rest of the day, which nixed our plans to hit up the bouldering area near our campground and instead relocated us to Ellen's hottub. Shucks.
After a great dinner and a good night's sleep we got up, packed the tent and headed back to the Powerline area, there had been a number of other climbs there that I wanted to send so we decided to hit it first and then try out one of the bouldering areas on the way out of town. This turned out to be awesome, I got 4 leads and 7 pitches in during the day, mostly on stuff that I'd never led before. There are some great 7s there and two phenomenal 8s that are anything but a walk in the park and give you some serious commitment moments. The sun kept on ducking in and out of the clouds as bits of rain poured in and over the pass. It's always amazing to me how gorgeous the light is at high elevation and how fast the weather can change from bluebird day to scary thunderstorms.

Mel perched atop one of the dependant boulders
After sending all the climbs at this crag we headed over to the Big Wild Boulderfield bouldering area a half mile down the road to get a final work out in before heading up and over the pass. My major accomplishment here was sending a V4 that had a mandatory throw in it. Other than that we just played around on a few larger rocks. There is so much bouldering potential still here and almost nothing is chalked out, there's probably still tons of lines to be developed and sent as first ascents. Hmmm, I think project time?

Mel rockin' out the Lone Stone
It's always awesome and liberating to boulder after roping up all day long. Your hands grip the rocks and you realize that if you fall, your hitting the ground and not much is stopping you. But with that realization comes the freedom and sometimes the confidence to just send it rather than wimping out. And seriously, bouldering at that altitude with snow covered peaks around, simply cannot be beat. Indy Pass, expect to see me again at least twice this summer.

Mel topping out the Lone Stone
Next on the list on Indy, Pooh Corner and the Burger Shack....
Stereo-Pete Kartsounes-Out of Nowhere (seriously check this guy out any bluegrass fans)

Goals and Table Mountain Goodness

I'm so fortunate to live in a place where I can have a true Colorado spring time thunderstorm chase me off a mountain, 20 minutes drive from my apartment. Seriously though, it's that kinda adventure that just keeps me totally attached to this place. And the fact that every time I turn around it seems as though it just keeps on getting better! I got 4 leads in today and 7 pitches before the storm broke, which so far is my best outdoor day this season, I feel like I'm majorly getting my confidence back as far as lead climbing goes and the old popeye arms and climbing body feels like it's coming back as well.
Climbed today:
Offline (5.8)
Kevin Spies the Line (5.6-5.9 depending on how you start)
The usual warmup, which is probably going to be bumped as a warmup by Kevins above
The line to the left of above
BM Route 5.9ish Here's the photo from MountainProject.com


I'm going to see what I can do to keep this regimen of climbing 4-5 times a week up so it just continues going on the up and up. Even though I'm a huge believer in climbing being a process, experience and a learning technique I'd still like to hit the goal of climbing one of the flatirons before the summer is out. Probably one of the easiest ones, but still a multi pitch trad climb would be a great top out for climbing season. Once again as it was just Mel and myself climbing I have no pictures for this (your climber gets pissy when you take your hands off belay to start snapping photos), so here's one of Mel's first completed route (on Table Mountain) to keep you going.


Stereo-Talib Kweli

Toppin' Out

Rough week. And I mean really rough week at work. I have no intention of getting uber sappy and venting my primordial angst of my job on this website as that is exactly NOT why I started this blog. I want to meditate instead on the relieving pressure of rock on hands, of hitting a hold that you missed last time, of topping out a bouldering problem that scared you so much last time that you got half way up and then came down. It's amazing how a modicum of tunnel vision and fear coupled with a few solid deep breaths, can wipe away a seemingly city full of negativity. Perhaps this is where the void is, this is why one risks the Big Splat and finds themselves with no rope 15 feet up on a cliff face with nothing but rock beneath them and adrenaline coursing oxygen to their muscles. All the minor cares seem to fade away as one thought remains, "Will my fingers hold this rock or am I going to break my leg?" It's a zen feeling putting yourself towards that moment, and then, even when fear is gripping you, to push through and still move up, to that moment where the problem disappears and you find yourself on top of your nemesis/lover/guru.
I can find no photo that defines this moment of clarity in my photography collection, so I leave you with a thousand words instead.

Teva Mountain Games Vail, CO

Paul Robinson at the World Bouldering Cup (with some Photoshop love)

Not too terribly much to report here, ski season has decidedly and unceremoniously came itself to a close. I'm actually rather doubting that I'll boost up one more day to make 70 instead of 69. I'm sure that I could but between the lack of snow left up high, a trip to Vail proved that for sure, and how stoked on climbing I've found myself recently, it's kinda doubtful it'll happen. Strange, I guess I appreciate seasons more than I would have thought!
Anyways, other than working on my lead climbing skills and slowly getting my strength back, Mel and I took off to go watch the Teva Mountain Games up in Vail this weekend. Teva and Vail Valley throw this huge three day party that essentially celebrates the mountains in the summer time. It's pretty damn cool and an amazing reminder of all the joy and love that the mountains bring into your life. We went up Friday night with the intention of watching the Bouldering World Cup finals the next day and then staying Saturday night. We ended up coming back after the World Cup on Saturday due to the fact that the place we were staying was more similar to a frat house than anything else (last time I'll let Jason make the accomodations) and that we wanted to go get some routes in in Golden today.

Alex "Pooch" going for a hold at the cup

The climbing was awesome to watch and earlier in the week I had been roped in to participating in the Mud Run (2 miles ish with a 100 yard sprint through an obstacle course filled with sticky gooey mud) with Mike and Ben. I'll let the pictures speak from here. The next list of pictures below were all taken by Melissa Walker

first lap through the mud!

second time around!

L to R, Ben, Mike, and a rare picture of yours truly covered in mud


the carnage remains even after the battle is done!

It was a really good time and I'm being told is being developed into a tradition. So all I have to say is man, running was actually way more fun than I remembered it! Climbing today was so so as we got rained off after about 3 routes in. I flashed a climb I'd never been on before on lead so I felt pretty good about that even though I definetly didn't do it in the most graceful of manners. All in good time, so here's a picture that I took of Mel and Mary Jane enjoying the Vail sunshine to round this post off.


On the Stereo-The Kooks (pretty much anything off the new album)